MURFREESBORO — Spring has definitely not sprung for the Middle Tennessee football team in the beginning of off-season drills. The Blue Raiders opened spring practice on Monday in pouring rain, battled wind and rain on Tuesday, and then had to deal with windy and cold temperatures on Wednesday. “The weather has been a far cry…

MURFREESBORO — On Monday, April 5, the Blue Raider Athletic Association will kickoff its 2004 membership drive. The drive will run through Thursday, May 13. “This is the most important event we have in the BRAA,” said Bill Lansden, associate athletic director and head of the BRAA. “The revenue we generate from the campaign goes…

By H. JOSEF HEBERT / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — For three years Congress has struggled to put together a new national energy policy, only to fail repeatedly because of disagreements that have little to do with what worries Americans today — record high gasoline prices and the government’s inability to counter the OPEC…

By JENNIFER C. KERR / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Some people find them annoying, but those speed humps that force motorists to slow down in residential neighborhoods and near schools can significantly cut the risk of injury or death to children, a study says. The review found that children who lived on streets…

AP Photo / Mark Baker Beauty, a 20-week-old pig, flies through the air during a rehearsal for the flying pig show at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, Thursday, April 1, 2004.

MEMPHIS (AP) — Pilgrims experimenting with communal living in the inner-city have discovered that good intentions don’t trump fire and building codes. Eleven residents of living quarters carved out of former office and classroom space on the top floor of First Congregational Church were evicted by fire marshals after a Sunday feature story about them…

MONTEREY (AP) — Who says men never stop to ask for directions? Jason Daniel Waddell was in jail Wednesday after he did — and told the person who helped him that he driving a stolen car. Authorities said Waddell, 26, of North East, Md., stopped a woman in an apartment complex Tuesday to ask for…

MEMPHIS (AP) — State officials say alcohol sales at University of Memphis basketball games at the FedExForum would expose the school to legal liability, requiring extra insurance coverage. It’s one of the issues the Tennessee Board of Regents is looking at as it makes a decision on whether to approve a contract the school signed…

HARRIMAN (AP) — Tennessee’s top environmental official opposes a federal proposal that opponents contend would allow mining companies to dump debris near streams. Tennessee Environment and Conservation Commissioner Betsy Child sent a letter saying the state disagrees with the proposed change to a Tuesday public hearing also attended by local environmental activists. Child’s letter said…

By MATT GOURAS / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — The state of Tennessee doesn’t allow booze to be sold in places that have naked women, or apparently even pictures of 19th-century naked women. Regulators warned The Sutler, a Nashville pub, that its antique photos of nude Victorian women on the walls and menus might…