News Briefs

LITTLEVILLE

Barbecue supper set for Friday

The Littleville Firefighters and Ladies Auxiliary will have a barbecue supper Friday.

The event will be from 4-7 p.m. at Littleville Senior Citizens Center, which is behind the fire department.

The event will be catered by Spring Valley Market and the meal will feature ribs, smoked chicken, barbecue or chicken fingers and all the trimmings.

Plates are $8 each and carry-outs are available.

For details, call 627-7675 or 332-9316.

MUSCLE SHOALS

Wilson Dam to be closed to traffic

Wilson Dam will be closed to traffic beginning at 7 a.m. today through Aug. 1 at 2:30 p.m., officials with the Tennessee Valley Police said.

Capt. Joe Kelley, with the TVA Police, said the closure is because of spillway

maintenance.

For details, call 386-2444.

ASHEVILLE, N.C.

TVA: Utility embraces controls

A Tennessee Valley Authority official testified Wednesday that the utility has embraced technology to reduce emissions at its coal-fired generating plants targeted in a lawsuit by its neighbor.

John Myers, senior manager of environmental policy and regulatory outlook for TVA, testified as the utility began its defense in a lawsuit filed by the state of North Carolina.

Myers said TVA uses coal to produce 30 percent more electricity than power plants in North Carolina yet TVA emits the same amount of sulfur dioxide.

MILLBROOK

Body could be linked to woman

Authorities in Elmore County say a body was found late Tuesday at a site they would not disclose.

Millbrook Police acted on a tip and found the body about 6 p.m.

District Attorney Randall Houston said an autopsy was ordered. Since Friday, police and deputies have been searching for 41-year-old Gloria Silas Russell, of Elmore.

The woman's boyfriend, 42-year-old Michael Andrew Wright, was arrested Saturday. He was charged with murder and was being held in the Elmore County Jail under no bond.

Investigators said Wright was charged based on the evidence that was found in the house.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Top fugitive caught in Athens

A fugitive on Tennessee's Top Ten Most Wanted was captured in Alabama after police said he tried to rape and kill a Lebanon woman in March.

Authorities tracked 55-year-old Ronnie Cloyd, of LaVergne, at a Wal-Mart in Athens, Ala., where he surrendered without a struggle.

Cloyd was wanted by the Wilson County Sheriff's Office for attempted murder, criminal attempt to commit aggravated rape and criminal attempt to commit aggravated kidnapping. He was added to the list less than two weeks ago.

TUSCALOOSA

Armed standoff ends peacefully

Tuscaloosa police say they have arrested a man after an armed standoff at an apartment complex.

Police say they arrested John Terrell Wheat on Wednesday afternoon after the standoff ended peacefully.

Police say Wheat barricaded himself inside a car at the Royal Hills apartments around 10:30 Wednesday morning. They say he was armed and came to the complex looking for his daughter after having gone to her place of work.

Police said Wheat was angry at his daughter for dating a black man. The standoff ended around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon.

MONTGOMERY

Inmate killed in overnight wreck

An inmate being transferred to the Houston County Jail was killed in a three-vehicle accident. The wreck also injured a Houston County corrections officer.

It happened Tuesday night just after 8 p.m. at an intersection in east Montgomery.

Alabama state troopers said the transport van, a gravel truck and a passenger vehicle collided at the intersection of Vaughn and Pike Roads, near Kilby Correctional Center.

The inmate, whose name was withheld, was being transferred to the county jail in Dothan.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

State reports record child support collections

State Department of Human Services Commissioner Gina Lodge says the federal government's economic stimulus package has been a big boost for Tennessee children owed child support payments.

According to a DHS news release, the state collected more than $530 million for child support in fiscal year 2008, up from $508 million the previous year and setting a new record.

"The recent economic stimulus checks have paid off for children across Tennessee who have not had consistent support from their parents," Lodge said.

BARTLETT, Tenn.

Town to pay 'sexy exercise' studio

The Memphis suburb of Bartlett is out $20,000 following a zoning fight with an exercise studio that features pole dancing and "sexy stretching."

The town's board of aldermen agreed Tuesday night to pay the money to head off a legal fight with Eccentric Studios, an exercise studio that offers a class for women called "Strip to Fit."

Bartlett officials refused to let the studio open earlier this month arguing it was not in a part of town zoned for adult-oriented businesses.

But studio co-owner Rachael Vint said the business should not be classified as adult-oriented simply because the exercise classes involve dance moves sometimes associated with strip clubs.

BIRMINGHAM

Banks in 3 cities targeted by robbers

Banks were the targeted by robbers in Birmingham, Albertville and Madison on Tuesday.

The FBI and Birmingham Police said a woman armed with a handgun robbed a Compass Bank on Centerpoint Parkway just before noon. The woman and the getaway driver, a male, fled with an undetermined amount of currency.

In Albertville, police say two males and a female were arrested following the armed robbery of the Southern Bank Company at about 1:30 p.m. Police said the suspects were apprehended after crashing their getaway near the bank.

A Regions Bank on U.S. 72 in Madison also was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday afternoon. Police said the robber showed the teller a note and was given an undetermined amount of currency.

MOBILE

State Farm raises rates for coastal Alabama

Citing coastal growth and hurricane threats, State Farm will boost its homeowners insurance rates by 12 percent to 18 percent in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

The Alabama Department of Insurance approved the new rates Tuesday for the state's largest property insurer. Some 700 policies on the coast also will lose State Farm's wind coverage over two years.

State Farm also will require a hurricane deductible equal to 5 percent of the value of a policy for renewing Mobile and Baldwin customers. Those customers will pay a 1 percent deductible for other losses, including fires and thefts.