Today's News

Serving notice his client may have an insanity defense for her attempted murder charges, David Stewart asked the court on Monday to postpone a trial date.

Stewart, who represents Amanda Sneel, said initial testing had shown the young mother was more than likely to have been suffering from “a serious mental health disease or defect” when she drove her vehicle into Cove Lake with her children in it.

Further testing should be completed, he said.

Less than a month after Erica Buckert plead guilty in a child abuse case, her husband at the time, Joshua Buckert entered his plea.

Dressed neatly in a shirt and tie Buckert told Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton he was guilty of child neglect/ endangerment.

The charge stemmed from a May 2007 incident. It was then that the Buckerts took their then 11-month-old son to an emergency room. Once there, medical personnel discovered the infant had multiple broken bones, police said at the time.

Dropping out of high school often means the end of the educational road.  But for Stephen Houston it proved to be just the beginning.

Born in LaFollette in 1956, Houston started his school career at the LaFollette Colored High School in a time when segregation was still around.  

Although LaFollette schools became integrated during his early elementary school years, Houston said he never could find his niche.

Months after being named as a defendant in a sexual harassment suit, school board member Mark A. Wells fired back with an answer and counter-complaint of his own.

In March school system employee Alexis Keiser filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court alleging that she was the victim of sexual harassment perpetrated by Wells.

According to the March filing, the suit is being brought as a result of Wells’ attempt to date Keiser and his subsequent retaliation once he learned she was in a relationship with someone else.