Latest Headlines
Statewide Helplines set up for Patients affected by Arrests of Doctors and Nurses
Tennessee is activating substance abuse resources and statewide call lines to help patients affected by the arrests of doctors and nurses in a crackdown on prescription opioid abuse. Indictments were unsealed last week charging more than 30 medical professionals in Tennessee with illegally prescribing and distributing millions of painkillers. A federal grand jury indicted Dr. Harrison Yang, 75, of Manchester, Tennessee, with healthcare fraud violations. In a sperate case, Nurse Practitioner Jonathan White, 49, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, was indicted on three counts of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. According to a news release,...
State Road Improvement Plan Includes Coffee County Highway
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is planning several major road improvements throughout the state. On Thursday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Clay Bright released TDOT’s annual three-year transportation program, featuring approximately $2.1 billion in infrastructure investments for 139 individual project phases. The program provides support for Gov. Lee’s first Executive Order by funding work on 86 highway and bridge projects in economically distressed and at-risk counties. One project in Coffee County will be State Route-2 US-41 (Hillsboro Hwy.) From Joe Hickerson Road to AEDC right of way...
State Unemployment Holds Steady in March
Tennessee’s statewide unemployment rate for March 2019 remains at the historic low of 3.2 percent according to the latest statistics released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. March is the second consecutive month the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate sits at the all-time low. When compared to March 2018, unemployment in Tennessee is down by 0.4 of a percentage point. Tennessee reached its previous record low unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in October 2018, and it remained at that level for four consecutive months. The state began tracking unemployment rates in 1976. Nationally, unemployment also remains...
Big Payback’s Sixth Annual, 24-hour Online Giving Day is May 2
A record number of area nonprofits are busy preparing in a big way for The Big Payback’s sixth annual, 24-hour online giving day. A total of 964 Middle Tennessee nonprofits — including schools and religious institutions — from 35 counties will be participating in The Big Payback, an initiative of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, on Thursday, May 2. The record total includes 118 organizations representing 23 counties that will be participating in The Big Payback for the first time. Categories include human services, education, community improvement, arts and culture, youth development, animal welfare, health, housing and shelter,...
Coffee County Government Meetings WEEK OF APRIL 22, 2019
MEETINGS THE WEEK OF APRIL 22, 2019 Tuesday, April 23 5:00 p.m. – Health, Welfare & Recreation...
Possible Murder-Suicide in Grundy County
On Wednesday afternoon Grundy County deputies responded to a home on Flat Branch Road, in Tracy City, Tennessee where two people were reportedly dead inside the house. Sheriff Clint Shrum said that 62-year-old Renee Oliver and 64-year-old Richard Oliver were found deceased. At this time the sheriff said it appears to be a murder-suicide, Shrum says they believe Richard shot Renee multiple times, before killing himself. The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office is working to uncover what lead to the incident that took...
2020 Census Jobs Available
The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting thousands of workers for temporary jobs available nationwide in advance of the 2020 Census. With more than a thousand positions available in the Middle Tennessee area. Recruiters for the Census Bureau will be onsite in Bedford County today (April 19) at a multi-vendor Job fair. The job fair will be located at 220 Tulip Road in Shelbyville, TN. Applicants can also go to 2020census.gov/jobs to apply for many positions open in Tennessee. By visiting the website applicants have the opportunity to apply for a range of positions, including recruiting assistants, office operations supervisors,...
TN Bill Adds New Challenges to Voter Registration Drives
The Tennessee House has passed a bill that aims to clamp down on voter-registration drives. House Bill 1079, sponsored by Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, would fine civic groups organizing voter-registration drives upwards of $10,000 for submitting large numbers of inaccurate or insufficient voter registration forms. Advocacy groups and even individuals could be faced with criminal misdemeanor charges. Charlane Oliver, co-founder and president of the Nashville-based Equity Alliance, said she thinks the penalties outlined in the bill are unnecessarily harsh. “How do you determine intent, when someone is providing you a form, that you don’t know whether the information is...
