By DUANE SHERRILL Saying she ?just wanted out? of her abusive marriage but saw no way of escape, Mary Winkler took the stand in her own defense Wednesday, telling jurors she did not mean to pull the trigger and that she still loves the man she shot in the back while he slept. ?She literally…

By JAMES CLARK State Sen. Jerry Cooper is back in action on Capitol Hill after returning for a Transportation Committee meeting on Wednesday. ?It?s good to get back and get back right in the middle of things,? said Cooper. ?I?m the kind of guy it?s hard for me to sit at home and this is…

Jerry L. Fults and Clarence E. Pease are prepared for transport after they were injured when their pickup overturned following a two-vehicle crash Monday. The pickup came just short of going over an embankment at the corner of Colville and Depot streets near downtown McMinnville. A vehicle driven by Thomas Walls collided with the pickup…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Pauline Bond Stroud, 81, was born May 3, 1925 and died April 15 at her residence following an extended illness. A homemaker and a member of Providence Baptist Church, she was the daughter of the late Matt Edgar and Winnie Adline Jones Ward. She was married first to Robert…

Mary Akers, 92, of McMinnville (Centertown community), died Tuesday, April 17 at River Park Hospital. Born on April 2, 1915 in Warren County, she was a homemaker and member of Bates Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Akers was preceded in death by parents Andrew and Janie Bynum Tanner; husband L.W. (Renza) Akers; sisters Lillie Hennessee…

Lema Cassandra Morrow, 58, of Estill Springs died Saturday, April 14 at St. Thomas Hospital. A native of Big Lake, Texas, she was the daughter of the late Frank Melvin Hasty and Doris Nell Grubbs McGowan of Tullahoma who survives. She was a sales representative at McMinnville Ford in McMinnville and sang with The Devotionals,…

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) ? The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was described Tuesday as a sullen loner who never talked and whose creative writing in English class was so disturbing that he was referred to the school?s counseling service. News reports also said that he may…

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) ? Prosecutors rested their case against a preacher?s wife accused of murdering her husband with the heartbreaking testimony of the couple?s 9-year-old daughter. Patricia Winkler took the stand Monday in a crowded courtroom. When the prosecutor asked the girl to state her name and birthdate, she looked over at her mother, Mary…

By William Rusher Charitable foundations play a large and important role in American life. Beginning well over a century ago with the creation of charitable foundations by several very wealthy men, they have enriched our national life in many ways. John D. Rockefeller Sr., Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford were among those leading the way,…

By Kathryn Lopez Mitt Romney — a successful businessman, savior of the Salt Lake Olympics and former Republican governor of a Northeastern state — may not be the most obvious Republican choice for commander in chief. John McCain may seem like a more obvious choice when one considers his stalwart defense of the “surge,” support…