NEW YORK (AP) ? Anti-gay bias has flared up in Hollywood and pro basketball recently, and soon the topic will be thrust dramatically into a new forum ? a reshaped Congress likely to pass the first major federal gay-rights bills. Wary conservative leaders, as well as gay-rights advocates, share a belief that at least two…

By Charles Curtiss This week was another very hectic week but in the end it did not seem like much was accomplished. I guess I am just anxious or impatient. It takes time to get an operation as large as the Tennessee General Assembly operating at full speed. I was able to pass the sex…

(AP) ? This year is not the first time lawmakers have proposed to remove the state’s tax on groceries. But the issue has taken on added importance because Republicans the control the Senate speakership and all relevant Senate committee for the first time since Reconstruction. Gov. Phil Bredesen is opposing a Republican-sponsored measure to reduce…

By Morton Kondracke As dangerous as President Bush’s record on Iraq may be to Republican presidential candidates in 2008, Democrats also are risking revival of fears that their party is weak on foreign policy. If Democratic candidates embrace the strategy of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., to cut off funds for U.S. troops in Iraq, they…

By Thomas Vaughn Now that Gov. Phil Bredesen?s $27.5 billion budget proposal?is public knowledge, it?s time for politicians, interest groups, political pundits and others to weigh in on its relative merits. As the late, great Sen. Everett Dirksen used to say, ?A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you?re talking about real money.??He was…

TO THE EDITOR: I attended the town hall meeting Tuesday when Congressman Lincoln Davis was the guest. This was the first town hall meeting I have ever attended and was shocked at some of the behavior I witnessed. It was mentioned in Wednesday?s paper that local resident Sam Allen questioned Davis? support of our troops.…

By Charlie Johnson Today I?m going to delve into phrases or sayings that were quick to catch my attention and curiosity as a child mainly because of the jarring juxtaposition of images or ideas they incited in my young mind. These are some of the phrases, in fact, that started my lifelong interest in clich?s,…

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? For years, anything produced by KFC had to meet the standards of Colonel Harlan Sanders. For its new product, the fried chicken chain is seeking a higher endorsement. KFC has asked Pope Benedict XVI to bless the Fish Snacker Sandwich, a Lenten addition to the chain’s Snacker sandwich line. KFC sent…

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Federal Reserve policymakers saw a lessening of economic threats from the housing slump but continued to worry about inflation as they decided last month to leave existing interest rates intact. According to minutes of their deliberations released Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues believed that while the slowdown in housing…

SPRING HILL, Tenn. (AP) ? City officials met with General Motors representatives this week about selling about 500 acres of property around the Spring Hill manufacturing plant to developers. The property is near the historic Rippavilla Plantation, an 1855 mansion, which the Saturn Corporation has owned since 1985. Control of the plantation was turned over…