With early voting currently taking place, politics is in the air. Members of the local Republican Party are urging voters to consider their options at the polls. Pictured waving to motorists Wednesday evening on Smithville Highway are, from left, Clark David, Veronica David and Republican Party chairman Charlie Moss.

Manchester resident and Coffee County native Leona Ramsey Campbell, 79, died Tuesday at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville. A homemaker and a member of Main Street Church of Christ in Manchester, she was the daughter of the late H.B. and Sally St. John Ramsey; and was preceded in death by her husband, Jese Larimore (Larry)…

McMinnville resident and Cannon County native Irene Wolverton, 84, died July 12 at Cooper Basin Medical Center in Ducktown. A factory worker and a member of the Church of Christ, she was the daughter of the late John and Essie Lasister Powell; and was preceded in death by her husband, Joe E. Wolverton; sons, Darrell…

Centertown resident and Warren County native George Edward Prater, 84, died July 10 at Sparta NHC after an extended illness. A farmer and retired employee of the state Department of Transportation and a member of the Church of Christ, he was the son of the late J.R. and Ebbie Youngblood Prater; and was preceded in…

Jacksonville, Fla., resident and Warren County native George Albert Ralston, Jr., 72, was born June 7, 1934 and died July 17 in Jacksonville. He was the founder and president of Space Coast Cellular Concepts and also a pilot with Pan American Airlines. He served his country in the United States Navy. He was active in…

ST. LOUIS (AP) The governor sent in the National Guard to evacuate people from their sweltering homes Thursday after storms knocked out power to nearly half a million St. Louis-area households and businesses in the middle of a searing heat wave that has killed at least 17 people across the country. With forecasters expecting another…

WASHINGTON (AP) After waiting 5-1/2 years to make good on a veto threat, President Bush used his first to underscore his politically risky stand against federal funding for the embryonic stem cell research that most Americans support. Some political strategists say Bush?s high-profile stance on such an intensely emotional issue could hurt the party?s congressional…

NASHVILLE (AP) RICHARDSON A federal grand jury has indicted a Nashville man for possessing the potentially deadly poison ricin, pipe bombs and firearms silencers, U.S. Attorney Jim Vines said Thursday. William Micheal Matthews, 55, was already in a Davidson County jail serving a nine-month sentence for violating orders of protection taken out by his wife…

Nat Hentoff Presidential press secretary Tony Snow is certainly personable. As former Bill Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry says: “Tony has chilled the White House press corps, and that,” McCurry told the New York Post, “is some Snow job, if you ask me.” But Snow has also been a credible journalist — including after he…

James Clark Ronnie Blevins Sr., received an 18-year sentence in September, 2003 for repeatedly selling crack cocaine. Based on that information, and math skills most of us learned in school, it might be easy to assume Blevins wouldn?t emerge from prison until 2021. Boy is that a miscalculation. In legal lingo, 18 years doesn?t mean…