What’s Right With Our Schools: Whitwell Middle School Piano Lab

WHITWELL, Tenn. (WDEF) – Imagine a room with 24 middle school students all playing piano. That could get a little noisy, right? You’d think so, but Whitwell Middle School is now home to a state of art piano keyboard lab, and it’s hitting all the right notes. Roger Payne is the music teacher and choral director at Whitwell Middle. He…

Hamilton County breaks ground on Victims Memorial Park

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Hamilton County finally broke ground for the new Victims Memorial Park on Monday.   The Victims Memorial Park is located at the Riverpark at Riverpoint on Amnicola Highway. “I think today is a solemn day. The parents of many victims were here. They feel heard and understood. We join them as a community and their…

Early voting begins in Georgia’s general primary

RINGGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) – Early voting has begun for Georgia’s General Primary. These primaries concern various local and state offices. One location where early voting is occurring is the Catoosa County Freedom Center. There were advocates campaigning for their candidates on Monday morning and said early voting is critical to the election process. One such advocate, Scott Fiddler said, “To…

Lavids throws no-hitter, Mocs complete sweep of Furman

GoMocs – The Chattanooga softball team completed its third series sweep against the Southern Conference with a 10-0 win Senior Day victory over Furman at Frost Stadium Sunday afternoon. Chattanooga improves to 34-13 overall and hold onto its one-game lead in the SoCon standings over UNCG at 13-5. Furman falls to 21-29 on the year and 6-12 against the league….

Red Wolves fall to in state rival 1-0

RED WOLVES- The Chattanooga Red Wolves hosted One Knoxville SC in the first round of the new USL Jägermeister Cup. After a scoreless first half, a 48th minute header from One Knox led to a 1-0 win for the visiting side. The intrastate rivals will meet again in cup competition on Saturday, July 20th and in regular season action on…

Meigs Co Beats Roane Co 12-0 For District Title

Decatur, TN-(WDEF-TV) It has been a banner season for the Meigs Co softball team, and it continued on Friday as they defeated Roane Co 12-0 in four innings. The victory sealed the district title for the Lady Tigers. Categories: Sports – Local Sports News Tags: High School Softball, Meigs County High School, Roane County High School, Softball

Chattanooga Lookouts Fall 7-5 in Debut as Chattanooga Wreckers

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) The Chattanooga Lookouts took the field for the first time as the Chattanooga Wreckers on Friday. Chattanooga will play select games as the Wreckers in a partnership with the International Towing Museum in the Scenic City. Name change didn’t help the cause though as the Wreckers lost 7-5 in 10 innings to Birmingham. The Wreckers did score twice in…

Vigilance, care urged after back to back Chattanooga shootings

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – It has been a violent 24 hours in the Scenic City. First, shots rang out at Champy’s Restaurant at 6:30 Thursday evening. That scene was repeated again around 10 Friday morning near Eastgate Mall. These incidents have some wondering, what is next for Chattanooga and how do we deal with two shootings in public places within…

Technology helps Speech-Language Pathologist Progress over 100 year span

CHATTANOOGA, TN – May is known as National Speech-Language-Hearing Month to raise awareness for communication disorders and the role of professionals that work with them. Speech pathology has a history that dates back to 1920.  It would start gaining traction when the American Academy of Speech Correction was formed in 1926. Like all things it developed and changed over the…

Thursday Throwback: Harry Thornton

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — We’ve seen a lot of characters come through our doors over the last 70 years. But none could grab your attention more than Harry Thornton. He was a radio DJ, turned wrestling announcer, who eventually invented local morning television. Harry knew how to push all your buttons. Here is his story from our 50th anniversary, 25 years…

Is the Hamilton County Commission following the Sunshine Law?

  CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- In addition to their regular meetings, the Hamilton County Commission hold a series of committee meetings. However, there are some questions rising about how those committees are being operated. The Tennessee Sunshine Law requires all governmental bodies to conduct business in the view of the public. At 9:30 each Wednesday morning, the Hamilton County Commission does…

Finley Stadium welcomes newly renovated Ultra Club

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Finley Stadium is welcoming its newly renovated “Ultra Club” event space.  “This has been a few years in the works, just lots of planning. We started construction earlier this year in January and we just wanted to complete it. We’re really excited for this space. We want this to be a community space that people can…

Reggie White Blvd. shooting suspect identified by CPD

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Chattanooga Police officially identified the suspect involved in the skate park shooting earlier this month.  “Throughout the course of the investigation, the suspect was identified as 29-year-old Demitre Tayshaun Isaac,” said Sgt. Victor Miller, CPD Public Information Officer. “CPD’s Homicide Unit was able to obtain arrest warrants charging him with first degree murder and felony reckless…

Superintendent discusses next year’s Hamilton County Schools budget with Commission

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Next year’s proposed Hamilton County School budget was presented to the Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday. Hamilton County School Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson held the presentation in the Commission’s Education Committee. He says that in total it will cost about 673 million dollars, or 40 million less than last year. Dr. Robertson said they are asking for…

Hamilton County Government may soon use electric vehicles

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Hamilton County government may soon be using more electric vehicles in their fleet. County Commissioners briefly discussed a resolution during their Finance Committee Wednesday morning that concerns EVs. This resolution would allow the county to purchase new electric vehicles and invest in intersection improvements. The resolution would utilize over $7 million total to fund these purchases….

School Superintendent Statement on Armed Teachers bill

"I will not recommend arming any other person in a Hamilton County School."

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Tennessee lawmakers this week passed a bill that would allow schools to train teachers and employees to carry guns at school. The bill will not be impacting Hamilton County Schools, though. Critics, including parents at Covenant School in Nashville, argued the practice would be dangerous. The bill is now waiting on Gov. Bill Lee to…