Local News
There’s a warning about an item that may be on your child’s Christmas list. It is called a Flipper Zero, and at least one Tennessee school has already had an issue with it. Wilson County Schools confirmed that a student brought one to Lebanon High last month and used it to shut off some cell phones in the classroom. Flipper Zeros recently got popular on TikTok for pranks like shutting off fast food displays. Amazon banned the device back in April since it can be used to skim credit cards. The device is limited and can only interfere with devices within about 50 yards. Wilson County Schools said the student was disciplined, and their network was never breached.
The Sumner County Sheriff’s Office received $226,000 of the $100 million available from the Violent Crime Intervention Fund Grant Program, which Gov. Bill Lee and the General Assembly passed last session to provide funds for law enforcement agencies to purchase tools to fight violent crime. The SCSO used a portion of the money to purchase new ballistic shields, training for two detectives at the National Forensic Academy, and virtual reality shooting training technology.
The Rutherford County school board is asking the county commission for $300 million over the next three years for new schools, but county commission leaders now say they can’t pay for it without help from the state. For the last decade, Rutherford County has been growing at a rate of about 10,000 a year. For schools, that’s 1,000 new students every 12 months, or sometimes more. How much money, if any, the state is willing to chip in is uncertain. What is certain is, the high schools in Rutherford County will be at 110% capacity in five years.