Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Up to 150 Memphis City Schools teachers could be fired over performance issues.

The Commercial Appeal is reporting that teachers are starting to get notices of termination. According to their contract, teachers must be notified by June 15 if they’re not being retained for the following academic year.

GUNTOWN, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi authorities say a fugitive accused of a double-slaying and kidnapping has been killed but the two girls he fled with are safe.

Guntown Police Chief Michael Hall says 35-year-old Adam Mayes was killed Thursday evening. He says 12-year-old Alexandria Bain and 8-year-old Kyliyah Bain are safe.

Hall says Mayes died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The chief says a SWAT team located Mayes and when they moved in to apprehend him, he shot himself.

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority is reporting that reservoir levels in East Tennessee are already at mid-summer highs.

Officials on Thursday told the Bristol Herald Courier (http://bit.ly/Kf2PqQ ) that South Holston, Watauga and Boone lakes are at levels that are ready for recreational use this summer. That usually doesn't happen until June.

West Tennessee is a different story.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than $38 million in federal money is headed to dozens of Tennessee schools targeted to boost student performance.

A report in The Commercial Appeal of Memphis (http://bit.ly/IIj0cq) said the schools will use the money to make systemic changes, such as extending the school day and adding technology.

Gov. Bill Haslam announced the grant Thursday at a Nashville middle school where he also signed into law a new school accountability system required under Tennessee's waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn (AP) — Murfreesboro Police Officer Kristy Inglish has testified that the former Middle Tennessee State University student accused of killing her roommate during a fight never complained of any injury.

Shanterrica Madden has claimed self-defense, saying she was being beaten up when she stabbed Tina Stewart with a knife that she found on Stewart's bed.

The Daily News Journal reports Inglish drove Madden to the police station on the night of the stabbing, March 2, 2011.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Attorneys in the murder trial of a former Middle Tennessee State University freshman who stabbed to death her roommate presented very different pictures of the problems that lead to a deadly fight last year.

Lawyers gave those differing views during opening statements Wednesday in the murder trial of Shanterrica Madden. The 19-year-old is accused of stabbing her former roommate to death, MTSU basketball player Tina Stewart.

Madden, who is charged with first-degree murder, is claiming that she acted in self-defense.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — The trial of a Middle Tennessee State University freshman who stabbed her roommate to death last year is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

Nineteen-year-old Shanterrica Madden has said she acted in self-defense when she killed Tina Stewart during a fight in their off-campus apartment on March 2, 2011.

Madden has said the fight happened when Stewart called police on her after she brought home a friend who was smoking marijuana.

Madden is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 21-year-old Lady Raiders junior guard.

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) — A former West Tennessee sheriff has been arrested after a shooting outside a Jackson bar.

The Jackson Sun reports that 52-year-old Ricky Lunsford of Jackson was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping in an attack against his estranged wife early Sunday.

Calls to police indicated a man pulled a woman at gunpoint from the Tap Bar and Grill and that shots had been fired.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University says an alumnus has donated $10 million to the school's Centennial fundraising campaign — the largest gift from an alumnus in the school's history.

The announcement of the gift by Nashville entrepreneur Woody Miller is part of MTSU's public launch of its $80 million Centennial Campaign. The campaign has been in a "quiet phase" since before the University observed its 100th anniversary last Sept. 11. Miller's gift has helped boost the campaign's early commitments to nearly $54 million.

Major League Baseball expanded its playoff format to 10 teams Friday, adding a second wild-card in each league.

The decision establishes a new one-game, wild-card round in each league between the teams with the best records who are not division winners, meaning a third-place team could win the World Series.

This is the only change in baseball's playoff structure since the 1995 season, when wild-card teams were first added.