Tennessee News

Tennessee school districts under pressure to graduate 90 percent of all students by 2012 are taking steps to find out exactly what happened to students who supposedly dropped out. via WMC TV

Kenneth Burns on Wednesday 11/07/2007 4:44 pm Spring Green's American Players Theatre has revealed its roster of plays for 2008 -- hot on the heels of the 2007 season, which satisfyingly combined classic ... via The Daily Page

“Their support and commitment to our industry is remarkable. We applaud their efforts, and this award is one small way we can show our appreciation.”

The Home Builders Association of Tennessee on Oct. 27 inducted Rep. Lincoln Davis and real estate broker Tonya Jones into its Building Industry of Tennessee Hall of Fame. via Nation's Building News

“The number of cases might not necessarily be indicative of the hospital's infection-control procedure.”

Pinpointing the number of invasive MRSA infections in Virginia and Tennessee is easy. via News Channel 11

“We need to take action to improve our health. It's time to eat better and exercise, even if it's just taking a few extra steps every day.”

Tennesseans are healthier than they were last year, but going from a nationwide ranking of 47th to 46th isn't much to boast about. via The Robertson County Times

A convicted child pornographer on the run for more than three years after trying to fake his death was captured Thursday at his mother's house in West Tennessee. via MyEyeWitnessNews.com

“And if he had stopped in the middle of the road and been hit by the trooper's car”

Sullivan DA: THP Trooper won't be charged in connection to Scott motorcycle fatality Sullivan County District Attorney Greeley Wells said Monday he believes Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Kyle Cantwell ... via Times-News Online

“It's basically a fad that in my view is just legislators trying to pretend that they are doing something to be tough on crime”

Tennessee officials are fighting to preserve the state's so-called "crack tax" despite a lower court's ruling that the levy is unconstitutional. via MSNBC

“Hillary Clinton clearly has a good chance in a state that Bill Clinton carried both in 1992 and 1996.”

So much for the home field advantage. A newly released poll of Tennessee voters shows Republican Fred Thompson with only a narrow lead over Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in a hypothetical presidential ... via The Tennessean

Two Middle Tennesseans, Robert E. Bomar of Shelbyville and the late William S. Whitmore of Nashville, will be inducted into Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday night. via The Robertson County Times

“With the size of some of those bullets, I don't think anything would be left of a pigeon except feathers.”

The renovation of an old church in this central Tennessee city has revealed damage expected more in a war zone. via Denver Post

“Frozen Head's future could have been much different.”

Gov. Phil Bredesen formally enacted Thursday what he called the largest land conservation initiative in Tennessee since the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated in 1940.

The land deal will preserve 127,000 woodland acres on the northern Cumberland Plateau, about 45 miles northwest of Knoxville. It will add to Frozen Head State Park and link it to the Royal Blue and Sundquist wildlife management areas across four counties.

That's about half the size of Tennessee's contribution to the 520,000-acre Smokies national park straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border, but still significant. Read more

“The issues Tennesseans say affect them most, like the economy, healthcare and education, are issues that Democrats have tended to own politically at least since Roosevelt's New Deal”

Tennesseans tend to pick Republican favorite son Fred Thompson when asked which 2008 presidential hopeful they support, but in hypothetical head-to-head contests, Democrat Hillary Clinton runs very close behind ... via The Daily News Journal

“And I know she took considerable offense to that.”

Bredesen: Neighbors of governor's mansion rude to first lady" Gov. Phil Bredesen expressed disappointment Wednesday in the behavior of neighbors toward his wife regarding plans to add an underground dining hall ... via WKRN-TV Nashville

“We're just doing the people's work. Being on a public school board for 14 years, I've never felt the need to have clandestine meetings.”

A majority of the mayors of the Nashville area's largest cities and counties oppose a plan to loosen the state's open meeting laws, according to an informal Tennessean survey. via The Daily News Journal

Law officers in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi will be out in unusually large numbers during Thanksgiving week under a tri-state "Take Back Our Highways" campaign to reduce traffic deaths and injuries ... via WDAM-TV Hattiesburg

The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied a request for a stay of execution by death row inmate Paul Dennis Reid. via The Leaf Chronicle

“I did research to make sure I have a constitutional right to vote”

When your home is the open road, where do you register to vote? A total of 286 people who live full-time in their recreational vehicles were dropped from the voter rolls in one Tennessee county over the past ... via Home News Tribune

“Imagine trying to get that past an American campaign consultant”

After years of bashing the French for refusing to help fight the war in Iraq, Republicans are suddenly embracing Paris like Cyd Charisse in "Silk Stockings." "France is one of my favorite countries now. via Portland's WB

“I'm learning about him. That's exactly why I'm here today _ because I don't know a lot.”

Republican Presidential hopeful, former Tennessee Sen., Fred Thompson, center, listens as he is introduced at a Politics and Eggs breakfast meeting with area business leaders in Bedford, N.H., Monday, Nov. via WBT-AM Charlotte