MT Media Relations MURFREESBORO — Two free airline tickets will be given to a Middle Tennessee student during “Pack the Park” night at the Tuesday, April 20 game against Vanderbilt, as the Blue Raiders try to set a new single-game attendance record. One lucky student will win two free round trip airplane tickets anywhere Southwest…

MT Media Relations MURFREESBORO — Dayton scored seven runs in the final two innings to erase a five-run deficit and defeat Middle Tennessee, 9-7, Sunday afternoon at Reese Smith Field. The visiting Flyers (7-10) left 17 runners stranded in the game, including 11 in the first six innings, before plating four runs in the eighth…

By TOM WITHERS / AP Sports Writer COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Suddenly, spring football practice doesn’t seem so important in Alabama. Sweet Home Alabama? Not this March. How about Sweet 16 Alabama — the new center of the college basketball universe. Alabama-Birmingham sent another shock wave through the NCAA tournament on Sunday with a 76-75…

By TOM COYNE / AP Sports Writer Middle Tennessee State center Tia Stovall, left, is fouled by North Carolina forward Camille Little in the first half of first-round action in the NCAA East, March 21, 2004, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond) SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Middle Tennessee State didn’t play a lot…

By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS / AP Sports Writer CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Chattanooga is riding the nation’s longest current winning streak, and the Lady Mocs don’t want it to end soon. Tenth-seeded Chattanooga (29-2) extended the streak to 27 games after upsetting No. 7 seed Rutgers 74-69 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday.…

By CHARLES J. HANLEY / AP Special Correspondent MAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY, Hawaii (AP) — Carbon dioxide, the gas largely blamed for global warming, has reached record-high levels in the atmosphere after growing at an accelerated pace in the past year, say scientists monitoring the sky from this 2-mile-high station atop a Hawaiian volcano. The reason…

By DAVID CRARY / AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The national furor over gay marriage has complicated the task of officials and civic leaders trying to energize support for President Bush’s $1.5 billion proposal to promote stronger marriages among heterosexual couples. “The intensity of the same-sex marriage debate is so great that it…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — State officials closed a Chattanooga day care center this week, citing failure to report child abuse and problems with its transportation records. The Tennessee Department of Human Services said the Village Learning and Daycare Center at Eastdale Village Community United Methodist Church posed “a severe danger to children in its care.” Officials…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Memphis officials want their MTV, and they’re willing to pay big bucks for it. The city would spend about $500,000 for police, fire and emergency services if the MTV Video Music Awards are held here this fall, according to the lead recruiter on the project. Rey Flemings, president and chief executive officer…

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE / Associated Press Writer BOTHELL, Wash. (AP) — A lesbian Methodist pastor was acquitted Saturday in a church trial over her sexual orientation, and will be allowed to continue her ministry. After about 10 hours of deliberations, a jury of 13 pastors ruled in favor of the Rev. Karen Dammann, 47,…