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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. --  Federal officials revised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading downward today for the third quarter. Growth wasn’t as strong as originally thought.

The official GDP for the third quarter is now 2 percent, down by a half-percent from the earlier estimate.

The Middle Tennessee State Business and Economic Research Center has just released its analysis of Tennessee’s third-quarter economic activity.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  --  Astro Cantus is an I-phone app that gives voice to the stars.

The musical app is the brainchild of Rocky Alvey, Director of Vanderbilt’s Dyer Observatory in Nashville.

The application uses sky charts to assign musical values to the stars that are passing overhead at any given moment. At present, musical values are assigned according to the star’s brightness, but Alvey says most any astronomical data could be used.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  --  A former Wilson County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant is in jail today facing a long list of charges.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation served 39 year-old Mount Juliet resident John Patrick Edwards with multiple charges yesterday after he was indicted by both the Davidson County and Wilson County grand juries.

The charges stem from offenses going back at least five years that officials say Edwards committed while serving as a police officer.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.  --  You may have seen a Tennessean story last week about the Williamson County School System closing some classrooms to student teachers.

Tennessee adopted a new teacher evaluation system this year, and apparently teachers in Williamson County are worried how the students might impact their scores.

A former Tennessee Commissioner of Education is weighing in on that issue today.

SPRING HILL, Tenn. (AP) — General Motors has announced it will begin building its Chevrolet Equinox at its idled Spring Hill plant next year and plans to begin making a midsize vehicle there in the future.

Monday's announcement of the $61 million investment will create nearly 700 jobs at the plant.

GM says the subsequent $183 million investment into the unspecified midsize vehicle will create another 1,200 jobs.

Production on the Equinox is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2012.

The timing on the second vehicle was not announced.

NASHVILLE, TENN.  --  If you think you’re seeing more cops on the road recently it’s not your imagination. Police are out in force for Thanksgiving.

Tennessee is one of two states partnering with the federal government for what they’re calling the More Cops, More Stops experiment. The program is designed to reduce drunk driving, boost seat belt use, and crack down on speeding and distracted driving, particularly among young adult males.

Kendall Poole, Director of the Governor’s State Highway Safety Office, says the campaign is directed at one group in particular.