Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — About 7 percent of Tennesseans previously receiving jobless benefits have been dropped for failing to verify that they were searching for work.

That's according to an audit by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported in the Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/VkcRbq).

New rules that went into effect on Sept. 1 require Tennesseans receiving jobless benefits to document at least three job searches a week.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Austin Peay State University is leading Tennessee's four-year institutions in increasing student retention and graduation rates.

In recognition of its success, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission has recommended the school receive a 13 percent funding increase for the 2013-14 school year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pregnant women considering inducing labor to have a New Year's Day baby may want to reconsider.

The Tennessee Department of Health warns that inducing labor to make the delivery date arrive more quickly for special days, such as holidays or birthdays, can cause birth defects.

Dr. Michael Warren is head of the department's maternal and child health. He says babies born earlier are at risk for respiratory distress, jaundice, hypoglycemia and other conditions. He says 39 weeks of gestation is the recommended time for most women.

MADISONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Teachers of four Madisonville children who lost their parents in a collision with a drunk driver are heading to Ohio to take toys and cards to the children.

The accident happened as the family was going to see relatives for Christmas. A driver headed the wrong way on I-75 in Ohio hit their van head-on, killing Scott and Michele Barhorst.

The four children — Tori, Hailee, Logan, and Tyler — survived and are recovering in an Ohio hospital. The children are aged 8 to 18.

NEWBERN, Tenn. (AP) — Five children got an early Christmas surprise when they unwrapped a large present to find their father, a soldier on leave from service in Afghanistan.

The State Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/Tlwk09) U.S. Army Sgt. Raymond Warden hadn't seen his children since his deployment in April.

The Newbern soldier said it was his family's idea to surprise the children, ages 2 through 6, at Christmas.

The children went to the Dyer County Rescue Squad to meet Santa. That's when they got the special package.

A sample of deaths by gunfire this year of children age 12 and under based on an Associated Press review of media reports:

Jan. 23 — Jaymee M. Steward, 7, is accidentally shot in the head while he and his brothers, ages 4 and 13, play in a bedroom of the family home in Morristown, Tenn., with a .22-caliber gun they mistake for a toy. Jaymee dies three days later.

Feb. 20 — Delric Miller, 9 months, is struck by gunfire when an attacker sprays the Detroit home he is in with an AK-47. Authorities say the gunfire is gang-related.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country music legend Charlie Daniels will serve as the honorary chair for the 2012 Tennessee Military Ball to be held in Nashville this week.The annual event set for Thursday at Loews Vanderbilt Plaza is hosted by Nashville's All Academy & ROTC Parents Club.

It recognizes and honors cadets and midshipmen who are attending the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, or any other military college, as well as those students from Tennessee that are enrolled in an ROTC program.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tweety Knight scored a go-ahead layup with 1:08 left to lift Middle Tennessee State to a 56-52 victory over Vanderbilt on Friday night.

Bruce Massey scored 17 points to lead the Blue Raiders (9-3), who ended the game on a 16-3 run to get their first win against Vanderbilt since 1995.

After Knight's layup, Kerry Hammonds plucked a steal from Kedren Johnson and finished with a layup for a three-point cushion. Johnson missed a 3-pointer and Raymond Cintron's free throws with 7.5 seconds left sealed the win.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis that has killed 39 people, including 14 in Tennessee, was voted the state's top story of 2012.

Patients contracted the rare disease when they were given contaminated steroid injections. The outbreak was first identified by doctors in Tennessee and could have been much worse if they had not acted quickly.

Famed University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt's retirement was the second biggest story of the year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — It was likely a record weekend for gun sales in Tennessee.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said in an email that the agency performed 9,772 background checks over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That's 500 more than the second biggest weekend on record — Black Friday and the two days that followed in November.

Background checks do not indicate how many guns were actually sold because buyers can purchase more than one gun.