As a 35-year-old mother of four daughters, I worry about them daily. I know how hard junior high school, as it was called back then, and high school were. With technology changes and social media taking over, these kids are losing their childhood and innocence far earlier than they should. There is so much more peer pressure on them to do things that are considered “cool”. Bullying ... (click for more)

A dear friend sends me a note that his mom, after 40 glorious years of teaching children in public schools, is dying. The death of a mom or dad is among the worst things a child must bear, watching a parent in their final days. But I still marvel at the fact when Helen Exum died four years ago, not once did I cry and I’m a pretty emotional guy. The overwhelming reason I could ... (click for more)

Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said on Wednesday that the county will pay off its $8.7 million debt to Erlanger Health System within the current tax cycle. The announcement was made on Walker County's Facebook page and can be found here . The debt was incurred during the prior administration of Commissioner Bebe Heiskell, when she backed $10 million of an infusion ... (click for more)

Former Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield is proposing that the city and county take $1 million each from the hotel/motel tax to operate a new homeless center. Mr. Littlefield told members of the County Commission on Wednesday that he believes it would be a justified use of the hotel/motel funds because restaurant and hotel operators often complain that homeless people are disturbing ... (click for more)

KNOXVILLE – Tennessee’s hiring of Kellie Harper as its new women’s basketball coach has paid off in a roundabout way for Dean Lockwood. The former Lady Vols assistant coach, who served a combined 15 years on the UT staffs of Pat Summitt and then Holly Warlick, has been named an associate head coach at Michigan State. He is replacing Amaka Agugua-Hamilton on the staff of Spartans ... (click for more)

Soddy-Daisy rallied for two runs in the seventh inning Tuesday and completed a two-game sweep of Ooltewah with a 5-4 victory in District 5-3A baseball action at Tom Higgins Field. The Trojans, trailing 4-3, started the game-winning rally when Jacob Jennings reached on a hard ground ball at Ooltewah reliever Jacob Robinson, who recorded three strikeouts to escape a base-loaded ... (click for more)