Author: Associated Press

Tennessee General Services Commissioner Steven Cates says the presence of Occupy Nashville protesters on the Legislative Plaza near the state Capitol has been costly. Cates spoke to reporters following a budget hearing for his department on Friday. He said there…

A Southaven alderman says that he and others on the seven-member board didn't use Mayor Greg Davis' personal or city-issued credit cards and should not be liable for more than $170,000 that the state Auditor's Office has ordered Davis to…

Columbus Air Force Base expects to lose about 17 jobs as the Air Force moves to trim its civilian work force by 9,000 people. CAFB chief of manpower/personnel Christopher Chesser tells WTVA-TV (http://bit.ly/uaNzqs ) that four of those are positions…

A teacher in western Kentucky has been charged with first-degree sexual abuse after police say she had sexual contact with a student. Kentucky State Police spokesman Dean Patterson says 38-year-old Amy Noles, a Spanish teacher at Graves County High School…

Federal officials say there's no hazard from high radiation levels detected on an empty cylinder that once contained uranium hexafluoride when the items were delivered Wednesday to the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Joey said the cylinder…

A retired couple from Murfreesboro has been asked to testify before a House subcommittee about their experience with Tennessee's new law requiring a photo ID to vote. House Judiciary Committee Democrats are seeking hearings on the impact of state voting…

The National Park Service has started controlled burns in Cades Cove that help preserve the area's lush meadows that attract wildlife and promote ecological diversity. Rudy Evenson, the fire information officer for the park service, told The Knoxville News Sentinel…

Enrollment for 2010 crop year losses begins later this month, and the Farm Service Agency in Kentucky is encouraging growers who had losses last year to contact the agency to learn more. To qualify, a producer must operate in a…

An electrician charged with falsifying inspection records at the Tennessee Valley Authority's unfinished Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor is seeking probation at his sentencing Thursday in Chattanooga. Matthew Correll's attorney said in a court filing that Correll was on a…

Mississippi students showed slight improvements in their math scores on a national standardized test. The National Assessment of Educational Progress test results were released Tuesday. In 2011, 19 percent of Mississippi's eighth-grade students scored at least proficient in math, up…

The FBI is offering an unspecified reward for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected in at least six bank robberies in Kentucky and Tennessee while wearing a woman's wig. The agency said in a news release that…

A group of Occupy Wall Street protesters in Chattanooga have decided not to challenge an evening curfew at the city's riverfront park and instead decided to stay on the sidewalks around the Hamilton County Courthouse. The protesters had been warned…

Authorities say a steroid ring uncovered in Ohio used drugs imported from China and processed at a secret lab in Coffee County, Tenn., to peddle to high school athletes and other customers across the country. Warren County officials said Tuesday…

The first Corolla will roll off the assembly line during a ceremony this month at Toyota's northeast Mississippi plant at Blue Springs, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday. Toyota spokeswoman Barbara McDaniel says the event begins at 11 a.m. Nov. 17.…

Complaints about Tennessee Valley Authority contractors spraying an endangered wildflower in a Southern Cumberlands right-of-way area have spurred an apology and a promise to be more careful. TVA said last week that it regrets the herbicide spraying in the Hawkins…

Gov. Bill Haslam says a curfew and the arrests of dozens of Occupy Nashville protesters was an attempt to make the grounds around the state Capitol safe. The Republican governor spoke with reporters on Tuesday, a day after state officials…

A.B. Data Ltd. will distribute the money from settlements with Morgan Keegan & Co. and Morgan Asset Management to investors in Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says the five states and the…

Site Selection magazine lists Tennessee as having the eighth best business climate this year. The ranking is based on taxes, new and expanded business facility activity and a survey of corporate site selectors. Ahead of Tennessee, in order, were Texas,…

The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from Lisa Jo Chamberlin, who was seeking a new trial after being sentenced to death in the deaths of a Hattiesburg, Miss., couple whose bodies were found in a freezer in rural…

Occupy Nashville protesters are suing Gov. Bill Haslam over a new curfew on the grounds around the Capitol that has been used to dislodge their camp and arrest demonstrators. The lawsuit claims the curfew was created without following required procedures,…

Former Greenwood attorney and judge Bobby Fisher will be sentenced Tuesday for his role in a mortgage scam. The Greenwood Commonwealth reports that Fisher is to appear before U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Jackson. In January 2006, Fisher…

Downtown Memphis is scrapping its traditional Christmas parade and will use the funds instead to put up decorations, have family festivities and put on a lighting display that bathes Main Street in blue. Leslie Gower, vice president of marketing for…

A woman charged with helping embezzle $230,000 from public venues in Paducah has pleaded not guilty. Investigators say Susan Wilson helped steal money from the Julian M. Carroll Convention Center and the Paducah Expo Center by posing as a fictitious…

Although texting while driving is illegal in Tennessee, the state attorney general says younger drivers are not getting the message, so states are working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Ad Council to remind teens of the…

A homeless man has been freed from a narrow space between two buildings after falling into it. Rescuers bored through a brick wall to reach 26-year-old Tyler James Wagner on Thursday, according to WVLT-TV Wagner was found wedged in the…

Authorities in Tennessee have made some arrests at the site where a few dozen Wall Street protesters have been encamped for about three weeks in Nashville. Authorities began moving in early Friday using a newly enacted state policy that set…

Western Kentucky University's enrollment passed 21,000 students for the fall 2011 semester, setting a record for the 14th consecutive year. Enrollment at the Bowling Green school is 21,048, up 145 students from fall 2010. University President Gary Ransdell said work…

Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is imposing a nighttime curfew on the Capitol complex in response to what it calls deteriorating safety conditions surrounding anti-Wall Street protests. The Department of General Services announced Thursday that the Capitol grounds, the War Memorial…

The bite of a kinkajou has sent a teenager to a Chattanooga hospital for nearly a week. Jada Thurmond's mother took her to a hospital last month with stabbing stomach pain. She was treated for a virus and sent home.…

It's been more than six years after Hurricane Katrina's rampage, but experts say authorities have taken only halting steps toward identifying weaknesses in a nationwide patchwork of levees. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was accused of building substandard levees…

The cost of college continues to escalate in Mississippi Students at four-year public institutions nationwide are paying an average of more than $8,000 this year for tuition and fees - more than ever, according to a College Board report released…

A judge in Shelbyville is expected to rule on whether a Russian boy who was sent back to his home country by his adoptive mother in Tennessee can be added as a plaintiff to a lawsuit seeking child support. Torry…

State officials want military veterans to know about a new law that prevents the sale of military medals and allows veterans and their families to reclaim lost medals. State Sen. Andy Berke is holding an event in East Ridge on…

State lawmakers are looking at more than a dozen possible scenarios for the future of lottery scholarships, most of which involve cutting the number of students eligible or how much money they get. The Lottery Stabilization Task Force is meeting…

Mississippi's unemployment rate rose six-tenths of a percent in September to 10.6 percent, from August, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. The state figure for September 2010 was 10.1 percent. The nation's seasonally adjusted…

Campbell County authorities have charged a woman with first-degree murder in the death of her newborn, whose body was found more than a week later in a trash bag. Wanda Cieslak is also charged with aggravated child abuse, according to…

The Tennessee Valley Authority has unveiled a redesigned website for tips and information about how consumers can conserve energy whether at home, at a business or in an industry. The utility said in a news release Tuesday that the EnergyRight…

Several reports of strange but beautiful lights across Kentucky ended up having a colorful explanation - the Aurora Borealis. WKYT-TV says it received calls and e-mails from several residents in central Kentucky counties including Woodford, Garrard and Madison about lights…

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Grenada, Miss., company for 26 safety violations and has proposed penalties of $113,400. OSHA officials say in a news release that the penalties against Grenada Stamping and Assembly Inc., doing business…

The football coach at a Shelby County high school has resigned in the wake of his profanity-laced speech to his team. The audio got posted on YouTube. A county schools spokesman said Monday that Collierville High School coach Shawn Abel…

Loretta Lynn is out of the hospital and resting at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. A statement Monday from Loretta Lynn Enterprises says the country music icon has been treated for bacterial pneumonia. The 76-year-old was forced to cancel…

Gov. Bill Haslam wants a study on state workers' salaries with the intent of keeping state salaries competitive with private industry. Haslam said the current economy gives the state breathing room, but as conditions improve the state could lose key…

The owner of a Shelby County mobile home park that flooded this year wants an exemption from raising the height of his units. Kingsway Green was swamped in May when the Mississippi River rose to its greatest height since 1937.…

A Mississippi deputy has been acquitted of federal charges that he allowed his police dog to attack a man for no reason. WCBI-TV reports that a federal jury in Aberdeen on Friday found Choctaw County Deputy Billy Charles Scott innocent…

Kentucky State Police are seeking two people in the death of a Butler County man who was apparently shot with an arrow. Donald D. Lee of Morgantown, who police said was 51, was found wounded Saturday evening. He was taken…

Researchers at the University of Tennessee are downplaying the danger of Lyme disease in the state. Ecological scientists at the UT Institute of Agriculture say blacklegged ticks, which can carry Lyme disease, are rare in Tennessee and almost never carry…

Tennessee lawmakers are once again proposing legislation that would require drug testing for welfare recipients. The measure has stalled in the Legislature, mainly because it would cost millions of dollars to implement. But its House sponsor, Republican Rep. Bill Dunn…

Mississippi's Supreme Court has denied a motion to rehear a complaint that resulted in a 270-day suspension for a state judge. Alcorn County Justice Court Judge Jimmy McGee was suspended after being accused of encouraging vigilante justice by saying a…