Local News

Wilson County Emergency Management is taking a new approach to filling open firefighter and EMT positions.  Officials are now hiring uncertified candidates, with no experience necessary.  Wilson County Firefighters Association Vice President Colton Young says leaders and instructors have been developing a plan to train new hires as during the course of their employment.  Candidates 19 and older, with three years of driving experience, can apply through August first.

A Gordonsville woman is accused of stealing more than 250-thousand-dollars from an estate. The TBI says 56-year-old Lois Vance was overseeing an estate and used the money for her own benefit. She’s facing theft charges and is out on bond.

Blues singer and actress, Shonka Durkereh is dead.  The Fisk graduate is best know for her role portraying Big Momma Thornton in the recently-released ‘Elvis’ movie.  Authorities say one of her children discovered her unresponsive in her Nashville apartment yesterday morning, before running to a neighbor for help.  Investigators do not suspect foul play in her death.  Shonka Durkereh was 44.

Stewart County Sheriff Frankie Gray is doing what he can to make sure his deputies can respond quickly to a threat inside a school.  Every officer in his department now has keys to the county’s public school buildings.  There are further response plans in place, with deputies being provided color-coded maps of the four schools in the county.  Gray says he wants parents to know his office is as prepared as possible to protect students.

The monarch butterfly is now an endangered species.  That’s according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.  Over the past ten years, the monarch butterfly population has decreased between 23- and 72-percent.  The group said the decline in the monarch population is due to many factors.  They include habitat loss, increased pesticide use, and climate change.  The agency hopes the declaration will spur action to help save the monarchs from extinction.