By WOODY BAIRD SELMER, Tenn. ? Lawyers for a minister?s wife argued in court Thursday that police illegally searched her family home after her husband was found shot to death on a bedroom floor. Mary Winkler, 32, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying, and defense lawyers want potential evidence seized at the Church…

Rocky River community resident and Van Buren County native Roy Willard Bouldin, 88, died Feb. 21 at River Park Hospital. A miner and logger and a member of White Hill Church of Christ, he was the son of M.C. (Lum) and Josephine Payne Bouldin; and was preceded in death by his sister, Lucy Bouldin; an…

Rock Island resident Pauline Smith Seibers Barnes, 71, died Feb. 21 at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. A homemaker, she was preceded in death by husband Jonas Seibers; son, Michael Seibers; grandson, Adam Seibers; and granddaughter, Pauline Hensley. She is survived by her husband Donald Barnes; sons, Jimmy Seibers of Cookeville, Alan Seibers and…

McMinnville resident Mary Elizabeth Solis, 41, died Feb. 20 at St. Thomas Hospital after an extended illness. A homemaker and a member of the Baptist Church, she was preceded in death by her father, Jessie Wayne York. She is survived by her husband, Ishmal Gona Solis; sons, James M. Walker Jr., and David P. Jones…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Jonny Lee Owen, 44, was born Dec. 8, 1962 and died Feb. 16 at River Park Hospital following an extended illness. He was a member of the Christian Church and was the son of Ruth Rhea Owen of McMinnville and the late Burleigh D. Owen. In addition to his…

Catherine Ruth Squers, 94, of McMinnville died Wednesday, Feb. 21 at NHC Health Care. Born on Dec. 29, 1912 in Detroit, Mich., she was a homemaker and a member of St. Catherine?s Catholic Church. Mrs. Squers was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Genevieve Watracz Sowa; husband Stanley Squers; son John Squers; sisters…

WASHINGTON (AP) ? High school students are getting better grades and taking more challenging courses, but that apparent progress is not showing up on national math and reading tests. “The reality is that the results don’t square,” said Darvin Winick, chair of the independent National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the tests. Scores were released…

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) ? The U.S. military warned Thursday that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic after troops uncovered a car bomb factory with propane tanks and chlorine cylinders ? possible ingredients for more chemical attacks following three explosions involving chlorine. Those blasts and a recent spate of attacks against…

NASHVILLE (AP) ? One of the advertisements in a national campaign by state tourism officials to attract mountain bikers to Tennessee shows a photograph taken in Alaska. The photo in the ad was first featured in National Geographic magazine article in 1997 for a story about a seven-week bicycle trek across the Alaska Range, The…

NASHVILLE (AP) ? Amid increasing dissatisfaction with President Bush and the handling of the war in Iraq, fewer Tennesseans are claiming to be Republican, a new poll shows. The Middle Tennessee State University spring poll released Tuesday found that 33 percent of respondents identify themselves as Democrats, 31 percent consider themselves Republicans and 22 percent…