INTERNATIONAL DRUG SMUGGLER BUSTED IN THE BORO

Murfreesboro police say they have broken up an international drug smuggling operation and seized a record amount of illegal steroids made in China. Leslie Parker, Jr. was arrested at a Murfreesboro motel room, following a months-long investigation by police and the T.B.I. They say steroid drugs favored by body builders, with a street value of some $500,000, were taken from a storage unit and the motel room where Parker lived. Investigators say the illicit drugs were made in China and shipped to a New York airport. The drugs were then mailed to Parker, where he in turn, allegedly, mailed them to mid-level dealers locally and throughout the country. He has been charged with possession and distribution of a schedule III drug.

$5 MILLION IN DONATIONS FROM BONNAROO

Organizers of the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester say they have donated more than $5 million to charity over the past ten years. According to a news release, Thursday, festival proceeds have gone to Doctors Without Borders, Head Count, Musicares, Habitat For Humanity, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Rock The Earth, The American Red Cross and The Sierra Club. Organizers say Bonnaroo also has provided aid after the Haitian earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, Nashville floods and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Bonnaroo has been held in June, since 2002, on a 700-acre field off the New Bushy Branch Road, just outside the city limits. It's traditionally an 80,000 ticket sellout for four days of performances.

MOTHER'S DEPOSITION ORDERED IN CHILD SUPPORT TRIAL

A former Shelbyville woman, who sent her adopted Russian son back to Moscow, has been ordered to answer questions from attorneys for an upcoming child support case. Torry Hansen has refused to talk to investigators since April 2010 when she sent her then, seven-year-old adopted son to Moscow with a note saying he had psychological problems and that she didn't want to be his mother anymore. No criminal charges were ever filed, but her adoption agency filed a lawsuit seeking child support in Bedford County, where Hansen was living. The Shelbyville Times Gazette reports Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell has ordered Hansen to give a deposition to an attorney for the adoption agency on February 20 and set a new trial date for May 17.

BILL REQUIRES SALES TAX CHARGE FROM AMAZON

State lawmakers are working on legislation that would require internet retail giant Amazon to start collecting state sales tax on goods sold to Tennesseans starting in 2014. Republican Governor Bill Haslam struck the deal with Amazon last year after many objected to a sales tax exemption given the company by then-Governor Phil Bredesen. Haslam says sales tax collections by Amazon should bring in nearly $23 million annually to state government. Another $9.6 million would flow into local government coffers. Amazon is working on a new distribution center off Joe B. Jackson Parkway near Interstate 24, south of Murfreesboro. Amazon also plans to build a center in Wilson County. The company now has centers in Hamilton and Bradley counties and hints it may add a second location in Chattanooga.

MILD WINTER REDUCES ELECTRICITY SALES 5 %

The Tennessee Valley Authority says a mild winter so far, has reduced electricity sales by 5 percent in the first quarter of the fiscal year, and will cause the utility to reconsider expenditures for the rest of the year. The utility says its first quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that total revenues declined by 9 percent or $260 million compared with the same period, last year. Chief Financial Officer John Thomas says weather fluctuations are normal and T.V.A. can make adjustments to planned programs for 2012. T.V.A. is the nation's largest public utility and supplies power to about 9 million people in Tennessee and six other states.

FORECASTERS CALL FOR WINTER'S ARRIVAL

Winter is expected to arrive in Tennessee next week, well behind when the calendar indicated it should be here. Forecasters expect a shift to a more northwest flow to bring near seasonal temperature readings, but not frigid conditions, to the state. So far, winter's been a bust: January ended with mean temperatures well above normal, statewide - 6.5 degrees higher in Memphis, 5 degrees higher in Nashville and Knoxville, 4.9 degrees above in the Tri-Cities and 4.5 degrees warmer than usual in Chattanooga. By Monday, forecasters expect highs in the mid-40s into the low 50s statewide. There has been little snow so far, but National Weather Service forecaster Bobby Boyd in Nashville, says some of the deepest snows in years past, have fallen in February and March.