AP/WMOT

WASHINGTON (AP/WMOT) — Senate Democrats are expected to introduce a bill this week that will keep interest rates from rising for millions of students with federal loans. Republicans are balking at a tax boost Democrats want to use to pay for it.

Senator Harry Reid unveiled the nearly $6 billion proposal yesterday after it was endorsed by both President Barack Obama and GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — A lawsuit that seeks to void the approval for a Rutherford County mosque will go to trial next week in Murfreesboro.

On Thursday, Chancellor Robert Corlew denied a defense motion to dismiss claims of inadequate public notice for the meeting where the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was approved.

Even though the trial will now go forward, mosque spokesman Saleh Sbenaty says his congregation feels confident about the eventual outcome.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Good news on the jobs front as Tennessee’s March unemployment rate dipped just below 8 percent.

Jeff Hentschell with the Tennessee Department of Labor says the rate fell a tenth of a point to 7.9 percent. It was the eighth straight month of decline, and the rate is at its lowest level since November 2008.

Hentschell says Tennessee’s unemployment numbers are getting a boost from two surprising sectors.

WASHINGTON (AP/WMOT) — The White House says former Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

President Barack Obama says Summitt is an "inspiration" as the coach who has won more games than anyone else in NCAA college basketball history and for her willingness to "speak so openly and courageously about her battle with Alzheimer's."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — The Tennessee House has passed Gov. Bill Haslam's bill to require mandatory jail time for people with repeat domestic violence convictions.

The chamber voted 98-1 to approve the bill. The lone vote against the measure came from Democratic Rep. Eddie Bass of Prospect.  Bass says the bill shouldn’t be passed until the state agrees to pay local governments the entire increased costs of putting more abusers in jail.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT)  --  Gasoline prices appear to have stabilized, at least temporarily.

According to AAA’s fuel gauge report, the national average being paid for regular gasoline stood at $3.90 cents Monday, down two cents from last Monday.

Here in Tennessee the average price for regular stands at $3.77, also down two cents in the past week.

The average price at the pump here in the mid-state stands at $3.78, down a penny in the past seven days.

WASHINGTON (AP/WMOT) — Tennessee is joining a major lawsuit filed against Apple Inc. and several major book publishers.

The Justice Department and several states allege that Apple and the publishers conspired to raise the price of electronic books that prosecutors say cost consumers millions of dollars.

The government has already settled with three of the publishers, but will proceed with its lawsuit against Apple and Holtzbrinck Publishers, doing business as Macmillan, and The Penguin Publishing Co. Ltd., doing business as Penguin Group.

NEW YORK (AP/WMOT) — Tennessee is tracking with a national trend toward fewer adolescent pregnancies.

New federal statistics out today show that nearly every state in the union saw a decline in teen births from 2007 to 2010.

The biggest drop in Arizona at 29 percent, while Mississippi had the highest rate. There were 55 teen births in Mississippi per 1,000 girls, though the rate there is also declining. 

SPRING CITY, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority cost estimate to complete Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn.,  has been revised upward to $4.5 billion.

The earlier estimate in 2007 had been $2.5 billion.

In a statement released Thursday, the federal utility blamed the increase on poor previous estimates and that reviews to support the initial estimate were not completed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn (AP/WMOT) — Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey is chiding the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce for focusing on a bill to guarantee workers the right to store firearms in vehicles parked on company lots.

The Blountville Republican acknowledged Wednesday that the guns-in-parking-lots measure involves prickly property rights issues, but said he expects to reach a compromise on the matter.

In a recent interview with WMOT, Chief Policy Officer Mark Hill was adamant about the chamber’s opposition.