Author: Associated Press

Residents along the Mississippi River will be watching for the expected crest at Greenville on Monday, where officials are insisting they expect the extensive levee system to do its job. The river was projected to crest at 65 feet in…

The city of Cookeville is budgeting for a $100,000 increase in sales tax revenue from new liquor stores for the coming fiscal year. Three package liquor stores are now open in the city, where voters approved a referendum in November…

Four men arrested on misdemeanor wildlife charges in southeastern Tennessee after a man was fatally bitten by a poisonous snake he was handling have a Monday court hearing in Chattanooga. They were arrested in an investigation of the Jan. 29…

Five years of legal battles over the sale of property at Douglas Lake may be nearing an end. According to The Mountain Press, a court ruling could come next month. Those who bought property have complained about it being built…

Tornado and storm recovery payouts in Tennessee from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state total more than $1.7 million since May 1. A statement Friday from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said 3,652 households have registered with FEMA for…

A Germantown woman suspected of passing out on top of her 5-month-old son and smothering him is charged with criminally negligent homicide. According to police and court records reported in The Commercial Appeal, the child's grandmother called police Wednesday after…

President Barack Obama will meet with families affected by flooding along the Mississippi River when he travels to Memphis, Tenn., on Monday. The White House says Obama will also meet with first responders and state and local officials. The Mississippi…

A former eastern Kentucky sheriff on Thursday pleaded guilty to using his office to take kickbacks, distribute drugs and pay for personal expenses. As part of a plea agreement, Basil Lawrence Hodge, 51, who had been the sheriff in Whitley…

A group that promotes pride in Confederate history and civil rights advocates are drawing battle lines over efforts to win approval for Kentucky vehicle license plate displaying images of the Confederate flag and Kentucky native Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president.…

Northeast Mississippi Community College will make all of its campuses tobacco free as of Jan. 1. Ricky Ford, athletic director and dean of student services, tells the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the first semester of the 2011-2012 academic year…

Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee has been named a co-champion of the nonpartisan National Popular Vote campaign. The project is promoting reform of the Electoral College by stressing popular votes instead of the winner-takes-all system according to state. Thompson,…

Murfreesboro Police say a suicidal man tried to get police to kill him by throwing paint thinner in an officer's eyes. The unnamed man had called a crisis response line saying he was going to attempt suicide. But when police arrived he refused to open the door. According to The Daily News Journal, he told officers he was going to make them have to shoot him if they entered the home. When Sgt. Tim Higgins climbed in an open window, the man threw the paint thinner. Police were able to subdue the man, who was taken to the Middle Tennessee Medical Center for a mental evaluation. Higgins also was taken to the medical center, where he was treated and released. Police said they found several suicide notes in the house.

Heavy rains and flooding throughout Kentucky in the past few weeks have created the right conditions for increased mosquito infestations, and state health officials advise eliminating breeding grounds to avoid bites and potential disease. Kentucky Department for Public Health Commissioner…

A Lowndes County teacher has been indicted for an alleged affair with a 17-year-old student. Katherine Robbins posted a $25,000 bond Monday after pleading not guilty to sexual battery charges in Lowndes County Circuit Court. The case is scheduled for…

Twelve anti-nuclear protesters have been convicted of trespassing during a protest at Oak Ridge's Y-12 National Security Complex last year. The protesters entered the property after a protest held adjacent to the facility on July 5. They face a maximum…

Former Tennessean publisher Amon Carter Evans has died, his friend and colleague John Seigenthaler told the newspaper. He was 77. The Evans' family bought The Tennessean in 1937. Evan's father and then brother served as publishers before him. Evans was…

A panel has ruled that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge George Paine II's membership in a Nashville country club that has no women or blacks as full-fledged members does not violate the judicial code of conduct. But several on the panel of…

A proposal to limit teacher's collective bargaining rights is advancing after the House speaker stepped in once again to cast a tiebreaking vote. The measure sponsored by Republican Caucus Chairwoman Debra Maggart of Hendersonville passed the House Finance Committee 13-12…

Federal regulators have filed a complaint against two Memphis-based food warehouses, alleging that they have filthy conditions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked U.S. District Court Wednesday for a permanent injunction against American Mercantile Corp., Ingredients Corporation of America…

New census data shows that changes in the Kentucky population over the last decade mirror that of the nation, with residents becoming older, living in less traditional households, renting rather than owning and becoming more diverse. The numbers made public…

The state of Mississippi has executed a 52-year-old man convicted of killing four people, including two children, in 1999. Officials at the state penitentiary at Parchman said Tuesday that inmate Benny Joe Stevens was declared dead at 6:22 p.m. He…

Renovations have begun at the Opry Mills mall, closed since flooding last May from the nearby Cumberland River. According to The Tennessean newspaper, city codes officials issued a $750,000 rehabilitation permit to the mall April 28 to renovate back areas…

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis is asking state regulators to authorize a $190 million medical tower on its campus. According to a public notice published Tuesday, the new tower will include replacement facilities for its surgical department and…

Voters in the Smokies gateway city of Pigeon Forge have again voted down liquor by the drink. The referendum on Tuesday was a more pronounced defeat of the issue than a similar vote in 2009, according to The Mountain Press.…

Mississippi gambling regulators say all of state's 19 dockside casinos on the Mississippi River likely will be closed in the coming days because of high water. High water has shuttered nine casinos in Tunica, three in Greenville, one at Lula…

Attorneys for Mississippi death row inmate Benny Joe Stevens say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution now scheduled for Tuesday at the state penitentiary at Parchman. Stevens has been put in a holding cell near…

The storms that ripped paths of loss through Alabama and half a dozen other states have wrought a special sort of pain on the oldest residents, forcing them to cope with the destruction of all they've known and to adjust…

City officials are having a problem with missing showerheads on the public beach showers at the Ocean Springs Front Beach. The showers were placed on the beach so beachgoers could rinse off the sand and saltwater before leaving. The Mississippi…

Cookeville residents are celebrating the inclusion of John's Place on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1949, it started out as a grocery store and restaurant. It later became a popular gathering spot for Tennessee Tech students and…

A federal grand jury in East Tennessee has indicted nine people on charges of operating a brothel and prostitution network in Tennessee and Kentucky that involved women who are illegal immigrants. A statement by the U.S. attorney's office said the…

Amazon.com has proposed building three more distribution centers in Nashville or Knoxville, Tenn., just as the political debate over the Internet retailer's tax burden in Tennessee is heating up. Amazon.com says in an April 29 state filing that it would…

The state is intensifying its reviews for fee claims from attorneys paid from an indigent defense fund. The Administrative Office of the Courts said in a news release that the need for the fund has increased because of the economic…

Jackson police say a 5-year-old girl died after being accidentally shot. Spokeswoman Colendula Green tells The Clarion-Ledger that 64-year-old Claude Hawkins had taken his granddaughter and 4-year-old grandson to look at horses on Sunday. When Hawkins and his grandchildren were…

Police in Chattanooga say a state trooper's car was struck by a bullet. Tennessee Highway Patrol officer Robert Gordon was working an overtime assignment Saturday night on Interstate 24 near the 4th Avenue exit when he heard a loud bang.…

The rising Mississippi River has prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to begin opening floodgates at a spillway upriver from New Orleans. Shortly after 8 a.m. CDT, workers pulled restraining devices off the first of 28 gates at the the…

Two Muslim religious leaders who were removed from a commercial airliner in Memphis say they were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard. Masudur Rahman said by telephone from the terminal at Memphis International Airport…

A White House official says President Barack Obama will meet with some of those involved in the military assault that killed Osama bin Laden when he visits Fort Campbell, Ky., on Friday. A team of Navy SEALs raided a compound…

Doctorates will be conferred upon two public school administrators who were shot and wounded in an attack last year in Knoxville. Elisa Luna, the principal at Inskip Elementary School, and Amy Brace, the assistant principal there, will receive doctoral degrees…

An impressive initial list of country music stars has aligned with CMT to raise money for tornado victims across the South. Hank Williams Jr., Alabama, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Tim McGraw will join other stars in a 90-minute benefit…

The Tennessee lottery has surpassed $2 billion in funds raised to support education-related programs in the state. Lottery officials made the announcement Thursday, saying more than 100,000 students have received awards to higher education institutions in the state this year.…

Tennessee has shared a drug used in the lethal injection of condemned prisoners with Alabama, which had none on hand for a scheduled execution. State prison officials in Tennessee say they did nothing improper in lending eight grams of sodium…

Preliminary National Weather Service records show the killer storms that bashed Tennessee included a total of 40 tornadoes. Forecasters say that total is likely to increase slightly as data continues to be analyzed. Records from the weather service offices in…

A woman from Itawamba County faces charges after state investigators say she took disaster relief items she was not due. The attorney general's office says 53-year-old Pamela Thompson, who lives just outside the Smithville city limits, was charged Wednesday with…

Commercial barge traffic on the Ohio River and tributaries has been halted because of flooding and closed locks. Jerry Knapper, assistant vice president of Ingram Barge, told The Paducah Sun his company's operations are halted in western Kentucky because locks…

Officials at Middle Tennessee State University say the school is now the only four-year institution in the state that gives re-entry scholarships to older, non-traditional students who want to get a degree. The university just gave nine students across the…

Mississippi's death toll from last week's tornadoes has risen to 36. Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley says 80-year-old Helen Noe of Smithville died Wednesday at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo from injuries she suffered when the tornado struck her…

New York City jurors have acquitted Tennessee Titans backup quarterback Chris Simms in his driving-while-high case. Simms says he's relieved at the acquittal but angry about being arrested in the first place. Jurors delivered their verdict Wednesday after about an…

Former Hawkins County prosecutor Doug Godbee has been arrested on charges that he offered female defendants leniency in exchange for sex. The Kingsport Times-News reports that a sealed indictment charges him with official misconduct. Nine people filed complaints against Godbee.…

Attorneys for three death row inmates, including Benny Joe Stevens, who is scheduled to be executed on May 10, contend the Mississippi Department of Corrections failed to properly publicize as required by law its switch to a new lethal injection.…

A survey of more than 57,000 Tennessee educators is expected to help education officials develop ways to improve the schools. An impressive 77 percent of educators and administrators responded to the TELL Tennessee survey, short for Teaching, Empowering, Leading and…