Professional
Medical Services
in Cookeville, TN

Aphena’s newly remodeled facility in Cookeville, TN (Photo: Business Wire)

COOKEVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aphena Pharma Solutions Inc. is proud to announce that its $20M expansion and renovation, which began mid-2019 in Cookeville, Tennessee, is now complete, adding a large amount of available solid dose packaging capacity.

“We are very excited to be able to provide this level of capacity to continue to support the pharmaceutical generic and OTC industries”

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“The expansion added a new 500,000-square-foot facility that is purpose-built for FDA pharmaceutical packaging of solid dose and biologic products,” said Eric Allen, Aphena’s president and COO. “In addition, the new facility has now been FDA inspected, and we have completed our first group of generic and brand product transfers with FDA approval.”

This added space has allowed Aphena to grow the company’s bottle and blister packaging capacity in a large way, with four additional high-speed bottling lines and two additional high-speed blister lines for solid-based products, making Aphena a strong strategic growth partner for any generic or OTC pharmaceutical company.

“We are very excited to be able to provide this level of capacity to continue to support the pharmaceutical generic and OTC industries,” said Paul Glintenkamp, senior director of sales at Aphena. “This new facility allows Aphena to continue its positive growth with much larger pharmaceutical partners, effectively making us one of the top five United States-based contract packaging companies in the pharmaceutical industry.”

Aphena Pharma Solutions is an industry-leading organization providing contract packaging and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical, consumer health, biologics and medical device markets. With two separate FDA- and DEA-registered locations in the U.S., Aphena handles solid dose, liquids, gels, creams, ointments, foams, suspensions and lotion-based products.

Aphena meets and exceeds FDA standards for 21 CFR, Parts 111, 210, 211 and 820, and is DEA (CII-V) licensed; cGMP compliant, ISO 13485:2016 and 9001:2015 (BSI); UL Certified; and USP verified.

For more information about Aphena, visit www.aphenapharma.com or email sales@aphenapharma.com.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression responded to a statement made by the Tennessee Tech University President. The President’s statement was made after a video of a drag show on campus went viral in early September.

The controversy began when Landon Starbuck posted a video on Twitter of a drag show that occurred on stage on the Tennessee Tech campus. In the video, Starbuck notes young children giving the performer cash and claiming that the performance was “meant to mock Christians.” She goes on to call out the University for allowing the show she believed was “not appropriate for the young audience.”

Tennessee Tech University hosted a drag show that had little kids handing cash to the drag queen who was performing a dance clearly meant to mock Christians. Every parent who pays to send their kids to @tennesseetech deserves to know that this is what they’re allowing on campus. pic.twitter.com/Q4I9uR2tcT

— Landon Starbuck (@LandonStarbuck) September 7, 2022

Tennessee Tech President Phillip Oldham then issued a statement that said the University would launch a full-on investigation into the show and would suspend the on-campus organization from hosting further events during the investigation.

VIDEO: Drag show causes controversy at TN Tech, University officials respond

FIRE said in a letter to President Oldham that by punishing the student group for hosting the drag show, it would be a violation of the First Amendment, which bars the University from investigating or punishing protected expression.

“Drag shows, or a student group’s sponsorship of them, constitute expressive conduct. The freedom of expression enshrined in the First Amendment ‘does not end at the spoken or written word,” FIRE said in the letter to President Oldham. “While authorities may enforce content-neutral regulations that may incidentally impact expressive conduct, they cannot restrict the expressive conduct ‘because it has expressive elements’.”

FIRE went on to say in the letter that the cancelation of student groups’ events serves no purpose but to “unlawfully chill students’ expressive rights.”

WSMV4 reached out to the University for a statement but have not received a response.

Copyright 2022 WSMV. All rights reserved.

Video | Live stats | Recap | Box Score | Preview

(6-44, 2-21 OVC)

7

Tennessee Tech

Batting

2B: Haeli Bryson

RBI: Ella Bishop (2) , Tristen Head

Fielding

E: Carmen Betts , Brooklyn Stewart

DP: Haeli Bryson , Carmen Betts , Tristen Head

Southern Indiana

Batting

2B: Rachel Martinez

HR: Allie Goodin

RBI: Jordan Rager , Allie Goodin (2) , Rachel Martinez (2) , Kennedy Nalley

GIDP: Emma Tucher

Baserunning

SB: Mackenzie Bedrick , Jordan Rager

Fielding

E: Rachel Martinez

Tennessee Tech

Pitching

Batters faced: Kaylan Cole (27) , Callie Piper (8)

HBP: Kaylan Cole (2) , Callie Piper

Pitches-Strikes: Kaylan Cole (114-63), Callie Piper (30-15)

Southern Indiana

Pitching

Batters faced: Raegan Gibson (12) , Kylie Eads (8) , Hailey Gotshall (15)

Pitches-Strikes: Raegan Gibson (47-28), Kylie Eads (37-19), Hailey Gotshall (58-39)

Scoring Summary

An RCFP attorney sued the Cookeville Regional Medical Center Authority on behalf of the Herald-Citizen's editor.

It took a couple of years and a public records lawsuit, but residents of Cookeville, Tennessee, finally know the salaries of senior administrators of a publicly owned local hospital.

The Cookeville Regional Medical Center Authority disclosed the information to the Herald-Citizen last month, less than three weeks after the newspaper’s editor sued the hospital with free legal support from an attorney from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The release of the records made it possible for the newspaper to provide answers to questions that its journalists and many community members have been asking the hospital for a couple of years, including whether top administrators, especially the town’s former mayor, were overpaid.

“It was a huge win for the newspaper, and it kind of reestablished our relevance in the community,” said Lindsay Pride, editor of the Herald-Citizen. “It showed that we are still significant. We are still important.”

The Herald-Citizen’s efforts to access the salary records began back in 2021, shortly after the hospital hired the part-time mayor of Cookeville to serve as its chief strategy officer, a new position that the hospital never publicly advertised. As a member of the city council, Pride said the mayor played a role in approving the hospital’s budget.

“If you’re voting on your own salary within that budget,” she said, “that felt like a conflict of interest to us, and to people within the community.” (A city council investigation concluded that the former mayor did not violate state law or the city charter regarding conflicts of interest, the Herald Citizen previously reported).

Pride made two requests for the salary records of the hospital’s senior administrators in May 2021. But hospital officials refused to provide the information. Pride said the newspaper’s ownership at the time decided not to pursue a lawsuit.

But community members continued to ask questions about the administrators’ salaries, even after the hospital laid off the former mayor and other top administrators.

“It’s a community-owned hospital, so the public obviously has an interest in what happens there,” said Pride, noting that, in the absence of actual information, rumors were rampant. “And people never stopped asking me about it.”

Through the Tennessee Press Association, Pride eventually connected with Paul McAdoo, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Tennessee. After explaining to him the hospital’s refusal to disclose the records, Pride said McAdoo told her to file another records request last August, which she did. Hospital officials didn’t even respond to it.

McAdoo then followed up the request with a letter to the hospital’s chief legal counsel urging the hospital to respond to Pride and turn over the requested records. The chief legal counsel replied in a letter last November that he had consulted with the hospital’s CEO and that “I do not have a response for you at this time.”

On behalf of Pride, McAdoo sued the hospital in March, alleging that there is no lawful basis for denying the editor’s request for the hospital salary records. Less than three weeks later, the hospital turned over all of the requested information.

The Herald-Citizen published a front-page story on March 24 that revealed the senior administrators’ salaries. As it turned out, Pride said, the salaries were lower than she and other community members expected. The former mayor made roughly $250,000 per year, not $400,000, as was rumored, she said.

Pride credits the lawsuit and a recent leadership change at the hospital with helping the newspaper finally obtain the records. (She said the hospital’s interim CEO, who took over around the time the lawsuit was filed, seems more open to transparency than the previous CEO.)

If not for the Reporters Committee’s free legal support, “I’m not sure my company would have let us pursue [the lawsuit],” she said. “I have no idea how much a lawsuit like this costs, but that’s a huge advantage to newspapers to be able to pursue a lawsuit at no expense to them.”

The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our monthly newsletter and following us on Twitter or Instagram.

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When NewsChannel 5 reported last year the beloved Bobby Q's restaurant had to close, the Cookeville community was heartbroken. Someone with a big heart was watching, someone who wanted to keep the banana pudding on the menu in Putnam County.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When NewsChannel 5 reported last year the beloved Bobby Q's restaurant had to close, the Cookeville community was heartbroken. Someone with a big heart was watching, someone who wanted to keep the banana pudding on the menu in Putnam County.

In the middle of a really big day in a middle Tennessee kitchen, Lee Gann told us between stirring banana pudding how she does not like getting emotional on camera. Why not, Lee?

"Is that a real question?" she said with a stare.

She will tell you, though, this place where she stood working means a whole lot to her.

We met Lee a year ago. She was the pitmaster at Bobby Q's in Cookeville, working for owner Mike Migliore.

"I started out as a dishwasher," Lee remembered. "Mike gave me a job when other people wouldn't. I came to Cookeville with $50 and a backpack. I tell everybody they saved my life."

On that day a year ago, Bobby Q's was about to close after being run by Mike for 37 years. He needed to focus on his health.

"And I just love this place," Lee tearfully told us in her 2022 interview.

"I was there cryin' on your newscast like a big baby!" Lee said, thinking back on her interview a year ago.

Someone was watching Lee's interview, someone who saw her as genuine, whose words came from her heart.

"I remember being moved by how passionate she was," said Michael King, known in Nashville as the owner of Monell's.

"He seen me on there cryin', and he knew he had to come down here and do something!" Lee said.

"I bought it because of her, her passion," Michael said.

Bobby Q's was closed about a year for renovations. Now, it's back.

"This is what I've been waiting for!" a customer said. "Been waiting for some good barbecue!"

The building has been completely remodeled and redesigned. Lee is now a general manager.

"It's been a year in the making," said Michael. "It's like birthing a baby! What we did was keep a lot of the Bobby Q recipes and added Monell's to it."

That includes Monell's skillet fried chicken. As for Bobbie Q's famous banana pudding? It's there.

"It's about as good as banana pudding gets, I think," one customer smiled.

"I wish I could have it every day!" laughed another.

"Michael has been nothing but a blessing to everyone inside this building," Lee said. "For him, closing of small restaurants, it's a sad thing."

"If we don't start supporting mom and pops, we're going to start losing fabrics of our neighborhoods," Michael continued.

So, no, Lee does not like being emotional on camera. But maybe this time, just this time, it was okay. Right, Lee?

"Because of her, we were able to open up today," Michael said.

"I just love this place," Lee continued. "A lot of it is the people and a lot of it is our customers. They're here every other day. We're just excited to be able to serve this community again."

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