From The Archives: 1983 Holiday Shopping

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Christmas season shopping has changed a lot over the years. While you go to Amazon, your parents went to discount malls. For tonight’s Thursday Throwback, we take you back 39 years into our archive for the holiday shopping season. And we find out what little girls were wanting for Christmas in 1983 (a barbie dreamhouse).   Categories: Featured,…

Driving Our Economy Forward: Tennessee Aquarium

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — It brings jobs, plenty of tourists, and helps animals from the rivers and oceans. The Tennessee Aquarium is also big on educating both kids and adults alike on those sea creatures. The Aquarium talked to News 12 about how they’re driving our economy forward. “2022 has been a fantastic year for the Tennessee Aquarium, and it’s…

Investigators charge suspected boyfriend of Jasmine Pace

Suspect Jason Chen has been arrested for criminal homicide, had "relationship" with missing woman

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) — Chattanooga Police are still searching for 22-year-old Jasmine Pace, who recently went missing. Wednesday afternoon, local officials say they’ve arrested a suspect related to her disappearance. Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp said “these days are sometimes hard” when providing new updates on the Pace case. She says finding the missing 22-year-old is the department’s main concern….

EPB Announces Partnership to Create a Quantum Network

WASHINGTON (WDEF)- Many of Chattanooga’s government, educational, and industry leaders were in Washington for a big announcement today. EPB and Qubitekk, a quantum technologies company, are partnering to create the first commercially available quantum network in the United States. This network will be available to both private companies as well as government and university resources. EPB Board Chair Vicky Gregg…

More To The Story with Staley: Pat Blankenship

Dave follows up on his profile of the octogenarian painter

HIXSON, Tennessee (WDEF) – It’s a two-day, open house -slash – customer appreciation affair at Emma’s Hair Salon in Hixson. Food is plentiful. Every finger food one might have a hankering for. And owner Tammy Bertrand always has a number of things for sale! Here, she’s arranging a number of rings. Made by her friend Joselyn. But in the middle…

Troopers looking for driver who ran into motorcyclist last night

Motorcycle rider was killed in Catoosa County wreck

RINGGOLD, Georgia (WDEF) – Georgia State Troopers are looking for the driver who hit and killed a motorcyclist Tuesday night in Catoosa County. They say the crash happened on GA 2 around 8:45 PM. Investigators say that 51 year old Franklin Coyne was killed when a pickup rear-ended his motorcycle. The truck left the scene after the crash. Troopers say…

Chattanooga Ready to Host Blue Cross Bowl For Second Straight Year

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) For the second year high school football fans will be coming to Chattanooga to see the Football teams from around Tennessee compete for a state title. News 12s Brian Armstrong finds out what Finley stadium and Chattanooga has to offer. Said Chattanooga Sports Committee president Tim Morgan:”We’ve learned a lot and we’ve been putting a lot of preparation’s in…

Local experts discuss rising rent prices in 2022

Average price for two-bedroom rental rose nearly one-fifth in price since 2021

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) — According to zumper.com, the rent for a two-bedroom housing unit in Chattanooga is up 19% since this time last year. The data also shows that the Scenic City is the 63rd most expensive rental market in America. Zumper’s data reveals that one and two-bedroom rentals were priced at just over $1,200 and $1,400, respectively. Financial expert Chris…

Local nonprofit launches Giving Tuesday campaign

Councilwoman Raquetta Dotley says Hughes Project will positively influence South Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) — After days of nationwide shopping, Giving Tuesday has returned, prompting neighbors to donate back to their communities. This year, the Net Resource Foundation is asking for donations to help finish the Hughes Project, which was launched in 2020. The project would transform part of Hughes Avenue into a park complete with an outdoor performance venue, a community…

Golden Apple Award: Janie Shelton, CSAS

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF) – Patience and kindness are job requirements for any good kindergarten teacher. Janie Shelton magically blends those qualities in her classroom at CSAS. Setting a solid foundation for a lifetime love of learning earned Ms. Shelton the Golden Apple Award. Fannie Moore is the lower school principal at CSAS. She explains, “Ms. Shelton is a wonderful teacher….

WRWOS: Rossville Middle celebrates their Georgia REACH Scholar

Shealyn Crowley wins $10,000 scholarship

ROSSVILLE, Georgia (WDEF) – Dr. Robert Stinson of Rossville Middle says “Today he recognized… a really good student, from a pool of really really good students, to represent our school in our district as a Georgia REACH Scholar. Ultimately what it means for Shea is that over the course of four years she’ll receive $10,000 in addition to any other…

Local state representative penning abortion exceptions bill

Rep. Yusuf Hakeem says bill would address situations of rape, incest, health of mother

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) — Tennessee Representative Yusuf Hakeem is working on a new bill that could provide exceptions to the state’s current abortion law. Hakeem says he’s tasked state attorneys with developing a new bill in the state’s House of Representatives. It would propose exceptions to Tennessee’s abortion law regarding issues of rape and incest, as well as the health and…

Protecting yourself against Cyber Monday scams and beyond

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)-“Even like recently my own wife she got scammed accidentally because she was trying to do something off eBay” Anyone can be scammed in they are not vigilant about checking links and making sure the offer is real. Even the spouse of cybersecurity consultant and Juris investigations CEO Andrew Sternke. “She was trying to order a Lego set…

Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball rallies to win 69-66

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)- The Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball team won a major mid-major battle with a 69-66 decision over visiting Murray State. The game came down to the final shot. There were 14 lead changes and five ties over the 40 minutes. Categories: Sports – Local Sports News, Sports – UTC Mocs Tags: Basketball, Chattanooga Moc, local sports, men’s basketball,…

From The Archives: 1980 Parking Garage

They hoped it would solve parking problems for shoppers, but it didn't

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Chattanooga turned off the parking meters to attract holiday shoppers downtown through Saturday. There is a long history of trying to improve the parking situation for downtown stores. 42 years ago, shoppers were abandoning downtown for the suburbs. Before the age of malls, the big department stores were all downtown. And for Christmas, the city put up…

Hamilton Place opens to safe, strong Black Friday

Mall officials say annual big shopping day felt fully "normal" again for first time since 2019

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — Black Friday shopping often invokes two thoughts — saving big on gifts for loved ones at Christmas or, sometimes, watching shoppers actually fight for them. Fortunately, the latter was not seen at Hamilton Place, which was prepared to keep large crowds safe as customers began entering the building at 7 a.m. “We do have a…