Drivers won’t have to have a physical copy of their car registration if they are pulled over by police.

The law will change July 1 to allow the driver to show proof on any electronic device, like your phone or tablet, as long as the document says the car is properly registered and issued to the owner or person driving the car.

“Beginning July 1st, not only can you have proof of your automobile insurance on an electronic device but you are going to be able to have any kind of photo saved in your phone that has your car insurance, your vehicle insurance, your registration for that vehicle, or if you have a hunting and fishing license, you merely just have to have a snapshot of that saved on your device and if you are asked to provide that to an officer you can do that through your electronic device whether it be phone, Ipad, etc,” said County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss.

Tennessee already allows electronic proof of insurance.

The new law states as follows:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

In addition to the provisions of § 55-12-139 authorizing a person to display evidence of financial responsibility through the use of electronic devices, a person may also display evidence of vehicle registration in electronic format. The electronic images shall state that the vehicle is properly registered and that a certificate of registration has been issued to the owner or operator of the vehicle. For purposes of this section, acceptable electronic formats include display of electronic images on a cellular phone or any other type of portable electronic device. If a person displays the evidence in an electronic format pursuant to this section, the person is not consenting for law enforcement to access any other contents of the electronic device.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018, the public welfare requiring it.

DeKalb Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (d/b/a DTC Communications) will host its annual meeting on Saturday, September 15 at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds in Alexandria.

Directors will be elected in the Alexandria, Liberty, and Smithville exchanges according to “The DTC Connection”. The positions are currently held by Bennie Curtis in Alexandria, Randy Campbell in Liberty, and Ronnie Garrison in Smithville.

According to the bylaws, the board of directors will appoint a nominating committee to select nominees for the office of directorship for those positions whose terms expire in 2018. The bylaws also provide that any 15 or more members acting together may make other nominations by petition with the secretary at least 45 days before the meeting and these will be reviewed by the nominating committee to determine if the qualifications as set forth in the bylaws are fulfilled. Individuals interested in becoming a candidate for a director’s position must meet the qualifications and submit a petition by 5 p.m. on August 1, 2018.

DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for May was at 3.8%, up from 3.4% in April but below 4.2% in May, 2017.

The local labor force for May was 7,860. A total of 7,560 were employed and 300 were without work.

Jobless rates for May among the fourteen counties in the Upper Cumberland region were as follows from highest to lowest:
Van Buren: 4.4%
Clay: 3.8%
DeKalb:3.8%
Jackson: 3.7%
Fentress: 3.3%
Cumberland: 3.3%
Warren: 3.2%
White: 3.1%
Overton: 3%
Putnam: 3%
Macon: 2.7%
Cannon: 2.7%
Pickett: 2.6%
Smith: 2.4%

Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips has announced that unemployment rates in nearly every Tennessee county remained under 5 percent during May 2018.

Ninety-three of Tennessee’s 95 counties recorded a rate in May that was less than 5 percent. Unemployment in two counties was 5 percent or greater during the time period.

Williamson County had the lowest unemployment in the state with a rate of 2.1 percent, which was 0.1 of a percentage point higher than it was in April.

At 2.2 percent, Davidson County followed with the second lowest rate in the state for May. That figure represented a 0.1 of a percentage point increase from the previous month.

The rates for both Williamson and Davidson Counties were 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the rates they recorded in May 2017.

“For nearly an entire year Tennessee has continued to experience historically low unemployment,” Burns said. “While some counties experienced a slight uptick in their rates between April and May, the numbers are still very impressive.”

Lauderdale County had the highest unemployment rate in Tennessee during May. Its rate of 5.3 percent was an increase of 0.4 of a percentage point from the previous month. Houston County’s 5.2 percent unemployment rate was 0.2 of a percentage point higher than its April rate.

For 11 consecutive months, Tennessee’s statewide unemployment rate has been at 3.5 percent or lower. In May the rate was 3.5 percent, which was an increase of 0.1 of a percentage point from April, but still 0.3 of a percentage point lower than the May 2017 rate.

Nationally, the unemployment rate dropped in May for the second consecutive month. It was 3.8 percent, a decrease of 0.1 of a percentage point from the month before.

The state and national unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted to eliminate the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, along with other recurring seasonal events that could impact an economic times series.

Additional information on Tennessee labor statistics is available on the state’s workforce development website.