Stories from Friday, May 29, 2009

Workers started cutting into sections of North Main Street and Cannon Boulevard this morning to replace about 200 feet of the city's underground stormwater flume that collapsed -- for the second time in its history -- last month. Meanwhile, businesses in the impacted area are having to cope with the loss of traffic to their storefronts, and downtown Shelbyville traffic remains backed up along side roads...

Bedford County's unemployment rate fell to 10.7 percent for April, according to preliminary figures released Thursday by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, down from 11.2 percent in March. The good news is that while the jobless rate for Tennessee rose last month to 9.9 percent, 0.3 percentage point higher than the rate from March, the figures fell for many counties, including here...

So far, this weekend is the first one this month to have no rain in the forecast. That's good news for Wartrace Mayor Don Gallagher and the rest of the folks in town, because this weekend is also the annual Wartrace MusicFest. "It looks like we're going to be blessed with beautiful weather," he said...

The annual Relay for Life, which is the American Cancer Society's signature fundraising event, will be held from 6 p.m. tonight until 6 a.m. Saturday at the Bedford County Agriculture and Education Center. Twenty-two teams have signed up for the event thus far, according to Wendy Stacy, co-chair...

Shelbyville Junior American Legion Post 23 brought their sticks with them to the yard Thursday as five different players banged out two or more hits in a 13-5 win over visiting Tullahoma. Jacob West topped the Post 23 box score with two doubles, a triple and two RBIs. ...

The Shelbyville-Bedford County Humane Association is hosting Summer Lights, its annual wine tasting and silent auction benefit, Saturday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Blue Ribbon Circle on the Celebration Grounds. Tickets are $25 and are available to persons 21 and older in advance or at the door...

Jerry E. Sadler, 63, of La Vergne, died Tuesday. Funeral services will be held today at 1 p.m. at Woodbine Funeral Home, Nashville. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery.

A Bedford County Workhouse inmate on daytime work release allegedly stashed a bottle of vodka in his work area at Shelbyville police headquarters May 21, police said. Chief Austin Swing said he found a 1-liter bottle of Skol vodka in the department's maintenance room and confronted Daniel Brannon, 23, of Davis Street...