Chuck Shepherd Not only has professional fishing grown so spectacularly that last year’s leading money winner earned $547,000, but popular “fantasy fishing” leagues, resembling fantasy baseball and football, employ elaborate statistical breakdowns of fishing tournaments to help players pick winners, according to a July Wall Street Journal report. “Average weight per fish (caught) over careers,”…

Thomas Vaughn More than a month into the latest Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, casualties continue to rise on both sides and hopes for peace continue to fall. As of this writing, both Israeli and Hezbollah leaders are poised to escalate the conflict even further. Israeli officials have approved a massive new ground invasion into southern Lebanon, obviously…

Letters to the Editor TO THE EDITOR: I just read the front-page article in your July 28 issue on the new Warren County Animal Control Center with interest, and I must say also with some dismay. I am sorry this is late, but I am an out-of-town subscriber who just got the issue in the…

Charlie Johnson My co-worker Rob Nunley pointed out a great Web site about commonly mispronounced and misused words to me the other day and I just had to pass some of the more amusing examples along to readers. Though I hate to admit I?m such a word geek that I actually love dictionary Web sites,…

Letters to the Editor TO THE EDITOR: Why does McMinnville need a city administrator? We have a mayor who could do the same job that we are going to pay someone else to do. And the salary of $85,000 is crazy with so many people in Warren County unemployed with no hopes of finding local…

Morton Kondracke Congressional leaders let loose a bipartisan roar in May after the first-ever FBI raid at a legislative member’s office. But — with exceptions — they’ve been passive as President Bush breaks all records for ignoring Congressional mandates. Bush has vetoed just one bill in his nearly six years in office. But he has,…

ATLANTA (AP) Airline security has captured national attention again after a terrorist plot to blow up 10 commercial airplanes flying from Britain to the U.S. was foiled Thursday. There?s been a lot of negative news in the airline industry over the last 5-1/2 years. Just when things were starting to improve, carriers have been hit…

CHATTANOOGA (AP) Tennessee ranks No. 7 in work force training, behind Alabama, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Colorado, according to a survey of business site consultants. Dawn Rutledge Jones, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, said the ranking published by economic development industry magazine Expansion Management does not…

NEW DELHI (AP) A southern Indian state has banned the sale and production of Coke, Pepsi, Sprite and other soft drinks made by the Indian subsidiaries of Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., an official said. Four Indian states have already banned the sale of Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks at schools, colleges and government…

James Clark photo Ariana Rios, left, and her mother Ivet Rios have opened Worship Clothing Store in Northgate Shopping Center where the Outdoor Shop used to be. Ivet says she carries styles you can?t find anywhere else in Warren County and says her clothing is like merchandise you can buy from malls in Florida.