Local News

Authorities in middle Tennessee have issued an Endangered Child Alert for a Springfield teen with a medical condition.  Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation say  17-year-old Faith Noel Threet has a known medical condition but did not specify what it is.  Threet is described as five-foot-two, 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.  Agents say they don’t know her direction of travel.  Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office.

A group of Tennessee pastors is calling a package of bills that would limit COVID-19 mask mandates “disastrous.”  They’re calling on Governor Bill Lee to veto the bill, though Lee has said he plans to sign the measure today.  The co-chairman of the Tri-City Poor People’s Campaign — the Reverend Gordon Myers — says the four bills in the package are harmful to Tennesseans.  He says those who would claim Christian faith must lead by choosing wisdom over party politics.

An insurance website says Tennessee roads are becoming more dangerous as traffic fatalities have increased this year.  In the first half of this year, traffic deaths increased by 30 percent across Tennessee.  That’s according to QuoteWizard Car Insurance.  So far, 156 more people have been killed on Tennessee roads compared with last year.  Analysts have linked the rise in traffic deaths to the pandemic.  Since the beginning of the pandemic in March of last year, the number of speeding-related accidents increased nationwide.

A white nationalist group is holding its annual conference this weekend in middle Tennessee, while a counter-protest is also scheduled.  The group is called American Renaissance — also the New Century Foundation — and the event is being held at Montgomery Bell State Park.  Its theme is the Decisive Decade and several conservative speakers are scheduled.  An opposing group is holding a counter-protest at the conference site.  Several protestors were arrested at past conferences.