Three years ago, Rep. Joe Towns failed to make Tennessee the first state to fine teenagers for wearing saggy britches. Now the Memphis Democrat has a more comprehensive measure to prohibit “risque dressing” in schools – and its chances of passage are looking good. The proposal is headed for a House floor vote and is moving steadily in the Senate. It seeks to prohibit students from exposing “underwear or body parts in an indecent manner that disrupts the learning environment.” In addition to boys not sagging their pants, female student athletes would have to wear shirts over sports bras...

Top managers at the Tennessee Valley Authority now make more than members of Congress, who are paid $174,000 annually. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports TVA is paying out nearly $30 million a year more for 155 of its top leaders since Congress removed salary limits at the federal utility in 2004. Former TVA Director Skila Harris said the changes have helped the utility hire qualified workers, plant managers, technicians, and executives. Harris says it would be “nearly impossible” to find skilled candidates if TVA was required to have a pay scale lower than other utilities. When TVA was...

The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that would allow coaches and teachers to worship on school grounds. Senator Jim Summerville, Republican from Dickson, says his bill to OK teachers worshipping with students probably doesn’t break any new ground. The current bill would now allow teachers to meet with students in events like a Fellowship of Christian Athletes function, but it must be held before, or after, school hours. The Senate added an amendment to the bill, so it must return to the House before it can be signed by the...

A study by the U.S. Forestry Service finds that trees in Tennessee’s urban areas provide the state with environmental benefits valued at nearly $640 million a year. According to the study’s findings, reported by Nashville Public Radio, shade trees save the state about $66 million a year. That’s mostly savings in heating and cooling expenses as the trees protect rooftops from the summer sun and block cold winds in winter. The state’s urban trees also store and remove from the air more than $570 million worth of pollutants each year. The study is meant to set a baseline for...

  The trial of Thomas Greenwood got underway in a rare Saturday court session in Coffee County Circuit Court. Greenwood is accused of killing his former girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, Hayden Gage West at a residence on Circle Drive in Tullahoma in March 2010. He told investigators that he suffered a seizure, which caused the child to hit his head on a bed rail, but investigators disagree saying that that wasn’t the case. The state medical examiner determined that the child died of multiple injuries, which resulted in a homicide. Greenwood has been held in the Coffee County Jail since...

An old time crime has surfaced in Coffee County in recent weeks. According to investigators with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, thieves recently made off with 44 cows from a farm in the Summitville area. According to Max Thomas, the chief Investigator for the agriculture department, the thieves loaded the cattle up from the field where they had been grazing and did something with them. Thomas did not identify the farm that the cows were taken from as he and his investigators are continuing to follow up on leads in connection with the case. Thomas explained that farmers are...

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Investigators along with State Bomb and Arson Investigators have charged a 63 year old Decherd man on 2 counts of conspiracy to commit arson, two counts of solicitation arson and driving on revoke license after his arrest Friday. . According to Investigator Todd Hindman, Edwin Nelson Nunley of Decherd was allegedly attempted to hire someone to burn his house and detached garage in Knoxville. Sheriff’s Office and State Bomb and Arson investigators then conducted an undercover operation and monitored Nunley offering money to an undercover agent to burn the house and detached garage in Knoxville....

Foreclosure activity surged last month across about half of the nation’s states, including Tennessee and Coffee County, as banks tackled a backlog of homes with mortgages that had gone unpaid yet remained in limbo due to delays stemming from foreclosure-abuse claims. Coffee County’s foreclosure rates for February mirrored the national trend with 16 foreclosures occurring, compared to five during the same month a year ago. One Coffee County banker said that although an increase in foreclosures has occurred, the situation isn’t that bad here in Coffee County. The local banker said that the market here still favors buyers instead...