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Tennessee Tech’s Engineering Building sits atop the list of more than $480 million in capital recommendations approved Friday by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. The recommendation goes on to the legislature as the budget process begins. The state’s removed its $49 million funding for the facility because of COVID-related budget concerns this summer. Commission Director of Facilities Paul Marshall said ... Read More »

The Baxter Pharmacy celebrated its grand opening Friday morning. Owner and Pharmacist Lana Jared was joined by Baxter City officials and community members to celebrate the ribbon cutting. Jared said she has followed her medical passion for 20 years, in hopes of giving back to Baxter. “Praise the Lord, here we are now and we just want to be a ... Read More »

The pandemic led Baxter’s Board of Aldermen to decide against any further rentals for their visitor’s center. Mayor John Martin posed the question to the board Thursday night of whether or not they wanted to continue rentals. All members agreed that it was not worth the efforts to sanitize the visitor’s center after it has been used. Martin said COVID ... Read More »

Cookeville City Council approved holding a public hearing on December 10 for three different rezoning ordinances. The first involves 7.68 acres of land on Tennessee Avenue. The land would be rezoned from commercial industrial mixed used to heavy manufacturing. This is a city-owned piece of land being considered by an unnamed business prospect. A proposed subdivision on Bunker Hill Road ... Read More »

A three-vehicle collision Thursday morning along Highway 70 in Crossville injured two Cumberland County residents. The accident happened just before 12 Noon on Highway 70 North. According to a preliminary report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol. 26-year-old Richard Hodgin of Crossville attempted to pass a vehicle driven by 46-year-old Greg Horn. Hodgin saw an oncoming vehicle in the northbound lane, ... Read More »

The town of Gainesboro wants to add a turn signal to state route 56 at West Hull Avenue through a T-DOT grant. The Board of Alderman Thursday approved applying for the grant. Town Recorder Brenda Spivey said the current traffic light lacks a signal making afternoon traffic a problem “Yes, it is an issue,” Spivey said. “Especially, in the afternoon ... Read More »

The Putnam County School Board approved a new $3 million contract for custodial services across the school system Thursday night. HES will take over the work January 1 on a one-year contract, renewable for five additional years. Director of Schools Corby King said the company committed more workers to the project. “We’ve had some real frustrations with the current vendor ... Read More »

Some Sparta employees will be receiving raises after a payroll study conducted by the city Sparta Mayor Jeff Young said office and electric line workers were being underpaid compared to the regional average. “We had an in-house payroll study and we found that we had six or seven positions that were actually deficient in their pay,” Young said. “So, we ... Read More »

Cane Creek Park will expand by more than 31 acres after Cookeville City Council approved a $350,000 land purchase Thursday night. City Manager James Mills presented the property off of Buffalo Valley Road to the city council. He said the land owner reached out to the city to gauge interest in the land. Mills said the land owner’s desire was ... Read More »

Cookeville High School’s nearly 20 year tradition of celebrating Veteran’s Day will move on air next week The event will broadcast over radio, the Putnam County Facebook page and WCTE this year. Cookeville High School’s JROTC organizes the event. Colonel Nickey Philpot said his students wanted to meet community and student’s expectations to honor veterans. “Sometimes we don’t realize what ... Read More »