Author: Associated Press

Zoo: Oldest African elephant in North America dies at 56

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- The Memphis Zoo says the oldest African elephant in North America has died at the age of 56. Tyranza was the longtime matriarch of the elephant herd at the Memphis Zoo. She was put on hospice…

Explosion in Memphis caused by gas leak; 7 injured

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Fire officials say a natural gas leak from a water heater caused an explosion that injured seven people in a home in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis Fire Department Lt. Wayne Cooke said four adults and three children…

7 injured in explosion at Memphis home

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say seven people have been injured in an explosion at a home in Tennessee. News outlets report the explosion was reported Thursday night at a home in north Memphis. Fire crews arrived to find the…

Jack Daniel’s master distiller stepping down after 12 years

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Jeff Arnett is stepping down as master distiller after 12 years of leading production of the Jack Daniel's whiskey brand. Jack Daniel’s is the flagship brand of Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman. The brand is sold in more…

Can you get the coronavirus twice?

(AP) -- Can you get the coronavirus twice? It seems possible, though how often it happens isn’t known. Researchers in Hong Kong recently reported evidence of a person who got the coronavirus a second time, months after an initial infection.…

‘BLM’ and ‘Defund the Police’ tagged on Memphis landmarks

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say messages of Black Lives Matter and “Defund the Police” were spray painted on several tourist attractions in Tennessee on Monday night, including Graceland, the Elvis Presley estate. The graffiti phrases were found Tuesday morning…

Judge won’t block Tennessee mail voting signature match law

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge won't block Tennessee's implementation of a law that requires verifying signatures of voters looking to cast ballots by mail. U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson late last week rejected a request for a preliminary…

Lawsuit seeks to block Tennessee abortion reversal law

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Abortion rights groups have challenged newly enacted Tennessee law that would require women undergoing drug-induced abortions be informed the procedure can be reversed. The lawsuit, filed Monday, is the second legal battle targeting a sweeping anti-abortion…

‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman dies of cancer at 43

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel movies, has died of cancer. His representative says Boseman died Friday in Los…

Teen mother Megan Boswell pleads not guilty in death of toddler

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee teenager has pleaded not guilty to felony murder and other charges in the death of her 15-month-old daughter, whose disappearance prompted a search across three states. News outlets report 19-year-old Megan Boswell wore a…

Judge orders Tennessee to mention virus on mail voting form

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A judge has ordered Tennessee election officials to clearly communicate on absentee ballot applications that people can vote by mail if they think health conditions make voting in person too risky during the coronavirus pandemic. State…

Kanye West qualifies for Tennessee presidential ballot

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's election’s office has confirmed rapper and producer Kanye West will be on the presidential ballot in November. The secretary of state’s office announced this week that West cleared the 275 verified signature threshold to qualify…

Tennessee faces lawsuit for letting counties require masks

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is facing a lawsuit over Republican Gov. Bill Lee's decision to let counties issue certain orders to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly citing their ability to require people to wear masks. The group Citizens for…

Emails show businesses held sway over state reopening plans

Records obtained by The Associated Press show that governors worked closely with business interests as they weighed when and how to reopen their economies last spring. Emails released under public-records laws highlight how governors in some cases leaned on the…

1 dead, 4 wounded during party at West TN home

SOMERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say one person was fatally shot and four others were wounded at a weekend party in West Tennessee. News outlets cited law enforcement agencies in reporting the shooting early Sunday during a party at a…

Tennessee to provide extra $300 in unemployment benefits

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee will provide an additional $300 per week in federal assistance to people who are unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it's approved Tennessee’s request for a grant to give…

Tennessee officers break down door of innocent family

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Three Tennessee police officers have been decommissioned after they broke down the door of an innocent family early Tuesday morning. Nashville police say officers used a public housing agency database to find the home of a…

Trump orders more unemployment pay, a payroll tax deferral

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump is bypassing the nation’s elected lawmakers as he claims the authority to defer payroll taxes and extend an expired unemployment benefit. Trump signed several executive orders at his New Jersey golf club on…

Marquita Bradshaw wins Tennessee Democratic Senate primary

WASHINGTON (AP) - Memphis environmentalist, Black activist and single mom Marquita Bradshaw has won the Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. In the November election, Bradshaw will face former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, who…

Bill Hagerty wins Republican Senate primary

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty rode the endorsement of President Donald Trump to victory Thursday in a contested Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. The Nashville businessman emerged from a tough…

Gov. Lee reverses decision, will now release virus data in schools

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee has reversed course by announcing that Tennessee will release data on COVID-19 in schools despite initially declaring that information would not be collected by the state. The move marks yet another concession from…

Trump fires TVA chair, cites hiring of foreign workers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, criticizing the federally owned corporation for hiring foreign workers. Trump said Monday at the White House that he was formally removing chair Skip Thompson and…

Mom jailed on false report in child death seeks release

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee teen mother jailed for giving false information in the disappearance of her infant daughter has been asking a judge to release her from prison. The remains of her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn, were found nearly…

Mail delays likely as new postal boss pushes cost-cutting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general. The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and says employees must adopt a…

Tennessee resists White House COVID-19 recommendations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — White House COVID-19 task force leader Deborah Birx says Tennessee stands at the cusp at being able to significantly decrease new coronavirus cases and must take stronger steps to prevent the virus's spread. Birx recently identified…

Man dies trying to save dog in Tennessee lake

HAMPTON, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities have identified a North Carolina man who died trying to save a dog that jumped into a Tennessee lake. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency says 52-year-old Eric Jordan jumped into Watauga Lake near Hampton on…

Olivia de Havilland, Oscar-winning actress, dies at 104

PARIS (AP) — Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, best known as the kindly Melanie in “Gone With the Wind,” has died. She was 104. Publicist Lisa Goldberg said the actress died peacefully of natural causes on Sunday at her home…

Federal judge blocks sweeping anti-abortion law in Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that Tennessee will not be allowed to enforce one of the strictest abortion bans in the country as a legal battle over the measure’s constitutionality moves through court. U.S. District Judge…

Judge won’t block 3 Tennessee vote-by-mail laws for primary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge will not block three Tennessee laws dealing with absentee voting for the Aug. 6 primary election amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the groups that sought the action should have requested it earlier. U.S.…

UK coronavirus vaccine prompts immune response in early test

LONDON (AP) — Scientists at Oxford University say their experimental coronavirus vaccine has been shown in an early trial to prompt a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot. British researchers first began testing the vaccine…

Details released in crash of plane carrying Earnhardt Jr.

UNDATED (AP) - New details released by the National Transportation and Safety Board show Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a pilot struggled to open an airplane’s wing emergency exit as the aircraft began to burn and fill with smoke before the…

Nearly $23 million aimed at 3 rural Tennessee projects

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- U.S. Rep. David Kustoff has announced nearly $23 million in federal loans and grants for community facilities projects in three rural West Tennessee counties. The Republican congressman’s office said Wednesday that the funding for the projects…

NASCAR hosts largest sporting event crowd since pandemic

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Fans roared from the grandstands during Wednesday night’s NASCAR's All-Star race in Bristol, Tennessee. It was the largest event with spectators in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic shut sports down in March. Attendance figures…

Tennessee lakes, river see 3 accidents during weekend

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Wildlife officials say two people drowned and a third person was seriously hurt in accidents on Tennessee waterways this past weekend. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency says all three incidents took place Saturday in Middle Tennessee.…

4-year-old accidentally shoots, kills younger sibling in East TN

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Police say a 4-year-old Tennessee child has accidentally shot and killed a younger sibling. News outlets report police said officers were called to the Bristol Regional Medical Center Saturday night when a child arrived with a…

Google selects Southaven for first US operations center

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — Google’s first U.S. operations center is coming to northwest Mississippi. The company announced Thursday it will lease a new 60,000-square-foot facility in Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis, Tennessee. Employees will provide customer and operations support to customers…

IRS reminds taxpayers of July 15 deadline

(AP) -- Tax procrastinators, your time is running out. As the coronavirus pandemic took hold this spring, the federal government postponed the traditional April 15 filing deadline until July 15. The move provided some economic and logistic relief for taxpayers…

Country rocker and fiddler Charlie Daniels dies at age 83

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Country music firebrand and fiddler Charlie Daniels, who had a hit with "Devil Went Down to Georgia," has died at age 83. A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Famer died Monday…

Dog warns owner about house fire in Middle TN

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee authorities said a dog became a hero on the Fourth of July by alerting her owner to a house fire next door. Franklin Fire Department officials said the…

Kentucky woman finds rattlesnake under wheelchair seat

MURRAY, Ky (AP) - A woman travelling in a motorized wheelchair near a Kentucky Walmart discovered a rattlesnake under her seat on Sunday. Murray police say the woman looked down to see the snake underneath her and was still in…

Tennessee offering high school equivalency exams online

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has started offering high school equivalency exams online, another option while many in-person testing locations remain closed due to COVID-19. The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development says the online testing option began Monday…

State advances 6-week abortion ban, lawsuit filed

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Amid nationwide unrest and a global pandemic that wrecked the state budget, Tennessee lawmakers wrapped up a legislative session by advancing an anti-abortion proposal that includes some of the strictest restrictions in the country. The Friday…

Tennessee unemployment rate falls in May after record April

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee’s jobless rate in May fell compared with a record increase the month before, as more than 300,000 people continued to receive unemployment payouts during the new coronavirus outbreak. The Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce…

Tennessee receives $11 million for Interstate 40 project

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Department of Transportation is receiving $11.2 million for installation of closed-circuit cameras and other devices along Interstate 40. U.S. Rep. David Kustoff’s office in a statement Monday that the federal transportation grant will fund a…