Two teenagers held as suspects in five-alarm mall fire
OLD HICKORY (AP) — Two teenagers turned themselves in to authorities after a four-day investigation into a five-alarm fire that destroyed a historic strip mall, fire officials said. Neighbors and business owners in the 1940s-era Old Hickory Village area want prosecutors to charge the 15- and 17-year-old boys as adults and seek severe punishment. Mall…
Read MoreFive in unusual federal trial on meth-making charges
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Prosecutors have launched the area’s first trial of an alleged methamphetamine manufacturing ring under federal drug conspiracy laws. Five residents of Monroe County are charged with making the illegal stimulant inside a ramshackle mobile home and nearby storage shed. The drug is easily manufactured at home using household items and nonprescription cold…
Read MoreCommittee resolves differences in charity gambling bills
By KARIN MILLER / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Lawmakers are expected to send Gov. Phil Bredesen compromise legislation Monday that would allow Tennessee charities to hold gambling fund-raisers this year. On Thursday, a committee of Senate and House members worked out differences between the two chambers on the bill that would allow eligible…
Read MoreBredesen to record teen driving messages
NASHVILLE (AP) — A spate of deadly car crashes has prompted Gov. Phil Bredesen to create public service announcements urging teenagers to drive safely. Four separate accidents killed 16 Tennessee teenagers since Feb. 29. In Millington, a 15-year-old driver with a learner’s permit killed himself and six passengers when the car went airborne and hit…
Read MoreSenate OKs bill loosening motorcycle helmet law
By AMBER McDOWELL / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — The state Senate on Thursday approved legislation to allow some motorcyclists to ride Tennessee roads without helmets, despite objections from several lawmakers that the change would be costly to the state. The Senate voted 24-8 in favor of the measure, with one member, Sen. Joe…
Read MoreBredesen upset over abortion, civil unions legislation
NASHVILLE (AP) — The General Assembly is playing politics with divisive issues and the Tennessee Constitution during an election year, and Gov. Phil Bredesen said it needs to stop. The Senate passed a bill late Wednesday that bans homosexual civil unions and also approved a resolution to amend the state constitution, ensuring that abortion rights…
Read MoreSocial issues raising stakes in legislative election year
By AMBER McDOWELL / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Another measure seeking to restrict abortion rights was introduced in the state Senate on Thursday and is likely to further roil a fractious legislative session dominated by debate over social issues. The bill came a day after Republican senators forced votes on a constitutional amendment…
Read MoreIraq becoming ever-bigger testing ground for U.S. resolve
By TOM RAUM / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Iraq was already a testing ground for American resolve, and now the gruesome deaths of four American civilians have raised the stakes. The public may rally around President Bush in the short term, as often happens with attacks abroad, but the assault also intensifies pressures…
Read MoreThe Village Idiot: Just how sappy can you get?
By Jim Mullen It’s this time of year when the nights are below freezing and the daytime temperature gets above freezing that the sap starts running in the maple trees. Each tree along our long, Courier and Ives drive will have three or four tin buckets hanging from the spiles — oh yeah, no they…
Read MoreChanging flavor of melting pot
By Cokie & Steven Roberts If you want to see the new face of America, come to California. It’s turning more Hispanic, more Asian and more gay.Consider these snapshots. The teacher in our grandsons’ playgroup switches easily from English to Spanish and back again. The freshman class at the University of California’s Berkeley campus is…
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