Former Chief of State High Court Dies

Former chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Adolpho A. Birch, has died. Friends confirm the passed away Thursday at age 78.

Governor Bill Haslam says he doubts Tennessee departments will have to hack 30 percent from their budgets. But with less federal money expected to come to states, Haslam says it’s wise to lay out a plan now.

The CEO of Gibson Guitar says federal agents took imported hardwood and cost the company a million dollars when they raided factories in Memphis and Nashville this week.

As much of the 101st Airborne Division has now returned to Fort Campbell, officers are handing out medals for bravery. Thursday a Silver Star was granted posthumously to a young combat medic named Jordan Byrd.

It’s been more than two years since GM announced it would idle car production at its factory in Spring Hill. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker said yesterday he’s not certain what to expect for the plant going forward.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker says he’ll sit down and talk with the Tennessee Valley Authority about how it will pay to finish its Bellefonte nuclear plant. TVA is looking at selling a different nuclear reactor and leasing it back in order to afford the $5 billion Bellefonte project in Alabama.

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker says the best case scenario in Libya would be for rebels taking control there to handle the transition without infighting. Corker says if tribes in Libya fracture, it opens to the door to destabilization, corruption and potentially terrorism.

Holly Petraeus, wife of the four star general and next CIA director, has taken on a pretty big job herself. She’s overseeing an office focused on service members in the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Petraeus has been visiting military installations and was at Fort Campbell Wednesday.

The MacArthur Foundation wants to know how the brain is involved in criminal behavior, and it’s giving Vanderbilt University $4.8 million to lead a study into just that.

The winningest coach in NCAA basketball history has released some details about her health problems and vowed to continue leading the Lady Vols this season. Pat Summitt has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.