Free Republic

The guy who hacked into would-be VP Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account is none other than the son of a Democratic state representative from Tennessee, posits GatwayPundit. A convincing amount of evidence suggests the “hacker” (perhaps a status he doens’t deserve) is David Kernell, son of Tennessee representative Mike Kernell.

Proving just how important Barack Obama’s new rumor-busting Web site could be, a Tennessee Democratic Party member told a local newspaper that the presumptive nominee of his party “may be terrorist connected.”

On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama blasted the Tennessee Republican Party for the swipe it took at his wife. A new ad contrasts Obama's wife, Michelle Obama's admission earler this year that "for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country" with statements from people declaring their pride for the United States...

The defense in the case of an accused accessory to a fatal carjacking rested its case in U.S. District Court just before noon. Defense attorney Phil Lomonaco sent only two witnesses to the stand, one of whom was a government witness from Monday. The first witness was a carpenter whose sole job was to measure the distance from the Chipman Street house where a Knoxville couple was slain to the parking lot of a nearby business where an employee earlier testified he saw a car linked to Eric Dewayne "E" Boyd soon after the January 2007 fatal carjacking. The second...

As first reported by WREC's Mike Fleming, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton is stepping down on July 31. Sources suggest that he plans to campaign for superintendent of Memphis City Schools. ... Herenton was re-elected last fall and has served as mayor for 16 years. Recently a federal grand jury exploring Herenton’s ties to a city contractor has served subpoenas at the Memphis Area Transit Authority offices.

CHURCH HILL, Tenn. - Investigators are searching for whomever poured deer urine into an air conditioning unit at a school in eastern Tennessee. About a dozen students became ill after the prank at Volunteer High School in Church Hill. Firefighters were sent to the school Monday after the odor became overpowering in one classroom, and paramedics treated students who complained of headache and nausea. Church Hill Police Chief Mark Johnson says the stunt could result in a vandalism charge. Deer urine is sold by the bottle to be used to attract the animals for hunting.

Multiple Victims Reported at Binghampton Shooting Last Edited: Monday, 03 Mar 2008, 6:35 PM CST Created: Monday, 03 Mar 2008, 6:29 PM CST MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WHBQ FOX13 myfoxmemphis.com) -- Memphis Police are responding to reports of multiple victims at a shooting on Lester Street near Faxon Avenue in Binghampton.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A woman who has been considered dead found out recently that the government still doesn't believe she's alive. According to government paperwork, Laura Todd has been dead off and on for eight years, and Todd said there's no end to the complications the situation creates. “One time when I (was) ruled dead, they canceled my health insurance because it got that far,” she said. Todd’s struggle started with a typo at the Social Security administration. She said the government has assured her since the problem that they have deleted her death record, but she said the problems...

"I'm encouraging folks who believe in the principles Thompson espoused to vote for Fred and vote for his delegates," said Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris. "I still think that's the clearest choice." If Thompson garners more than about 20 percent of the Republican vote in the primary, his delegates will be sent to the GOP convention and could play an important role.

The man responsible for shooting 2 people at a Knoxville Hooters Restaurant may have been shot at Western Plaza.

(Memphis - 12/28/2007) - "It's so bad around here and i'm just afraid for my safety," says one woman we spoke to as she stepped outside of her apartment and saw crime scene investigators. Police were combing her neighbor's apartment following an alleged burglary attempt that ended in gunfire. Rhonda, who didn't want to give us her last name or show her face on camera, says crime at the Camelot Apartments has driven her to leave. "I was already in the process of making preparations to move, but this has done it. This has given me the right to make...

Authorities say a grandfather -- who was trying to protect his grandson -- shot and killed a home invasion suspect on Saturday. A spokesperson for The Knox County Sheriff's Office says Tilvis Coffey kicked his way into a home on Copeland Road in North Knox County just after 12 o'clock. A 14-year old was home alone at the time of the invasion. The boy told deputies he called 911 and his mother, while his mother called her father, Harry Smith. Authorities say Smith and his wife drove to the home and confronted Coffey. Smith told detectives Coffey started running toward...

A contractor who admitted supplying illegal immigrant workers to the Northern Kentucky home building industry was sentenced Thursday to serve 18 months in federal prison. After he was sentenced on the federal charges, Robert Pratt was immediately arrested by Boone County authorities on charges of fraud, saying he had underpaid unemployment taxes. Pratt, who lives in Franklin, Tenn., was one of seven people sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Covington for knowingly hiring illegal workers. The other six - all of whom worked with or for Pratt, several of whom are family members - drew sentences ranging from probation...

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Mrs. America contestant from Tennessee spent about 15 hours in a hospital here after being bitten by a rattlesnake at a hotel. Christina Ryan of Franklin said she caught sight of a spider on an outside staircase at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort while walking to a rehearsal last Sunday morning for this weekend’s competition. She jumped away from it and a rattlesnake bit her right foot, just above her toe. As time went on, Ryan said the pain got worse. She spent about 15 hours in the hospital and received 10 vials of antivenin before being...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Vatican's secretary of state celebrated Mass Tuesday morning at the Knights of Columbus annual meeting -- marking his first U.S. appearance since taking over the position last yearCardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who as the Vatican's secretary of state is the pope's top aide, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006.Bertone, the Mass' principal celebrant who said much of it in Italian while an English interpreter translated, said the pope wanted him to convey his "cordial greetings.""Please be assured of the Holy Father's spiritual closeness and of a special remembrance in his prayers at this time,"...

SHELBY FARMS, EAST MEMPHIS -- Investigators say they can't decide which is more outrageous... Two sheriff's deputies killing deer out of season while on duty in a public park... or the fact they took pictures of themselves doing it. Former Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Braswell and suspended Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Pretti have been charged in connection with an incident that happened at Shelby Farms last July. According to records from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, one of its officers received a tip from the Shelby County Sheriff's Office's Internal Affairs division. The tip said someone was circulating...

WASHINGTON -- Before returning to Memphis on Sunday after a marathon weekend House session, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., signed on as a co-sponsor of bills to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney and to censure both Cheney and President Bush. The impeachment resolution was introduced by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, in April and has 18 co-sponsors, including the four it picked up in the last week. Advertisement In a telephone interview from Memphis on Monday, Cohen said he and his staff are working with former Reagan Justice Department lawyer Bruce Fein to draw up articles of impeachment against Atty....

http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/local/local_story_172234222.html Russians with 105 pre-paid cell phones draw attention of police. This story caught my attention. What is with all the bulk cell phone buyers?

Dean Barnett commented at Townhall.com regarding this YouTube video posted by the campaign: "The 11th Commandment lives."Click here for video.

(CNSNews.com) - The national news media demonstrates a double standard in covering "hate crimes," as evidenced by the lack of attention given to the murder of a white couple in Tennessee last January, a conservative columnist charged on Monday. However, a media analyst responded that a crime is not necessarily a hate crime simply because the victims are white and those accused of perpetrating it are black. Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, were out on a dinner date in Knoxville, Tenn. on Jan. 6, when they were carjacked, kidnapped, tortured, raped and murdered. According to published news reports,...

It may seem like ancient history now, but it was only a year ago that we were first subjected to the media circus that was the so-called and now-dropped Duke Rape Case. For months thereafter, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the television or radio without learning some new tidbit about the accused lacrosse players, even as their accuser remained shrouded in mystery. Today we know there was no rape and now not even a case at all, but even in those early days it was apparent enough that there were glaring problems with the accuser’s story...

NASHVILLE -- Spurred by violent crime in Memphis and elsewhere, Tennessee legislators have filed several bills to expand the legal rights of people to use deadly force when threatened by would-be attackers. One would specifically allow people in motor vehicles to kill or "cause serious bodily injury" to attackers -- both inside or outside the vehicle -- who they believe are threatening to murder, rape, kidnap, rob or carjack the car's occupants. That bill was filed Rep. Ulysses Jones and Sen. Reginald Tate, both Memphis Democrats. "I've heard a lot of support for this. It's time to give citizens the...

Four men are charged in connection with the double murder of a young Knoxville couple who was carjacked on a date. A Knoxville police spokesman says all four suspects are being held on federal charges related to the deaths of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23. However, none of the four have been charged with the killings. click to enlarge All four men were arrested Thursday. They are: Lemaricus Davidson, 25, Eric DeWayne Boyd, Letalvis Cobbins, 24, and George Thomas. Lemaricus Davidson was in federal court in Knoxville Friday morning. He faces three charges in connection with the murders...

Investigators believe Channon Christian was held hostage and raped repeatedly for several days before being killed, a federal marshal said today. The news came on the same day that authorities captured three men sought for questioning in her death and that of her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom. Authorities believe she and Newsom were abducted after a weekend carjacking in North Knoxville that ultimately led to both their deaths, said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Rich Knighten of the Western District of Kentucky. "They did some really nasty things to this lady," Knighten said. Newsom was shot and his body burned, Knighten said....

Undercover FBI tapes caught John Ford accepting large sums of cash -- on that much prosecutors and defense lawyers agree. Yet as the prosecution and defense made opening statements Tuesday in the former state senator's long-awaited bribery trial, it became clear they want jurors to reach far different conclusions on the case's centerpiece: Hours of videotapes that show Ford stuffing cash into his pockets and bragging of his power to make deals. "Senator Ford saw a great opportunity. And that opportunity was to sell his office,'' Asst. U.S. Atty. Tim DiScenza told the seven white and five black jurors chosen...

Bill would limit seizures in emergency situations If the Big Quake hits West Tennessee, Sen. Mark Norris doesn't want police to confiscate everyone's guns. That's why Norris is again sponsoring legislation that says "state government does not have the right to suspend our Second Amendment rights (to keep and bear arms) during a declared emergency." The bill is scheduled to come up for a vote in the Senate in Nashville on Monday, but minus the support of Gov. Phil Bredesen. In fact, Bredesen's staff asked Norris earlier this month to consider "halting further action" on the bill. Bredesen, through a...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In a tragic twist to a familiar story, a teenager who had sex with his married 30-year-old teacher was fatally shot outside the woman's home, and authorities have charged the woman's husband. "You see all this stuff with teachers involved with their students. It just comes up time after time on the national news," said Norman McLean, father of suspect Eric McLean. But this time, he said, someone "actually died over it."

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - In a tragic twist to a familiar story, a teenager who had sex with his married 30-year-old teacher was fatally shot outside the woman's home, and authorities have charged the woman's husband. "You see all this stuff with teachers involved with their students. It just comes up time after time on the national news," said Norman McLean, father of suspect Eric McLean. "Well, this is the first time where one has actually died over it."

St. Jude researchers find that harvesting aggressive stem cells from donated bone marrow could speed rebuilding of the immune system, reduce risk of infection Raymond Barfield, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Click here for more information. Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated in mice a way that might reduce the time it takes for a bone marrow transplant to rebuild a child's immune system, and so reduce the risk of potentially fatal virus infections that can occur during this time. The St. Jude team showed that the current way...

WASHINGTON -- The Mexican Consulate in Atlanta plans to set up a mobile office in Hickory Hill on Saturday to distribute the form of identity cards that U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would prohibit using for opening bank accounts. Blackburn introduced legislation earlier this week to close what she considers a loophole in banking regulations that permit banks to use the matricula consular card as part of the identification for opening a bank account and eventually obtaining credit cards. She has cited danger to financial institutions as a concern. "Our preference would be to see the Mexican government join us...

KINGSPORT, Tenn. Motorists are warned to watch their speed on Interstate 81 after they cross into northeast Tennessee. The speed limit has dropped there, starting today. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is posting new lower speed limit signs. The speed limit for truckers will drop from 70-to-55 miles per hour. The new speed limit for everyone else will be 65 miles per hour. The reductions will affect more than 22 miles on I-81 and 12-and-a-half miles on I-26, from the Tennessee-Virginia border to the Sullivan-Washington county line. Local officials requested the change to help bring the county into line with...

Shelby County Schools' newest board member, Fred Johnson, wants to change "Christmas Break" to "Winter Break" on the school calendar. "I want to make it inclusive of every religious group," he said. Johnson's unexpected declaration, during a recent discussion of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school calendars, did not sit well with all board members. "This is America. Since Day One, we've recognized Christmas as Christmas and Christmas Break as Christmas Break," said board member Joe Clayton, who said he would never support a change of the wording. The two-week break between December and January has captured the board's attention before....

A Christian woman who once served as an FBI informant on her husband's alleged support of terrorism now is seeking divorce from the self-described radical Muslim who told her he would be proud if their two teen sons blew themselves up for Allah. But she's finding herself on her own – completely – after a judge allowed her lawyer to withdraw, refused to allow an interested lawyer from appearing in her court, and then refused to allow time for any other replacement to be found before today's trial. At stake are Rosine Collin Ghawji's sons, whose futures have been defined...

A Tennessee woman who is seeking a divorce from her husband because of his alleged "ties to terrorism" and had traveled out of state to consult with her general counsel lawyer has returned home – under a judge's order to do that or lose that home until the divorce case is concluded. Rosine Ghawji returned yesterday to her Memphis home under the order from Judge Donna M. Fields in the divorce case in which Mrs. Ghawji has alleged her husband is a self-proclaimed radical Islamist and "has threatened to kill her and her two boys if they did not abide...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his first full term in office this week by announcing during his state-of-the-state address that he intends to implement a state health insurance plan to cover all residents, including illegal aliens. But before riding the universal health care train too far, Gov. Schwarzenegger might want to make a stop in Nashville to see exactly how such a plan has actually worked for Tennessee, where that state's abysmal TennCare program has forced dozens of hospitals out of business, pushed thousands of doctors and other health care professionals out of the state, destroyed any semblance of...

Posted by Michelle Ponto Memphis setting a deadly homicide rate Jan 15, 2007 12:07 PM CST MEMPHIS, TN -- It's only the third week of the year and already the numbers don't look good. Memphis is setting a deadly pace early in the new year. Police say the first murder of 2007, stems from the investigation into a skull and other bones found in yard in Binghamton. Since then there have been eleven homicides in 2007 and a shooting investigation that's happening today could make 12. At this time last year there were just seven homicides. Memphis ended 2006 with...

County outsources abstinence teaching to Christian center Tipton County middle schoolers will soon get a "fresh" take on abstinence with a course new to the district -- taught by volunteer counselors from a local pro-life center, rather than teachers. The new abstinence curriculum, "Why kNOw", will replace the district's somewhat outdated family life curriculum, said Ann Smith, Tipton County Schools middle school supervisor. Instead of science, health and physical education teachers overseeing the course, the district is bringing in volunteer lay and peer counselors from Heart to Heart Pregnancy Counseling Center in Covington. Heart to Heart, a privately-funded, Christian-based, pro-life...

Fayette County officer kills 600-pound boar Fayette County resident John Cocke walked out onto his deck, clapped his hands, and hollered. He first thought a neighbor's hog was on the loose, but he quickly saw the animal ripping into his chicken coop had long tusks, beady eyes and hair that stood up on his back like an angry dog. "He acted aggressive, like if you come out here, I'm going to tear you up." Cocke called for help. Fayette County Animal Control officer Thomas Petrowski felled the wild porker with three blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun. Cocke's nephew carved the...

Homeowner Shoots Burglar Who Returns For Second Try (TX)Robbery attempt nets suspect a wound in the leg (TX)Pittsburgh Homeowner Opens Fire On Intruders (PA - Police: Body Found In Nearby Cemetery Fatal shooting in Greene County (TN)Armed robber outgunned (ME)Fatal domestic incident act of self-defense (MD)Store clerk shoots robbery suspect (TX)Concealed Weapon Keeps Man Safe in Attempted Carjacking (UT)Intruder shot, killed by homeowner (NM)Sisters Defend Store, Ward Off Would-Be Robber (TX)Shootout in Cape leads to 2 arrests (FL)Police Seek Customer Who Stopped Robbery In Progress (TX)

Tennesseans elected Republican Bob Corker to the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, denying Democrat Harold Ford Jr.'s bid to become the first African-American from the South elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. As 1 a.m. approached, Corker had 51 percent of the vote to Ford's 48 percent with 97 percent of precincts reporting statewide. More than 1.76 million Tennesseans went to the polls. Ford conceded just after midnight, thanking supporters and staffers, asking them not to be angry about the contest's negative tone. He looked heavenward as he thanked God for leading him on the campaign trail. "I still believe...

NASHVILLE -- In his race for U.S. Senate, Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D) has been outspent by millions, and his image has been battered by a barrage of negative ads, including the now-infamous spot with a blonde floozy that has been pulled off the air. Several polls show him trailing...But being an underdog has its own righteous appeal, and the campaign used that status yesterday not only to rally voters but as evidence that God had looked with favor upon the Democratic campaign. The fact that they are still in the race despite the odds, Ford told an African...

We can't post the article due to lawsuits. Click here to read who in HollyWIERD supports JUNIOR

Listen Online at 600 WRECThe Memphis elections with talk radio debate is gettin' very live! Once Andrew Clark Sr. retires from active service with the MPD ... he may go national. It's gettin' ugly ...... he is a conservative ex-military, African-American host ...

A Community High School student has set down a burden he says had weighed heavy on his heart since last year, when his father accused the school's vice principal of child abuse during the boy's paddling. "He said he was going to sue the school and I was, like, 'No, let's don't,' because I knew what the bruise was from, but he said, 'We'll get money out of this,'" said Samuel Lee "Leroy" Manus, 15, son of Freddy Manus, an inmate at Rutherford County Jail. Best known at school as Lee, the freshman had been sent to vice principal Keith...

In the hotly contested contest for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker has jumped into a double-digit lead over Rep. Harold Ford Jr., according to a Zogby poll. The race had been a statistical tie in a number of recent polls, but Corker’s 10-point lead in the new Zogby survey follows several gaffes by Ford, including an attempt to confront Corker at a press conference and an attack on the religious values of Republicans. As Of Monday, Corker led by 53 percent to Ford's 43 percent in the...

A number of metro area people were not too happy Thursday evening after discovering their names and addresses printed in a local paper. The Tennessee Tribune published hundreds of names and addresses of people who did not vote in the August primary, the last election. Silas Allen, 65, said it came as a shock. He had no idea his name was printed in the weekly paper that focuses on issues in the African-American community. He wasn't too pleased.

Is the Democrat running for Senate in Tennessee just wearing a pro-life costume? “I'm pro-life, I'm pro-life, Tucker, so I mean, I don’t run from that.” So Congressman Harold Ford Jr. told MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson on Monday. It’s often been taken as a given that the attractive, smart, affable Ford is pro-life. On Fox News Sunday this past weekend Chris Wallace stated flatly in addressing Ford, “You are pro-life.” But is Congressman Ford pro-life? His record suggests otherwise. According to the National Right to Life Committee, Ford’s claim to be pro-life “is radically at odds with Ford’s 10-year voting record...

Is Rep. Harold Ford, the Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee, pro-life? Certainly, over the past month he has repeatedly claimed the pro-life label. For example, on Tucker Carlson's program on MSNBC on October 30, Ford said, "I'm pro-life, I'm pro-life, Tucker, so I mean, I don't run from that ..." Although Carlson expressed some skepticism about the claim, it has been accepted at face value and repeated as fact by many other journalists, and even by some conservative commentators. Journalists do their readers and viewers a disservice when they accept and repeat such claims without...

U.S. Representative Harold Ford, Jr. (center) tours the Behlen plant in Huntingdon Thursday. At left is plant manager Stuart Daffron and at left is employee Jeremy Willis. U.S. Representative Harold Ford Jr. (D-Memphis) made a stop in Huntingdon Thursday to gather support in his bid for the U.S. Senate. Ford, 35, currently represents the Ninth Congressional District after being elected in 1996 to the seat. He is a candidate for the 2006 U.S. Senate seat that is being vacated by U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, a Republican, who plans on running for the presidency in 2008. He’s been billed as an...

NASHVILLE -- Tennessee's already fractious U.S. Senate race plunged into religious controversy Sunday as Republican nominee Bob Corker charged that Democrat Harold Ford Jr. told supporters "only Democrats love the Lord" during a Saturday rally. "This last statement that only Democrats love God, I don't know how anyone in the world running for public office, especially running for the United States Senate would even consider saying something like that," former Chattanooga Mayor Corker said in an interview as he campaigned prior to a Tennessee Titans football game in Nashville. In a statement issued by his campaign, Mr. Corker called the...