Spencer resident and Van Buren County native Thelma Lee Hodges Haston, 82, died Dec. 1 at Cookeville Regional Medical Center from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. A homemaker and a member of the Church of Christ, she was the daughter of Fred and Lela Banker Hodges; and was preceded in death by sons, Jackie,…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Russell Neal Medley, 77, died Dec. 2 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville after an extended illness. A farmer and a member of Trousdale Church of Christ, he served his country in the U.S. Army. The son of Oscar Brown and Elma Lorraine Sherell Medley, he is survived by…

Viola resident and White County native John Johnson, 81, died Dec. 1 at River Park Hospital after an extended illness. A retired employee of Carrier and a member of Wesley?s Chapel Methodist, he served his country in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War. The son of Will and Maddie Bohannon…

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A triple car bombing struck a food market in a predominantly Shiite area in central Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 51 people a day after a U.S.-Iraqi raid against Sunni insurgents in a nearby neighborhood. Three parked cars blew up nearly simultaneously as shoppers were buying fruit, vegetables, meat and other…

ATLANTA (AP) JOHNSTON Police officers urgently called for medical help and additional personnel seconds after an elderly woman was killed in a shootout with narcotics officers, according to recordings of police radio traffic obtained by The Associated Press. Three officers were wounded in the Nov. 21 incident at the Atlanta home of Kathryn Johnston, where…

Chuck Shepherd Britain’s Home Office announced in November that it had agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit by 197 heroin-addicted prisoners that it was “assault” and a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights for them to have been almost immediately denied all drugs when they were arrested. For forcing the inmates to…

NASHVILLE (AP) COOLEY Dave Cooley, Gov. Phil Bredesen’s top aide and sometime lightning rod for criticism, has resigned. Cooley gave no reason for his resignation as deputy governor but he had said he only planned to serve during Bredesen’s first term. The governor, re-elected last month to a second term, defended Cooley throughout his first…

NASHVILLE (AP) McWHORTHER Authorities have arrested a couple suspected of scamming Middle Tennessee businesses out of millions of dollars using fake driver?s licenses and bogus payroll checks they allegedly manufactured. James and Beatrice McWhorther, of the Antioch area of Nashville, face multiple forgery and criminal simulation charges, as well as federal interstate trafficking charges. The…

Letters to the Editor To the Editor: While I do not believe the best venue for an intelligent dialogue is the pages of a newspaper, I feel compelled to respond to James Clark?s comments about the ongoing negotiations between the Warren County Education Association and the Warren County School Board. Going back nine months as…

Morton Kondracke All over the world, scoundrels are ascendant, rising on a tide of American weakness. It makes for a perilous future. President Bush bet his presidency — and America’s world leadership — on the war in Iraq. Tragically, it looks as though he bit off more than the American people were willing to chew.…