The new four-lane Highway 70 was officially dedicated as the Sen. Jerry W. Cooper Highway Friday morning during ceremonies in the town Newtown. State Rep. Kevin Dunlap served as master of ceremonies with remarks from various dignitaries, including county executive Hershel Wells, State Sen. Janice Bowling, State Rep. Judd Matheny, former State Rep. Charles Curtiss and others. The program concluded with remarks from Former Sen. Cooper. Cooper, age 67 served in the Tennessee Senate for the 14th district, which at the time was Franklin, Bledsoe, Coffee, Grundy, Sequatchie, Van Buren, and Warren...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there are events planned across the state to raise awareness and funding for research and support. That includes Nashville’s Komen Race for the Cure taking place this Saturday, Oct. 24. One-hundred percent of the net income from the race is allocated to the mission of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and 75 percent stays in the community for cancer screening and treatment, explains Patty Harman, executive director with the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Greater Nashville. “We continue to invest money in finding the best and brightest researchers and making sure we...

Gov. Bill Haslam is raising questions about a legislative proposal to ban Tennessee schools from teaching about “religious doctrine” before the 10th grade. The governor said the bill could have unexpected consequences, such as preventing younger students from learning why the Pilgrims decided to leave Europe. Haslam told reporters that he didn’t know how you could teach about the founding of the United States “without talking about religious doctrine.” The bill sponsored by Republican State Rep. Sheila Butt of Columbia has been criticized by a Muslim civil rights group as specifically targeting instruction about Islam. Butt insists her bill...

A Manchester man was arrested on rape charges on Oct. 13. David Anthony Kinnard, 49, of Chalet Drive, Manchester was arrested on warrants obtained by Manchester Police Investigator Bryan Eldridge. Kinnard is accused of assaulting a woman at his residence. He allegedly grabbed her by the hair and shoved her down and grabbed her about the face. He is then accused of biting her on the foot and then punching the walls and threatening the woman. The warrants allege that there were no visible injuries to the woman. He then forced her against her will to have sex with...

Emergency crews responded to a crash involving a tanker truck and a passenger in Coffee County on Friday. The incident occurred in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 24 near mile marker 98 around 5:30 a.m. Friday. Authorities said a passenger car crashed into the rear of the tanker truck and became lodged underneath it. It took until around noon until the wreckage could be cleared. Witnesses said it was miracle that there were no reports of injuries. The tanker truck was carrying sulfuric acid and did sustain minor damage, but officials said there were no signs of cracks of...

A Warren County woman is charged in nearby Cannon County with TennCare fraud involving forgery and doctor shopping. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has announced the arrest of Brittany A. Duggin, 24, of McMinnville. An indictment in Cannon County accuses her of presenting a forged prescription for the painkiller Hydrocodone to a local pharmacy, and attempting to use TennCare benefits as payment. In addition, Duggin is charged with doctor shopping for controlled substances, using TennCare as payment. She received a prescription for the painkiller Tramadol less than 30-days before receiving another prescription from a different doctor for Hydrocodone,...

The City of Manchester has received HOME grant funds in the amount of $500,000 dollars from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency. These funds are for rehabilitating owner-occupied homes within the corporate limits of the City of Manchester.  The funds will be used to bring homes to code. Eligible applicants must be low-income, show proof of ownership (warranty deed, 99 year lease, life estate), have lived in the home for at least one year, and be current on all property taxes. Proof of income is required. Mobile homes are not eligible. No rental property or multi-family units are eligible. Applicants will receive points in the...

Tennessee’s unemployment rate for the month of September was 5.7 percent, unchanged from the August rate. That’s according to Tennessee Labor Commissioner Burns Phillips. The U.S. preliminary rate for September was 5.1 percent, unchanged from the prior month. Tennessee’s unemployment rate remained at 5.7 percent for the fourth consecutive month. Over the past year, Tennessee’s unemployment rate decreased from 6.6 to 5.7 percent while the national rate declined from 5.9 to...