KNOXVILLE (AP) — The University of Tennessee Pride of the Southland Marching Band will still play “Rocky Top,” but there will be a change with the high-kicking drum major. For the first time in the band’s 136-year history, the drum major is a woman. Kelly Bradshaw, a 19-year-old music education student from Roanoke, Va., beat…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — An East Ridge company accused of installing unsafe guardrails is temporarily disqualified from bidding on new Tennessee Department of Transportation projects, a TDOT spokeswoman said. KRD Corp. can continue working on three contracts already started, according to a Wednesday letter from TDOT Commissioner Jerry Nicely to KRD President David Stutz. “We still…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — A 10-year-old boy and his parents have filed a lawsuit after complaining his school principal would not let him hold a Bible study during recess. After the complaint became news, the Knox County Board of Education said last month reading the Bible is acceptable during free time, but recess is not considered…

GATLINBURG (AP) — After barely a year on the job, Dale Ditmanson is talking about leaving a lasting mark on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Besides championing the health of the 520,000-acre forest and urging regional cooperation to improve its sometimes smoggy air, the 51-year-old superintendent said in an interview with The Associated Press…

NASHVILLE (AP) — A new law allowing authorities to tax illegal drugs allows officials to bully people not convicted of crimes into paying thousands of dollars, defense lawyers say. Since the law took effect in January, Tennessee’s Department of Revenue has collected nearly $400,000 in taxes. Another $11 million in taxes have been levied, but…

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s military has found a way to block the tunnels Palestinians dig under the Gaza-Egypt border to smuggle in weapons by using a huge trench-digging machine, according to a military publication. The 100-ton behemoth, built in Tennessee, would dig deep channels along the border route Israel patrols, exposing the tunnels,…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Lt. Gov. John Wilder said his remarks to the Senate in the aftermath of four lawmakers being arrested in a federal bribery sting was meant only to express his belief that “entrapment is wrong.” Wilder, the speaker of the Senate, said his intentions were not to defend the lawmakers or criticize the…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The state will force key TennCare contractors to accept less money and require them to report who they hire as lobbyists as a result of the scandal involving Sen. John Ford, the program’s top official said Friday. TennCare officials are imposing tougher ethical standards in new contracts the state is now negotiating…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Senate Ethics Committee chairman has set a Sunday deadline for two lawmakers indicted in an FBI bribery sting to ask to keep their leadership posts in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, a Blountville Republican, said if Democratic Sens. Ward Crutchfield of Chattanooga and Kathryn Bowers of Memphis do not…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Homeland Security is checking on why former state Sen. John Ford was allowed to park in a basement garage of a federal courthouse after being charged with public corruption. Access to the garage is restricted, but a driver for Ford parked there during a court hearing for the former senator on May…