Free Republic

MONTEREY, Tenn. -- "If somebody told me this happened to them, I absolutely would not believe this could happen in America." "You live in the United States, you think you have rights -- and apparently you don't," said George Reby.

KNOXVILLE — A botched holdup attempt today sent three would-be robbers running and left one shot in the chest, police said. The shooting happened just after 10:45 a.m. at the South Side Market, 1316 Maryville Pike, near the Montgomery Village housing project, Knox County E-911 records show. A store clerk told police three men in masks tried to rob him. He pulled a pistol and shot one of them in the chest, Knoxville Police Department Capt. Nate Allen said. Officers arrived and canvassed the area. They found the wounded man lying on the ground on Cook Drive, Allen said.

A Tennessee man, Jason Blackburn, digging in his backyard garden over the weekend found 13 tombstones that have been traced to a historic military cemetery. “My first reaction was, ‘Oh my goodness, I hope there’s not dead bodies in my backyard,” Blackburn said. “I mean that’s the first reaction when you’re digging in your backyard and you find tombstones.” Blackburn searched a name on one of the gravestones -- Pvt. Arthur Woodson -- on the Internet and determined it was linked to Memphis National Cemetery, a historic memorial park that goes back to the Civil War and is now run...

Newark mayor Cory Booker may have been reduced to filming “hostage videos” in which he apologizes for throwing sharp spikes of reason and temperance beneath the madly spinning wheels of the Obama re-election bus, but the Booker Insurgency continues to grow. Harold Ford Jr., formerly a Democrat congressman from Tennessee, was welcomed to the ranks on Monday. Ford was no small-time back-bencher. He took a credible shot at wrestling House leadership away from Nancy Pelosi, and served as leader of the Democratic Leadership Council - a now-forgotten artifact of an earlier time, when there really were “moderates” in the Democrat...

Since February, workers hired by a union to picket First Baptist Church of Dandridge have held up a sign reading, "Shame on Pastor Brown," to protest nonunion workers building a new addition at the church. Each day the church's pastor, Dr. Robert Brown, waved at the men and waved off the criticism they leveled at him and the church. On Friday, Jefferson County Sheriff G.W. "Bud" McCoig arrested the two men and charged them with violating the sex offender registry act. "It's hard to miss the irony, isn't it?" Brown said. "I've said to several folks that I've done a...

(Knoxville, TN – WREG) Desmond Hatchett is pleading with the state of Tennessee to help him pay for child support. With 30 kids, who could afford to pay child support? Yes, 30 children by 11 different “baby mamas.” Desmond explained how it all happened, well you know what we mean, “I had four kids in the same year. Twice.” The children range in age from toddlers to 14 years old. He was last in court in 2009, at which time he had 21 children. That means he’s had at least 9 more children in the last 3 years. Hatchett...

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday signaled a willingness to at least consider the state Attorney General's Office's bid to appeal a decision ordering new trials in the January 2007 torture slayings of a Knox County couple. Rather than dismissing at the onset the state's request to appeal Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood's ruling upending convictions in the slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, the state's high court is inviting debate on the issue instead. In an order released Tuesday, the court is requiring attorneys for the defendants at issue in the case to respond to the...

Once a revered Knox County Criminal Court judge, Richard Baumgartner on Tuesday shuffled into a federal courtroom in shackles, accused of covering up the drug-trafficking crimes of the mistress he met via a Drug Court program he helped found. Baumgartner, who sent thousands of people to prison in his nearly two-decade-long tenure as judge, was arrested Tuesday as he drove away from his East Knox County farm and hauled into U.S. District Court with shackles on his feet and a chain wrapped around his belly and connected to handcuffs. He said little during his appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican who serves on the Senate Banking Committee, has called for a hearing on the $2-billion trading loss by JPMorgan Chase & Co., saying that "policies are going to be derived out of what’s happened." Corker, who was a key participant in the debate over the 2010 financial reform law, said it was important for policymakers to get the facts about the situation and whether pending regulations would have prevented it.

Mayor Karl Dean’s proposed property tax hike, which has already drawn the ire of the Nashville Tea Party, has reverberated up to the conservative-backed Americans for Prosperity political advocacy organization. Arlington, Va.-based Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy group that professes to educate citizens on education policies, has highlighted Dean’s tax proposal as its top story on its website.“Nashville taxpayers are under attack by Mayor Dean’s proposed 13 percent property tax increase,” reads a short blog post penned by the organization’s Tennessee state director Brad Stevens.“Taxpayers should not be on the hook for Nashville city leaders’ lack of fiscal responsibility,” the post continues.Oddly,...

MONTEREY, Tenn. -- "If somebody told me this happened to them, I absolutely would not believe this could happen in America." That was the reaction of a New Jersey man who found out just how risky it can be to carry cash through Tennessee. For more than a year, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has been shining a light on a practice that some call "policing for profit." In this latest case, a Monterey police officer took $22,000 off the driver -- even though he had committed no crime. "You live in the United States, you think you have rights -- and...

On this weekend’s broadcast of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” outgoing Democratic Rep. Barney Frank locked horns with Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who wanted to focus on economic issues instead of gay marriage. Frank, an openly gay member of Congress, claimed that Blackburn was relying too heavily on talking points. Blackburn objected to Frank’s assertion, but then Frank lashed out at Blackburn and host George Stephanopoulos.

[Snip]...There was a group of lesser-known Tennessee Patriots, however, whose efforts to defend Liberty at home in 1946 were no less noble. This group of World War II veterans took up arms to restore Rule of Law in the quaint east Tennessee town of Athens (McMinn County), between Chattanooga and Knoxville. That fight became known as the Battle of Athens.

'Bass guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn, who played with Booker T and the MGs, has died in Tokyo aged 70. The MGs were the house band for Stax Records, and Dunn can be heard on songs such as Otis Redding's Respect and Sam and Dave's Hold On, I'm Comin'. He was in Japan for a series of concerts, and had played two shows on Saturday night. His friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour, said Dunn had died in his sleep. "Today I lost my best friend," Cropper wrote on his Facebook page. "The World has...

According to Steve Cropper facebook, "Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live. Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club." Booker T and MGs, Blues Bros

NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam declares that he is successfully presiding over a "cultural shift" in Tennessee's government operations and the state's education system, though occasionally dealing with a "perception factor" caused by inordinate media attention to some legislative activities. His own relationship to the Legislature, dominated by fellow Republicans, is marked by a general unity of purpose and broad support on substantive issues, Haslam said in an interview last week. He discounts talk of a conservative-moderate split in Republican ranks. "I honestly think that's exaggerated. I really do," he said, though acknowledging that "Any time you have a party...

NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam has declined to sign a resolution that denounces "the destructive and insidious nature of United Nations Agenda 21," passed by Republican legislators over Democratic complaints that it buys into a bogus conspiracy theory. The resolution, HJR587, was approved 72-23 in the House and by a 19-11 vote in the Senate. "Resolutions are position statements by the General Assembly, not a law to be implemented," said Haslam spokesman David Smith in an emailed response to a question. "The governor doesn't support Agenda 21, but he didn't feel compelled to and isn't required to take any action...

guess Alex Jones is still crazy?? He has been talking about this for months. Bend over and take it America. Don't be upset, this is all done in love and it is all for freedom! Everyone lets sing the Sean Hannity song together...let freedom ring, let the white dove sing...." I love freedom!

Go to Illinois economic growth strong, end extended unemployment benefits and read it for yourself. llinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced that the temporary extended unemployment insurance program ends as of May 12, 2012 and that Illinois claimants will be notified via mail and e-mail. Those on the Extended Benefit (EB) program will be issued a final payment during the two weeks following May 12. According to IDES reports, March local unemployment rate fell in every metro area across Illinois compared to last year and because specific economic factors set forth by federal officials were met, no further unemployment...

The man suspected of kidnapping four women in a Tennessee family and killing a mother and daughter was caught Thursday evening, police say. Adam Mayes, 35, on America’s Most Wanted Fugitive List, was caught in Mississippi, Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards confirmed. Police say the two daughters that Mayes allegedly abducted, Alexandria Bain, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8, were both found alive and safe. Mayes and his wife, Teresa, are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her daughter, Adrienne, 14. Their bodies were found buried outside the Mayes' home a week after they...