Big Smo is coming to Tullahoma. The man from Bedford County who took the country by storm last year with his hit TV show on A&E will be performing live in September at the 41-A Music and Arts Festival. The always fun event will be held September 25 & 26 in downtown Tullahoma with profits from the event going to local children’s charities. Big Smo, a self-proclaimed ‘hick-hop’ artist, mixes country, hip-hop, rock, and pop into his own kind of music. Kicking off the Saturday night lineup will be local southern alternative group, The Stagger Moon Band. Friday will...

70,000 gun enthusiasts are descending on Nashville this week for the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting. Members won’t be hearing from one prominent Tennessean: Republican Gov. Bill Haslam. NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker commended the governor’s office for helping bring the convention to Tennessee. But she said the NRA was unable to accommodate a speaking role for Haslam at the Friday opening of the event that will feature several potential Republican presidential candidates. “It is a very lengthy program, and we’re trying to accommodate the 2016 candidates,” she said. “So unfortunately there wasn’t time to include everyone.” The speakers Friday...

Gov. Bill Haslam will travel across the state this week to highlight an initiative for adults to attend a Tennessee college of applied technology free of tuition and fees. Tennessee Reconnect is a last-dollar scholarship program that was part of Haslam’s Tennessee Promise legislation passed last year. It also ties in with Haslam’s “Drive to 55″ campaign to improve the state’s graduation rates from the current 32 percent to 55 percent by 2025 in order to help improve overall job qualifications and attract employers to the state. There are 27 colleges of applied technology in the state. Go to...

An accident on Blanton Chapel Road in Coffee County early Saturday morning took the life of a Manchester woman. In a report by Tennessee Highway Patrolman Harrison Fisher, a 2000 Ford Expedition driven by 23 year-old Whitney C Austin of Eagleville ran off the left side of the roadway and struck a tree. Passenger Nettie R Austin age 45 of Manchester was pronounced deceased on the scene. After a test was given, Trooper Fisher’s report showed alcohol was in use by the driver, Austin. Criminal charges are...

A one vehicle crash late Friday night on Normandy Road at Ralph Broadwick Rd injured two people. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, 25 year-old Felicia McGee of Wartrace, TN was driving a 2008 Chevy Equinox and lost control of the vehicle and exited the roadway and struck a tree. McGee was injured and taken via ambulance to Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma. Passenger 27 year-old Sara Norman was also injured and was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. According to the THP report, a toxicology test was given and showed that the driver, McGee had been...

A 9-year-old special needs child from Shelbyville continues to recover from injuries allegedly inflicted by a caregiver. Maurice and Rochelle Clayton were first charged in the case. Maurice with failure to report child abuse and filing a false report. Rochelle was facing one charge of aggravated child abuse. The District Attorney has now added two more aggravated child abuse charges to Rochelle and three aggravated child abuse charges to Maurice. Three other children in the Tanner Circle home, ages 14, 8 years, and 8 months, were not abused, according to investigators. Rochelle age 38, was being held on $116,000...

Nearly half of the children on the autism spectrum are believed to engage in wandering, a behavior that can end in tragedy. The U.S. Senate is considering a bill known as Avonte’s Law, which would provide funding for police departments to purchase equipment that can help locate people with autism who go missing. Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association, says those with autism typically wander to something of interest, or they flee an overwhelming environment. “Noises, lights and people and hearing five different conversations at the same time,” she points out. “That kind of stuff can be...

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Tennessee on Thursday following February’s ice and snowstorms that slammed the southern and eastern portions of the state. The President ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the severe storm and flooding. The funding is available to state, eligible local governments, and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities. Counties that get the funding are Anderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Campbell, Clay, Coffee, Cumberland, Fentress, Giles, Grainger, Grundy, Hamblen, Hancock, Hardeman, Jefferson, Knox, Lawrence, Loudon, Marshall, McMinn,...