Over 1 million Tennesseans have cast ballots during early voting. State election officials said the tally of votes cast through Monday for the Nov. 6 general election topped 1 million. That’s about 14,000 more ballots than were cast in the same period in the 2008 presidential election. Secretary of State Tre Hargett said early voting turnout is outpacing comparable elections. In 2008, about 58% of all votes occurred during the early period. Tennessee’s in-person early voting ends tomorrow. In Coffee County over 9,000 people have voted early as of...

A Bedford County man running for city council was charged with forging signatures of registered voters on his qualifying petition to get his name on the ballot. A grand jury in Bedford County last week indicted Jimmy Neal Anderton, 44, with false entries on a registration or election document and he has been barred from seeking the position on the council. The Shelbyville Times-Gazette reported that Detective Sgt. Brian Crews said Anderton admitted to forging 14 signatures of registered voters on the city council ballot petition, which requires 25 valid signatures. Crews said Anderton said he basically ran out...

State investigators are probing an officer-involved shooting in Grundy County. The incident happened Monday afternoon in Palmer, while deputies were attempting to serve a warrant on a man for escape, according Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials. According to TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm, Russell Smith was shot twice by two Grundy County sheriff’s deputies after he fled on an all-terrain vehicle and reportedly pointed a weapon at officers in pursuit. The shooting happened around 2 p.m. on Ivey Street in Palmer. Three other unnamed persons also were charged for “assisting the escape,” she said. Grundy County Sheriff’s Office officials said...

Students in the children’s drama class at Motlow College are practicing their roles for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which will open on Thursday, Nov. 1 in Eoff Hall on Motlow’s Moore County campus, according to director Debbie Zimmerman, an associate professor of communications and chairman of Motlow’s Humanities Department. Performances for the public and area school children are scheduled for 10:45 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 7 p.m. on Nov. 1, and 9 and 10:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, 7, 8 and 9. A reception, open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. on Nov....

A College Street Elementary School teacher Gary Wilson Hawkins, 32, was booked into the Coffee County Jail on charges of child abuse Friday night. Hawkins turned himself into the jail Friday with his attorney present. He is now free on $25,000 bond. A witness came forward to authorities and described excessive bruises on Hawkins’ 12-year-old daughter’s back and buttocks area, according to Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves. According the arrest warrant, the child suffered small abrasions on her buttocks, back, rear thigh, arms and hands. “The bruising was still apparent approximately 20 hours after the alleged incident,” the warrant...

A 19-year-old Manchester man was flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga after being involved in a single vehicle crash Monday around 12:30 p.m. on Cat Creek Road in Manchester. According to Tennessee Highway Patrolman Carl Seagroves, Michael Christopher Campbell, 19, of Archery Lane was driving his 1990 Nissan 300 easterly on Cat Creek too fast for the roadway and lost control and hit a tree. The crash partially ejected Campbell. Members of the Manchester Fire Department and personnel from the ambulance service removed him and he was flown to the Chattanooga hospital for...

It was a bittersweet night Friday for the family of Megan Sharpton, the nursing student that was murdered in July. Sharpton’s friends and classmates accepted their nursing degrees at the Highland Hills Church of Christ in Tullahoma. Kelly Sharpton, Megan’s mother stated that Megan worked hard for this. She wanted this, she wanted to be a nurse and she was on her way before her life was stolen. Sharpton’s burned and beaten body was found in a Franklin County field July 2. Her mother, who accepted Megan’s diploma Friday, said her daughter’s loss affects more than just her...

A Warren County mother who pleaded guilty to beating her handicapped 6-year-old son with a belt has been sentenced to 90 days in jail. According to the Southern Standard, Lara Almeda Stevens, 28, entered guilty pleas this week on charges of misdemeanor child abuse and violating her probation on a previous domestic assault charge. Judge Bart Stanley ordered Stevens to serve 90 days of an 11 month, 29 day sentence with the balance to be spent on probation. According to police, Stevens faced charges for beating her 6-year-old and her 11-year-old sons. In police warrants against Stevens, investigators said...