By KARIN MILLER / AP Business Writer FRIST NASHVILLE (AP) — Workers losing jobs because of plant closings in Warren and Davidson counties will get some special federal assistance next month, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Friday. The Tennessee Republican is putting together a “rapid response team” from nine federal agencies to coordinate…

By COLIN FLY / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court set an Aug. 19 execution date for a Tennessee inmate convicted of stabbing a Shelbyville woman to death in 1985. The order filed late Wednesday also requires that the Circuit Court of Coffee County, where Gregory Thompson, 42, was originally tried…

By AMBER McDOWELL / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — A new scorecard ranking Tennessee legislators on their environmental voting records shows not enough is done to protect and enhance the state’s natural resources, advocates said Thursday. “We’d very much like to see more positive actions taken. We spend a lot of the time stopping…

By KARIN MILLER / AP Business Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Bridgestone/Firestone announced a recall Thursday of about 490,000 Steeltex tires linked to sport utility vehicle crashes that killed five people. The move heads off an in-depth investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into the Steeltex Radial A/T LT265/75R16 Load Range D tires, which…

TO THE EDITOR: My wife and I wish to commend River Park Hospital and the American Heart Association for conducting the Heart Health Fair on Feb. 21 at River Park.Our community is very fortunate to have such a dedicated group willing to donate their time and expertise to provide us with valuable health information. Many…

TO THE EDITOR: There can be very few worse living conditions in the United States than living in fear ? terrible for an adult and completely traumatizing for a child. Our police and sheriff’s department do what they can, but in most cases their hands are tied until after the fact.Many times they cannot interfere…

TO THE EDITOR: I recently read Joan Ryan’s article about marriage in the Southern Standard. After I read the article, it didn’t surprise me she is a San Francisco columnist. Though, sadly, I’m sure many share her view all over the world.I am behind President Bush 100 percent in his effort to keep marriage licenses…

By Jim Mullen / Columnist Scientists say every snowflake that falls is unique. That’s true. What they don’t tell you is that every pile of frozen dirty slush looks exactly the same.There’s a reason that “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” became the best-selling record of all time while “I’m Dreaming of a White St.…

By Cokie & Steven Roberts / Columnists Howard Dean’s demise was all the media’s fault, says Joe Trippi, the former Vermont governor’s onetime campaign manager and Web wizard. “It wasn’t a dot-com crash,” he insists, “it was a dot-com miracle being shot down.”Trippi is living on Planet Nerdo. Dean’s biggest enemy wasn’t the press; it…

By James Clark CLARK I’m against gay marriage and I applaud President Bush for speaking out against it. At the same time, I’m not so sure a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is appropriate and I’ll explain why.First, let me emphasize I don’t like the thought of same-sex marriage. In this day when promoting family…