FORT PAYNE, Alabama (WDEF) – A Sheriff says that a traffic stop on Sand Mountain ended with the recovery of stolen guns and chainsaws. The stop happened last week in the Sylvania community. 26 year old Justin Wade Bass from Henagar was arrested on felony warrants. The DeKalb County Sheriff says the first search of the vehicle turned up a…
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tennessee (WDEF) – Hamilton County Sheriff’s officers say they confiscated Fentanyl pills, guns and cash from a suspect in the Ooltewah area last week. The Sheriff says Narcotics officers and the Special Investigations Unit developed information that Victor Castaneda had the drugs and guns. They. along with Collegedale Police, conducted a traffic stop last Thursday on him…
DALTON, Georgia (WDEF) – Dalton Police hope the public can help them identify a man suspected of shoplifting a watch from a jewelry store. The theft happened several weeks ago at Oxford Jewelers at the Dalton Mall. Police say a man and woman came into the store and asked to see a type of watch that wasn’t currently in stock….
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) – If you are driving on I-24 in Nashville this week, you could be a part of the largest traffic experiment in the world. Vanderbilt, the University of California, Berkeley, TDOT and Nissan North America are teaming up to make it happen. The goal is to get data on how to ease traffic jams. For five days,…
SCOTTSBORO, Alabama (WDEF) – A new fast food chain is debuting in the Tennessee Valley. Whataburger broke ground on Thursday for a new location in Scottsboro, Alabama, the closest one yet to Chattanooga. The Texas chain has been moving east for years. There are now locations in Huntsville and Nashville, but none further east. Operator John T. Reno of MWB…
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) – The Preservation Office of the Tennessee Historical Commission will help save two local churches. The Commission announced almost a million dollars in preservation grants across the state on Wednesday. Two projects in Hamilton and Bradley counties will get a taste of it. They are donating $25,000 for masonry repairs to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. It was…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Part of the changes at the Chattanooga Choo Choo will include a new music and event space. The Signal, currently on Chestnut Street near Finley Stadium, is moving to the old Convention Center at the Choo Choo. They hope to open up as soon as next April (their last show on Chestnut will be in February). The…
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Tennessee (WDEF) – Several organizations and individuals announce the protection of 620 acres on the Cumberland Plateau. TennGreen Land Conservancy, Robert D. McCaleb of Cleveland, TN, the Open Space Institute (OSI), and The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee (TNC) all helped create a conservation easement for the Custard Hollow track. The land is in an extensive conservation corridor along…
A jury in Dade County has convicted a man in connection with the death of a woman last November. 41-year-old Jeremiah Douglas was found guilty of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and two counts of Making a False Statement in connection with the death of 23-year-old Leea Raines. After being convicted, Judge Brian House sentenced Douglas to life without…
Authorities in DeKalb County, Alabama are still searching for a 19-year-old who has been missing for more than a month. Makenna Purvis was last seen in Valley Head on September 26th. A number of DeKalb county agencies were out in force this morning, searching the area where Purvis was last seen. Officials with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office want to…
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) – There have been a lot of colorful moments for fans on the Third Saturday in October. But we found one old Bama-Vols showdown in our Archives that had some eery similarities to last weekend. The date was October 17, 1982. Alabama traveled to Knoxville with a top 5 ranking and national championship hopes. They had dominated…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – It looks like one car took a wild ride in a four vehicle crash this morning on McCallie Avenue. It happened at the intersection of McCallie and South Willow Street. it looks like the one car rolled over two others in the carsh. Firefighters had to free three people who were trapped. Two people were taken to…
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- On the summit of Aetna Mountain in southwestern Hamilton County, a new future for its development was unveiled Thursday morning. An expansion to the Black Creek community was announced in front of a crowd including local officials such as Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Hamilton County Deputy Mayor Cory Gearrin. The expansion will include over 1,200 new…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – You’ve got a chance to invest in the treatment and a cure for Breast Cancer, and support a local resident at the same time. Brianna Edge from Rossville is taking part in the opening round of the Fab Over 40 contest. Brianna works as a cosmetologist for Hair Benders in Chattanooga. Fab Over 40 is a fundraiser…
Authorities in Gilmer County, Georgia are asking for the public’s help in finding a fugitive from North Dakota. Leonard Higdon, Jr. is wanted by the Williston Police Department on multiple felony charges. Officials say Higdon has ties to both Gilmer and Fannin counties. They say he should be considered armed and very dangerous. If you have seen Higdon or know…
DALTON, Georgia (WDEF) – Dalton Police are looking for two men in a stolen credit card case. The men were caught on store surveillance cameras using cards that were stolen from a car at the Dalton Golf and Country Club. She was called by her bank while she was still on the course that someone was using her card to…
CLEVELAND/TRENTON (WDEF) – Wednesday was a busy evening for firefighters in Trenton and Cleveland. Several Dade County fire departments responded to the blaze in their community around 9:30 PM. The home on Maine Avenue was destroyed. The cause of the fire is under investigation. From Cleveland Fire Dept. The fire at a Cleveland home last night took six companies to…
CLEVELAND, Tennessee (WDEF) – Bradley County investigators have charged three people with a drive by shooting back in June. They say that the shots were fired into a home in Rolling Brook around 1 AM when five people, including children, were inside. None of them were hit. Sheriff’s officers and Cleveland Police have now located the three suspects and arrested…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – A 13 year old has been charged in a spree of fires in the Woodmore area. Investigators accuse the minor of setting fire to two homes, a trash can, two cars, plus an attempt to burn a third on. It all happened on Tuesday night. Firefighters were first called to a vehicle fire. Then neighbors told them…
ROSSVILLE, Georgia (WDEF) – Firefighters from several agencies spent the day dousing an old industrial building with water following a fire overnight in Rossville. The fire was reported around 2 AM at the old Coats American building at Maple and Williams Street, a few blocks from McFarland Avenue. The building was currently vacant and did not have any power. Officials…
MURPHY, North Carolina (WDEF) – Investigators in North Carolina say a chase eventually led them to a meth manufacturing operation at a camper trailer. The case began a month ago when detectives from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office were chasing a BMW over a traffic violation. They ended the chase with a PIT maneuver and arrested the driver. They say…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – The Chattanooga Fire Department honored the neighbors that came to the rescue of a father and daughter yesterday in East Brainerd. The family was trapped on the second story by a kitchen fire. Fernando Rivera and Sam Triplett helped everyone get out okay. Rivera coaxed the daughter to jump out of a second floor windo into his…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – This was a big week for Chattanooga 35 years ago. In back to back days, Hamilton Place Mall officially opened to customers and local leaders broke ground on the Tennessee Riverwalk project. On August 5, 1987, CBL held the grand opening for their new, flagship mall at the Shallowford Road exit of I-75. Before the mall was…
PERRY COUNTY, Kentucky (WDEF) – The Tennessee National Guard is reporting on the rescues aircrews made during the rural flooking in Eastern Kentucky. Five UH-60L Blackhawk helicopters based in Nashville and Knoxville worked along the North Fork River. Over the last three days of July, they rescued 151 people. 27 were hoisted out of the floods. “I’m very fortunate to…