Nashville resident, formerly of McMinnville, Allene Shaw Martin, 94, died unexpectedly April 4 at Skyline Medical Center. A homemaker and a member of Bybee Branch Church of Christ, she was preceded in death by her husband, Burcus Milton Martin; sons, Clifton Shaw Martin and James Milton Martin; daughter, Barbara Cynthia Haynes; brothers, Herman Shaw, Alvin…

What a reader said about the likelihood the Main Street property that burned last weekend will remain undeveloped for some time: ‘(1) No wise investor would spend money to construct new buildings between dilapidated structures. The blight next door discourages businesses from locating there, and there’s a high risk of property damage caused by fire…

By Charles W. Johnson It’s always fun when my co-workers come up with phrases for me to research, and this week my fellow columnist Lisa Hobbs came up with a couple of interesting ones for me. The first is a phrase I’ve heard all my life to describe an easy task. The phrase is ‘like…

By Morton Kondracke How many wake-up calls does America need before we make our failing public schools fit for the competitive challenges of the 21st century? This month marks the 25th anniversary of the first loud gong — the 1983 report “A Nation at Risk,” which famously warned that “if an unfriendly foreign power had…

By Thomas Vaughn Last August, Republican presidential candidate John McCain seemed a goner as a viable contender for his party’s nomination. His campaign was collapsing around him. Top staffers were resigning right and left, offices were being shut down, and his once-solvent campaign account was nearly empty. To add insult to injury, the former Navy…

‘Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.’‘ Martin Luther King Jr. ‘There’s so much pollution in the air that if it weren’t for our lungs there’d be no place to put it all.’ ‘ Robert Orben ‘I’m 30 years old, but I read at the 34-year-old level.’…

By JAMES CLARK Nana’s Kountry Kupboard knows what it means to overcome adversity.Despite a shaky economy, and a car accident that nearly killed owner Judy Coppinger, the restaurant has endured and is celebrating 10 years in business today.Nana’s opened April 6, 1998 and has been at the same location at Sunny Side Heights ever since.‘I…

KNOXVILLE (AP) ‘ Tennessee Valley Authority has made a bankruptcy bid of $466 million for a gas-fired power plant in Mississippi to help meet the federal utility’s growing demand for peak power.The three-unit, 810-megawatt combined-cycle combustion turbine plant is owned by Southaven Power LLC and located in Southaven, Miss. Southaven built the plant for $490…

By Ric Edelman While no major hurricane or tropical storm struck the United States last year, 2007 did bring us devastating brush fires in California, heavy ice storms in the Midwest, severe tornadoes in Florida and Kansas and flooding in many locations. Already in 2008, we’ve had tornadoes in Georgia and floods across the Midwest.As…

NEW YORK (AP) ‘ Wall Street showed some reassuring signs of stability Friday, closing mostly higher despite the biggest monthly decline in jobs in five years. The major indexes ended the first four sessions of the second quarter with a healthy advance.While some nervous investors fled to government bonds, the report, showing the economy gave…