Gov. Bill Haslam has signed his wide-ranging proposal that increases Tennessee’s gas tax to fund roadwork and cuts other taxes. On Wednesday, the governor signed the bill that includes Tennessee’s first gas tax increase since 1989. The changes take effect July 1. Both chambers passed the bill last week. In a final vote Monday, the House agreed to include disabled veterans property tax relief and sent the bill to Haslam’s desk. The bill also cuts sales tax on groceries, corporate taxes on manufacturers and tax on earnings from stocks and bonds. The gas and diesel tax increases are phased...

A Tullahoma High School senior could become the youngest person ever elected to serve on the city’s board of alderman. 18 year-old Michael Celiberti earlier this week was able to talk the current aldermen and mayor to vote to change the city’s charter, lowering the minimum age to run for office from 21 to 18. The charter amendment still has to go before the state legislature before Celiberti can be on the ballot. The Tullahoma election is Aug....

Al White Motors and WMSR (Thunder Radio) are teaming up to honor those who serve that thin blue line, our local law enforcement. Each month someone in law enforcement will be honored as a Hometown Hero. Our hero this month is Coffee County Deputy Larry McKelvey. He has been a corrections officer with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department since 3/17/16. In October, 2016 Larry became a Canine Officer in the jail when the department acquired K-9 Yoshi. He and Yoshi were trained in drug search, apprehension and tracking. Yoshi is level 2 patrol certified. Deputy McKelvey donated his time...

Elk River Public Utilities District (ERPUD) will begin a rate increase beginning May 1. The customer charge, is a flat fee that helps pay for the infrastructure costs of delivering gas safely to customers and is not based on usage. A rate increase implemented last year to bolster Elk River Public Utility District (ERPUD) against a potential budget shortfall in FY2017 proved to be too little to protect the company from flagging sales due to warm temperatures and the loss of two of its biggest customers, according to ERPUD officials. Since the July 1, 2016 start of the fiscal...

The Tennessee attorney general’s office says it would defend an amended abortion bill in court if it becomes law, despite previously calling its key requirements “constitutionally suspect.” Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s spokesman says “the law to some degree is unsettled” surrounding the legislation, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks if doctors determine the fetus is viable. It wouldn’t apply in medical emergencies or if the mother faced serious risks. The bill is in a House committee and could receive a Senate floor vote this week. Previously, Slatery’s opinion said the bill impermissibly criminally punishes doctors using “good faith...

The Tennessee Legislature has passed a measure that allows students to take American Sign Language and get credit for their foreign language requirements. Sen. Becky Massey, a Republican from Knoxville who sponsored the Senate Bill, said Tennessee passed a law allowing kids to take ASL for credit back in the early ’90s. But Massey said lawmakers never made sure it got implemented. She said the new bill assures that it will. Massey said there are approximately 500,000 Tennesseans who are deaf or hard of hearing and many use ASL to communicate. The bill still has to be signed by...