During a grant reception held at the Bridgestone Arena on May 2nd, Taylor Rayfield, Coordinator of Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center was presented with a $4,000 check from the Nashville Predators Foundation. “We extend our sincerest gratitude to the Predators Foundation for selecting us as one of this year’s recipients, and are honored to be among top-notch organizations statewide that go above and beyond to meet the needs of children and their families,” said Rayfield. Coffee County Schools Family Resource Center was one of 150 grant recipients for the 2019 year with an overall total of $675,962 distributed....

Boosted by a record number of participating area nonprofits, The Big Payback’s sixth annual 24-hour online giving event Thursday helped raise a record amount of funds for the organizations. In the Fifth Third Bank’s Big Reveal last week, the preliminary final amount totaling $4,106,182 came from 28,458 total gifts. The total includes funds raised and prize totals. In its six-year history, The Big Payback has helped hundreds and hundreds of area nonprofits raise $16,606,182 in cumulative donations. The event’s previous one-year record total was 2018 at $3,163,463. A record 964 Middle Tennessee nonprofits — including schools and religious institutions...

The new Motlow State Automation and Robotics Training Center (ARTC) in McMinnville will be on full display at an open house May 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tours of the state-of-the art facility will be given, and the public is invited. The ARTC, celebrated at a grand opening event on April 26, is located adjacent to the Motlow McMinnville campus on 4.5 acres of land donated by the Warren County Commission. The facility is the first of its kind in Tennessee and is designed to support the specialized needs of business and industry, providing training for the...

On Wednesday morning, (May 1, 2019) at approximately 1:30 AM an unknown individual entered Manchester Tobacco and Beverage on the Hillsboro Blvd beside First National Bank and stole an undisclosed amount of money. This subject also filled a bag with cartons of cigarettes and packages of smokeless tobacco. The subject appears to be a male that is approximately 5ft 10inches and weighs around 130-170 pounds. The male subject was wearing a dark green Under Armour hoodie, with a yellow bandana around his face and gray gloves. Manchester Police reports that the subject exited the business and walked down Buck...

At a recent Coffee County Board of Education work session meeting, the board voted 4-2 to give county teachers a raise of 1 percent over step raises. Gary Nester and Chairman Brett Henley voted no. Henley said, “I’m all about giving raises but not raises with money we don’t have on paper.” This plan would reduce the fund balance by just over $1 million. The district business manager said that if all the money that is expected to come into the county, does come in, there should be no reduction in the fund balance but did acknowledge that there...