Stories from Tuesday, September 6, 2005

NASHVILLE -- Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Sunday that President Bush has granted the state's request for an emergency declaration for the entire state of Tennessee as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The declaration means the state will receive 100 percent federal reimbursement for immediate relief efforts and expanded services for evacuees sheltered across Tennessee...

A plea agreement in a methamphetamine case that started with a drug raid in March seems to have been reached, but its conclusion is stymied by the state crime lab and local police. "The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab does not have the capacity to quantify the amount of methamphetamine in a separating liquid," defense attorney John Norton said last week...

A co-owner of Shelbyville-based Gowen-Smith Chapel has been deployed to Gulfport, Miss., to help with recovery since Hurricane Katrina, and his business partner here has described the grim task there. "DMort is telling us to expect up to 40,000 bodies," Dan Buckner said, quoting officials with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, a volunteer arm of Homeland Security...

Tennessee Health Commissioner Kenneth Robinson on Thursday encouraged leaders of the Community Clinic of Shelbyville and Bedford County to apply for a grant of state money to expand the capacity of that health clinic. Speaking at Motlow State Community College, Dr. Robinson said providing health care to people with modest incomes and minorities such as Hispanics will provide the general population with a natural health insurance by keeping the general population healthy...

Former Chattanooga mayor and former Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration Bob Corker brought his U.S. Senate campaign to Shelbyville last week, saying that during his term as mayor, Chattanooga made progress in looking at alternative fuel sources...

Lifelong Bedford County resident Mrs. Mary Jo Meadows Hart, 89, of the Three Forks community died Monday at her home after an extended illness. Funeral services will be 4 p.m. Wednesday at Shofner Lutheran Chapel with the Rev. A. Richard Smith officiating. Burial will follow at Shofner Cemetery. Doak-Howell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...