PIGEON FORGE (AP) — Country singer Dolly Parton has discarded “Dixie” from the name of a popular dinner show. From now on, the attraction will simply be known as Dolly Parton’s Stampede.

Parton said in a statement the name change was spurred by changing attitudes and “will remove any confusion or concerns about our shows” as the company that operates the attraction expands into new markets.

World Choice Investments currently operates the Stampede dinner show for Parton in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Branson, Mo.

World Choice spokesman Pete Owens said Parton is referring shifting attitudes about the word “Dixie” and its connotations.

“It has added to confusion in discussions about the expansion of our dinner theaters to new locations across the country and around the world,” he said in a statement. “They do not realize The Stampede is a very patriotic, spectacular, horse show with 32 beautiful horses as the stars.”

OAK RIDGE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory is laying off 100 employees in Tennessee.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports these layoffs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory follow a voluntary reduction of 232 employees.

The cuts focus on areas affected by the 2017 budget reductions, including climate change research for the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center and fusion energy research.

However, ORNL spokesman David Keim said this round of reductions will mostly focus on overhead positions not funded by the Department of Energy, Homeland Security or through other government and university partnerships, but he couldn’t say for certain which programs would be impacted.

Terminated employees will be notified of their status by mid-February.

NASHVILLE (AP) — An average of three people died by suicide each day in Tennessee in 2016, the highest recorded in the state in more than 35 years.

News outlets cite Tennessee health officials as saying white, middle-aged men in rural areas account for a majority of the deaths. White males make up 40 percent of Tennessee’s population, but made up 77 percent of suicide deaths in 2016.

Officials from the Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Health Statistics say suicides also are increasing among those 10 to 19 years old.

East Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network official Amy Dolinky says the vast majority of people kill themselves with guns.

Dolinky says the difficulty of talking about feeling suicidal and the stigma surrounding mental illness have contributed to the rise in suicides.