NASHVILLE (AP) — The state of Tennessee bought 323 acres of land for preservation along the southern border of Historic Rugby, a restored Victorian village established in 1880 along the Cumberland Plateau. The tract was purchased for $485,000 through an equal combination of State Land Acquisition funds and National Park Service Land and Water Conservation…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Tennessee’s first death this year from the West Nile virus was reported Tuesday in Shelby County by local and state health officials. Two new human cases were reported in the county, including the death, according to officials with the Memphis and Shelby County and state health departments. Officials would not release personal…

NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposed half-cent increase in the Nashville sales tax was rejected by about 70 percent of voters on Tuesday. The proposal would have raised the current sales tax rate from 9.25 cents per dollar to 9.75 cents, the maximum rate allowed in Tennessee. Under the plan proposed by Mayor Bill Purcell, the…

MURFREESBORO (AP) — A Nashville man failed his driver’s license examination when he crashed his vehicle into the testing center Tuesday, slightly injuring two people. Osman Salah, 25, will not be charged in the accident, according to the state highway patrol. “I could see he’d hit the curb,” Laurie Holden, the examiner, told WTVF-TV of…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican legislative leaders said Tuesday that the legislature needs to ramp up ongoing internal ethics investigations and do more to restore the public’s trust following the Tennessee Waltz bribery sting. New House Minority Leader Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, joined Senate GOP Majority Leader Ron Ramsey in giving a sneak peek at their legislative…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Lobbyists looking to clean up their profession’s messy image, caused partly by the Tennessee Waltz corruption case, decided to start annual ethics training sessions in January, their association president said Tuesday. With Gov. Phil Bredesen’s appointed ethics advisory group preparing recommendations that could require lobbyists to report how much money they make,…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Emergency Operations Center in Nashville says no more airplanes loaded with Hurricane Katrina evacuees will be coming to the state. Shelters from Clarksville to Kingsport that had geared up to take in planeloads of evacuees are shutting down after seeing only some of the numbers expected. Two…

By BILL POOVEY / Associated Press Writer CHATTANOOGA — Dry conditions in East Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau in the past few weeks are causing some trees to show stress that could lead to a ho-hum autumn foliage display, a National Weather Service forecaster said Tuesday. “We have been very dry and there is some…

By Tad Bartimus / Columnist Hurricane Katrina’s unprecedented aftermath affirms two truths: If you’re poor in America, you’re invisible until catastrophe thrusts you into the glare of television lights, and nobody ever takes official responsibility for this institutional neglect.Thousands of victims of the killer storm that destroyed New Orleans and parts of Mississippi, Alabama and…

By Morton Kondracke / Columnist President Bush has an opportunity to recover from his post-Hurricane Katrina political doldrums, but Democrats do themselves no good by trying to take political advantage of a national tragedy.There’s no question that Bush’s initial response to Katrina was late and uninspiring. Or that his administration’s emergency management showed deep and…