Bredesen Begins Transition Work

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen says he has no intention of taking it easy during his last six months in office.

The state of Tennessee is bailing out a struggling trust fund that allows families to prepay for college at current tuition rates. The budget that goes into effect this month pumps $15 million into a program which was designed to be self-sustaining.

A congressional primary race in Tennessee will test the boundaries of campaign finance laws. Robert Kirkland, who co-founded Kirkland’s home décor and gift stores, has already spent more than $750,000 to get his brother elected to Congress.

For more than a century, a Democrat has gone to Washington representing the farm towns and suburbs stretching from Dickson, west to the Mississippi River. Since 1989, Rep. John Tanner has held the 8th Congressional District seat. But he’s retiring, and the GOP sees opportunity. Leading the 8th district’s first competitive Republican primary in decades are a pair of physicians and a family farmer. WPLN’s Blake Farmer reports.

Brentwood Republican Marsha Blackburn has filed bills calling for across-the-board spending cuts each year since she took her place in the House of Representatives in 2003. And every year, they’ve languished without any Congressional action.

Tennessee Guardsmen continue to return home early from Iraq. Units from Ashland City and Sweetwater arrive this afternoon to the guard training center in Smyrna.

Home sales in the Nashville area rose again in June for the ninth consecutive month.

Nashville’s Fisk University helped develop crystals that are now being used to detect radiation in the country’s ports. On Thursday, the technology was recognized as one of the 100 most useful developments in the past year.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean is saying “no” to helping pay for flood repairs to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and “yes” to fixing up the Grand Ole Opry House. He plans to file legislation with the Metro Council Friday.

The state of Tennessee is looking to set a date to execute a man on death row.