Author: Associated Press

A former Belmont University soccer coach who left the private Christian university after coming out to her students has been hired as the executive director of the Nashville Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Chamber of Commerce. Lisa Howe's departure from…

An educational research institute gives Mississippi a grade of C for what it describes as mediocre standards for teaching science in public schools. But state associate superintendent Trecina Green tells The Hattiesburg American (http://hatne.ws/yjlcdh) it's a tremendous improvement from the…

This is Tennessee's annual Earthquake Awareness Week, which will include the second annual Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill Tuesday. The drill at 10:15 a.m. CST will be on the 200th anniversary of the largest of the great New Madrid earthquakes…

A teenage driver whose truck crashed, killing a 14-year-old passenger, has been indicted on criminal charges in Shelby County. Christopher Minton is charged with vehicular homicide and aggravated assault, according to The Commercial Appeal, quoting a spokesman for the Shelby…

The Peabody hotel in Memphis has a new "duckmaster" to lead the five North American mallards on their daily trek at the hotel. Twenty-five-year-old Anthony Petrina succeeds Jason Sensat, who left to join the ministry full time. Petrina, who had…

The state's largest drug court is expanding to begin treating drug addicted mothers in Shelby County and offer them a chance to be reunited with their children. District Attorney General Amy Weirich announced the pilot program called "Born Addicted," on…

School board members in Jackson County have decided not to ban a man known as the "Bible Man" from holding monthly meetings with elementary school children. The board took up the matter this week in response to complaints that religious…

Embattled Southaven Mayor Greg Davis is to preside over his first city council meeting Tuesday since returning from treatment at an unnamed medical facility. Police Chief Tom Long tells The Commercial Appeal that interest in the meeting is running high…

A western Kentucky sheriff's deputy has resigned after an internal probe concluded he had inappropriate relationships with women while on duty. McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden says 37-year-old Sgt. Tom Crabtree would have been fired if he hadn't left voluntarily.…

A worker helping to clear a rock slide from Interstate 40 in Cocke County was injured when a large boulder came loose and smashed into a track hoe. Mark Nagi, community relations officer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, told…

The Defense Department says a Marine from Greenville, Miss., has died in Afghanistan. In a news release Thursday, the Defense Department says Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus of Greenville, Miss., died Feb. 1 while conducting combat operations in the Helmand…

Despite rising rivers, transportation officials see little similarity to last spring's widespread flooding. Traffic on the lower Ohio River is restricted because of high water that continues to rise rapidly. However, Robert Dillingham of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers…

A former employee of the Vanderbilt University law school has pleaded not guilty to stealing more than $600,000 from the school. Jason Hunt appeared in Davidson County Criminal Court on Wednesday and told the judge he could not afford an…

Advocates for the disabled have joined an effort to repeal a Tennessee law that requires photo identification in order to vote. Jim Dickson is vice president of organizing and civic engagement for the American Association of People with Disabilities. He…

Officials with the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association are in London this week looking for reinsurance deals. The association, also known as the wind pool, is the insurer of last resort for coastal property owners who are unable to obtain coverage…

The Harpeth Wetland Bank has donated about 220 acres of rural property in Rutherford County to Middle Tennessee State University. The land in the Rockvale community about a 20-minute drive from campus will be used as an environmental field laboratory…

A former Nashville megachurch is trying to sell its building, saying the structure is too large for its needs. The Fellowship at Two Rivers is the successor to Two Rivers Baptist Church, across Briley Parkway from the Gaylord Opryland Hotel…

The security company at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has accepted a supervisor's resignation after he admitted "dozing off" and having a personal phone at work sometime in 2010. WSI Oak Ridge confirmed an investigation Tuesday after The Knoxville News Sentinel…

A former Ripley High School teacher has pleaded guilty in Union County to one count of sexual battery on a minor, in connection with an improper relationship with a former student. Circuit Judge Robert Elliott sentenced Melissa Mathis Wednesday to…

Laurel County health and school officials are trying to eliminate bedbugs at an elementary school. Teachers first noticed the insects before the Christmas break at Hunter Hills Elementary. They have been found in isolated areas of the building, according to…

The Mississippi Supreme Court has suspended Lee County Justice Court Judge Rickey W. Thompson from office for 30 days without pay, effective Jan. 26. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that the Supreme Court on Thursday also fined Thompson and…

Lawmakers concerned about the Occupy Nashville encampment next to the state Capitol are promoting a bill that would criminalize camping on public property across the state. House Judiciary Chairman Eric Watson is sponsoring the legislation that would make it a…

The Mississippi Department of Transportation has frozen funding for new projects in Southaven because of an auditor's investigation into Mayor Greg Davis' spending. The action affects an $850,000 state grant the city was to use to construct a bike path…

A Metro Nashville Police officer has been attacked as he tried to remove a man from a convenience store. Police charged the suspect with attempted criminal homicide and assaulting a police officer after the incident early Thursday in East Nashville.…

A long-awaited proposal to open Kentucky to casino gambling could be introduced in the Senate within days. Senate Democratic Floor Leader R.J. Palmer of Winchester said Wednesday that talks are continuing with the governor's office on the exact wording of…

A University of Tennessee poll shows an overwhelming majority of Tennesseans think texting behind the wheel is as unsafe as drunken driving. Yet 27 percent of respondents said they had texted while driving in the previous month. The poll was…

A new report on teacher quality released Wednesday says Kentucky has made very little progress in the past two years. The Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality gives teacher quality a D+ grade in Kentucky, ranking the state 41st in…

U.S. District Court Judge W. Allen Pepper Jr., confirmed to the bench in 1999, has died. Pepper died at St. Dominic's Hospital in Jackson on Tuesday after a heart attack. He was 70 years old. A spokeswoman for the Northern…

The Nashville Zoo has welcomed Layla, an 18-month-old reticulated giraffe described as spunky and curious. Layla, who came from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, is 9 feet tall and weighs more than 590 pounds. She becomes the third…

Cannon fire and fireworks will be used by Vanderbilt University in Nashville to drive away roosting crows. The operation will begin Wednesday evening and run through Feb. 8. Propane percussion cannons and pyrotechnics will be used, but no projectiles. University…

One of the original Tuskegee Airmen has died in Louisville. Julius Calloway Jr. was among about 1,000 men who trained in Tuskegee, Ala., during World War II and became the first black pilots, navigators and bombardiers in the U.S. military.…

The security contractor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is investigating possible sleeping on the job by a guard and unauthorized use of a phone inside a secure building where uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapon is stored.…

State Rep. Matthew Hill says he's taking two anti-abortion bills off notice and plans to replace them with new measures. The proposals sponsored by the Jonesborough Republican would have required abortions to be performed in hospitals and increase the minimum…

The pastor of a Chattanooga church being evicted from its current location says the congregation will become homeless. Only a week remains for the Mosaic Church to vacate the downtown building where its congregation worships and a youth nightclub it…

Two Republican state legislators are pushing a measure aimed at allowing local governments to display the Ten Commandments in county courthouses or on public grounds in Tennessee. Sen. Mike Bell of Riceville and Rep. Matthew Hill of Jonesboro have introduced…

The firing of the state beekeeper has created a buzz among apiarists across Kentucky. Phil Craft was among at least 14 non-merit employees fired when new Agriculture Commissioner James Comer took office this month. Craft had been on the job…

Engineers have planned a 30-foot-thick concrete wall to protect The Pyramid in Memphis from the possibility of a major earthquake. The project comes after studies show the west side of The Pyramid could move toward the Mississippi River in a…

The police chief of a western Kentucky city says the mayor has been fatally shot and a man has turned himself in to police. Hickman Police Chief Tony Grogan said the incident occurred around 1 a.m. CST Monday and took…

A Tennessee man who pleaded guilty in a rare federal horse soring case has been sentenced to write a newspaper article about the illegal practice that involves placing bolts on the animals' hooves or using painful irritants to accentuate their…

Gov. Phil Bryant has cancelled his Saturday inaugural parade, after already postponing from Jan. 10, when he was sworn in. Mississippi's governor says he cancelled the downtown Jackson parade, scheduled to include more than 40 bands and other groups, because…

The University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus spent a record $153.8 million in research and public service programs for federal and state governments and private industry in fiscal year 2011. The school said in a news release that the figure was…

A state commission that recently was in court over allegations it crafted an immigration policy in secret hasn't regularly posted notices of upcoming meetings on its website during the past two years. The Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission is…

Mistakes by construction workers at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar reactor project have idled about 1,000 workers temporarily for a safety talk. TVA ordered the unpaid safety work stoppage at the reactor project between Chattanooga and Knoxville in response…

Carson-Newman College administrators say they are eliminating three study areas and have cut cabinet posts and other jobs. A notice that university President Randall O'Brien sent to the campus community last week stated the athletic training, computer information systems and…

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway is calling for closer monitoring and tighter registration for doctors who prescribe painkillers. Conway, speaking Thursday in Lexington at a conference on prescription drug abuse, said one way to stop people from crossing state lines…

A surge in December traffic in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park kept visits above 9 million for 2011, but by a scant margin. Figures released by the National Park Service on Thursday showed 9,008,831 visitors last year came to…

Lexington Police have charged a woman they say drove away from a liquor store, leaving her baby in a shopping cart outside. Police charged 24-year-old Kelly Gonzales with endangering the welfare of a minor, according to WKYT-TV A customer found…

Tennessee lawmakers are proposing legislation that could affect Occupy Nashville protesters. The measure says a person cannot live on publicly owned property that isn't designated or permitted as residential. Protesters have occupied the plaza across the street from the state…

Police in Knoxville have arrested two Irish men and charged them with stealing an American flag from the Tennessee Valley Authority headquarters building. It wasn't clear why the flag was taken early Wednesday, but the Knoxville News Sentinel reported the…

School districts could allow advertising on school buses under a bill that has passed the state House and now heads to the Senate. By a 69-27 vote, the House approved the bill by Democratic state Rep. Terry Mills of Lebanon.…