By Dave Ramsey / Columnist Dear Dave,What do you think about interest-only mortgages? The idea is that you invest what you would normally pay toward principal over time, and your house will increase in value regardless of principal pay-down. Your investment will grow and increase your overall net worth, as well as giving you flexibility…

CHICAGO (AP) — File bankruptcy now — before the law changes! That’s the message — or exhortation — that attorneys are making across the country, in TV commercials, print ads and mailings, urging Americans to seek bankruptcy court protection before a new law makes it harder for them to walk away from their debts. Debtors…

NEW YORK (AP) — The thermometer read 66 degrees in Colchester, Vt., Friday afternoon, but the town’s weather-worn heating oil customers are used to thinking about winter well before the leaves turn. “We aren’t even selling oil any more,” said John Quinney, general manager of the Energy Co-op of Vermont, who was nonetheless keeping track…

Morrison resident and Warren County native Pearl Mitchell, 91, died Sept. 24 at NHC Healthcare after an extended illness.An employee of May Hosiery Mill in Nashville and a member of Bybee Branch Church of Christ, she was the daughter of the late Fate and Eula Mullican Foster; and was preceded in death by her husband,…

Grundy County native and Warren County resident L.B. Pease, 77, died Sept. 24 at his home after a lingering illness.A lumber grader at BRC and a member of Christian Fellowship Church, he was the son of the late Prince and Maggie Hill Pease. He was also preceded in death by wife Nomma Mae Scott Pease,…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Choices, choices. That’s what senior citizens and the disabled will face in the coming months as they select a private plan to cover a portion of their prescription drug costs under Medicare. The Bush administration announced Friday that nine insurers have been approved nationwide to provide prescription drug coverage through the new…

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asked the state’s schools to take two “early snow days” and cancel classes Monday and Tuesday to help conserve gasoline as Hurricane Rita threatens the nation’s fuel supply line. If all of Georgia’s schools close, the governor estimated about 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel would be saved each…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have opened investigations of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s sales of stock in a hospital operating company founded by his family. Documents show Frist was updated several times about his investments in HCA Inc. and other transactions even though they were held in blind…

WASHINGTON (AP) — If analysts agree on anything when it comes to the federal agency responsible for handling disasters, it’s that it lacks the money to prepare for calamities that are not literally on the horizon. Much else about the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency defies consensus — or even comprehension. Unlike most…