Rutherford County plans to boost its budget by about $17 million next year. About $3 million of the bump will fund the 1.6 percent pay increase the state government gave school teachers. The county plans to dig into reserve funds to pay for the increase. WPLN has the story.

Rutherford County economic development officials today unveiled the status of their latest fundraising campaign, which aims to raise $4 million and bring 5,000 jobs to the county by 2015. That's a quarter more than the previous campaign launched in 2007. Pinnacle Financial Partners executive Bill Jones is chairing this third iteration of Destination Rutherford, which already has $2.5 million of its goal in the bag.

"Thousands of new direct and indirect jobs have been created and the economic impact of those new jobs and the capital investments made in Rutherford County contribute significantly to the economic health of our county. As we move past the most difficult economic climate in most of our lifetimes, we stand to capitalize on Destination Rutherford's efforts over the past eight years and to realize even more significant success over the next five years."

Which of Tennessee's counties are the healthiest? According to the County Health Rankings report — which is issued by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — Williamson County is No 1.

Rounding out the top five healthiest counties in the state are Sumner, Rutherford, Moore and Blount. Davidson County ranked No. 13. For more on the rankings, click here.

BLF Marketing has relocated its nine-year-old MetroCenter office to Ward Drive near Murfreesboro's airport. Partner David Hoke, who lives in the 'Boro, says the move is "entirely business-motivated" and will help him better serve BLF's clients in the area. The firm also runs an office in Clarksville and employs 20 people.

As if there was any doubt, new census figures show the populations of Williamson and Rutherford Counties are booming. Tennessee Report looks at the numbers, which show growth in both Middle Tennessee counties exceeded 44 percent since the 2000 census.

Davidson County grew about 10 percent to 627,000 residents.