WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the following document from the Economics Daily: Louisiana had the highest job openings rate in November 2022, at 8.5 percent, while New York had the lowest, at 4.5 percent. Twenty-seven states had a openings rate greater than the national rate of 6.4 percent. In November 2022, separations rates were above 5.0 percent in five states: Alaska (7.1 percent), Wyoming (5.6 percent), Montana (5.3 percent), and Lo  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 -- The U.S. Department of Labor issued the following news brief: * * * Date of action: Jan. 17, 2023 Type of action: U.S. Department of Labor complaint Names of defendants: Pigeon Forge Hospitality LLC; Nimesh Patel Allegations: The department alleges that Pigeon Forge Hospitality LLC and Nimesh Patel - operator of a Comfort Inn & Suites hotel in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - willfully and repeatedly failed to pay employees at least the federal minimum wage rate and did not   more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Jan. 26 -- The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the following news release: * * * Sanitation, electrical, improper use of forklifts among violations found * * * The U.S. Department of Labor has found the U.S. Postal Service exposed workers to struck-by, electrical, crushing, fire and other health hazards at facilities in Columbia, Knoxville and Nashville. As a result of three inspections, the department's Occupational Safety  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 -- The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy issued the following news release on Jan. 26, 2023: The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its selection of 10 states and the District of Columbia to participate as "core states" in its National Expansion of Employment Opportunities Network initiative. The selection will help connect government agencies in California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri,  more

ARNOLD AFB, Tennessee, Jan. 28 (TNSper) -- The U.S. Air Force Arnold Air Force Base issued the following news: By Bradley Hicks, AEDC Public Affairs From an early age, Jason Coker's eyes were on the stars. "I always wanted to have an opportunity to work at NASA," he said. "The mission of space and space exploration is something that I've always enjoyed since I was a kid. Astronomy and space exploration have always been a fascination." The self-described "armchair astronomer" and former Arnol  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 -- The Federal Communications Commission Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issued the following public notice (Docket No. 02-378): The Region 39 (Tennessee) 700 MHz and 800 MHz Regional Planning Committees (RPCs) will hold two planning meetings on Thursday, March 9, 2023. Beginning at 9:00 a.m., the RPCs will convene at the Williamson County Public Safety Communications Building, 304 Beasley Dr., Franklin, TN 37064. These meetings will be held virtually, as well as   more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release: The Justice Department, along with the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia, filed a civil antitrust suit against Google for monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the complaint alleg  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 27 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory zoomed in on molecules designed to recover critical materials via liquid-liquid extraction, or LLE -- a method used by industry to separate chemically similar elements. The team previously designed a novel ligand, or collector molecule, to grab select lanthanides from rare-earth mineral solutions. Lanthanides are rare-ea  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 24 (TNSper) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: The Department of Energy's Center for Bioenergy Innovation, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, recently added three new members to its board of directors: Deborah Crawford of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Susan Hubbard of ORNL; and Maureen McCann of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The board provides strategic oversight and operational  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 25 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Critical Materials Institute researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Arizona State University studied the mineral monazite, an important source of rare-earth elements, to enhance methods of recovering critical materials for energy, defense and manufacturing applications. Rare-earth elements occur together naturally in mineral ores such as monazite but are e  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 26 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management issued the following news release: The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its contractor UCOR are performing extensive upgrades designed to extend the life of the Liquid and Gaseous Waste Operations (LGWO) facilities. LGWO treats wastewater from OREM's cleanup operations and Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) research and development laboratories. Made up of 60  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Jan. 25 (TNSawa) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: A partnership of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley Authority that aims to attract nuclear energy-related firms to Oak Ridge has been recognized with a state and local economic development award fr  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Jan. 26 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee issued the following news release: A Nashville woman who bilked investors by claiming that her sports marketing agency represented famous athletes was sentenced yesterday to 70 months in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee. Katie Lynn Mancuso, 41, who owned Gray Area Marketing in Nashville, was initially charged in September 2021 with  more

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Jan. 26 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Kevin G. Ritz, issued the following statement on Jan. 25, 2023, on the death of Tyre Nichols: * * * Kevin G. Ritz, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, issued the following statement today: "Last week, we announced that the United States had opened a federal civil rights investigation into the circumstances leading to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols. Earlier this week I had the p  more

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Jan. 24 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Kevin G. Ritz, issued the following news release on Jan. 23, 2023: Kelli L. Pollard, 50, of Lakeland, Tennessee pled guilty to a criminal information, charging her with education loan fraud. United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz announced the guilty plea today. According to the charging document and information presented in court, Kelli Pollard attended the University of Memphis as an undergraduate and gradu  more

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, Jan. 28 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Francis M. Hamilton III, issued the following news release: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens) has paid $7 million to the United States and the State of Tennessee to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to TennCare--the Medicaid program for the State of Tennessee--and knowingly retaining overpayments for specialty Hepatitis C medications dispensed to TennCare enrollees who d  more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the following news release: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to designate critical habitat in parts of Tennessee and Virginia for the sickle darter, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in December 2022. The Service is also announcing the availability of a draft economic analysis of the proposed critical habitat. "Proposing to designate critical ha  more