NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s unemployment rate for April was the same as the adjusted rate for March at 5.8 percent, Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development James Neeley announced Thursday. The April rate was slightly higher than the 5.2 percent national unemployment rate, which was unchanged from March. The rate for April 2004 was 4.9…

Woodbury resident and Warren County native Thomas Dale Payne, 43, died unexpectedly May 14 at Stones River Hospital in Woodbury.A farmer and factory worker and a member of Pleasant View Church of Christ, he was the son of Doris Payne of McMinnville and the late Thomas H. Payne.He is survived by his wife, Annette Powell…

Woodbury resident and Warren County native Shelby Jean Barrett died May 19 at her home after an extended illness.A homemaker and a member of Pleasant View Church of Christ, she was the daughter of the late Ruben Leonard and Annie Ray Wright and was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Barrett; sisters Beatrice Wright…

McMinnville resident and Cannon County native Gracie Lee Osment Neal, 80, died May 18 at NHC Healthcare after an extended illness.A homemaker and a member of the Church of Christ, she was the daughter of John Ernest and Jennie Barrett Osment.She is survived by sons and daughter-in-law, Teddy Neal of McMinnville, Michael Lee and Marie…

Nashville resident and Pittsburgh, Pa., native Clarence Jarold Hamby III, 46, died unexpectedly April 16.A construction worker, masonry and artist and a U.S. Army veteran, he was the son of Clarence Jarold and Ruth Geneva Rogers Hamby Jr.He is survived by sisters, Geri Denise D’Augstino of West Palm Beach, Fla., Patricia Gail Foster and Darlene…

Five-month-old Cheyenne Elizabeth Hailey Blevins died unexpectedly May 16 at River Park Hospital.The daughter of Carrie L. McCormick and Ronald Blevins, both of McMinnville, she is also survived by sisters, Cassandra and Charques Blevins, Kelly, Stacey and Caitlynn Arnold, all of McMinnville; brother, Cortney Dishay Blevins of McMinnville; maternal grandparents, Mary and Butch Maxwell and…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Women in the military would be barred from serving in direct ground combat roles, under a House bill that sets Defense Department policy and spending plans for the upcoming budget year. The House Armed Services Committee approved the overall measure early Thursday on a 61-1 vote. The same committee in the Senate…

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox is adding five new dramas and two comedies to a nearly reality-free schedule next fall, while UPN said Thursday it wants to start a new Thursday comedy tradition with Chris Rock. They were the last of the broadcast networks to announce their fall schedules to advertisers this week. Riding its…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Student journalists sued their Bakersfield high school district Thursday in an effort to keep the school’s principal from censoring student newspaper articles on homosexuality. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, requests an emergency order to allow the paper to publish the stories in The Kernal’s year-end May 27…

NEW YORK (AP) — “Our Fathers” confronts a subject that seems all too ripe for exploitation: sexually abusive priests in the Catholic Church. But while dramatizing the tragedy, this Showtime film avoids the pitfalls of melodrama. It focuses not on the squalid crimes, but on their disastrous effect — as well as on the courage…