NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Higher Education Commission plans to ask the General Assembly for an additional $78 million to go with the money they expect to receive for basic needs. Higher education leaders said during a meeting Thursday that a portion of the extra money — about $33.5 million — will go toward need-based…

TO THE EDITOR: What a sad day for us! Much to our distress, we have just discovered there is a move afoot to remove McMinnville’s beautiful Christmas tree. Apparently it does not fit into everyone’s downtown renewal plan. We urge whoever makes such decisions to reconsider.That lovely tree has been such a positive part of…

By Jim Mullen We are approaching the height of what the travel industry likes to call the “Holiday Travel Season.” Doesn’t “Holiday Travel Season” sound pleasant?“Oh, how wonderful! The Holiday Travel Season! The other four seasons just weren’t enough, now we have the Holiday Travel Season.”To celebrate the “Holiday Travel Season” airlines will jack up…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Investigator Jackie Matheny Jr., left, and Sheriff Jackie Matheny lead jail nurse Carol Lynn Greene from Warren County Jail minutes after she was reportedly caught smuggling marijuana into the facility. (Duane Sherrill photo) A nurse was caught red-handed smuggling marijuana into Warren County Jail Thursday…

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard A Riverview man was stabbed in the head Thursday morning during a tussle with his daughter’s boyfriend over child support payments.The victim, Ted Herrington, was treated at River Park Hospital for cuts to his head and back, injuries which are not apparently life-threatening. The alleged…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Ten KIDD At least one county commissioner is concerned about the actions of the county’s Purchasing Committee in awarding a bid for sheriff’s department vehicles. Thompson Ford of Tullahoma was chosen to supply the cars over McMinnville Ford because of a difference of…

East Ridge resident William L. Thaxton, 79, died Nov. 13 in East Ridge.A member of the Baptist faith, a member of the Lion’s Club, an antique art painter, director and sculptor, he served his country in the U.S. Navy during World War II.The son of the late Jesse B. and Inez Littlefield Thaxton, he is…

Rock Island resident formerly of Birmingham, Ala., Casteen Neal Sparkman, 90, died unexpectedly Nov. 15 at McMinnville Boarding Home.A homemaker, Bone Cave native, and a member of Faith Freewill Baptist Church in Birmingham, she attended Eastside Baptist Church locally.The daughter of Carroll Issom and Nora Ellen Rowland Neal, she was preceded in death by her…

Lebanon resident and White County native Dillard Clinton Austin, 90, died Nov. 15 at his home after an extended illness.A truck driver and a member of First Assembly of God Church, he was the son of the late Joseph and Rachel Medley Austin; and was preceded in death by brothers, Monroe, Orville, Ernest and Brady…

NEW YORK (AP) — Put away the cake. Pass the spinach.Popeye celebrates his 75th birthday this year, animated evidence that a steady diet of leafy green vegetables and pipe smoking can guarantee you Hulk Hogan forearms as a septuagenarian. To honor the veteran sailor man, the Museum of Television and Radio unveiled a retrospective Saturday…