Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Two administrators at the University of Tennessee say they can’t support health insurance benefits for same-sex partners of UT employees.

According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, a letter from university Chancellor Jimmy Cheek and Agriculture Chancellor Larry Arrington was read to a UT Faculty Senate meeting yesterday. In it, Cheek and Arrington stated that offering benefits to unmarried gay partners would violate state statute.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's unemployment rate rose slightly in August to 8.5 percent, the fourth consecutive month there’s been an increase.

Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Karla Davis says that the increase is one-tenth of a percentage point increase over the previous month.

Tennessee’s jobless rate has now climbed four-tenths above the national  unemployment rate of 8.1 percent.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — State Rep. Judd Matheny tells The Associated Press he is no longer considering a challenge to fellow Republican Beth Harwell for House speaker next year.

Matheny announced last month that he was looking into a bid for the top post in the 99-member House because he felt marginalized by other Republican leaders.

Now Matheny says he’ll seek another term in his current position as House speaker pro tempore instead. Besides speaker, it is the only post elected by the entire lower chamber of the General Assembly.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — The head of a privately-run online school in Union County says it has plans to improve student performance after the state's education commissioner called the school's poor test scores last year "unacceptable."

The Tennessee Virtual Academy is operated by K12 Inc., the nation's largest publicly-traded online education company, under contract with the Union County Public Schools system.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A group of Nashville-area World War II veterans is getting a free flight to Washington, D.C., to visit the World War II memorial built in their honor.

The local veterans and their guardians will fly out of Nashville International Airport on Wednesday morning.

In Washington, buses will transport them to the World War II Memorial as well as other monuments, including the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the Air Force Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The group will fly back to Nashville on Wednesday night.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — The cousin of an Alabama man killed during a drive-by shooting during a cookout in Murfreesboro says he was trying to save a child.

Deborah Tuma told The Daily News Journal that 51-year-old Mickey Simmons of Demopolis, Ala., got shot in the neck early Monday morning as about 30 people gathered at her house for a post-wedding cookout.

Tuma says her duplex home and a few cars were also shot as the guests were preparing to leave.

About 30 people including 15 children were at the event following a wedding in Nashville.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A federal trial that will decide the constitutionality of a vote that approved the creation of six municipal school districts in Tennessee's largest school district has begun.

A lawsuit seeks to invalidate an Aug. 2 vote by suburban residents who approved referendums to form separate public school districts in six Shelby County municipalities.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say a man suspected of fatally stabbing a woman, her teen-aged son and her mother in their Nashville suburban home apparently lived nearby.

Police spokesman Don Aaron told The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/N7hJkE ) that the bodies of 48-year-old Michelle Pinkowski; her son, 14-year-old Jonathan Culpepper, and her mother, Marylea Jordan, were discovered around 3 a.m. Sunday at the Bellevue home.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Department of Energy's inspector general blamed significant security failures for an unprecedented intrusion into the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, including broken detection equipment, a poor response from guards and insufficient federal oversight of private contractors running the complex.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The fall football season got underway Thursday night here in Middle Tennessee, with several mid-state teams starting the season at home.

The New Orleans Saints took no chances in their final pre-season game, resting all starters in a 10-6 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Marcus Lattimore ran for two touchdowns and Connor Shaw ran for 92 yards while playing the second half with an injured shoulder as No. 9 South Carolina rallied for a 17-13 victory against Vanderbilt. Lattimore scored the go-ahead TD on a 1-yard run with 11:25 to go.