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As a Middle Tennessee State University alternative fuels researcher, Dr. Cliff Ricketts believes he stands on the edge of history.

On Saturday, March 9, Ricketts will begin a five-day, 2,600-mile journey to drive coast-to-coast using no gas.

How can he do it? After driving across the country in March 2012 and needing only 2.15 gallons of gas, Ricketts has the solution: His fuel sources for the 1994 Toyota Tercel and 2005 Toyota Prius will be hydrogen from water separated by sun (solar), all produced on the MTSU campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Wayne White is proud to dance a jig while wearing a giant puppet head of Lyndon B. Johnson. He’s proud to say that MTSU is where his art and his life began to bloom. 

And despite the title of the irreverent documentary that's made him a current media darling and an "overnight sensation" in an already 30-plus-year career, Wayne White does not find beauty "embarrassing." 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's unemployment rate for January was 7.7 percent, a slight increase from the previous month.

Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Karla Davis said Thursday that there are more than 2.8 million people employed in Tennessee.

That's the highest employment total for the state since December 2007.

The unemployment rate for last December was 7.6 percent. The national unemployment rate for January was 7.9 percent.

State figures show that nonfarm employment increased by 7,600 jobs between December and January.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The state Labor and Workforce Development Department says more than 30,000 Tennesseans receiving federal unemployment benefits will see their payments reduced because of automatic federal budget cuts that took effect this month.

The department said in a news release issued Thursday that people will start being notified by mail detailing the reduction in their benefits no later than March 22.