RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ‘ For years, Toinetta Jones played the dating game by her mom’s strict rule. “Mom always told me, ‘Don’t you ever bring a white man home,’” recalled Jones, echoing an edict issued by many Southern, black mothers. But at 37, the Alexandria divorcee has shifted to dating “anyone who asks me out,”…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ‘ A robotic dirt and ice digger rocketed toward Mars on Saturday, beginning a 422 million-mile journey that NASA hopes will culminate next spring in the first ever landing within the red planet’s Arctic Circle. The Phoenix Mars Lander blasted off before dawn, precisely on time, hurtling through the clear moonlit…

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) ‘ A jury found Randy Norman guilty of killing his daughter’s boyfriend with an ax, but Norman avoided a life sentence. The six-woman, six-man jury deliberated about an hour-and-a-half before declaring Norman guilty of second degree murder in the death of Timothy Michael Fuller in January. Norman, 51, faces 15 to 60…

By Nat Hentoff There is an international movement to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics in China to shame that nation for its complicity in the continuing genocide in Darfur, which has extended into Chad. And now there is another reason for embarrassing China: The invaluable New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that China imprisons…

By Thomas Vaughn We’ve got good news and bad news on the Barack Obama foreign policy vision front. Senator Obama revealed both in a speech on terrorism at the Woodrow Wilson Center last Wednesday. The good news is Sen. Obama apparently believes the threats posed by global terrorism are real, even as he blasts President…

Letter to the Editor TO THE EDITOR: I would like to reply to the story that was printed in the Southern Standard on Friday in regards to Smed’s Place. Since I never received a chance to comment before it when to print, I feel I must defend my company and show what we are doing…

By DUANE SHERRILL A 50-person docket was heard Thursday by Judge Larry Ross in General Sessions Traffic Court. Included in traffic court action: ‘ Jason McBride was ordered to serve 45 days of an 11-month, 29-day sentence, pay $600 plus costs and lose his license for two years for second-offense DUI. ‘ Steven Hankins was…

By DUANE SHERRILL Calls for service set yet another record this past quarter with McMinnville police officers fielding just under 5,000 calls in the three-month period. Police responded to 4,860 calls between April and June, according to quarterly statistics from McMinnville Police Department. That number is up from the previous all-time record of 4,801 calls…

Centertown fourth-grade teacher Barbara Hancock shelves some books yesterday in preparation for the new Centertown School open house today from 2-4 p.m.

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON Warren County’s bicentennial is a major milestone in local history, a celebration of two centuries of growth and development that began back in 1807. It was then the hardy settlers who had established homes in this beautiful and pristine countryside decided to formally establish a county, at a point when Tennessee…