By Gene Policinski Television has been called everything from a “boob tube” and “vast wasteland” to one of the most significant developments in the history of mankind. But as we move into 2008, the messages and images that TV brings are a battleground. In that fight, we likely will redefine what the government can regulate…

NEW YORK (AP) ‘ In a career that has included drunk pirates and a scissor-handed recluse, Johnny Depp says the strangest scene he’s ever filmed is a simple flashback in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” The movie is the sixth collaboration for Depp and director Tim Burton ‘ and one of their…

LOS ANGELES (AP) ‘ The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Friday it will not charge Brandy in a deadly December 2006 freeway crash. Spokesman Nick Velasquez said there is “insufficient evidence” for a jury to find the 28-year-old actress-singer guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt. The decision runs counter to a…

BY Gary Clothier KARLOFF Q: During the 1980s, a fixture at many sporting events was a guy wearing a rainbow-colored wig and holding up a sign reading ‘John 3:16.’ Who was he? Whatever happened to him? ‘ M.M., Scotia, Calif. A: The life of Rollen Stewart (born in 1945) is a bizarre story at best.…

ohnson City resident, formerly of McMinnville, Walter Christy Pap Harber, 93, died Dec. 27. Born in Pennington Gap, Va., on Dec. 1, 1914, he was the son of the late George E. and Glessie Vanhuss Harber; and was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years Vivian Lane Harber. He was a very active…

arah Bell Bratcher, 87, of McMinnville (Bethany community) died Wednesday, Dec. 26 at NHC Health Care. Born on March 3, 1920 in DeKalb County, she was a homemaker and member of North Hills Drive Church of God of Prophecy. Mrs. Bratcher was preceded in death by her parents, Sam Neal and Eliza Bell Scott; husband,…

BY Chuck Shepherd Pink Justice: In parts of India’s Uttar Pradesh state, according to a November BBC News dispatch, women are hopelessly oppressed by poverty, abusive husbands and corrupt officials, but two years ago, Ms. Sampat Pal Devi got fed up. She organized bands of vigilante women (with several hundred members), dressed in pink saris,…

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) ‘ Pakistan rejected foreign help in investigating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Saturday, despite controversy over the circumstances of her death and three days of paralyzing turmoil. The Islamic militant group blamed by officials for the attack that killed Bhutto denied any links to the killing on Saturday, and Bhutto’s aides…

By DUANE SHERRILL Deadlines fall at the most inopportune times when you consider last night saw the most important regular season game in NFL history, carried by both CBS, NBC and the NFL network, in the first mass broadcast of a game since Super Bowl I. But, seeing Armchair Quarterback runs in Sunday’s edition and…

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD The sixth annual Warren Masonic Lodge 125 Christmas Elementary Basketball Tournament kicked off Thursday night in the Charlie Dalton gym. This year’s tournament format is a round-robin match up, with four teams taking the court in the boys’ bracket. The Boyd Broncos took on Grundy County North in their opening game as…