Author: Associated Press

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has applauded the DeSoto County school district for responding promptly to a call to halt prayers over the public address system at football games and other school functions. The Commercial Appeal reports the Madison, Wis.-based…

The state attorney general is warning those who use a wireless system for Internet connection to protect themselves by using a password. The Sun Herald reports state officials have made about 60 arrests this year in cases alleging someone else…

The Tennessee Valley Authority says it has found no problems with its dams or coal ash impoundments in the wake of the East Coast earthquake. TVA spokesman Travis Brickey said Wednesday that the inspections of 15 dams and impoundments were…

Despite some reservations, city officials in Paducah are altering two ordinances to allow guns in city parks. Mayor Bill Paxton said he was reluctant to remove language prohibiting firearms in the city's 28 parks, but felt it necessary to adhere…

A southern Kentucky science museum that had become a destination for school field trips plans to permanently close down on Sunday. Jeff Moore, president of the board of the Barren River Imaginative Museum of Science in Bowling Green, said the…

Metro Nashville police and fire officials closed a downtown interstate ramp during the morning commute after five canisters were found in the road emitting vapor. The containers turned out to contain no hazardous material and WKRN-TV reported it was agricultural…

The secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services says the agency is on track to meet an Oct. 1 deadline to overhaul Kentucky's Medicaid program. Secretary Janie Miller made the comments Monday to members of the legislative Medicaid…

A former bank teller has been sentenced to a year in prison, convicted of supplying withdrawal information that led to an elderly customer being robbed. Lakehsa Thomas was sentenced Monday, all but one year of a five-year term being suspended,…

The Tennessee Valley Authority has logged 25,000 home energy evaluations since launching an in-home program in March 2009. TVA Vice President Bob Balzar said the steady growth in the program came because power distributors strongly supported it. Balzar said the…

Authorities say five people, including three young girls, were injured when a church van carrying members of an adult soccer team overturned in north Mississippi. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports a 2-year-old has serious injuries and that a 6-year-old…

The owner and operator of a Hattiesburg psychic and spiritual-reading business have sued the city, seeking unspecified damages to compensate them for the closure of their business. Tommy and Marie Costello filed the suit in U.S. District Court last week…

A 17-year-old from Florence has died in a boat crash on the Ohio River. The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources agency identified the victim as Timothy Austin Hagedorn. Investigators said Hagedorn and four other people were on a runabout when…

Mississippi voters Tuesday will finish choosing the Democratic nominee for governor and the Republican nominee for state treasurer. Nominees will also be decided for several state House and Senate races. And, most counties will have party primary runoffs for local…

The heavily traveled Interstate 65 just north of downtown Nashville is going to be widened. The Federal Highway Administration awarded $3.7 million for the project, which covers the section between Trinity Lane and Dickerson Road just north of the Cumberland…

Tennessee's July unemployment rate of 9.8 percent remained unchanged from the previous month. State Labor Commissioner Karla Davis says "statistics behind the unchanged unemployment rate show a slight drop in employment numbers along with an overall decline in the labor…

Pagan and Wiccan holy days, which follow the changing seasons, are included among Vanderbilt University's list of religious holy days alongside other religious events like Ramadan and Passover. University officials say the four days are not part of the academic…

Belmont University in Nashville is now a tobacco-free campus. No one, not even visitors, can use tobacco products on the campus. According to WSMV-TV the private liberal arts university spent a year educating students, staff and faculty on the new…

Tennessee education officials are asking the public for help in evaluating textbooks for the 2012-13 school year. Subjects are visual arts, music, theater arts, dance, spelling, literature, driver education, computer science, health sciences education, business technology, marketing education, technology engineering,…

A new oil sheen has been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico, although energy company BP says the discovery has nothing to do with its operations and is far from the site of its disaster-hit Macondo well. A statement from…

Authorities say a pilot from Tupelo was killed when a small plane crashed in a residential part of that city in northeastern Mississippi. The coroner identifies the pilot as 69-year-old David Duncan. He was alone in the plane. The Federal…

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has upheld its finding of a serious safety violation that will require increased inspection activities at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama. The NRC responded Tuesday to TVA's appeal of an…

Kentucky State Police and the state Fire Marshal's Office are investigating the burning of a Breckenridge County Schools bus. A $5,000 reward is offered for information that leads to conviction. Investigators said someone set the bus on fire at about…

Education officials are boasting of a 10 percent increase in the number of Kentuckians who earned GEDs over the past year. The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education reported Tuesday that more than 10,000 people received the high school equivalency certificates…

Authorities in Knoxville say a house fire that killed two people might have been intentionally set. The names of the victims weren't released after the blaze Tuesday night in a northern Knoxville neighborhood. Two passers-by saw the fire and tried…

A national report shows Tennessee is taking better care of its children. The report released Wednesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks Tennessee 39th in child well-being. Linda O'Neal, executive director of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth,…

The Nashville Predators are giving $181,000 to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University. The check is to be presented to the hospital on Tuesday. This is the Predators' third donation to the hospital. The team has raised…

An Obion County producer of pork sausage products will pay $60,000 to settle a wage discrimination and racial harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to the Union City Daily Messenger the EEOC charged that Williams…

State Rep. Ryan Haynes says an impostor posted fake material about the Knoxville Republican on his Facebook page last week. Haynes told The Knoxville News Sentinel that he suspects his password was stolen during a visit to a library last…

The Tennessee Valley Authority has a message for opponents of its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant: No costumes. A month after zombie-costumed protesters paraded in Chattanooga to oppose TVA's plans to revive what they described as a "corpse of a power plant"…

The Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Industrial Foundation estimates that the filming of the hit movie "The Help" was a big help to the Greenwood area economy. Bill Crump, the foundation's chairman, said the film's production in Greenwood last summer brought $13 million into…

Fans of Elvis Presley are making their way to his longtime Memphis home for a candlelight vigil to honor the 34th anniversary of the late singer's death. Every year, thousands of people trek to Memphis from around the world to…

National Guard units from West Tennessee are leaving this week for the first leg of a trip taking them to Kuwait. The Tennessee National Guard said in a news release that 175 soldiers from the 230th Engineer Battalion in Trenton…

Shelby County prosecutors want the teenager accused of stabbing his principal to death in a Memphis Christian school tried as an adult. Eduardo Marmolejo was ordered held without bond and ordered to undergo a mental evaluation by a Juvenile Court…

Price Waterhouse Coopers has quit as outside auditor for the casinos run by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The Clarion Ledger reported Sunday that the firm would not say why, citing policy on client matters. The firm's decision came…

All 12 University of Tennessee residence halls are at full capacity for the fall semester due to increased demand for on-campus housing. More than 7,500 students moved into campus housing on Saturday. Presidential Courtyard, a major hub for campus life…

Investigators say a former Kingsport police officer accessed child pornography over wireless networks belonging to neighbors, businesses and a church. Richard Chandler is one of 72 people indicted in an investigation into an international child pornography network that prosecutors say…

A rate increase for Tennessee Valley Authority customers may be in the works when the utility's board meets Thursday in Knoxville. A spokesman for the utility said details about rates will have to wait until the Thursday discussion of next…

Six Metro Nashville Police officers were suspended for driving Taylor Swift's security team after being denied permission to perform the outside work. Officers Melvin Brown III, Mike Clark, Milton Elrod, Thomas Rollins and Sgt. Donald Long were suspended for 10…

An incoming freshman at Western Kentucky University with an affinity for a performance art known as "planking" has been banned from campus. Tyler Webster told The Daily News the letter threatens him with arrest if he is found on campus…

Authorities investigating a fight at Harrison Central High School in Gulfport say a 16-year-old student at the school was found with several hundred dollars in counterfeit money. Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara says the teen arrested Thursday and booked with…

An attorney for a western Kentucky school shooter has appealed a judge's decision that he waited too long to try and withdraw his guilty plea to killing three classmates and wounding five in 1997. Public defender Tim Arnold filed a…

A doctor who lost his right hand while deployed with the military in Afghanistan has lost a bag containing three prosthetic hands to a thief. Dr. Daniel McConnell said he's survived things he shouldn't have, but it would be nice…

The director of the troubled Memphis Animal Shelter has quit, saying he needs stablility in his professional and personal life. Matthew Pepper said he is resigning to take another job, according to The Commercial Appeal. Pepper's resignation letter states "a…

Low sales for a concert at the East Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville have driven the general manager of the facility to take out radio commercials proclaiming the facility is pro-coal. The move comes after only about 1,500 tickets had…

Memphis authorities have charged a 17-year-old student with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a Christian school principal on the third day of classes. Memphis police said Eduardo Marmolejo stabbed 49-year-old Suzette York multiple times Wednesday at Memphis Junior…

Jessamine County school officials have closed a high school soccer field after E. coli bacteria was found in ponded water. The bacteria strain was identified on Wednesday on the first day of classes at East Jessamine High School. A news…

Police in Tulsa are investigating the claim made by a man in jail in Mississippi of killing a woman in Tulsa earlier this month. Sgt. Dave Walker told the Tulsa World that the claim by Charles Timothy Krauss of Knoxville,…

A national tracking company says home foreclosure actions in Mississippi rose in July from the previous month, but were down from a year ago. Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said 359 housing unit were targeted for some sort of action last month…

A baby giraffe is drawing attention at the Memphis Zoo. The female named Wendy was introduced to the other eight giraffes in the herd Wednesday and zoo spokeswoman Tiffany Langston said she was accepted by them, according to The Commercial…