Visitors to Whitfield County’s new Rocky Face Ridge Park that officially opened July 25 may not know it, but the facility located off Crow Valley Road is there thanks in part to several years of behind-the-scenes help from veteran county employee Jess Hansen. “Jess has worked tirelessly since at least 2016 on the conceptual development and design of Rocky Face Ridge Park,” ... (click for more)

You may know Lucy Bell Graze. Chances are you’ve seen her running a party with Vivian and Reggie, running a family (Robinsons, Stouts, Fergusons, Webbs, Voges, McGinnesses) or just running full steam ahead in general. She does not believe in slowing down. She planned to retire last April. “I’m not working after I turn 90,” she told me a couple of years ago. I told her she’d just ... (click for more)

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the $80 million Southside Stadium project. The action puts in motion the ability for a new city/county Sports Authority to convene and issue $80 million in bonds for the "community" facility on nine acres at the U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry site. Councilman Chip Henderson added several provisions that he said would add "transparency" ... (click for more)

Officials of the Chattanooga Housing Authority said the plan to re-envision the Westside includes building 1,783 new housing units. Betsy McCright, CHA executive director, said the College Hill Courts and the Gateway Tower will be taken down, but she said residents in those 629 have been promised a spot in some of the new housing. She said the demolition will be in stages ... (click for more)

Athens and Tennessee lost a great friend and a long-time public servant when Larry Wallace passed away Saturday afternoon. The 1962 McMinn County High School graduate started his lifetime law enforcement career with the Athens Police Department in 1964. He joined the Tennessee Highway Patrol in 1967 and was appointed as a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of ... (click for more)

When Alabama football coach Nick Saban described last year’s season as a “rebuilding effort,” it triggered a lot of good-natured laughter throughout college sports. After all, the Crimson Tide just won 13 games and the SEC championship game before losing the national title game to Georgia. As if to underscore such greatness, this year’s Alabama team has just been chosen by the AFCA ... (click for more)