Mike Osborne

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Three Tennessee teens have received $1000 awards from the Freedom From Religion Foundation for their activism on local issues of church and state separation.

Earlier this year Lenoir City student Krystal Myers received a $1000 activist award for writing a column on gay issues for her school newspaper. The article was banned prior to publication.

Jeff Shott of Spring Hill received $1,000 after he dressed up as Jesus Christ to protest church-state issues at his school.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  The U.S. Department of Commerce says Tennessee is exporting goods at a record pace this year.

Tennessee had exports totaling $15.7 billion in the first half of the 2012, up $1.1 billion or about eight percent over the same period in 2011.

Dr. Steven Livingston is an economist with the Business and Economics Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University. He says Tennessee exports began rebounding in 2011, led by the transportation sector.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Several Middle Tennessee school systems will be watched more closely by the state following the release of this year’s educational assessment scores.

Metro Nashville is the only mid-state system with schools that scored in the bottom five percent of all assessments. As a result, six metro schools are subject to state intervention.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  A Tennessee based organization has sent more than $2 million worth of care packages to American troops deployed overseas.

Memphis based Operation Troop Aid is the brainchild of 21-year Navy veteran Mark Wood. Wood was serving on the U.S.S. Enterprise on 9-11. He was inspired to do something more for service men and women following a visit to the ship by country music great Garth Brooks.

Woods says the care packages Troop Aid sends include a variety of items.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  A documentary that focuses on immigrant and refugee issues in the Mid-State will be shown Wednesday night on the campus of Middle Tennessee State.

The film “Welcome to Shelbyville” explores how Shelbyville residents reacted to an influx of Hispanic and Somali immigrants beginning in 2008.

The Tennessee Refugee and Immigrant Rights Coalition will host the screening beginning at 7 p.m. at the College of Education. Eben Cathey says the screening will be followed by a conversation.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  A new study released this week suggests voter fraud is almost non-existent in Tennessee and across the country.

The study was conducted at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and funded by the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation.

The study shows that only 14 cases of voter fraud have been alleged in Tennessee in the past 12 years. To date, only five cases have led to convictions.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro says it plans to celebrate the end of Ramadan this Sunday in its new mosque.

The Mid-State congregation worshiped in their new facility for the first time this past Friday. Mosque Board Member Saleh Sbenaty says it was an incredibly exciting day.

“It just cannot be described. I mean you should have seen the kids and how excited they were. The elders who were crying as they entered the mosque.”

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) — Murfreesboro Police are asking for the public's help locating a murder suspect.

The MPD is searching for a man suspected of fatally shooting one person and wounding another before sunrise Sunday morning.

Police say 21-year-old Domynik Green is wanted for the shooting death of of Terrelle Shannon, also 21. A second person was wounded in the shooting, but received only minor injuries.

Green is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and with being a felon in possession of a weapon.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro hopes to get permission to occupy its new worship center Tuesday morning. Spokesman Saley Sbenaty says the mosque is waiting for a final inspection by the State Fire Marshal’s office.

“There is one thing that we’re going to check tomorrow, which is the final fire pump and fire alarm inspection. Hopefully tomorrow around ten o’clock everything will be checked out and we’ll have the certificate of occupancy.”

No one's entirely sure where the Southern treat called the Goo Goo Cluster got its name.

The iconic candy from Nashville, Tenn., celebrates its 100th birthday this year. The confection of marshmallow, peanuts and caramel wrapped in milk chocolate may owe its longevity in part to another Nashville icon: the Grand Ole Opry.

Goo Goo Cluster sponsored the venue's radio broadcasts from 1966 until 2006. In one popular advertisement, stage performers crooned, "Go get a Goo Goo ... it's gooooooood!"