MEMPHIS (AP) — An overhaul of the Memphis city schools’ discipline plan that bans paddling could cost the cash-strapped district $5.6 million. The plan, which advocates more personal intervention and counseling to improve behavior, includes two years of discipline training, conferences and a massive expansion of the in-school suspension program. School board president Wanda Halbert,…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s unemployment rate for May rose to 6.2 percent from the adjusted rate for April of 5.8 percent, Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development James Neeley said Thursday. The May rate was higher than the 5.1 percent national unemployment rate, which edged down from a 5.2 percent April rate. “The household survey…

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. launched his first television ad since officially declaring his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, a patriotic spot that touts his desire to bring American troops home from the Middle East soon. The 30-second ad, which Ford said was slated to start running statewide Thursday, does not mention…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The state on Thursday released a comprehensive plan to battle cancer in Tennessee, where the disease kills nearly 13,000 people a year, with only heart disease more deadly. The 72-page report, called the Tennessee Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan, spawned from a federal initiative about five years ago urging states to develop and…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen on Thursday traveled the state to formally sign a law allowing $25 million in lottery funds to be used for a voluntary pre-kindergarten program in Tennessee that he hopes will one day be a national model. This first installment is expected to pay for about 300 classrooms for some…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s economy will continue to strengthen through 2006, benefiting from an increase in per capita income and new jobs and the first modest expansion in manufacturing since 1998, according to a University of Tennessee report released Thursday. “The economy has finally been able to engineer sustained job growth that will help propel…

By George Plagenz / Columnist I don’t know whether Melanie is a churchgoer or not, but the foot-washing paraphernalia she has in her beauty shop brings to mind the role that foot-washing has played in the Christian church.I doubt Melanie’s procedure bears any resemblance to the ceremony of foot-washing we read about in the Bible,…

By Morton Kondracke / Columnist Polls indicate that the public is dissatisfied with the performance of both the Republican-led Congress and President Bush. But the ability of Democrats to capitalize on it is being hampered by rampant Deanism.“Deanism,” the trademark behavior of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, is the tendency to attract publicity for…

By James Clark / Columnist Sunday afternoon was as good a time as any to dump out Benjamin’s toy box and get down on the floor and play. In between Scooby snacks and Batmobile maneuvers, I stumbled on an interesting game.I decided to play Check Where the Toy is Made, which really isn’t much of…

Our Viewpoint There aren’t many ways to sugar coat the message economist Bill Fruth delivered Wednesday at McMinnville Civic Center.Due, in large part, to the upcoming closing of Carrier, Warren County’s economy is headed for at least a three-year slump. According to Fruth’s calculations, there’s nothing the county can do at this point to alter…