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Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Filing Deadline is Friday Feb. 1
The TN Promise Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) filing deadline is quickly approaching. Friday, Feb. 1 is the final day for both TN Promise high school and college students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to retain scholarship eligibility. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a federal application, is the primary financial aid application that any student enrolling in post-secondary must complete in order to determine state and federal scholarship and grant qualifications. Students and families are encouraged to complete the 2019-2020 application as soon as possible. The Free Application for Federal Student...
Opioid Epidemic Costing Addicted Tennesseans Millions in Lost Personal Income
The opioid epidemic is costing the economy in Tennessee hundreds of millions of dollars every year in lost personal income. A new report from the University of Tennessee Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research details the impact drug addiction is having on the labor market in our state. The report from UT economists’ estimates that if just 10% of people addicted to opioids got clean, it would increase the labor force in the state by about one percentage point. That would lead to an additional $825 million in personal income in Tennessee. The study has already been used...
Bricken Named Vice-Chairman of State House Consumer & Human Resources Committee
Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Thompson’s Station) has named State Representative Rush Bricken (R-Tullahoma) Vice-Chairman of the House Consumer & Human Resources Committee. This is an honor rarely bestowed upon first-year lawmakers. The 12-person committee will be responsible for all consumer and human resource-related issues, as well as matters pertaining to Tennessee’s workforce. “We are fortunate to have an extremely gifted freshman class, and Representative Bricken has already emerged as one of its leaders,” said Speaker Casada. “I am excited about the new energy and ideas he will bring to this important committee, and our General Assembly, and I...
Coffee Co. District Attorney Recusing Himself from Tullahoma Police Chief Investigation
Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott told WMSR News last week that he has asked to recuse himself from deciding the outcome of a TBI investigation into the Tullahoma Police Department launched in December. In December, at Northcott’s request, TBI agents began investigating a complaint regarding the police department’s handling of the investigation of a November motor vehicle crash involving Chief Paul Blackwell’s son, Jonathan Paul Blackwell. Northcott told WMSR that he has asked for a pro tem prosecutor to be assigned to review the findings of the investigation and decide what appropriate action should be taken, if any...
Unemployment Rate Drops in Coffee and Surrounding Counties
More than three-quarters of Tennessee’s 95 counties experienced a drop in unemployment during the month of December, according to data released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. 76 counties saw a decrease in unemployment, 16 counties saw increases and three counties remained the same. Coffee County went from 3.3 in November to 2.9 percent in December. This according to our records ties the lowest rate in the county’s history. 2.9 percent ties April and October of last year for the all-time low rate. Warren County’s unemployment rate for December was 3.6 percent, which is down from...
Former Decherd City Employee Pleads Guilty to Theft Charge–Business Owner Must Pay Restitution
A former City of Decherd employee, James Wesley Parks, 35, of Winchester recently pleaded guilty to a charge of facilitation of theft between $60,000-$250,000, according to Franklin County Circuit Court records. Parks will serve 11 months, 29 days in jail with 100 public service hours. He will also serve 3 years, 6 months’ probation running consecutive with other cases. Also charged in the case was a Decherd business owner, Jeffery Jerome Frame, who earlier in the month had a charge for theft of property between $60,000 and $250,000 dismissed on the condition that he pay restitution. The charge stems...
Judge Releases Tennessee’s Medicaid program from 2014 Injunction
A federal judge has released Tennessee’s Medicaid program from a 2014 injunction requiring TennCare to hold hearings for people whose applications aren’t processed promptly. Applicants sued the state soon after the rollout of the Affordable Care Act in October 2013. They claimed thousands were left in indefinite limbo because a new computer system designed to help process applications wasn’t functional. By law, applications for most forms of Medicaid should be processed within 45 days. Applications based on disability are allowed 90 days. In a ruling last week, U.S. District Judge William Campbell Jr. noted Tennessee’s computer system is still...
Boy Scout Troop 314 Conducting Food Drive on Feb. 16
As part of a nationwide service project, your local Boy Scout Troop 314 in Manchester, has teamed up to collect food on Saturday, February 16th. Scouts will be canvasing local neighborhoods by going door to door collecting can goods. Food donations will be distribute to two local agencies of Second Harvest Food Bank right here in Coffee County, so you know that your contributions are helping families right here in the Manchester area. Help this cause if you...
