ATHENS, Tennessee (WDEF) – Officials in McMinn County are announcing indictments in a sex offense investigation involving students at McMinn Central High School. The victims, so far, are nine male teenagers from the schools. Seven are under 18 years of age. A grand jury has indicted 38 year old Melissa Blair for having sex with them. The 18 counts include…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Chattanooga Police are issuing a warning about a rash of overdose deaths in our area that they blame on fentanyl. They say the city has seen 10 overdose deaths since the first of the month. Police say: “If you are struggling with a substance abuse problem, please reach out to the Hamilton County Coalition / M. L….
If you’re having trouble getting your kids to brush their teeth, here’s a way to make it fun and teach them at the same time.
The case that’s captured the Tennessee Valley’s attention since 2018: a two-year-old girl dead; her babysitter’s boyfriend charged with killing her. On Monday, a jury found Benjamin Brown of Soddy-Daisy guilty, but not for the felony murder charge prosecutors wanted. Brown was convicted of lesser charges: criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. Those lesser charges could have a major impact…
The TSSAA announced last week that they are moving several high school football games from Friday to Thursday next fall. They’re doing it to address a shortage of officials. We spoke with a trio of local coaches who are down with moving one game to Thursday. According to Notre Dame coach Charles Fant, the decision to play Thursday games was…
Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) McCallie hit 58 percent of their shots on Monday in beating Bradley Central 73-50. The Bears had a hard time with Big Blue big man David Craig. The 7’1 Craig was 6 of 8 from the floor in scoring 15 points. Kollin Claridy pumped in a career high 25 points for McCallie. Aide n McClary led the Bears with…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Today a pair of Cleveland firefighters began a nine day walk to the State Capitol in Nashville. They took a pit stop at Wired Coffee in Ooltewah to speak with News 12 about their mission. “What we are doing is raising awareness of PTSD in the fire service, and we are trying to get a bill passed,…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) — Chattanooga retiree Ronnie McGill described it as if a battle had been won. For the first time in more than three decades, he and the fellow residents of Memphis Drive here in Chattanooga won’t have to worry about rampant sewage flooding their neighborhood. “Our prayers answered out here,” McGill said. “That’s for sure.” For years, residents of…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – “I don’t understand what the jury was thinking,” says Annie Shell’s father David Shell. A jury took two days to decide Benjamin Brown of Soddy-Daisy is guilty of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment in the 2018 death of two-year-old Annie Shell. He was initially charged with felony murder and aggravated child abuse. The jury’s verdict was…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Rich Sulley knows trees better than most. Fact of the matter is, Rich is in Chattanooga for one reason: look at our trees. Rich is an inventory arborist. He travels all across the country. For the past three years, he’s made his living, working alone, checking everything there is to know about trees. Big ones, tall ones,…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – A jury on Monday found Benjamin Spencer guilty in the death of two year old Annie Burkett. But it was not on the original charges. In the trial that began last week, prosecutors said the Annie and her sister were in the care of Brandi Giannunzio in August of 2018. But she went to a hair salon…
HARRISON, TN (WDEF) – The early teenage years are a challenging time in most of our lives. A well-timed compliment can put pep in your step and change your entire outlook. That’s the reason a student at Brown Middle came up with the Wow Notebook. Whitney Whitaker is an English Language teacher at Brown Middle. She remembers, “Karina came to…
Physical therapist, Dr. Justine Richmond, describes some of the different benefits of dry needling.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — Some doctors are using tech to help their patients avoid pain pills. “I wanted to get off opioids as quickly as I could, obviously. But also I didn’t want to have a lot of pain,” said Bob Main, a knee replacement patient. That’s why Main decided to use a different method to recover from surgery. Orthopedic…
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (UTC Athletics) — The Chattanooga Mocs fought a hard second half Saturday afternoon at The McKenzie Arena before falling 65-62 to East Tennessee State in Southern Conference women’s basketball action. Chattanooga moves to 6-19 on the year and 4-6 in league play while the Bucs improve to 3-19 overall and 3-7 against the SoCon. The Mocs trailed 40-24…
It’s time for the defense to present its case. Just a day after the jury heard from the Medical Examiner, saying a toddler was shaken so hard, blood got on her brain. Benjamin Brown took the stand in his own defense of the felony murder charge from the 2018 death of Annie Shell. After three forensic pathologists testified about the…
(gomocs.com) CHATTANOOGA — After earning a thrilling 71-69 victory on national television the first time around, the Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball team is set for its highly anticipated rematch with second-place Furman for a key Southern Conference tilt on Saturday afternoon inside Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. Chattanooga (21-5, 11-2 SoCon) is coming off a 65-47 victory over Western Carolina…
Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) The Notre Dame girls edged Boyd Buchanan 31-30 for their district tournament title on Friday night at Silverdale Academy. The Irish enjoyed a 12 point lead going to the fourth quarter before the Bucs staged a comeback. Boyd cut the lead to two with 40 seconds left when Notre Dame’s Makyla Skaggs hit a corner three to make it…
LaFayette, GA-(WDEF-TV) The LaFayette Ramblers won a top ten showdown with LFO on Friday night at LaFayette High School to complete a perfect regular season. The third ranked Ramblers beat the 9th ranked Warriors 77-51. LaFayette put the game away with a huge third quarter. Aidan Hadaway tossed in a game high 27 points. Jamichael Davis paced LFO with 22…
Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) Former Notre Dame and Chattanooga Mocs stand-out Kareem Orr will also be at the Super Bowl. He’s a defensive back for the Los Angeles Rams. Orr’s high school coach Charles Fant says it’s pretty surreal to have one of your former players in the Super Bowl. Said Fant:”Couple of days ago I got some pictures of him. He had…
Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) The Cincinnati Bengals take on the Los Angeles Rams in this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Leading the charge for the Bengals’ defense is Chattanooga’s own Vonn Bell. From Ridgeland to the Big Game, News 12’s Angela Moryan has his amazing story. Said Ridgeland head coach Craig Pritchett: “When he had the interception,(in the AFC Championship game) I started to run…
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)-The jury trial continues for a man accused of a 2018 murder of a nearly 3 year old girl. Benjamin Brown’s trial for the death of two-year-old Annie Shell had multiple medical experts speak their opinion on the case. Forensic Pathologist Dr. Michael Baden was called as an expert and said he can’t say if Annie fell or…
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – A local non-profit will be busy next week doing its part to help our homeless neighbors. Next Friday, local nonprofit Pursuit of Happiness will be putting on its inaugural clothing drive for the homeless community located on 11th street. The clothing drive is intended to provide those living in the tent city with essentials, but organization C-E-O…
CLEVELAND, Tennessee (WDEF) – Yesterday in Cleveland, Little Lambs Daycare caught fire while children were napping inside. The fire was quickly visible to those in nearby businesses. “Basically, it was a pretty crazy situation that was going down. I heard a bunch of commotion in the gym, and we all ran out and saw a huge fire, so obviously we…