By Mike Steely I’ve covered thousands of stories in my many years as a reporter. Some I never wrote about because the facts were too unbelievable. I’d like to share a few with you. The Bootlegger Winked at Me I got a call one afternoon that a raid on a local bootlegger was going […]
By Joe Rector Last Memorial Day, the nation was closed down tightly as Covid-19 ravaged even the smallest towns. This year, things were much different. Responsible folks chose to get vaccinations, and enough have done so that we can cautiously come out for the spring and summer season. If you’re thinking things seem different, […]
By Mark Nagi Recently I had the opportunity to make the drive to upstate New York to visit my Mom for the first time in nearly a year and a half. She’s vaccinated. I’m vaccinated. So, the risk that I could get her sick from the pandemic is significantly lower today than it was […]
By Steve Williams The Spring Fling has come and gone … Football, anyone? Well, after today (June 7), it’s only 72 days to the opening kickoff for the 2021 high school season. Yep, just 11 Friday nights away from those Week 1 games. Opening night, however, won’t be on a Friday. It’ll be on Thursday, […]
By Tom Mattingly The calendar tells us that the 2021 University of Tennessee season-opening football game against Bowling Green is just around the comer. Here are several of the memorable first games. Sept. 24, 1921, Tennessee 27, Emory & Henry 0, Shields-Watkins Field. It was the first game for the Vols in their new stadium […]
By Steve Hunley Taxpayers owe a debt of thanks to Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs for sending a letter to Susan Horn, Chair of the Board of Education and taking a bold stand against waste and for student safety. The topic of the mayor’s letter was to “tell the district what every parent already knows: […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. One thing I saw thousands of times during my years in office was that you could never satisfy government’s appetite for money and land. They always wanted more. Yet the least economical, least efficient way to spend any money was to turn it over to government, at any level. Thus, […]
By Ray Hill On January 9, 1932, twelve hundred Republicans from Tennessee’s First Congressional District had converged upon the Hamblen County courthouse in Morristown to demand former congressman Brazilla Carroll Reece once again run for Congress. Reece had first been elected in 1920 and had served a decade in Congress before losing to the […]
The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it. George Orwell By Dr. Jim Ferguson Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my persona. Though the definition may encompass fictional literary characters, I’m including the definition of one’s public image or adopted social role rather than […]
By Ralphine Major I never took a tour of Blount Mansion that I did not feel its rich history. On the banks of the Tennessee River, the historic gem stands proudly in downtown Knoxville providing a link from the past with the city’s present day. George Washington was President of the United States on June […]
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