WASHINGTON (AP) — Rates on 30-year mortgages rose a second straight week as financial markets reacted to the decision by the Federal Reserve to keep pushing interest rates higher because of worries about inflation. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the nationwide average for rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose this week to 5.80…

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 200,000 people have lost their jobs because of Hurricane Katrina, and more bad economic news is on the horizon as Hurricane Rita heads for the Texas Gulf Coast and the country’s biggest collection of oil refineries. Even a glancing blow could send energy prices higher than their record peak right…

MEMPHIS (AP) — A round of proposals that would stress creating more distance between state legislators and lobbyists were finalized Thursday during the final meeting of a citizens’ panel appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen. The Citizen Advisory Group on Ethics in Government met at the University of Memphis, in the sixth meeting held statewide to…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, already indicted in a public corruption case, faces more charges, a federal prosecutor said Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim DiScenza didn’t specify during the routine court hearing what the new indictments would charge, but prosecutors had said this summer that the investigation known as Tennessee Waltz wasn’t…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The overhaul of TennCare is on target to accomplish its bottom-line mission, a reduction of $575 million in projected growth in costs this year, director J.D. Hickey said Thursday. The savings come from a set of controversial reforms that will end TennCare coverage for 191,000 adults and cut drug benefits for remaining…

By BILL POOVEY / Associated Press Writer CHATTANOOGA — Federal Emergency Management Agency spending for more than 96,000 travel trailers and mobile homes totals more than $1 billion and the buying of temporary dwellings for Katrina evacuees is not finished, a FEMA spokesman said. “We still have the ones to be awarded yet,” FEMA spokesman…

By KRISTIN M. HALL / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE — State agencies are already gearing up for a second round of disaster relief, this time due to the expected damage and flooding from Hurricane Rita. Most of the organizations say that although they are having to focus their efforts twofold, the strain on operations is…

TO THE EDITOR: Shortly after my wife passed away, a man came to my house representing a monument company from Chattanooga to sell me a headstone for my wife Linda Whaley’s grave. I conferred with him and subsequently I ordered the headstone and paid in full $1,732.71 on March 5, 2003. They took my money,…

TO THE EDITOR: To the folks of Warren County, I thank you for sharing your political thoughts during the fair. I recommend the experience to all.I worked the Republican booth and heard remarks pro and con about President Bush, New Orleans, Iraq and Afghanistan. I even heard the words closet Republicans. For heaven sake what…

By ERIN McCLAM / AP National Writer A 64-year-old Alabamian frets about frayed race relations. A Utah software programmer ponders the slow government response to Hurricane Katrina and decides he’ll turn to his church first in a disaster created by nature or terrorists. A woman scraping by on disability pay in northern Virginia puts her…