Blood Assurance is hosting a Cookeville blood drive event in memory of the lives lost and the lives saved through blood donations after the March tornado. Donor Recruiter Trudy Cody said blood supplies have been low since the pandemic, so this week offers multiple ways to help. “Today’s patients needed donors yesterday,” Cody said. “Any trauma that happens today, we ... Read More »

The Cookeville-Putnam County Visitors’ Bureau has submitted its bid to host the TSSAA High School Football Championships. Director Molly Brown said the 2020 Blue Cross Bowl was a success and looks forward to continue hosting. “We’re rebidding for 2021 and 2022,” Brown said. “We just submitted that bid on Friday, and we will hear back on that March 16th. Our ... Read More »

Putnam County Senior Centers are set to reopen on May 3rd with strict COVID guidelines put in place by the board. Assistant Director Julie LaForest said the tentative plan requires all members to be COVID vaccinated before entering the facility. “We have a much bigger center than must people, so making sure everything is safe is our priority,” LaForest said. ... Read More »

Cookeville Regional honored the medical professionals who treated 95 tornado victims in the hours after the storm. “As everyone knows, March 3rd 2020 changed the lives in the matter of minutes. Families were torn apart. Nineteen lives were lost,” CRMC CEO Paul Korth said. “As quickly as the storm hit and left, Cookeville Regional Medical Center personnel were called in, ... Read More »

Baxter’s Reflection Park will serve as a cornerstone of the Seminary Park project, a chance to remember the five children who died in the March tornado. That’s according to Baxter Mayor John Martin. “Putnam County is strong and we have a team, anything that ever happens in our community we work together,” Martin said. “That’s what it’s all about, our ... Read More »

The building of Hope Park will begin after Wednesday’s dedication of the park in the Highway 70 corridor. “Without hope, we don’t have much,” Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said. Three families, the Asantes, the Barnetts, and the Pitts, sold their land to the county for the building of the park. All three families lost their homes in the storm. ... Read More »

The state will move to vaccinations for the 1-C group next week. That opens eligibility to those 16 years or older at high risk for COVID complications. This includes current cancer treatment, chronic renal disease, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, moderate or severe asthma, obesity, heart failure, hypertension, sickle cell disease, thalassemia, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease or stroke, liver disease or ... Read More »

The Clay County Senior Center has reopened after being closed for about a year under COVID guidelines. The decision came after the center’s board and county officials were encouraged by decreasing COVID numbers. Director Sandra Wix said when the doors opened, members were anxious to return. “It has been great,” Wix said. “We are a small center. We are not ... Read More »

Groundbreaking for the new Food City project will take place next week. Developer Wayne Cravens confirmed the move Tuesday during a meeting of Putnam County’s Joint Economic Development Board. The new shopping center will be built on 10th Street near the intersection of Highway 111. This project includes the widening of 10th Street from Highway 111 to Old Kentucky Road. ... Read More »

The Cookeville Fire Department extinguished a residential fire Tuesday limiting damage to the living room of a Bradley Drive home. Fire Chief Daryl Blair said the smoke was visible down Washington Avenue, and crews responded in time before the home was lost. “The first units that arrived on scene said that they had smoke and fire visible at the front ... Read More »