A look at the largest online school company’s operations raises serious questions about whether its schools — and full-time online schools in general — are a good deal for children or taxpayers.

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Online Schools Score Better on Wall Street Than in Classrooms

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, will resign from his leadership post in January. The Tennessee Republican, who has served as Republican Conference Chairman for nearly four years, announced his plans in a letter to colleagues Tuesday morning. He noted that he plans to run for re-election in 2014. Read full article > >

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Lamar Alexander to resign from Senate leadership in January

The Tennessee Valley Authority has approved construction on a nuclear plant in northeastern Alabama — the first U.S. agency to do so since the Japan nuclear disaster this year.

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Alabama nuclear plant gets go-ahead

The Tennessee Valley Authority says a half-built nuclear plant shelved 23 years ago may be its best bet for new energy.

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Nuclear Plant, Left for Dead, Shows a Pulse

Trying to make his case for overhauling the nation’s education laws, President Obama is highlighting progress at a Tennessee high school as evidence that the proper incentives can help all schools succeed. Obama focused his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday on Memphis’s Booker T. Washington High School, where the president delivered the commencement address Monday. Graduation rates at the school, which is in a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood, have risen impressively in just three years. The school won a national competition to secure the president as its speaker by demonstrating how it overcame challenges through innovations such as separate freshman academies for boys and girls. Read full article > >

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In weekly address, Obama pushes for overhaul of nation’s education laws

WASHINGTON — Trying to make his case for overhauling the nation’s education laws, President Barack Obama is highlighting progress at a Tennessee high school as evidence that the proper incentives can help all schools succeed. Obama focused his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday on Memphis’ Booker T. Washington High School, where the president delivered the commencement address Monday. Graduation rates at the school, which is in a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood, have risen impressively in just three years. The school won a national competition to secure him as its speaker by demonstrating how it overcame challenges through innovations such as separate freshman academies for boys and girls. Read full article > >

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Obama promotes education overhaul, says all schools can improve with the proper incentives

The worst of the flooding is over in Memphis, Tennessee, which suffered at least $320 million in damage after the Mississippi River came within just inches of its all-time high. The damage will be even worse downriver, as the river nears its crest….

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Memphis Suffers $320M in Flood Damage

Memphis, Tennessee, residents brace for potentially historic floods Tuesday when the Mississippi River is expected to crest at a near-record level.

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Residents ‘praying every day’ as flooding threatens TN, LA

Levee systems in Memphis, Tennessee, are holding up so far as near-record levels along the Mississippi River threaten the city.

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Memphis braces for worst

The Mississippi River is expected to crest Tuesday, a day earlier than previously expected, emergency officials said, as Tennessee residents evacuated from low-lying areas to avoid the swollen waters.

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River near record at Memphis

As the Mississippi River gushes downstream with no clear boundaries, flooding continues to deluge parts of Tennessee as residents farther south brace for what will come.

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South faces more flooding

ATLANTA — Someone stole a Georgia woman’s car — with her grandmother’s ashes inside — shortly after a memorial service for the deceased woman. Ebony Simpson had just returned to Georgia from her grandmother’s memorial service in Tennessee last week. About 24 hours after, the car was gone with the urn containing the ashes in the trunk, she told police in the Atlanta suburb of Norcross. “I was going to put them on a mantel until I could decide what to do,” she recalled Tuesday. “I was going to keep them until I felt ready to let them go.” Read full article > >

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Ashes of woman’s grandmother stolen in car theft

Residents of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee are bracing for record flooding along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

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Watching the rivers rise

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster for parts of Tennessee because of the killer tornadoes and flooding.

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President Obama signs Tennessee disaster declaration; residents eligible for federal help

Investigators and community members in Tennessee continued their hunt Sunday for a 20-year-old nursing student, offering a fresh appeal for tips on the man they believe forcibly took her from her home last week.

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Tips sought in missing student case