Record-setting temperatures and widespread drought are spelling disaster for the 2012 corn crop in Tennessee, and officials say there’s little chance of enough rain the rest of the summer to even raise hopes for a rebound. Despite recent rains, Tennessee agriculture officials say farmers will lose about half of their corn yield this season — a crop typically valued at $280 million to $300 million a year. The loss will have an effect felt all the way to grocery store cash registers. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows most of East Tennessee ranges from “normal” to “abnormally dry” conditions, while...

If the county budget approved by the Coffee County Budget and Finance Committee is approved by the full county commission next week, there will not be a tax increase in the coming year. The new budget calls for the ambulance service to have a separate funding in the budget. At the beginning of the budget hearings, the director of the ambulance service presented a list that showed the overtime for the ambulance service in the coming year will be just above $644,000. Director John Cathey stated that the ambulance service is considering charging $67 for special events. Representatives of...

Aerospace Testing Alliance put out a call this week seeking employees interested in voluntarily giving up their positions. The lead contractor at Arnold Air Force Base announced the request for a voluntary reduction in workforce. Applications were sent to employees on Thursday afternoon, and submissions from interested parties will be accepted starting on July 23. Although similar requests in the past have been targeted at specific departments or projects, ATA Public Affairs official say this time, the necessary paperwork will be provided to employees throughout the company. Interested workers will have until Aug. 10 to submit the forms and...

The family of murder victim Megan Sharpton has gained some additional support in trying to locate the people involved in the murder. CNN’s Nancy Grace is scheduled to talk about the murder on Monday. In the meantime investigators from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department continue to gather evidence and talk with individuals about the murder of the young nursing student. The family says that they have collected several donations and they have two anonymous donors who plan to each donate...

State officials are warning about a scam in which perpetrators offer to arrange payments of consumers’ utility bills. The Tennessee Regulatory Authority says scammers ask for Social Security numbers or other personal information. The scammers, in exchange, provide phony bank account numbers and bank routing numbers they say would be used to pay bills online. Officials say the perpetrators tell people it’s a special federal program to pay such bills. The bogus information is being disseminated through social media, email, text messages and in-person solicitations. TRA chairman Kenneth Hill described the scammers as “bad actors in the...

Tennessee’s unemployment rate rose 0.2 percent in June to 8.1 percent. Karla Davis, commissioner of Labor & Workforce Development, said Thursday the June figure was the highest since January. But it was substantially below the 9.4 percent in June a year ago. Government and educational services combined declined by 17,400 jobs. After seasonal adjustments, total jobs (excluding agriculture) decreased by 12,100. The national jobless rate for June was 8.2 percent. Tennessee has been below the national figure for six...

Tullahoma City Schools is moving toward having electronic textbooks in use on limited basis during the upcoming school year with plans to have the most of the student body fully on line by 2014. Director of schools Dr. Dan Lawson says the electronic textbooks will allow more convenient and better access to the Common Core educational material. The cost will be about $900,000. Lawson said the system can fund the purchases with the $300,000 annually it would normally spend on hardcover textbooks. Lawson said the electronic textbooks can have their educational material tailored to local level issues which would...

Wednesday afternoon around 4:15pm, a local woman said her accelerator hung causing her to hit another car and then the large Marathon sign at the corner of Ragsdale Road and McMinnville Hwy. The woman driver was transported to Medical Center of Manchester complaining of leg pain. The woman in the other vehicle was not hurt. Manchester Police Department was in charge of the...