Senior Life Phase Caregiver Support Group and Sunny Day Caregiver Support Group invite caregivers interested in attending a caregiver support group to join them Jan. 27 at 10:30 a.m. at the McMinnville Warren County Senior Center.“Caregiver support groups are open to the public at no cost and with no attendance requirement,” noted Georgia Mabe, Sunny…

McMinnville resident and DeKalb County native Alta Mai Sain Dickens, 89, died Jan. 18 at Hendersonville Hospital after a brief illness.A retired CNA with Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro and a member of Central Church of Christ, she was the daughter of Samuel Walker and Ader McArty Fitts; and was preceded in death by…

MEMPHIS (AP) — A consultant recommends expanding the University of Tennessee pharmacy school into new cities instead of building another one at East Tennessee State University. The report by Jordan Cohen, dean of the University of Iowa’s pharmacy school, was presented Wednesday to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. THEC requested the report to sort out…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.2 percent in December, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Thursday. The rate was two-tenths of a point higher than November but down eight-tenths of a point from the 6 percent recorded for December 2003. “We are continuing to see positive signs of a…

JOHNSON CITY (AP) — A state law is keeping city commissioners from doing a good deed for the tsunami victims in Asia and Africa. Johnson City commissioners voted unanimously two weeks ago to donate $10,000 to relief efforts on behalf of the citizens and planned to hold a news conference to challenge other local governments…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A study shows that thousands of Wal-Mart employees are on TennCare, the state’s expanded Medicaid program, providing fodder for critics who say the retail giant and other businesses are shifting costs for low-paid employees onto the backs of taxpayers. Wal-Mart, with 9,617 employees listed as receiving benefits from the program, said it…

By CHRIS JONES / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Lottery celebrated its one-year anniversary Thursday with revenues of more than $863 million, more than enough to award college scholarships to every qualified student. Roughly $461 million was paid to lottery winners and more than $246 million went to fund the scholarships and other…

By MATT GOURAS / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE — TennCare officials unveiled the details behind cuts Gov. Phil Bredesen announced last week, and officially started the process of rolling back the troubled expanded Medicaid program. Bredesen laid out a course that would cut 323,000 adults from the TennCare rolls and cap benefits for others, while…

By George Plagenz Sunday would seem to be an ideal time to go to church. Because you don’t have to get up to go to work, you can sleep late, have a leisurely breakfast, read the Sunday paper, and still get your family to church on time.Except that surveys show that between 60 and 75…