Eagle viewing excursions offered at Land Between the Lakes

GOLDEN POND, Ky. (AP) — Excursions to view bald eagles at Land Between the Lakes are being held in January and February.

The Woodlands Nature Station will host viewing cruises and van tours that give visitors a chance to see the birds in their natural habitat, according to a statement from the Friends of Land Between the Lakes.

Cruises will depart from Kenlake State Resort Park marina on Jan. 14-16 and van tours will be offered on weekends from January through mid-February. Both excursions will include naturalists from the Woodlands Nature Station, who will help guests spot eagles and other wildlife such as turkeys and herons.

Biologists counted nearly 140 bald eagles wintering in the Land Between the Lakes area in 2018, naturalist John Pollpeter said. The area’s 300 miles of undeveloped, forested shoreline provides eagles with an ideal habitat, Pollpeter said.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area includes more than 170,000 acres of forests, wetlands and open lands in western Kentucky and Tennessee.

Southern law firms combine to create coast-to-coast offices

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two major Southern law firms are merging into one firm that will have offices on both coasts and more than 550 attorneys.

The attorneys leading both Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and South Carolina-based Nexsen Pruet said their similar philosophies and a trend toward companies wanting to deal with bigger law firms led them to combine.

“More and more clients are asking for fewer law firms in their roster,” Nexsen Pruet Chairman Leighton Lord told The Associated Press.

Lord will be the President and Chief Strategy Officer for the new Maynard Nexsen firm. Jeff Grantham, who is managing shareholder of Maynard Cooper & Gale, will serve as the new firm’s CEO, the combined company announced Thursday.

“The ability to have a bigger bench and a bigger team allows you to be able to handle bigger matters,” Grantham said.

Grantham and Lord met while at law school at Vanderbilt University and each said they admired the other’s law firm from afar. Several years ago, they started meeting to discuss their businesses and the merger talk grew from there.

Each firm had several offices in fast growing regions. Maynard Cooper & Gale handled financial services litigation and newer internet services laws in fast growing areas including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas and California.

Nexsen Pruet handled many construction, labor, legislative and international business cases from its base along the southern East Coast.

The new firm will have about 550 attorneys and 23 offices in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Woman killed in Greene vehicle fire identified

The identity of a woman who died in a vehicle fire in Greeneville Dec. 20 has been released.

Sandra Kay Peterson, 56, of Greeneville was killed in the fire.

At 8:02 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 20, Greene County 911 received a call reporting a fire at Eastside Baptist Church, located on Serral Drive. Both the Greeneville Fire Department and Greeneville Police Department responded. Upon arrival, a vehicle in the church’s back parking lot was fully involved in fire. When the fire was extinguished, Peterson’s body was found inside the vehicle.

The cause of the fire and circumstances surrounding the death remain under investigation by GFD and GPD. Peterson’s body was taken to the William L. Jenkins Forensic Center at ETSU in Johnson City for an autopsy.

Beshear chosen to co-chair Appalachian Regional Commission

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has been chosen to serve as the 2023 states’ co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

In the role, Beshear will work with federal co-chair Gayle Manchin and other governors to boost economic growth across 423 counties in 13 states, the Appalachian Regional Commission said Wednesday in a media release. In addition to facilitating investments, the states’ co-chair also hosts the commission’s annual conference.

The ARC said it invested nearly $240 million in the region last year, which attracted nearly $1.6 billion in private investments. The projects funded will create or retain more than 22,000 jobs and provide training for new opportunities in emerging sectors.

“I am honored to have been chosen by governors of both parties to co-chair the Appalachian Regional Commission,” Beshear said. “ARC investments are building better lives for current and future generations here in Kentucky and across the ARC region.”

Manchin, the wife of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, said she welcomes Beshear and looks forward to collaborating with him and other governors “as we advance ARC’s mission to bring economic parity and transformational opportunities to the region’s 26 million people.”

New Biden-picked majority sworn in for federal utility

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A new board majority appointed by President Joe Biden to oversee the nation’s largest public utility has officially been sworn into office.

The Tennessee Valley Authority says the six Biden nominees took the oath of office Wednesday from a federal magistrate judge in Knoxville.

The new board members at the federal utility are Beth Geer of Brentwood, Tennessee; Bobby Klein of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Michelle Moore of Midlothian, Virginia; Bill Renick of Ashland, Mississippi; Joe Ritch of Huntsville, Alabama; and Wade White of Eddyville, Kentucky.

The U.S. Senate confirmed them last month. Some had been awaiting confirmation since spring 2021.

The new members join President Donald Trump’s three remaining appointees to fill out the nine-member board.

The next quarterly meeting of the board will take place in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on Feb. 16.

The utility is reviewing power generation failures that led to its decision to resort to rolling blackouts on Dec. 23 and 24.

Grainger County Authorities looking into possible arson fires

A home and three barns that caught fire at about the same time Thursday in Grainger County are suspected cases of arson, according to authorities.

The fires caused damage to the structures and some farm equipment but no people or animals were injured.

A reward of $5,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.

The fires remain under investigation.