State briefs
3rd person charged in killings of father, son in rural town
JACKSON, Tenn. - A third person has been arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of a father and his 13year-old son in a rural West Tennessee town last week.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that 21-yearold Andrian Monique Bullock was charged with two counts of first-degree murder Wednesday following the deaths of 38-year-old Joe Robertson and his son Javarrie Robertson.
Their bodies were found Friday morning in a home in Toone, located about 65 miles east of Memphis. Authorities say they had gunshot wounds.
Earlier Wednesday, investigators had arrested two male cousins in connection with the slayings: 25-year-old Damein K. Hamer and 29-year-old Jeremy Hamer.
UT pays search firm $75K in search for Knoxville chancellor
KNOXVILLE - The University of Tennessee is paying $75,000 plus expenses to a search firm to help in its hunt for a new Knoxville campus chancellor.
Besides the search fee being paid to Parker Executive Search, the university agreed to pay expenses up to $7,500 — in addition to the cost of advertising the job and travel expenses for candidates and search committee members.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the UT system has a five-year contract with the firm, not to exceed $3 million, which runs through April 2019.
Woman pleads guilty to killing couple while racing
JACKSON, Tenn. - A 19-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide after she was accused of killing a Jackson couple while drag racing on her way to meet friends at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.
News outlets reported Markarious Searcy entered her plea Tuesday, the day her trial was to begin. She had rejected a plea agreement two weeks ago.
Court documents say Searcy and Jordan Bailey were weaving through traffic as they raced down Vann Drive on July 31, 2015. Searcy collided with Thomas “Jay” Hogan and Julie Hogan as they were turning, killing both.
Bailey’s trial date has not yet been set.
Bridge work to close roads in Greenbrier section of Smokies
GATLINBURG, Tenn. - Roads through the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be closed for bridge repairs next month.
The project by the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration is part of a larger effort to make preventive repairs to bridges throughout the park.
Officials with the country’s most-visited national park said Ramsey Prong Road will be closed from the turnoff to the trailhead Nov. 1-14 to allow for work on two bridges. — Associated Press