AP/WMOT

WASHINGTON (AP/WMOT) — The Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association says the state’s school systems will feel little impact from new federal guidelines requiring equal access for students with disabilities.

The Education Department announced Friday that students with disabilities must be given a chance to play on a traditional sports team or have their own leagues.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Memphis City Council member says he wants to honor a local civil rights champion by adding her name to a park currently named for the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

The park is the gravesite of Confederate cavalry officer Nathan Bedford Forrest and features an equestrian statue of him. A city official recently had a granite marker bearing the park name removed, saying it had not been approved by the city.

A local Sons of the Confederacy chapter paid for and placed the marker and say they did have city approval.

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court is weighing a southern Kentucky evangelical preacher's request to overturn the University of Tennessee's requirement that speakers on campus have sponsorship and get the approval of school administrators.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (AP) — About 200 students from Cleveland, Tennessee’s Lee University left by bus for Washington D.C. Friday morning to participate in Monday’s presidential inaugural.

A choir from Lee University will sing for the inaugural crowd prior to President Obama being sworn in for his second term.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — The number of unemployed Tennesseans is at its lowest point since the economic meltdown of 2008.

The state Department of Labor announced Thursday that the unemployment figure for December was 235,700.  The State says that's the lowest number since October 2008.

More than 2.8 million people are currently employed in Tennessee, the highest total since March 2008.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Friday is the deadline for Tennesseans to file a claim under the national mortgage settlement.

Approximately 37,000 Tennessee borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and 2011 may be eligible to receive a payment under the settlement.

Jeff Hill is a lawyer in the Tennessee Attorney General’s office.

“People who have not returned forms that they received, or think they should be a part of the settlement need to contact the settlement administrator."

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — President Obama's proposals for curbing gun violence have drawn strong reaction here in Tennessee.

The president made his sweeping proposals Wednesday, a month after the Connecticut school shooting that left six teachers and 20 students dead. The president called for universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Hemlock Semiconductor is laying off three-fourths of employees at its Clarksville plant shortly before production was set to begin there.

The $1.2 billion plant near the Kentucky border was scheduled to start production of polycrystalline silicon this year. The compound is used in solar energy panels.

Officials of the Michigan-based company met with reporters at the Leaf-Chronicle newspaper Tuesday and said the company is laying off 300 of its 400 employees in Clarksville.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Bad weather over the weekend, and more bad weather expected in the next 24 hours continues to dominate the news in Middle Tennessee.

With the ground already saturated, weekend storms and heavy downpours caused wide-spread problems. There were flood warnings for several Middle Tennessee counties, as well as some tornado warnings.

Humphries County officials evacuated residents of a mobile home park in Waverly Sunday as water rose there. Rutherford County also reported problems Sunday. Tim Hooker is with the County’s Emergency Management Agency.

NEW YORK (AP/WMOT) — Health officials say the flu is more widespread across the nation this year, and Tennessee is one of the states hardest hit.

Flu season started early this winter, and includes a strain that tends to make people sicker. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the flu is widespread in 47 states.

Dr. Kelly Moore  is with the Tennessee Department of Health.