What’s next when it comes to the financially struggling Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center? Stan Teal, a member of the Public Building Authority (PBA), has requested the Coffee County government start charging a hotel-motel tax within the city limits of Manchester and use the money collected to fund the conference center. The city already implements a hotel-motel tax. The center was built in 2002 for $3.5 million dollars with around $1.5 million still owed. Over the last four years alone the center has lost $1.5 million. State law prohibits the county from levying a hotel-motel tax in cities. Teal recently...

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate the death of a Bedford County inmate that occurred on New Year’s Eve. Other inmates reported to jail personnel that the man identified as Juan Carlos Mendoza had stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. Sheriff Austin Swing says that the TBI was called to investigate the death, which is standard procedure. No foul play is suspected in the 32 year-old Shelbyville man’s death. An autopsy is being...

The Tennessee Department of Health Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner has received $1.4 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to gather critical data on homicide, suicide and other violent deaths. Tennessee is one of ten states to receive new funding to use the National Violent Death Reporting System, which will provide NVDRS with state-level data on violent deaths from all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The National Violent Death Reporting System helps state and local officials understand where, when, why and how violent deaths occur by linking data from the...

As 2019 begins, a new Tennessee law will create a statewide program to identify causes of suicides and work to prevent suicide deaths. But legislative action has already begun to continue to raise awareness of the growing problem for the upcoming session. Representative Rick Staples has filed a resolution recognizing teen suicide as a “crisis” across the state. The rate of people taking their own lives has increased every year for the past three, up to 1,163 in 2017. Staples said the new 2019 law will help quantify the causes behind people taking their own lives. He says raising...

A new law being proposed for Tennesseans would allow sports betting. The “Tennessee Sports Gaming Act” would allow local governments to decide whether or not to allow sports betting. According to the bill’s sponsor, state representative Rick Staples, the intent of the bill is to allow local governments to have a new form of income. He said the state is losing billions of dollars to other states. A new federal law would allow sports gambling in the state if state leaders approve “Tennessee Sports Gaming Act.” The hope is that this will help smaller municipalities. Some leaders say local...

Bonnaroo is June 13-16, 2019, but next Tuesday Jan. 8 we will learn the list of entertainers that will hit the stages at the 18th annual music festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The lineup will be announced on January 8th, and tickets will go on sale two days later on the 10th starting at Noon. According to Bonnaroo’s website organizers are once again allowing tickets to be paid in installments, starting with a $47 down payment for a tier 3 ticket in January, followed by $84 payments each month through May. Installments can also be made for VIP and Platinum...