Author: Associated Press

Tennessee is receiving a $3.6 million National Emergency Grant for cleanup and recovery from severe storms, tornadoes and associated flooding in the state in late April and early May. According to a news release from the state Thursday, the grant…

Knox County deputies seized $42,000 in cash and detained as many as 60 people in a raid on an illegal gambling hall. Sheriff's office spokeswoman Martha Dooley told the Knoxville News Sentinel that officers also seized marijuana, Oxycontin and oxycodone…

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division will give about $21 million back to its customers after discovering that it overcharged them for natural gas for more than two years. The average residential customer will receive a credit of $38 in…

Two former members of convicted evangelist Tony Alamo's ministry have been awarded $33 million each after they sued Alamo for ordering them to be beaten. A jury deliberated for a few hours Thursday before finding Alamo liable in a civil…

Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson has appointed the state's new small business advocate. Wilson says Lauren Varney Plunk will help businesses with at least 50 employees work through regulatory issues with state departments and agencies. The position was created last year…

Authorities say five people have been injured in downtown Memphis where two trolley cars collided. The five riders were not seriously hurt when the electric trolley line lost power, sending one trolley car on a collision course with the other…

Police have arrested two people after finding a one-year-old child in the back seat of a car at a strip club. When police arrived, the child was crying and soaked in sweat, according to the arrest record reported by WLKY-TV.…

Choctaw County Coroner Keith Coleman tells The Clarion-Ledger that a fugitive is dead following a pursuit that began after police said the inmate overpowered an Ackerman police officer and stole her cruiser at gunpoint. Ackerman Police Chief Tanya Burton said…

State lawmakers in country music's capital have passed a groundbreaking measure that would make it a crime to use a friend's login -- even with permission -- to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix or…

Between 100 and 150 people have been evacuated in Rogersville after a possible chlorine gas leak at the local sewer treatment plant. Hawkins County Emergency Management Agency Director Gary Murrell told WJHL-TV an employee at the plant discovered a possible…

Mississippi tax collections fell short of expectations in May. Gov. Haley Barbour says in a statement that preliminary revenue for May fell 0.52 percent, or $1.8 million, below the estimate. Barbour says while it is a small shortfall, it is…

Police in Cookeville, Tenn., say a man texted a woman, offering to sell her an iPod she had reported stolen a day earlier. According to the Cookeville Herald-Citizen, 19-year-old Andrew Scott Gretzinger of Crossville was arrested after the unidentified woman…

An employee injured in a fire at a Gallatin chemical plant last week has died. Eric Hulsey is the third employee killed in accidents at the Hoeganaes (HAY'-gan-eez) Corp. plant this year. A spokeswoman for Vanderbilt University Medical Center told…

Memphis police believe a badly decomposed body found Tuesday is that of a missing trumpeter known as "the mayor of Beale Street." Seventy-year-old Rudy Williams was last seen on May 22 when he left his home to walk to a…

Gov. Bill Haslam is urging cash-strapped local school districts to prioritize spending on top teachers over limiting classroom sizes. Speaking at a Girls State event at Lipscomb University in Nashville on Tuesday, the governor acknowledged that larger classrooms mean less…

A cap on the number of credit hours paid for by Tennessee's lottery scholarship has some students and parents worried about how to pay for degrees that go over the limit. The legislation limiting HOPE scholarship funds to 120 hours…

State officials say caves on state land will remain closed to try to slow the spread of White Nose Syndrome among Tennessee's bat population. The caves have been closed since July 1, 2009. Not affected are caves on private land,…

The Shelby County Historical Commission is seeking donations to buy four reproduction Civil War cannons for its Confederate Park. The park once had original Civil War cannons, but those were sacrificed as part of a World War II scrap-metal drive.…

A dozen volunteers from Kentucky who know what it's like to lose everything are heading to Missouri to help people who were left homeless by the tornado that devastated Joplin. The group left Lexington on Tuesday morning, and organizer Ginny…

Authorities say an 81-year-old Monroe County man was found dead in a field behind his home. Coroner Alan Gurley tells Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that Robert R. Reed of Hamilton lived alone and was last seen by neighbors on May…

A fire at a Caryville's Thunder Mountain Fireworks store shut down part of Interstate 75 and forced about 100 neighbors to temporarily evacuate. Caryville Fire Department Cpt. Brad Smith described the fire to WVLT-TV, saying, "If you can picture a…

An Alabama couple's wedding photo from 1982 is on its way back to them, after a tornado blew it 120 miles from their flattened house near Hackleburg, Ala., to Lincoln County, Tenn. - and after publication in Tupelo, Miss. The…

A Tennessee state senator says the issue of which agency will provide supervision of the state fair will return in January. State Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Nashville, told The Tennessean he considered asking the full Senate to vote on his proposal…

A cabin rental agency in the Smoky Mountains foothills has closed its doors amid squabbling by owners and managers. Jim Gass, an attorney for Hickory Mist Luxury Cabin Rentals, told The Mountain Press that company employees have been trying to…

A Shelby County auditor's report says there is no process to stop funeral homes from using the site for cheap burials for people who weren't poor. Since the report, county officials say procedures have been tightened and the control of…

An autopsy has been ordered in the death of an 11-year-old boy found in a neighbor's pool in rural Carroll County. Coroner Ken Strachan tells the Greenwood Commonwealth that the body was found about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday by deputies responding…

A special election for a Mississippi Senate seat formerly held by Democrat Jack Gordon will be held Nov. 8, the same day as the state general election. Gordon had brain cancer and died May 7. He was the senator for…

A special investigation has found that Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey gave pay hikes to 18 staffers last year even though no other raises were being allowed for state employees. The Legislature amended the budget last year to say raises were…

The company that insured a lesbian couple's home claims the women set a fire that destroyed it. Carole Ann Stutte and Jean Stutte filed a lawsuit in February, claiming a former neighbor was responsible for the September 2010 fire. A…

Three workers were critically burned at a Middle Tennessee chemical plant a day after company officials attended the funeral of one of two workers killed in a previous accident. The Friday morning fire that injured five is the third since…

A Picayune man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for being under the influence of drugs when he caused a May 23, 2008, collision that claimed the life of a 13-year-old girl and left two others seriously injured.…

The road ahead will be clear of construction in Tennessee for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The Tennessee Department of Transportation will halt road-building projects at noon on Friday through 6 a.m. Tuesday. TDOT Commissioner John Schroer says his department…

A professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has been nominated to head the Kentucky Baptist Convention. The nominee, Paul Chitwood,, is also the pastor at First Baptist Church of Mount Washington in Bullitt County. Paul Badgett chaired the search committee…

A teacher arrested on sex charges involving teenage boys has been fired by the Shelby County school board. Board members voted unanimously on Thursday to terminate physical education teacher Stacy Hopkins from her job at Arlington High School. The 28-year-old…

A 20-mile stretch of the Natchez Trace Parkway has been closed in Tennessee because thunderstorms brought down power lines and tree limbs. The parkway - which is a long, narrow national park extending from Nashville, Tenn., through a corner of…

A former grand wizard of a Kentucky-based Ku Klux Klan organization is set for sentencing on federal drug and gun charges. Ronald Wayne Edwards, who founded the Imperial Klans of America in Dawson Springs in 1996, will appear Thursday morning…

The Sumner County school system has replied to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union this month over religion. In the response, lawyers for the schools argue U.S. Supreme Court rulings note that church-state interaction is inevitable…

Officials from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and its federal counterpart will review the state's response to recent flooding and tornadoes in Tennessee and discuss the next steps to recovery. Speaking on Thursday at the state emergency operations center in…

A Lexington child has been killed in a fall from a lawn mower. Authorities say 2-year-old Adelaide McReynolds fell when her father made a sharp turn. Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said the girl's 7-year-old brother was also on the…

An autopsy will be performed on the body of a construction worker killed in Knoxville while working on a barge as part of the Henley Bridge dismantling. Police said the man was hit in the head Tuesday by a piece…

The College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee and Fisk University in Nashville have entered into an agreement to offer a dual-degree program in science and engineering. According to a news release from UT, the five-year program will allow…

A former teacher and coach at St. Martin High School has been indicted four felony charges of engaging in sex acts with a student aide. The Sun Herald reports 39-year-old Robert Griffin of Ocean Springs first was arrested in March…

Friday will be a furlough day for most Kentucky state workers, the sixth one and last of the fiscal year. The General Assembly authorized the furloughs, which are expected to save taxpayers about $24 million and prevent laying off more…

The Mississippi Health Department says the state's first human case of West Nile virus of 2011 has been confirmed in Tallahatchie County. Health officials say Tuesday there were eight confirmed cases last year. That's down from the previous year, but…

A new report is criticizing two middle Tennessee veterans' hospitals for not doing enough to prevent harm to patients. The Tennessean reports that the Office of the Inspector General survey comes two years after the Veterans Affairs hospital in Murfreesboro…

Volkswagen is jumping into the U.S. auto market with a new Passat that is bigger, cheaper and built domestically in hopes of breaking into the competitive midsize sedan market. During a grand opening for their new plant in Chattanooga on…

A Somali man has entered an Alford plea to accusations that he tried to kidnap a 12-year-old girl in Mayfield. The plea entered Monday by 24-year-old Yusuf Hassan does not admit guilt, but concedes that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to…

A Franklin businessman who bilked millions from investors in a Ponzi scheme will spend the next six years in a federal prison. Jerry Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, announced on Tuesday that 30-year-old Barron Mathis was…

Archivists from Virginia and Tennessee are in Bristol to create digital records of the Civil War. They are spending Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bristol Public Library, examining Civil War-era documents and artifacts brought in by Tennessee and Virginia residents.…