2 in ambulance killed in wreck

NASHVILLE - Two people were killed Thursday when an ambulance ran into the back of a state work truck stopped in the emergency lane on a Nashville highway.

Police said the ambulance was on a non-emergency trip to return a woman to her nursing home after a dialysis appointment.

The ambulance ran into the back of Tennessee Department of Transportation truck, killing the ambulance driver and patient. An off-duty firefighter tending to the patient was seriously injured. The truck driver suffered minor injuries.

Police were investigating why the ambulance was in the emergency lane. The highway work truck was painted fluorescent green.

The ambulance was operated by Rural/Metro, a private company that serves Middle Tennessee counties.

Tennessee

Wind farms to help power TVA

KNOXVILLE - The Tennessee Valley Authority, looking outside the region for major quantities of renewable energy, has agreed to buy 450 megawatts from two wind farms in North and South Dakota.

The nation's largest public utility announced Thursday that it has signed 20-year power purchase agreements with Maryland-based CVP Renewable Energy Co. and Chicago-based Invenergy for electricity generated by wind farms they are developing in the Dakotas.

Together, the purchases could supply 140,000 homes. TVA executive Belinda Thornton says this could give TVA the largest renewable energy portfolio in the Southeast.

TVA directors have agreed to secure as many as 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy. Thornton says as many as three more power contracts could be announced by the end of the calendar year.

Tennessee

2 dead in crash of small plane

ELIZABETHTON - A small plane crashed and burned Thursday afternoon in mountainous terrain in Carter County, killing both persons aboard, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Kathleen Bergen of the FAA in Atlanta said the single-engine Cessna 206 crashed about 3:15 p.m. some eight miles south of the Elizabethton airport near the North Carolina border.

It was not immediately known where the plane was headed. Witnesses said the identification numbers were burned off the tail section.

The plane was registered to Focus Aviation in Elizabethton, Bergen said.

Officials said a homeowner helped lead rescue personnel to the site, in the southern part of the county some 15 miles from U.S. Highway 19E.

Rescue officials said skies were sunny at the time of the crash.

Arkansas

Police knew where to look

TEXARKANA - Police in Texarkana didn't go far to find a man accused of robbing the Silver Dollar Bar.

The suspect was caught in another bar.

The Silver Dollar was robbed on Oct. 15, allegedly by 47-year- old James Anderson. Police say he demanded money from the register and threatened the bartender with a knife. Investigators would not disclose how much money the robber got.

Officers picked up Anderson on an aggravated robbery charge when they found him in a different lounge.

Originally published by From Our Press Services .

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