By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Key Republicans in Congress want to declassify 2002 testimony by former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, hoping to show discrepancies between his recent criticisms of the Bush administration and positive remarks he made as a White House aide. “Mr. Clarke has told two entirely different…

WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) — Nearly 200 women who applied for jobs at a Hooters restaurant were secretly videotaped in a trailer while they undressed to put on a Hooters uniform, police said. Authorities raided the trailer last month and seized a computer that held 180 digital videos of the women, ages 17-25, Lt. Mark…

By BRAD FOSS / AP Business Writer When the price of gasoline surges, two things are practically guaranteed: motorists will bemoan the rising cost and, more tellingly, they’ll drive as much as ever. “I hate it. I hate expensive gas,” Don Macklin, 71, of Kingston, Ontario, said as he pulled his Chrysler minivan into the…

By MARK NIESSE / Associated Press Writer ATLANTA (AP) — When gas thieves strike Salim Gillani’s Chevron station, all they leave behind is a leaky pump. “It’s like they’re driving the pace car at a NASCAR race,” said Gillani, whose station is near one of Atlanta’s interstate highways. “Catching them, that’s the hard part.” With…

Nashville Children’s Theatre wraps up its 2003-04 season with “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” based on the novel by Mark Twain. This production was conceived and written by Ken Ludwig with music and lyrics by Don Schlitz. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” opens April 19 and runs through May 14 in NCT’s Hill Theatre.Originally performed…

By BILL POOVEY / Associated Press Writer CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A man restrained by police after he ran naked on a downtown street suffocated after officers wrestled him to the ground, an autopsy report released Friday said. The Hamilton County medical examiner’s report has prompted the man’s mother to question whether officers used excessive force…

By SCOTT REEVES / Associated Press Writer CENTERVILLE (AP) — Atys US, a company specializing in fruit preparation for the dairy industry, announced Friday it will open a Tennessee plant that eventually will employ 100 people. Atys US announced it will invest $16 million to occupy a 100,000-square-foot building formerly used by a supplier of…

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD / Associated Press Writer KNOXVILLE (AP) — A University of Tennessee campus chancellor has declared his candidacy for system president while the president of East Tennessee State University has withdrawn. Bill Stacy, chancellor of UT-Chattanooga since 1997, said he wanted to be considered for UT’s top post because “I believe I am…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Welfare mothers will be given a one-year exemption from work requirements to stay home with newborns under a policy change by the state Department of Human Services. DHS officials say the change will be better for the mothers, the newborns and the taxpayers, who are expected to save $4.3 million a year…

By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS / Associated Press Writer KNOXVILLE (AP) — This week’s warm temperatures are helping keep the risk of wildfires down across Tennessee by bringing out the lush spring vegetation. A 760-acre fire outside Winchester near the Alabama border has been burning since Wednesday and is nearly contained while smaller fires have flared…