NATION IN BRIEF : TENNESSEE : Official Critically Hurt in Suicide Try

Tennessee Secretary of State Gentry Crowell, a political kingpin known as “The Godfather” whose office has been one target of a corruption investigation, shot and critically wounded himself in a suicide attempt, authorities said. Crowell, 57, put a .38-caliber handgun into his mouth and pulled the trigger in the back yard of his home in Lebanon, Tenn., authorities said. Surgeons removed the bullet from Crowell’s skull in a three-hour operation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. He was listed in very critical condition. On July 17, state Rep. Ted Ray Miller committed suicide with a shotgun at his home in Knoxville while he was the focus of an extortion probe.