By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard TURNER In a case of forbidden physical contact between a former beauty queen turned basketball coach and a 13-year-old male student, physical evidence will play only a minor role as the state’s case will rely heavily on the testimony of her accusers.“A lot of it…

Murfreesboro resident and Warren County native Esther Lee Bess, 85, died April 25 at her home after an extended illness.A cook with Gaylo Cafeteria, she was the daughter of the late Murphy A. and Ovie Lee Hitchcock Bouldin Sr.; and was preceded in death by son, James Earl Bess; granddaughter, Margie L. Bess; and brother,…

BALTIMORE (AP) — Older people who stay active in a wide variety of ways seem to have a better chance of warding off dementia, according to research that found it’s the diversity, not intensity, of the exercise that counts. And the pastimes can range from gardening to aerobics. “It’s not necessarily the energy you spend,”…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Computer storage technology is getting so cheap a person could record every conversation of a lifetime and decades of photographs, but experts must improve search systems so users can make sense of such mind-boggling amounts of information, Microsoft’s top research executive said Tuesday. The company’s billionaire chairman, Bill Gates, visits Washington this…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The upcoming round of military base closings must be “untarnished by political influence,” Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole declared. Then she put in a plug for her own state. North Carolina “supports a unique military infrastructure,” prime for expansion not closure, Dole told the head of the commission that will review Pentagon proposals…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Students in Lisa Volland’s advanced biology class examine flowers, lemons and corn under the microscope, pondering how the plants evolved over time to improve their chances of survival. The Topeka West High School teacher does not discuss the biblical story of creation or “intelligent design,” just “the big e-word,” as she…

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — D.R. “Doc” Carson made his way to the Internet Cafe every morning and pulled up a chair in front of a terminal. He skipped the keyboard, choosing instead to use the touch-screen monitor. He usually stayed until around 5 p.m., when his wife gets home. That’s a long time on the…

DETROIT (AP) — The lure of the Toyota Prius and other hybrid cars helped drive healthy sales of electric and alternative-powered vehicles last year, according to new data that shows the hybrid market has grown by 960 percent since 2000. New hybrid vehicle registrations totaled 83,153 in 2004, an 81 percent increase over the year…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Tuesday rejected compromise offers that would allow minority Democrats to continue to block judicial nominees, saying all of President Bush’s past and future court choices deserve confirmation votes from the GOP-controlled Senate. “At the end of the day, one will be left standing … the Constitution,…

WASHINGTON (AP) — While the U.S. crime rate has fallen over the past decade, the number of people in prison and jail is outpacing the number of inmates released, the government reports. The population of the nation’s prisons and jails has grown by about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, according to figures…