Tennessee Valley Authority provided a record $579 million in tax equivalent payments in fiscal year 2012 to states and local governments where it sells electricity or has power properties, and an estimated $207,000 will be going to Tullahoma. TVA pays tax equivalent payments annually in the eight states where it sells electricity or owns generating plants, transmission lines, substations and other assets and directly to 146 local governments where TVA owns power...

Join United Regional Medical Center for our first ever “Here, for You” FREE Kid’s Holiday Safety Event on Saturday December 15th from 9:30-11:30am at the Asbury Community Center. Enjoy Free… Pictures with Santa Exercising with Elves Emergency Education Holiday Nutritional Tips Games & Much...

Thousands of Social Security employees at more than 100 Social Security offices across the country and representatives from a 200-plus member organization coalition are taking to the streets today (December 5, 2012) in what the coalition is calling an effort to “save Social Security and Medicare” from extinction . A recent study by the National Council of Social Security Field Operations Locals (NCSSFOL) on the potential impact of sequestration determined that if mandated, sequestration would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to reduce its budget by 5.5 percent. As a result of those cuts, SSA would have to institute...

The Tullahoma man accused of murdering Kayla Qualls appeared in Coffee County General Sessions Court Monday morning (Dec. 3, 2012). Michael Curtis informed Judge Jere Ledsinger that he did not have an attorney. “I talked with an attorney but he isn’t here,” Curtis told the judge. The judge appointed Jess Stockwell of the Coffee County Public Defender’s Office to represent Curtis. Curtis accused of killing Qualls Monday Nov. 26 at his residence on General Street in Tullahoma and then placing her body in her SUV and driving it to an area on Spring Creek Road in Franklin County. According...

The murder trial of a Manchester man continues in Coffee County Circuit Court today (Dec. 4, 2012). Jeffrey Smithson is accused of murdering his 81-year-old aunt Virginia White in her Ingram Place Apartment in Manchester. Her body was discovered in August of last year after neighbors reported not seeing her. She was found with panty hose wrapped around her neck, blood on her face and she had what turned out to be a blow to the back of her head. Smithson has been held in the Coffee County Jail under a $1 million bond since his arrest last...

A Grundy County man facing federal charges on making child pornography was in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga Monday morning. Forty-four-year-old Jimmy Rollins was indicted last week on nine counts of child pornography production, after investigators found more than 300,000 photos and videos in his Palmer home. He’s accused of sexually exploiting at least 15 young boys from Grundy and surrounding counties. Rollins went before the judge for a detention hearing. Magistrate Judge William Carter advised Rollins should be detained based on the evidence in the case. Winchester Police Department Detective Chris Layne testified while searching Rollins’ home, investigators...

An automatic increase is giving state legislators a pay boost. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the increase of about 6.28% took effect Nov. 6 – the day of the general election. The new salary for lawmakers is $20,203 and it will remain fixed until the 108th Tennessee General Assembly ends in November 2014. A 2005 statute requires automatic increases in lawmakers’ pay every two years, based on raises given to state employees during that time. The same statute calls for the House and Senate speakers to make three times what other legislators receive. In addition, members of the legislature...

On Nov. 19, Rosemary Matty led a ribbon-cutting celebrating the success of a $3.6 million investment project to modernize and expand the capabilities of the nation’s largest military aircraft engine ground test facility, located at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex. This is the first of the Advanced Large Military Engine Capability (ALMEC) program projects to be completed. The success of this project required many organizations across the base to pull together as a team. Ultimately Advanced Large Military Engine Capability will improve and modernize key Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility (ASTF) mechanical and electrical controls, facility monitoring systems, process air...