Latest Headlines
Two Grundy County Men Convicted for Several Pharmacy Burglaries
Two more men from Grundy County involved in a conspiracy to burglarize numerous pharmacies throughout the southeast United States, including Sav-Rite Pharmacy and Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy in Corbin, Kentucky, were sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in London, Kentucky. Randy Stiefel and Jamie Sweeton pleaded guilty to their respective parts in the conspiracy. At Tuesday’s hearing prosecutors recommended that Stiefel receive a five-year prison sentence. Sweeton was sentenced to 108 months followed by three years of supervised release. Stolen pills from the burglaries would then be sold primarily in central Tennessee. Co-defendants: Robert Nunley from Tracy City TN,...
TN Officials Give Tips to Prevent Holiday Fires
While live Christmas trees make people’s homes look and smell festive this time of year, they must also be handled with care. Baylie Scott, assistant director of communications and marketing for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, says this year’s early Thanksgiving could be contributing to extra fire danger – because Christmas trees are being enjoyed longer in many homes. That means they’re drying out faster. “Usually people put up their Christmas trees directly after Thanksgiving, which means they are up longer this year than they normally are,” she points out. “So, we want to remind consumers that...
Comptroller’s Office Releases Audit of Tennessee Department of Education
The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has released a performance audit of the Tennessee Department of Education detailing many of the problems that led up to the difficulties in executing the spring 2018 TN Ready tests. The online student assessment tests were plagued with numerous issues including login delays, slow servers, and software bugs. The audit’s findings included the department’s lack of sufficient, detailed information on its work plan with Questar rendered it less effective as a monitoring tool to ensure Questar met all deadlines. Questar’s decision to make an unauthorized change to text-to-speech software contributed to the online testing disruptions....
Sportsmen & Businessmen’s Charitable Organization Donates Money to Education Programs
The Sportsmen & Businessmen’s Charitable Organization (SBCO) has awarded over $10,000 to local educators across Coffee County, Manchester City, and Tullahoma City Schools through its Educational Enrichment Grant opportunity. SBCO’s Educational Enrichment Grant encourages local educators to submit innovative, outside-the -box opportunities for their students and schools that may encompass STEM, literacy, physical activity, social/emotional, to fine arts or career readiness. “This year’s selected recipients, through a highly competitive grant application cycle, represents our continued interest in and support of the outstanding work educators do for their students and our community,” said Carter Sain, SBCO President. This year’s grant...
Manchester Man Facing Serious Charges in West Virginia
The Cabell County Sheriff’s Office in Huntington, W.Va. says a Manchester, TN man is facing charges following a stabbing earlier this week. Jeffrey Meadows, 56, of Manchester, TN was charged with malicious assault and domestic battery, according to jail records. Sheriff Chuck Zerkle said the stabbing happened about 2 a.m. Tuesday at a home on Hughes Branch Road in Huntington. Zerkle said Meadows was staying with the victim, Lowell Ward, 53, of Huntington, when the two got into an argument. Zerkle said Ward was stabbed multiple times and was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center. His injuries are considered...
Christmas Theives Hit Tennessee Hard
Tennessee has made a new top 10 list, but this isn’t one we necessarily want to be on. According to the study, the Volunteer State is ranked No. 8 in the country for most holiday thefts. The study tallied the number of thefts committed in each state between Nov. 1 and Jan. 30 over the past five years. The numbers were obtained from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which is maintained by the FBI. Researchers then divided the tallies by each state’s estimated 2012 population to find the holiday theft rate per capita. According to the study, Tennessee had...
Top Doc Taking Aim at Electronic Cigarettes
The government’s top doctor is taking aim at the best-selling electronic cigarette brands in the U.S., urging swift action to prevent them from addicting millions of teenagers. In an advisory Tuesday, Surgeon General Jerome Adams said parents, teachers, health professionals, and government officials must take “aggressive steps” to keep children from using e-cigarettes. Federal law bars the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18. Federal officials are scrambling to reverse a recent explosion in teen vaping that public health officials fear could undermine decades of declines in tobacco use. An estimated 3.6 million U.S. teens are now using e-cigarettes,...
Economic growth in Tennessee Predicted to Slow
Economic growth in Tennessee will continue yet begin to lose momentum in 2019, according to a new report by the University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research. The report is signaling a potential slow-down in the near future, pointing to changes in labor markets and rising interest rates. The Tennessee economy grew by 2.7 percent in 2018 but is expected to slow to 1.9 percent growth in the next two years. Economist Matthew Murray, associate director and project director for the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, said this shift should have little impact on...
