WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist spoke by video to the first “Justice Sunday” evangelical rally in April, but he wasn’t invited to address “Justice Sunday II,” even though it’s in his home state of Tennessee. Since the first rally, the potential 2008 presidential candidate has angered the events’ organizers by stating his…

NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge could rule as early as Wednesday on clarifications to a key consent decree the state says it needs modified to save money and keep 97,000 of the sickest adults on the state’s expanded Medicaid program. U.S. District Court Judge John Nixon issued an order last Friday that gives the…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — “Haley’s Law,” a statutory declaration that the torture of a child deserves a life in prison, was officially signed by Gov. Phil Bredesen on Tuesday with tiny abuse survivor Haley Spicer sitting on his lap. “Thanks to the support of everybody in this community and throughout East Tennessee, Haley is safe and…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen on Tuesday said a tax pledge to be distributed by income tax opponents to candidates for the state Legislature and governor’s office is simply “political posturing.” Tennessee Tax Revolt, a leading anti-tax advocacy group, has named a task force to promote the Tennessee Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which states in…

TO THE EDITOR: A little over a year ago a small pup came to our door. We already had a golden retriever and two cats.We thought we would try to care for her and then find her a good home. Well, caring for her turned into bonding with her and learning to love her like…

TO THE EDITOR: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated,” Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). I think the same applies to a county!Instead of encouraging the construction of a “county-run dog pound” why did the Southern Standard not encourage responsibility on the part of the…

Tad Bartimus Do not waffle about going to your class reunion; do it.In the six months before I swung open a hotel lobby door and walked 40 years into my past, I was ambivalent about reconnecting with people I barely remembered. What if I didn’t recognize anybody? What if I didn’t care when I did?An…

Morton Kondracke President Bush once made improving American high schools a top priority for his second term. It’s a task widely regarded as vital to the nation’s future. But his plan is going nowhere in Congress.Business leaders, governors and pundits say, and test scores confirm, that U.S. high schools are failing to equip graduates with…

Duane Sherrill I’m a smart man but even I wouldn’t have been able to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep one of those state scholarships.As I recall, I finished Tennessee Tech with a 2.6 average back in 1988 when you didn’t have to mortgage your favorite pet and your first born to pay back student…

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — American farmers are buying computers and using them for business, but at a much slower pace than they did just two years ago, a new federal study shows. The rate for both computer ownership and business usage increased just 1 percent from 2003 to 2005, according to a survey conducted every…