Meetings scheduled about Harding Place Extension

By ANDY HUMBLES ahumbles@tennessean.com 615-726-5939 – • September 25, 2008 A meeting concerning the Harding Place Extension road project will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Hickman Elementary School, 112 Stewarts Ferry Pike, in Donelson. A meeting will also be held at 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2 at Una Elementary School, 2018 Murfreesboro Road. Both meetings will the same information. A brief presentation will be followed by a question and answer period. Representatives of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Metro Public Works and Nashville Airport Authority are scheduled to be present.Call 741-4777 for information

Nashville area companies put hold on hirings

By WENDY LEE • Staff Writer • September 26, 2008 Stephen Kulinski of Gresham Smith and Partners in Nashville said he has seen a lot of qualified candidates looking for jobs at his engineering and design firm. The problem is, he isn't in a position to hire them. "We're slowing down hiring," said Kulinski, a senior vice president. "We're just being cautious and not hiring people we don't absolutely need." Many local companies said they aren't planning to hire until the end of this year, making job prospects tighter for the area's 45,650 unemployed workers, the latest head count by state officials taken last month. The unemployment rate in the Nashville metropolitan area stood at 5.7 percent in August, state officials said Thursday. That's a slight improvement from July's revised rate of 5.8 percent here, but sharply higher than the 4 percent unemployment rate of August 2007. The data were part of a county-by-county jobless report issued Thursday afternoon by the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development. "Bottom line is nobody has a magic bullet for the economy right now," said Soumen Ghosh, head of the economics and finance department at Tennessee State University. "As long as the economy is in a downturn, I don't think the unemployment situation will be changing. It may further worsen if the credit market is not leveled off." Nashville-based I.C. Thomasson Associates plans to hire only two or three engineers in the next three months, roughly half the number it added a year ago, said John Wimberly, the company's president. Kulinski said his firm is only hiring people to replace open positions or if it's a strategic hire. "We're not sure what's going on with the economy," he said. "Our clients aren't building buildings." Ghosh said sectors most affected by rising unemployment rates have been the service industry, which includes finance and banking jobs, as well as manufacturing. In Tennessee, Williamson County reported the state's lowest county unemployment rate at 4.7 percent, up from a rate of 4.6 percent in July and 4.2 percent a year ago, according to state unemployment data. Perry County had the state's highest county unemployment rate at 16.2 percent in August, up 7.2 percent from a year ago. Retail employee Bob Jenkins had planned to get married on Oct. 4, but now he has pushed back his wedding because he lost his job. Jenkins said he was told last month he was laid off as RiverGate Mall's marketing director. Jenkins, who said he understands the decision was caused by a weakening retail market, had worked 12 years for the mall's parent company, CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. CBL said it does not discuss personnel issues. "I'm 52 years old. It's going to be hard for me to find a job where I am making the same income because the types of jobs I'm experienced in … are limited in this market," Jenkins said.

Gun found in Antioch student's trunk

WKRN Channel 2 Posted: Sep 9, 2008 10:43 AM CDT Updated: Sep 9, 2008 01:19 PM CDT A 17-year-old senior at Antioch High School in Nashville was arrested Tuesday morning after a gun was found in the trunk of the car the student was driving. Police said the .45-caliber pistol was located during a random search by school security. While the gun was not loaded, a magazine containing seven bullets was also found in the vehicle. The teen told police he borrowed the car and did not know the gun was in the trunk. He was charged with carrying a gun on school property in juvenile court.

Parents encouraged to get DNA kits for their children Saturday

Free child safety event blends fun with advice Brentwood Journal news reports • September 3, 2008 BRENTWOOD — Parents can create free child identification kits for their children at the DNA Lifeprint Child Safety Event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Andrews Cadillac and Land Rover Nashville, 1 Cadillac Drive in Maryland Farms in partnership with United Way of Williamson County. A D.A.R.E. officer with the Brentwood Police Department will be available to answer parents' questions about child safety, the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation will be onsite to sign up children for the free book program, and children can tour a Brentwood Fire Department fire truck. The number of fingerprinting stations at this year's event will be doubled after hundreds of families lined up for hours to have their children fingerprinted last year. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recommends that parents keep current, easily accessible information about their children, such as fingerprints, digital photographs, DNA samples and medical records. "The big turnout at last year's child safety event showed us that parents are eager to have a child identification kit that would allow them to work quickly with law enforcement if their child were reported missing," said Nelson Andrews, general manager of Andrews Cadillac and Land Rover Nashville. The cost of the DNA Lifeprint kit (dna-lifeprint.com) is underwritten by the dealership at no cost to parents and includes: • A FBI-certified 10-digit Biometric Fingerprint Profile, which is the newest and most advanced technology for obtaining fingerprints. • A DNA Identification Kit that parents use at home to preserve a child's DNA sample, which can be distributed immediately to law enforcement agencies nationwide if a child is reported missing. • A high-resolution, full-color digital photograph of child. • A Child Safety Journal to record vital information that law enforcement officials need immediately after a child is reported missing, such as height, weight, eye and hair color, date of birth and unique physical attributes such as eyeglasses or braces.

Metro Police to set up office at Hickory Hollow Mall

As a way of increasing police presence in the Hickory Hollow area, the Metro Police Department is setting up an office inside Hickory Hollow Mall. Officers assigned to the Hickory Hollow area and flex team members will use the office to do paperwork. Officers also will have a kiosk set up at the mall for recruiting purposes.

Antioch freshmen return 'home,' school adds academies

By SUZANNE NORMAND BLACKWOOD sblackwood@tennessean.com 259-8268 • August 8, 2008 When classes resume this fall at Antioch High School, "we will feel whole again," said Principal Aimee Wyatt. Wyatt was referring to the return of Antioch freshmen, who had been meeting at J.F. Kennedy Middle School while the new Cane Ridge High School was under construction. With the opening of Cane Ridge High School on Monday, overcrowding at Antioch will be relieved, making room for the Antioch freshmen. "We're excited about them returning," said Wyatt, adding it's like a "homecoming." Wyatt said the freshmen would still have their own space, since one section of the school will house the Antioch Freshman Academy. But they also will have older students to serve as mentors. New Assistant Principal Debbie Booker will oversee the ninth-graders. Changes at Antioch this year include the addition of some Advanced Placement courses; an ACT prep course; and a freshman seminar course to help freshmen make the transition to high school. "We've also added career academies," Wyatt said. "This is the first year of implementation." Previous programs, such as engineering, business, marketing and hospitality, are being converted into career academies. A Web site design course has been added to the business program. Also, said Wyatt, "we've added an agricultural program, broadcasting and graphic communications." Other changes this year include an out-of-school suspension center; the addition of a family community liaison; five new computer labs; and an A+ Lab, "which is where students can go to get credit retrieval if they have failed a class," Wyatt said. The lab is also for those who are simply struggling with course work, she added. Although the school had improved scores in every area, it did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress in algebra under the federal No Child Left Behind benchmarks. At the out-of-school suspension center, students can continue to go to classes while receiving instruction on how to correct their behavior, Wyatt said.