By HOLBROOK MOHR / Associated Press Writer JACKSON, Miss. — Some of the country’s largest nonprofit hospitals are targeted in class action lawsuits alleging they have distorted the extent of their charity care while using punishing tactics to obtain payments from uninsured patients. The lawsuits were filed late Wednesday by Richard Scruggs, a Mississippi attorney…

SPRING HILL (AP) — Saturn workers here are set to vote on details of a new contract that could end a novel relationship and bring the local union into an agreement more like those found in the rest of General Motors. Back in December, UAW Local 1853 members approved by a margin of more than…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Hoping to avoid taking any chances in defending Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposed TennCare reform plan against possible legal challenges, the state has hired private lawyers at rates of up to $350 an hour. Chuck Cooper, an attorney in Washington, D.C., was hired by the state at $350 an hour to fight a…

By CHRIS JONES / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — The Children’s Caucus, a group of Tennessee child advocates, is asking more people to adopt teenagers who are too old for state custody but still need support. Each year an estimated 800 teenagers get too old to stay in the state system and are left…

NASHVILLE (AP) — State education officials are studying ways to lighten the load on students forced to carry backpacks that weigh as much as 15 percent of their body weight. Options being considered for the upcoming school year include purchasing separate textbooks for students to keep at home, eliminating some homework, limiting the size of…

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Writer for the Southern Standard PHILLIPS It’s that time of year again – time for more than 500 area children and adults to learn to swim or improve upon their swimming skills.Volunteers from the Warren County chapter of the American Red Cross taught almost 600 people last year as part…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Writer for the Southern Standard A working mother who fell asleep was given probation this week after her 3-year-old son wandered out of their house and was almost run over by a hay bailer.The defendant, Christina Ann Hall, 25, entered a guilty plea to the charge of child neglect and…

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard As Spc. Jeff Price says goodbye to his son Logan with a hug and a kiss, his wife Chrystal can’t hold back a tear. Price and the rest of McMinnville’s unit of the Tennessee National Guard left yesterday for Camp Shelby, Miss. (Will Stewart photo) It…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Writer for the Southern Standard GWYN A former McMinnville policeman is now the chief law enforcement officer in the state as Mark Gwyn was named director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Thursday.Emerging from a field of three finalists for the job, the announcement of Gwyn’s promotion to director was…

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