Author: Associated Press

East TN church treasurer who stole $415K files for bankruptcy

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A man who pleaded guilty last year to stealing more than $415,000 from the church where he served as treasurer has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Constantine D. Christodoulou says he…

West TN man pleads guilty to 4 rapes from 16 years ago

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A man has pleaded guilty to raping four women more than 16 years ago. The Shelby County district attorney's office said Wednesday that Tony Sea was sentenced to 40 years in prison without the possibility for…

Kentucky man arrested after 17-hour standoff in Clarksville

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Kentucky man has been arrested after a 17-hour standoff with police in Clarksville. The Leaf-Chronicle reports that Clarksville police arrested 50-year-old Darren Vance of Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday morning with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in…

Newspaper executive dies in fall at Chicago hotel

CHICAGO (AP) -- In a story Oct. 17 about the death of a newspaper executive, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Sandusky Newspaper Group is based in Tennessee. It is based in Ohio. A corrected version of the story is…

Pilot Flying J agreed to pay legal costs of former staffers

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The truck stop chain controlled by the family of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has publicly distanced itself from former employees charged with defrauding customers. But court records show the board…

Thousands of state assessment tests scored incorrectly

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee education officials believe nearly 10,000 assessment tests across the state were scored incorrectly. The Commercial Appeal reports that about 9,400 of the approximately 600,000 TNReady tests that were taken in the last school year were…

Memphis student says she was raped twice in 20 days

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Students at the University of Memphis are planning to protest for a third consecutive day after a student said she was raped twice off-campus within a 20-day span earlier this year. The Commercial Appeal reports that…

State help given to probe of officer’s death

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he has mobilized state law enforcement resources to help Lubbock and Texas Tech University police investigate the fatal shooting of a campus police officer. University officials say a 19-year-old Tech student…

Twitter shuts down Blackburn campaign announcement video

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn's Senate campaign announcement ad is being blocked by Twitter over a statement the abortion rights opponent makes about the sale of fetal tissue for medical research. Rep. Marsha…

Trump criticizes GOP Sen. Corker; Corker fights back

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An enraged President Donald Trump and a prominent Republican senator who fears the country could be edging toward "chaos" have been engaging in an intense back-and-forth bashing on social media. It was a remarkable airing of their…

Nashville church shooting suspect has Oct. 23 court date

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The man accused of fatally shooting one person and wounding six others at a Tennessee church has a new court date. Nashville district attorney general spokeswoman Dorinda Carter says 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson's preliminary hearing will…

Gov. Bill Haslam won’t run for Corker’s Senate seat

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said Thursday that he won't run for the U.S. Senate seat being opened with the retirement of fellow Republican Bob Corker. "While I have loved being a mayor and a governor, I…

Trial date set in deadly Chattanooga school bus crash

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- A judge has set a trial date for the driver in a Tennessee school bus crash that killed six elementary school students last year. Johnthony Walker faces 34 charges, including six counts of vehicular homicide, in…

Rock legend Tom Petty dies at 66; sold 80 million records

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Rock superstar Tom Petty has died at age 66. Spokeswoman Carla Sacks says Petty died Monday night at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after he suffered cardiac arrest. Petty, usually backed by his longtime band…

Gov. Bill Haslam considering US Senate bid

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says he is considering running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of his friend Bob Corker. Haslam told reporters Thursday that…

Nashville church shooting suspect charged with murder

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Witnesses and police described a chaotic scene as a masked attacker armed with two guns shot seven people, killing one, in a Tennessee church before he was subdued. The church…

TN lawmakers want state agencies to allow photos of public records

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee lawmakers are asking three state agencies to ensure that their policies allow residents to take cell phone photos of public records. The Tennessean reports that Joint Government Operations Committee members on Wednesday questioned the Office…

Tennessee sets record number of overdose deaths in 2016

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Health officials say Tennessee saw a record number of overdose deaths in 2016. A state Department of Health news release Monday says 1,631 Tennesseans died from drug overdoses last year, a 12 percent increase from 1,451…

Food stamp work requirement to return for most of Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Gov. Bill Haslam is reinstating food stamp work requirements for most Tennessee counties starting Feb. 1. Haslam said Monday that Tennessee will re-establish federal work requirements in 70 counties for able-bodied adults without dependents who receive…

Stars honor country singer Troy Gentry at Opry memorial

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Vince Gill, Trace Adkins and many more music stars have gathered to honor country singer Troy Gentry, a member of the popular country duo Montgomery Gentry, who died in a helicopter crash. Family and friends watched…

5 accused of conspiring to defraud Dolly Parton relief fund

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Five people have been charged in Tennessee with conspiring to defraud the My People Fund of Dolly Parton's Dollywood Foundation, set up to help people affected by wildfires last year. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports a…

Panel of TN lawmakers shares ideas to combat opioid epidemic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A panel of Tennessee lawmakers wants to address the opioid epidemic with referral requirements at pain clinics, more state investigators and a public awareness program. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that House Speaker Beth Harwell's…

Murfreesboro Police Department shuts down motorcycle program

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) -- A second crash involving motorcycle officers in Murfreesboro has prompted the police department to shut down the program pending further investigation. The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro reports two officers were injured Tuesday. Murfreesboro Police Chief…

Kentucky teen charged in slayings a day apart

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Police say a Kentucky teenager has been charged in two murders last month. Eighteen-year-old Jemel Barber of Georgetown had earlier been charged in a fatal motel shooting on July 23. Media outlets report Barber also is…

3 cited for vandalizing Confederate monument in Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - University of Tennessee police say they have cited three people for vandalizing a Confederate monument. Police said they caught the trio on Wednesday throwing black paint on the monument in Knoxville. It is the third time…

West Tenn. congressman wants President Trump impeached

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A Democratic congressman from West Tennessee says he plans to introduce articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump following his comments on the white supremacist rally…

Tennessee high school teacher charged with statutory rape

ERWIN, Tenn. (AP) -- A substitute teacher who also served as a drum instructor at a Tennessee high school has been charged with having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student. News outlets report 35-year-old Justin Curtis Grindstaff was arrested Thursday…

Country music legend Glen Campbell laid to rest in Arkansas

DELIGHT, Ark. (AP) -- Music superstar Glen Campbell has been laid to rest in his hometown of Delight, Arkansas. The announcement was made on Campbell's official Facebook page Thursday night. It says Campbell was laid to rest Wednesday in a…

Middle Tenn. jailer charged with assaulting inmate

WAVERLY, Tenn. (AP) - A corrections officer accused of assaulting an inmate has been arrested in Middle Tennessee. News outlets report 54-year-old Teresa Maria Howell was arrested Wednesday on an assault charge in connection…

Armstrong Flooring to close Mississippi plant, laying off 93

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Armstrong Flooring will close its Mississippi plant in October, laying off 93 workers. The company, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, says closing the Vicksburg plant and one in Jackson, Tennessee, will save it more than $8 million…

Former coach, wife found dead in Middle Tenn. lake

SILVER POINT, Tenn. (AP) -- A couple found dead in a Middle Tennessee lake has been identified by investigators as a former coach and his wife. Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Jimmy Neal says the bodies of 84-year-old Lendon Welch and…

East Tenn. woman gets 10-year sentence in 5-year-old’s death

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- An East Tennessee woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison for reckless homicide and aggravated assault in a 5-year-old boy's death in 2015. Media outlets report that a judge sentenced 30-year-old Holly Rutledge on Tuesday…

Superstar musician, actor Glen Campbell dies at 81

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Glen Campbell, the grinning, high-pitched entertainer who had such hits as "Rhinestone Cowboy" and spanned country, pop, television and movies, has died. He was 81. Campbell's publicist Sandy Brokaw says the singer died Tuesday morning in…

Tennessee deputy given national award for saving child

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee sheriff's deputy has been given a national award after he was credited with saving the life of a child who was choking at school. The Tennessean reports Williamson County Deputy Kevin Teague performed the…

Austin Peay’s new board dismisses gender discrimination claim

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Austin Peay State University's new board of trustees has dismissed a complaint of gender discrimination in hiring. WPLN-FM reports a search committee picked Jessica Morris earlier this year for an associate communications department professor job, but…

Feds arrest 83 immigrants in Memphis, Nashville & New Orleans

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 83 people in two Tennessee cities and New Orleans. The Commercial Appeal reports that ICE spokesman Tom Byrd said 64 of the 83 people arrested in Memphis, Nashville and…

FedEx, in online pivot, backs away from holiday surcharges

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- FedEx will forego special charges for most packages shipped during the chaotic holiday season this year as it squares off against rival UPS in a fight for a larger share of the millions of items now…