NASHVILLE (AP) — A seven-year veteran of the Tennessee Department of Transportation has been charged with DUI and drug possession while driving a state-owned truck. Brian Webb, a maintenance worker with TDOT, was pulled over by Nashville police for speeding Tuesday. Webb refused to take a breath test, so police charged him with DUI. Police…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Some rank-and-file Tennessee lawmakers are bucking legislative leaders by saying it shouldn’t take federal convictions to remove an indicted lawmaker from office. Federal prosecutors arrested four sitting lawmakers last week in an operation dubbed “Tennessee Waltz”, charging the officials with taking money from a fake company set up by the FBI. Sen.…

ATHENS (AP) — A bulge in a baby’s diaper turned out to be crack cocaine and marijuana when a McMinn County deputy arrested the child’s mother during a traffic stop, records show. Aisha Carter, 24, of Etowah was charged with driving on a suspended license, possession of Schedule II drugs and possession of Schedule VI…

NASHVILLE (AP) — More than half the lottery scholarship freshmen at Tennessee Board of Regents schools earned good enough grades to keep the financial aid, the board said Wednesday. An average of 56 percent of freshmen who received the $3,000 and $4,000 scholarships completed 24 semester hours with at least a 2.75 grade point average…

MURFREESBORO (AP) — Tuition at Tennessee Board of Regents schools needs to be increased by about 10 percent, a school official said. The Regents have raised tuition the last three years — 7 percent in 2004, 14 percent in 2003 and 7.5 percent in 2002. Another raise has been expected, but Richard Rhoda, executive director…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories advanced by 0.9 percent in April, the fastest clip in five months, and worker productivity at the start of the year turned out to have been better than originally thought. The nation’s retailers also reported better-than-expected sales in May, but all the economic news released Thursday wasn’t good.…

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s retailers had generally solid sales last month, overcoming the effects of an unusually cold spring as consumers became more optimistic about the economy and more interested in shopping. The results reported Thursday extended a string of mostly respectable sales gains since the beginning of the year. The top performers…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Public jitters about the economy persist despite recent signs of growth — with unease fueled by everything from high gasoline prices to uncertain housing costs to the growing budget deficit, according to a poll released Wednesday. Only about one in three Americans think the national economy is in good shape, according to…

Rock Island resident and Warren County native Harlan Delter Tenpenny, 58, died May 31 at River Park Hospital from injuries sustained in an accident.The owner of D & H Equipment, a farmer and a member of Blue Spring Cove Church of Christ, he was the son of the late Delter Lee and Myrtle Eva Sissom…

McMinnville resident and Van Buren County native Casteen Vivian Hillis, 81, died May 31 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville after a brief illness.A retired factory worker with McMinnville Garment and a member of the Church of Christ, she was the daughter of the late Hershel and Avo Cole Moore, and was preceded in death…