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WZTV FOX 17 - Top Stories
By JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) -- Randy Travis pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated Thursday in a case that began last summer when the naked country music star crashed his Pontiac Trans Am.
Travis received a 180-day suspended jail sentence, 24 months of probation and a $2,000 fine. He was ordered to spend at least 30 days at an alcohol treatment facility, complete 100 hours of community service and have an ignition interlock device on any vehicle he operates while on probation.
Travis, 53, entered the plea in a court in the North Texas city of Sherman. The misdemeanor was punishable by up to two years in jail and a $4,000 fine.
As the singer walked out of the courthouse, he thanked supporters and said he is glad to have the case behind him.
Authorities have said a Trans Am registered to Travis veered off a road Aug. 7 near Tioga, a town about 60 miles north of Dallas where the entertainer lives. The car struck several barricades in a construction zone.
Travis was found naked and combative at the scene, with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.15, investigators said. The legal limit for driving is 0.08.
The country star, whose hits include "Forever and Ever, Amen," walked out of jail the next morning wearing scrubs, no shoes and a baseball cap.
Travis also had faced a charge of retaliation for allegedly threatening officers, but as part of the plea agreement he will no longer face that charge.
His lawyers have previously said the singer has a great deal of respect for law enforcement and has stopped drinking alcohol.
The August accident was among a string of recent run-ins with the law for Travis.
Police in suburban Dallas cited Travis following an Aug. 23 incident in a church parking lot in which he allegedly intervened in an argument involving a woman he knows and her estranged husband. Nobody was hurt.
Larry Friedman, one of his attorneys, said Travis pleaded no contest in that case in January. In an agreement with prosecutors, he got 90 days' deferred adjudication, meaning it will be removed from his record if he does not get involved in another assault in that time period.
Travis also was arrested last February in Denton County, northwest of Dallas, for public intoxication after police spotted a vehicle parked in front of a church and found an open bottle of wine and Travis smelling of alcohol. That case is no longer on file with the county court and appears to have been dismissed.
Associated Press
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) -- Randy Travis pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated Thursday in a case that began last summer when the naked country music star crashed his Pontiac Trans Am.
Travis received a 180-day suspended jail sentence, 24 months of probation and a $2,000 fine. He was ordered to spend at least 30 days at an alcohol treatment facility, complete 100 hours of community service and have an ignition interlock device on any vehicle he operates while on probation.
Travis, 53, entered the plea in a court in the North Texas city of Sherman. The misdemeanor was punishable by up to two years in jail and a $4,000 fine.
As the singer walked out of the courthouse, he thanked supporters and said he is glad to have the case behind him.
Authorities have said a Trans Am registered to Travis veered off a road Aug. 7 near Tioga, a town about 60 miles north of Dallas where the entertainer lives. The car struck several barricades in a construction zone.
Travis was found naked and combative at the scene, with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.15, investigators said. The legal limit for driving is 0.08.
The country star, whose hits include "Forever and Ever, Amen," walked out of jail the next morning wearing scrubs, no shoes and a baseball cap.
Travis also had faced a charge of retaliation for allegedly threatening officers, but as part of the plea agreement he will no longer face that charge.
His lawyers have previously said the singer has a great deal of respect for law enforcement and has stopped drinking alcohol.
The August accident was among a string of recent run-ins with the law for Travis.
Police in suburban Dallas cited Travis following an Aug. 23 incident in a church parking lot in which he allegedly intervened in an argument involving a woman he knows and her estranged husband. Nobody was hurt.
Larry Friedman, one of his attorneys, said Travis pleaded no contest in that case in January. In an agreement with prosecutors, he got 90 days' deferred adjudication, meaning it will be removed from his record if he does not get involved in another assault in that time period.
Travis also was arrested last February in Denton County, northwest of Dallas, for public intoxication after police spotted a vehicle parked in front of a church and found an open bottle of wine and Travis smelling of alcohol. That case is no longer on file with the county court and appears to have been dismissed.
Thursday, January 31 2013, 05:25 PM CST
Tennessee News
Tennessee recoups unemployment benefits
May 22, 2013 20:26 GMT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- State Labor Department officials say they have recouped about $15.3 million worth of fraudulently collected unemployment benefits by garnishing tax refunds and other federal payments to people who were not entitled to receive the assistance.
A scathing audit released earlier this year showed that the state overpaid $73 million in unemployment benefits. The overpayments were the result of both fraud and errors at the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The audit was especially critical of the department's method for recouping fraudulent benefits.
Acting Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips said in a statement that the ability to reclaim fraudulently collected unemployment benefits is critical to the business community. He said the department is focused on developing strategies to prevent people from wrongfully collecting the assistance.
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