NASHVILLE (AP) — May tax collections for Tennessee’s current fiscal year were $733.8 million, with revenues $10 million more than the budgeted estimate. Sales tax collections were up 5 percent, $14.6 million more than the estimate in April. Year-to-date growth was 4.52 percent or .4 percent less than the budgeted estimate for the year. Franchise…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tracking sexual predators in Florida. Guiding travelers to the cheapest gas nationwide. Pinpointing $1,500 studio apartments for rent in Manhattan. Geeks, tinkerers and innovators are crashing the Google party, having discovered how to tinker with the search engine’s mapping service to graphically illustrate vital information that might otherwise be ignored, overlooked…

NEW YORK (AP) — The economic uncertainty that has generated waves of fear and selling on Wall Street is also making small business owners think a little harder before they hire new employees or buy new equipment. While company owners generally seem optimistic, the business environment is iffy enough that they’d rather not take many…

By James Clark There’s now a lunch counter and ice cream fountain at Main Street Bakery & Cafe. Danice George, 8, enjoys a cinnamon bun at the bakery with her granddad Ken Starkey. Also pictured are employees Lori Redmon, left, and Anita Pope. To borrow a phrase from an Aerosmith song, I’m back in the…

McMinnville resident and Summitville native Edward Steve Merritt, 66, died unexpectedly June 9.The son of the late Ernest and Cleo Merritt, he was preceded in death by brothers, Everett, Benny, James and Winfred; sisters, Verna Riddle and Mildred Caldwell.He survived by son, Andy Merritt; daughter and son-in-law, Amy and Ken Zommer, all of Chicago; brothers…

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — For 15 years, biology teacher Larry Booher secretly taught creationism to his public high school students, using a homemade, 500-page textbook he titled “Creation Battles Evolution.” That book, a three-ring binder of collected material from other sources, was removed from John S. Battle High School in Bristol after administrators received an…

SAN DIEGO (AP) — For years, public health officials have urged people to do simple things to manage their diabetes: Watch blood sugar levels, eat a healthy diet and exercise. Their message, it turns out, appears to be working. Figures released by the government Saturday show that far fewer Americans with diabetes are ending up…

CROSSVILLE (AP) — A Cumberland County man appears to have accidentally fallen to his death from a 110-foot cliff at Ozone Falls, authorities said. The body of 24-year-old Adam Price of Westel was recovered Friday from the base of the waterfall, which is part of the Cumberland Mountain State Park south of Crossville. “At this…

MANCHESTER (AP) — Police say a man was found dead at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival Saturday morning. A cause of death has not been determined for the 32-year-old Huntsville, Ala., and his name has not been released, The Tennessean reported. Coffee Country Sheriff Steve Graves said the body was being sent to state…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Murders were down in Tennessee last year, while drug offenses were on the rise, a state report released Friday shows. The annual Crime in Tennessee report shows that 350 murders were reported last year, 44 fewer than in 2003, or an 11.2 percent reduction. More than half of those murders happened at…