By ALICIA CHANG / Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The school vending machine — a source of money for schools and unhealthy calories for kids — is under heavy attack by state lawmakers across the country. About two dozen states are considering total bans or limits on vending machine products. About 20 states…

By RACHEL ZOLL / AP Religion Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Two unprecedented studies that document pervasive sex abuse by U.S. Roman Catholic clergy found nearly 11,000 minors have claimed they were molested since 1950, and that bishops bear much of the responsibility for the crisis. One document says their failure to stop predators let the…

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers criticized the Tennessee Valley Authority on Thursday for its debt management and accounting practices. TVA’s traditional debt is estimated at nearly $25 billion. It’s underwritten with TVA bonds and is limited to a $30 billion ceiling set by Congress. However, Rep. Richard Baker,…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The state Senate passed and sent to the governor a bill that would allow the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to set hunting and fishing license fees. The rates had been controlled by the General Assembly, which hasn’t raised them in 15 years. Opponents argued the change allows fees to rise too much…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard MATHENY The Warren County Sheriff’s Department and McMinnville Police Department are giving away free gun locks as part of a federally funded safety program.The nation-wide program, Project ChildSafe, is being funded by a $50 million Department of Justice grant and provides easy-to-install locks which prevent…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard FULTS Already facing a lengthy prison sentence for molesting a 16-year-old Murfreesboro boy, local native Craig Fults is now the target of a civil lawsuit filed by the victim’s family asking $20 million in damages.Named along with Fults in the suit are Barfield Elementary principal…

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard KENT Stunned. If Jon Kent had to use one word to describe his reaction to “The Passion of the Christ,” stunned would most certainly be it.“I’ve seen it twice already and I am still stunned,” said the First Baptist Church youth minister. “It embraces the…

By MICHAEL P. REGAN / AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and the founders of the Google search engine have landed on Forbes magazine’s annual list of billionaires. Rallying stocks and a strong euro swelled the list to the longest it has ever been. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is…

By SCOTT REEVES / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Vought Aircraft Industries, lured to expand in Texas with a multimillion dollar package, will close its Nashville plant and move about 1,000 jobs to Dallas, the company said Thursday. The manufacturer of aircraft parts received $35 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund as part of…

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD / Associated Press Writer KNOXVILLE (AP) — The restart of bomb-grade uranium processing at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge is five years overdue and about $300 million over budget, according to an internal audit released Thursday. Since Y-12 is the only facility in the United States capable of recovering…