Our Viewpoint We live in a caring society, for the most part. However, the problem with that statement is “for the most part.”While most people are by and large good folks, there are always criminals waiting to prey on the innocence of children. For whatever reasons, this problem seems extremely pronounced the last few years…

Families In Crisis and Historic Falcon Manor are planning a just-for-fun murder that will ironically aid real victims of abuse in Warren County and the surrounding area. “Murder at the Mansion,” a murder mystery dinner theater presentation set for Feb. 27 in the manor’s Victorian Carriage House, is a “whodunit” based on actual characters from…

OAK RIDGE (AP) — More than $1 billion has been spent so far on one of the nation’s most expensive science projects, and officials say the Spallation Neutron Source accelerator is nearing completion. Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials said the project is 76 percent complete, within budget and ahead of schedule. It is scheduled for…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — A former University of Tennessee student who painted the message “No War” on several campus buildings now is suing the school, claiming his free speech rights were violated when he was arrested and his graffiti removed. Caleb E. Wilson, 27, painted the message on the university’s Art and Architecture Building and on…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen’s budget proposal for next year would temporarily restore more than half of a $17 million fund used to pay for wetlands, local parks and land acquisition. The promise of $10 million comes one year after Bredesen virtually stripped the fund as part of his effort to balance the state’s…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The new Tennessee Lottery doesn’t seem to be hurting the games in surrounding states, with at least three lotteries reporting increases in sales over the same time last year despite increased border competition. Lotteries in Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia all have experienced rises in ticket sales since Tennessee launched its own Jan.…

By SCOTT REEVES / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Lottery will join the big multistate game Powerball by early summer and begin selling tickets for its own pingpong ball-style drawing March 1, officials announced Monday. Members of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. board of directors voted unanimously to join the 26-state Powerball,…

By Duane Sherrill It’s a sad week for me — and many of you — seeing that football season is over.Sure, we have NASCAR and the new Nextel Cup beginning today and March Madness is just around the corner, but it’s hard to replace the excitement us football junkies feel on Sunday afternoon. It seems…

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard The Lady Broncos traveled over Monteagle mountain Thursday afternoon to take on the (12-6) Lady Pirates of South Pittsburg. The long trip over the mountain was an even longer ride home as the Lady Broncos fell 53-32 to the Lady Pirates.A slow start on offense…

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Boyd’s Clint Patterson busted the net for 20 points on the road Thursday night against the Pirates of South Pittsburg. But the Pirates scored at least 20 points in each period to down the Broncos 83-67.Boyds’ offense came out in the first period and took…