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Byrdstown expecting to fix the issues with its water pressure and water supply after receiving a new part for its pump system Thursday. That after weekend water pump failures have decreased the water treatment plant’s capacity to 50 percent. Mayor Sam Gibson said they tracked the delivery from Louisville to Cookeville, where they decided to get the part and bring ... Read More »

Tennessee Tech working to develop a database that will help the university align recruitment to population growth areas of state. Executive Director of Strategic Planning & Data Dewayne Wright said they are in the early stages of collecting different sets of data from THEC, the state data center, and internal data. He said all of that data will help Tech ... Read More »

Cookeville Regional Medical Center is raising money to help pay for the medical needs of families involved in the Empower Upper Cumberland program. CRMC Charitable Foundation Executive Director John Bell said they are looking for partnerships as well as donations to help families involved in the program with medical expenses. He said these families already get help with things like ... Read More »

County Mayor Randy Heady pleasantly surprised by recent state numbers regarding Jackson County’s status as an economically at-risk county. Heady said Jackson County placed 17th out of 27 Tennessee at-risk counties. He said just four years ago, the county was considered economically distressed. “The poverty rate is 17.9 percent, we were around 23 percent five years ago and now we ... Read More »

The Tennessee Tourism Department recently connected the Access Fund Land Trust Alliance with Fentress and Pickett County representatives to identify areas for rock climbing. Access Fund representative Daniel Dunn said both counties are currently working towards developing their recreation economy. “Climbers are major economic drivers in all these little rural county bringing in sometimes millions of dollars annually from visitation ... Read More »

Five Upper Cumberland School Districts and York Institute among recipients of the state’s Perkins Reserve Grant funds. Overton County Schools to use some $50,000 to power three career education programs. She said they want to showcase the equipment and software that will help students advertise in the digital age. “They’re going to bolster a school-based enterprise. We have a vinyl ... Read More »

UCEMC has completed the process of connecting all of its offices and substations. Operations Manager Joe Skelton said last week they completed the final fiber pull connecting all systems. Skelton said in addition to heightened security, the fiber ring improves reliability. “It allows us to know when outages occur within seconds,” Skelton said. “And then also enables us to test ... Read More »

Byrdstown under a boil water advisory after one of its filtration system pumps failed over the weekend. Mayor Sam Gibson said that failure means the city is only pumping at half capacity. He said as a result, the water will gradually get lower pressure, especially for residences located further away from the water treatment plant. “The state requires us to ... Read More »

Fentress County is creating signage to promote art, community, and local culture. County Chamber Executive Director Jacob Rosenbaum said the workshop was sponsored by the Tennessee Arts Commission. Rosenbaum said locally trained facilitators conducted the workshop with a focus on utilizing their creative economy. “Actually in smaller communities the creative economy, your artisans, craftsmen, artists, those kind of people actually ... Read More »

Putnam County’s Operation United Hope is expanding with a new larger location. Founder Winn Koehler said the non-profit that helps veterans had to move to a new building because they were outgrowing the old location. She said the organization has grown a lot in its first year and they need additional space to further expand. “The benefit of being in ... Read More »