Society

A proposed ordinance in Paris, Tennessee could put an end to what locals call perpetual yard sales. City Manager Carl Holder says some people were running the yard sales like a business, and it was becoming an eyesore. He says,

“The problem is that very often they simply throw a tarp on them and leave them out there sometimes for weeks or months. So it is the purpose of the ordinance to limit the number of times a year you can have a yard sale…”

The U.S. corn harvest continues ahead of schedule with some states nearly half-finished at a time when they usually are just getting started.  In its weekly crop update, the USDA says little has changed in the condition of drought-damaged corn and soybeans. That's because the plants are too far along for recent rain to make a difference.  Corn was planted several weeks earlier this year and matured more quickly in the summer heat, allowing farmers to start harvesting early.  Tennessee has almost half of its corn in, compared to the usual 21 percent.

Search and rescue teams have recovered the body of a Southern Illinois man who went missing from his boat on Sunday. Ballard County Emergency Management Director Anita Bugg says a tow boat operator last night spotted the body of 43-year-old Robert Goins on the Mississippi River in Hickman County. The search for Goins started after his empty Jon boat was found on the Ohio River Sunday night.

A Benton man is in custody following a state police Marijuana Strike Force operation in Marshall County earlier this week.  Troopers observed 49-year-old Ronald Ledbetter attempting to remove marijuana plants from a rural plot and recovered 49 plants with a street value of 49 thousand dollars.  Ledbetter was arrested and charged with marijuana cultivation and possession, along with tampering with physical evidence.  Ledbetter is being held in the Marshall County Jail.   KSP Post 1 spokesman Trooper Jay Thomas reports an investigation is ongoing.

The man who allegedly killed Hickman Mayor Charles Murphy in January was found incompetent to stand trial. Police say 30 year-old Thomas Lattus came into the station and stated he had killed the mayor a little after 1 am the night of the murder. Lattus will be committed to Western State Hospital in Hopkinsville to be treated for up to 360 days or until doctors determine he is competent to be tried. Commonwealth Attorney Mike Stacy says he disagrees with the ruling, but he’s confident Lattus will still be prosecuted.

The Food and Drug Administration says salmonella found at a cantaloupe farm in southwestern Indiana matches the "DNA fingerprint" of the salmonella responsible for killing two Kentuckians and sickening 150 people in 21 states.