Retail gas prices moved lower last week and are expected to do the same again this week. Southeast gas prices are about 15 cents more than they were this time last year and it’s likely prices will reach year-ago levels if this decline continues as expected. The debt crisis in Europe continues to plague demand numbers overseas and caused the value of the euro to drop which often leads to lower oil prices. In addition, U.S. oil stockpiles jumped to a two-month high and output is at its highest level in 17 years, according to the Energy Department. At...

A recent audit of Tennessee’s parole and probation system found officers failed to properly supervise sex offenders, sometimes allowing them access to children. The Tennessean reports the state monitors about 800 felons by GPS. Most of them are sex offenders. However, auditors found that parole and probation officers were ignoring many of the alerts they received when sex offenders enter a prohibited area, such as a school zone. Only about 18 percent of the alerts were checked out. Auditors also found that officers missed home visits in nearly 40 percent of the cases they audited. They didn’t make sex...

A recent Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) study explored the payoff of higher education in Tennessee and concluded that higher education pays, said Dr. MaryLou Apple, Motlow College president. Apple said a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce predicts that by 2018, 54 percent of jobs in Tennessee will require education beyond high school, and in some states that percentage is as high as 70 percent. “The report also states that by 2018, Tennessee will have 967,000 job vacancies, and that 516,000 of those jobs will require post-secondary credentials,” she said. “We must have...

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announced recently 50 grants to go out across the state, including a $175,000 matching grant to go to Manchester to develop soccer fields at the recently purchased Manchester Sports Park. The grant is a 50-50 match, meaning Manchester needed to come up with $175,000 for the application process. But the cash is coming from Park Partners, a local nonprofit, and the Coffee County Youth Soccer League – not the City of Manchester. Park Partners is putting up $120,000 towards the match and the soccer league is putting up $5,000. The other $50,000...

Tullahoma Police are investigating the burning of an office trailer that was parked at a local business. According to a report by Officer Jim Tate, Wednesday morning Wallace Baker arrived at his business Baker Auto Sales located at the corner of Anderson Street and East Carroll and found that a temporary office trailer had been set fire. According to the officer’s report, the insulation had been burned off of the bottom of the trailer. The damage was listed at $1,500. Baker told the officer that the office trailer was parked at the south end of his car lot waiting...

A Warren County High School senior was killed in a single-vehicle crash Thursday night on Highway 30 just east of McMinnville. According to a report in the Southern Standard, the crash happened around 11:45 p.m. near the Shellsford Road intersection. The Tennessee Highway Patrol said Caitlyn Talley, 17, was a back-seat passenger in a four-door Chevy pickup truck. The driver of the truck, 23-year-old Cory Tate, reportedly failed to negotiate a curve and ran off the road. The pickup struck several trees and flipped. Talley was ejected and died at the scene. Tate and his younger brother, 20-year-old Dakota...

National Democratic groups have begun to target a Tennessee race rocked by revelations that the Republican incumbent, a doctor, once discussed abortion with a patient who was his mistress. The House Majority PAC, the campaign committee associated with House Democratic leaders, on Friday announced it is spending $100,000 on TV ads criticizing Rep. Scott DesJarlais. Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added DesJarlais’ challenger, state Sen. Eric Stewart, to its “Red to Blue” list of 55 candidates to receive campaign cash, though it didn’t say how much. DesJarlais, a physician from southeastern Tennessee, doesn’t dispute the contents of...

A request for a grant that would build the first phase of an access road from Ledford Mill Road to Tullahoma Regional Airport’s northwest section, where an industrial/airpark is being developed, should be in the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s hands soon. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously have given gave the go-ahead to make the request. Daryl Brady, Tullahoma Area Economic Development Corp. executive director, told the board that the information has been forwarded to the South Central Tennessee Development District, which specializes in grant applications, and will be sent on to TDOT to be considered. Brady said...