NATIONAL NEWS

Supreme Court
hearings announced
The Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission will hold two separate meetings to fill vacancies on the state Supreme Court being created by the Aug. 31 retirements of Justices E. Riley Anderson of Knoxville and Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., of Nashville, commission chairman Mike Bottoms said Monday.
“I believe this is the fairest procedure for all applicants and hopefully both positions can be filled by September 1,” Bottoms said.
Under the Tennessee Constitution, no more than two Supreme Court justices can reside in the same grand division of the state. Each of the three Supreme Court members who have qualified for the Aug. 3 retention election resides in separate grand divisions – Chief Justice William Barker of Chattanooga in the Eastern Division, Justice Janice M. Holder of Memphis in the Western Division and Justice Cornelia A. Clark in the Middle Division.
Bottoms said applicants for the first position to be filled can apply from any region of the state. The appointment of the first justice by Gov. Phil Bredesen will determine the remaining two grand divisions from which applications can be taken.

TWRA hires new chief
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has named Don King as its new Chief of Information and Education replacing Dave Woodward, who retired in January after serving more than 30 years with the TWRA.
King, who had been the agency’s Assistant Chief of Information and Education, will be familiar to viewers of the popular Tennessee’s Wild Side television program seen on PBS stations throughout Tennessee and Kentucky. In addition to co-writing and performing the program’s theme song, King has been featured in many of the program’s outdoor segments.
He has been a Nashville resident for more than 30 years. King’s connection to the outdoors dates back to his youth, hunting pheasant in Nebraska. He’s also affectionately referred to as “the voice of the TWRA,” having been the spokesman for the agency’s public service announcements on statewide radio since 1975.

Two Tenn. residents claim Lotto prizes
Two more winners from Saturday night’s record-breaking Powerball drawing arrived at the Tennessee Lottery’s Nashville headquarters today to claim their $667,142 second-place prizes. Effie Wimley-Neal from Belvedere in Franklin County and Jason Knox from Dyer in Gibson County are the second and third of the five Tennessee Powerball winners to claim a prize that was increased by $467,142 due to a Bonus Prize Pool set in motion by the record-breaking jackpot. from Belvedere in Franklin County and Jason Knox from Dyer in Gibson County are the second and third of the five Tennessee Powerball winners to claim a prize that was increased by $467,142 due to a Bonus Prize Pool set in motion by the record-breaking jackpot. Newlyweds Effie Wimley-Neal and her husband Jim are the owners of Johnny’s Auto Sales in Belvedere and purchased their ticket at B & B Tobacco Express in Winchester. “We are going to help our church pay off their building fund and then we are going to join my best friend on a cruise to the Caribbean,” said Effie.