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The Overton County School System will hold Voluntary Pre-K Kickoff Night at each of the four county elementary schools Thursday. Director of Schools Donnie Holman said the system gets some 75 percent of its pre-k enrollment as a result of these meetings. He said the district uses these events to survey families and determine how many students may be starting ... Read More »

Sparta has temporarily closed the town skate park as the next-door Old Sparta Hardware Building began to crumble Monday night. City Administrator Tonya Tindle said the bricks are falling off the building and the back corner has begun to fall. She said the city has also closed South Church Street and T-DOT has closed one lane of traffic on Bockman ... Read More »

Students at Clay County’s Hermitage Springs School met with First Lady Maria Lee Tuesday to design a playground to be built at Hermitage Springs Park. Hermitage Springs School Principal Donatta Birdwell said students from Pre-K through eighth grade were asked to draw a design of what they hoped the playground might look like. She said the best 30 drawings were ... Read More »

Voter turnout across the Upper Cumberland this Super Tuesday generally light. In Putnam County, officials called the turnout slow, with people saying they were already sure of who was going to win the Presidential Primaries. As of late afternoon, larger turnouts because of smaller early voting numbers had not materialized. White County Elections called the turnout steady, close to what ... Read More »

Bee Rock Park brought some $300,000 in economic activity to Monterey last year, according to a new study from Tennessee Tech’s Center For Rural Innovation. Center Director Michael Aikens told the Board of Aldermen Monday night an Economic Impact Study revealed that some 3,500 tourists visited the park last year. The center tracked cell phone data and offered surveys to ... Read More »

Jackson County Commissioners voted Monday night to purchase a new $225,000 ambulance for the county. County Executive Randy Heady said Ambulance Service Director Keith Bean came upon the ambulance at a EMS conference two weeks ago. A company offered one of three brand new chassis with a remounted box in good shape. “You just don’t see this happen every day,” ... Read More »

Cookeville has selected a firm to the first phase of its initiative to streamline processes throughout the city’s operations. During Monday’s Council Work Session, Cookeville Finance and Accounting Director Brenda Imel said the city has chosen Soft Resources LLC. She said first, the company will check all of the city’s software processes and recommend improvements. “They are going to look ... Read More »

A strong February produced some $8.2 million of construction permits across Putnam County. That’s up for $6.6 million from February, 2023. The dollar amount the most in the last four months. So far in 2024, the county has issued 56 building permits for more than $12 million. The 34 permits issued in February the highest number since October. The numbers ... Read More »

Tuesday marks the debut of consolidated voting precincts in Putnam County, down from 22 to 18. Phil Adams chairs the Putnam County Election Commission. Adams said four locations across the county have been combined with nearby existing precincts. He said people who vote in Algood will now all vote together at Algood Elementary School. He said there has been confusion ... Read More »

Rabies cases are popping up in horses across the state, making prevention and awareness as important as ever. Putnam County Agricultural Extention Agent Wayne Key said rabies in livestock is uncommon, but difficult to control. He said horses are curious animals, and most commonly contract rabies by coming into contact with infected wildlife. He said the most common carriers are ... Read More »