Volkswagen workers vote for UAW representation
Weather Update: Friday – April 19, 2024
Birchwood Pike temporarily shuts down after serious crash
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — A serious wreck took place on Birchwood Pike Friday evening, according to Hamilton County authorities.
The crash involved entrapment on the 9200 block of Birchwood Pike, just off of Highway 58.
HCSO stopped all traffic on Highway 58 for LifeForce to land.
The sheriff’s office asked drivers to temporarily take another route.
The road has been reopened as of 6 p.m. on Friday. They ask drivers to use caution at this time as emergency crews leave the scene.
Tractor trailer loses load, causes I-24 backup
Spring events around the Chattanooga area
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — From carnivals and barbecues to spring markets, there is plenty going on the next few months around the scenic city. With spring and warm temperatures finally here, many people are ready to get out and enjoy it.
Sometimes though, it’s hard to keep up with all that is going on.
So, here is a list of upcoming spring events in and around the Chattanooga area.
April
April 11-21 – Spring Carnival at Northgate Mall. Event times vary by day.
April 15-20 – Chattanooga Burger Week.
April 19 – Food Truck Friday in Red Bank from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 3817 Redding Road.
April 19 – KIC Nights ’70s Night from 5 to 9 p.m. at 5704 Marlin Rd. in Chattanooga.
April 19 – Music at Mars: Back to the ’80s, starting at 7 p.m. at 117 N Chattanooga St. in Lafayette.
April 19-20 – Chatsworth Rodeo begins at 8 p.m. at 560 Highway 52 East.
April 19-20 – Ringgold Junk Market. Begins at 8 a.m. in Downtown Ringgold
April 20 – Springtime in Chattanooga Market at Coolidge Park from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
April 20 – Zero Waste Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1250 E 13th St. in Chattanooga.
April 20 – Chattanooga BBQ & Bluegrass Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Camp Jordan in Chattanooga.
April 20 – Ruby Falls Battle Below the Clouds from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1720 S. Scenic Hwy. in Chattanooga.
April 20 – Sculptures in the Sky Kite Festival from 12 to 5 p.m. at Montague Park in Chattanooga.
April 20, 27 – Chattanooga River Market from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of the TN Aquarium.
April 26-28 – Chattanooga Seafood Bash at Coolidge Park. Event times vary by day.
April 27 – Decatur Spring Around the Square from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 365 Abel Avenue.
May
May 4 – Spring City Blooms Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Front St. in Spring City, TN.
May 5 – Strawberry Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1801 Reggie White Blvd. in Chattanooga.
May 11 – Dolly Days in Ringgold from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
May 13-19 – Chattanooga Pizza Week 2024.
May 17 – Food Truck Friday in Red Bank from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 3817 Redding Road.
We will continue updating this list as we find more events.
Registration open for free summer media camp in Chattanooga
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The City of Chattanooga is offering a free summer camp for teenagers focusing on music and media productions.
“GO LIVE” Summer Media Teen Camp will return from June 3 to July 26. The camp will last from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
It will be held at the South Chattanooga Community Center, located at 1151 W. 40th Street.
The camp is free to attend, but there are only 30 spots available.
Catered to teens aged 13 to 17, the professionals will guide participants in creating music, videos and graphics. At the end of the summer, campers will be featured in a special showcase.
To register for this camp, contact Kesseler Cuffman or Mark Thomas by phone at 423-643-6810 or by email at [email protected].
Motorcyclist dies after hitting deer on Birchwood Pike
Thursday Throwback: News 12’s 25th anniversary in 1979
Father found guilty of cruelty to his kids after 2023 beating
RINGGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) – A jury convicted a Ringgold man this week of beating his two children.
24-year-old Dillan Michael Tennant was convicted of cruelty to children and has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
During his trial this week, prosecutors say the beating happened a year ago when the two- and three-year-old kids were staying with Tennant’s parents.
Investigators say Tennant became enraged over a mess they made in their bedroom and hit them repeatedly over the next couple of days.
Witnesses called it the worst bruising cases they had ever seen.
Still, Tennant never sought medical treatment for the children.
“Child abuse and crimes against children will always be aggressively prosecuted by my office and ADA Reisman’s prosecution team and the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office did an amazing job in doing that in this case,” District Attorney Clayton M. Fuller said. “This child abuser will have plenty of time to clean his room in the Department of Corrections.
Weather Update: Thursday – April 18, 2024
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Friday: Mostly cloudy. Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Not as warm. Highs: upper 70’s. Winds: SW 5-10 mph, becoming NW 5-10 mph late afternoon.
Overnight: Mostly cloudy. Cool. Lows: upper 50’s. Winds: N 5-10 mph.
Saturday: Partly sunny. Mild. Highs: mid 70’s. Winds: N 10-15.
Overnight: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers. Cool. Lows: lower 50’s. Winds: N 5-10 mph.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy. Scattered showers. Much cooler. Highs: lower 60’s. Winds: N 10-15.
Overnight: Mostly cloudy. Cold. Lows: mid 40’s. Winds: N 5-10 mph.
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We will have to endure a couple periods of showers and thunderstorms over the next 12-24 hours as a strong frontal system builds southeast into the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachian region. The initial period of thunderstorms is associated with strong convective development that brought damaging winds and even some tornadoes across the Midwest earlier in the day on Thursday. While there is a chance for a few storms to become severe between 2 am and 8 am EDT early Friday morning, much of the intense convection which impacted the mid Mississippi Valley will weaken as it shifts into the mid South, including the News12 viewing area, due to a stabilizing lower level atmosphere as temperatures drop to minimums in the lower and middle 60’s.
There will likely be a break in the precipitation around the mid to late morning time frame, with more thunderstorms developing ahead of the low pressure system cold front pressing northeast from the mid Mississippi Valley into the eastern Great Lakes. Mesoscale computer models indicate the timing of this final area of showers and thunderstorms would be during the afternoon, just ahead of the cold front. Because the front will not arrive until later in the day, high temperatures could still reach the upper 70’s to near 80 degrees on Friday. At this time, there appears to be a sufficient amount of instability and wind shear for the possibility of a few severe thunderstorms on Friday. The mode of severe weather would be limited to straight line, outflow wind gusts, along with the possibility of small hail.
We should be able to squeeze out a dry and partly sunny Saturday, with cooler high temperatures in the northerly flow behind Friday’s front. Highs will be limited to the lower and middle 70’s on Saturday, which is seems quite cool after the lower and middle 80 degree warmth we experienced on Thursday. However, lower and middle 70 degree maximums are just about average for mid April.
Unfortunately, skies will be mostly cloudy on Sunday, and there will be a good chance for scattered showers as an upper level trough glides from the Lower Mississippi Valley toward the southern Appalachians. The broken sky condition, rain, and northerly low level flow will result in a much cooler day. Highs will be limited to the lower 60’s on Sunday. The good news is it looks like we may be able to enjoy dry weather with lots of sunshine to start the work week on Monday and Tuesday, as high temperatures rebound back closer to normal, around 70 to 75 degrees.
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National Drought Summary for April 11, 2024
Summary
Moderate to heavy rain amounts fell across parts of the Southeast and Northeast this week, leading to localized improvements to ongoing drought and abnormal dryness in the Southeast, and mostly unchanged conditions in the Northeast, aside from western New York, which missed out on the heavier precipitation and saw minor degradations.
The central third of the contiguous U.S. saw a mix of improvements and degradations, based on where heavier precipitation did or did not fall and where dry and windy conditions continued. Parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, the Michigan Lower Peninsula, southern Missouri and southeast Kansas saw improving conditions after heavier rains fell there. Meanwhile, moderate drought expanded in northwest Missouri and portions of west-central Wisconsin, Minnesota, northwest Iowa, the far southern Michigan Upper Peninsula and far northeast Wisconsin. Much of Texas remained the same, with a few degradations in the southeast corner and several degradations in central and southern Texas where long-term drought conditions are still causing impacts. Recent dryness and warm and windy weather in northwest Oklahoma and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles led to abnormal dryness developing there.
Short-term dryness and high evaporative demand led to large areas of degrading conditions in northeast Wyoming, while west-central Wyoming, north-central Colorado, northeast Utah, western Montana, and the northern Idaho Panhandle all saw areas of improvement due to lower evaporative demand and improving snowpack recently. In Hawaii, an active trade wind pattern continued, leading to some improvements on the windward (northeast) slopes of the Big Island and Kauai, while a small area of moderate drought developed on the leeward (southwest) portion of Kauai. In Puerto Rico, a few improvements were made where recent rainfall has improved streamflows and crop stress, and lessened rainfall deficits and raised reservoir levels.
No changes were made to the Drought Monitor this week in Alaska.
– NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu
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What will our volunteer observers be doing?
Each time a rain, hail or snow storm crosses your area, volunteers take measurements of precipitation from as many locations as possible (see equipment). These precipitation reports are then recorded on our Web site www.cocorahs.org. The data are then displayed and organized for many of our end users to analyze and apply to daily situations ranging from water resource analysis and severe storm warnings to neighbors comparing how much rain fell in their backyards.
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Hixson mother says school lost child during dismissal
Red Bank, Trust for Public Land restoring historic cemetery
RED BANK, Tenn. (WDEF) – The city of Red Bank is teaming up with a preservationist group to restore a long-forgotten cemetery.
Called “The Field”, this historic cemetery was only recently discovered during construction of the White Oak Park Connector Trail.
The cemetery, abandoned since 1913, was primarily used to bury African-Americans during the early 20th century, and has since fallen into disrepair according to the Trust for Public Land.
Currently, the site is deep in the woods and inaccessible to the general public, and has no gravestones, only iron makers.
Additionally, some of the property the cemetery is on is currently private property.
Red Bank Parks and Recreation Director Jeffery Grabe, said, “I think some of the short-term goals, is working with the Cemetery Advisory Board, the TPL, and any of the other stakeholder groups that we bring in… with figuring out how down the line in the future to obtain those property rights, if need be, with TPL leading that as a separate thing.”
The Trust for Public Land tells News 12 that this project is likely to take months and ask interested people to wait on a path to be constructed to the cemetery after they complete restoration work before seeking out the site.
They believe over 2,000 people were buried at the cemetery.
Red Bank, Trust for Public Land partner to work on historic cemetery
Hopebridge celebrates Autism Month with First Responders Day
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Hopebridge Autism Therapy Center hosted First Responders Day on Thursday.
“Today we are celebrating World Autism Month with our First Responder Day. We invited Station 10 with their fire truck and then also an EMS ambulance as well,” said Peyton Marsh, Community Ambassador, HopeBridge. “We are looking forward to providing exposure for the kids and also the volunteers.”
HopeBridge is the largest autism therapy provider in the nation.
Peyton Marsh with Hopebridge says it’s important for children to be aware of emergency protocol.
“Children with autism or even people with autism, can have an apparent sense of danger and they can also have subtle signs of distress. And so, it is important for not only the kids to be aware of their safety procedures, but also first responders as well,” Marsh said.
One in 36 children in the United States have Autism, experts explained.
However, Mike Garren with Hamilton County EMS wants to encourage children not to be afraid of first responders.
“We just love being involved in the community and letting the children see what we do and how we do it. And see that we are really friendly, and we are not scary folks,” said Mike Garren, Public Engagement Specialist with Hamilton County EMS.
And one day, Garren hopes to inspire children to have a career in emergency services.
“One thing, I hope is to inspire them and get them interested in a career as they grow up. Some of them may want to be a firefighter, a paramedic, or a police officer. So I think it is very important to interact with the young folks,” Garren concluded.
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HCSO: Hamilton County Jail corrections officer attacked by inmate
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said a corrections officer was assaulted by an inmate on Wednesday.
According to the sheriff’s office, inmate Nicholas Pillows attacked Sergeant Stephen Roberts on April 17 at the Hamilton County Jail.
HCSO said Sgt. Roberts was trying to move Pillows from an isolation unit in the George 3 Housing Unit.
Authorities said Pillows had broken the glass screen of the video visitation kiosk in his isolation unit.
Pillows then attacked Sgt. Roberts with a jagged piece of the broken glass several times. Corrections officers then finally subdued him.
However, Sgt. Roberts received two cuts behind his left ear.
The HCSO is pressing additional charges against Pillows for the assault.
Sgt. Roberts received treatment for his injuries and was released from the hospital.
“The injuries Sergeant Roberts sustained in this altercation represent the ever-present challenges and serious dangers our corrections services personnel face on a daily basis while performing their duties. Weapons can be made or forged from literally anything, including in this particular incident, a piece of broken computer screen from a video visitation unit. These dangerous, weapons can cause serious injuries or even death to our personnel. We are fortunate Sergeant Roberts was not more seriously injured in this incident. I am proud of the hard work and service our Corrections Deputies provide this county and its citizens each and every day,” stated Sheriff Austin Garrett.
WARNING: Graphic Image
Chattanooga police arrest break-in suspect who had a stolen gun
Tree falls on fire station in Chattanooga overnight
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — A tree fell on a Chattanooga Fire Department station overnight.
It happened around 4 a.m. Thursday morning. The tree fell on Station 16 on Lupton Drive.
CFD said the firefighters were shaken, but no one was injured.
The fire station is still open and in service.
Police chase ends with juvenile arrested for stealing car
1 dies in DeKalb County school bus crash, no students involved
Erlanger unveils new AI Fluoroscopy System
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Erlanger unveiled their newest fluoroscopy machine in their GI Lab on Wednesday.
“Wednesday, we celebrated our new state of the art interventional endoscopy inauguration, which is one of the most advanced equipment that we have in Tennessee for performing some of the most innovative, most advanced GI procedures in the state,” said Dr. Arslan Kahloon, Chief of Gastroenterology for Erlanger.
Erlanger’s fluoroscopy machine is the first Image-Guided system in the state of Tennessee.
Dr. Arslan Kahloon with Erlanger says this machine will help manage complex conditions.
“We have a lot of transfers coming in from over almost 100-mile radius from within the region and also taking care of some of the complex patients that come in as part of the trauma service, provision of the Erlanger system, we are able to help provide some of those complex procedures using this equipment,” Dr. Kahloon said.
The Fluoroscopy Machine comes with AI radiation reduction technology.
Dr. Samuel Igbinedion with Erlanger explains what procedures this new system is capable to do.
“Patients who have trouble swallowing, patients who have disorders of nausea, vomiting, and complex procedures, we now can fix that with the scope without them having to go under the knife,” said Dr. Samuel Igbinedion, Director of Endoscopy at Erlanger.
And with new Technology, Dr. Igbinedion says Erlanger is committed to taking care of more patients.
“It gives me in a sense, a very safe and very exciting environment to be able to do work that we know we can do. I think just seeing the commitment and seeing that as a team we are all walking in the same direction, to give our patients the best care that they deserve. I think on a grand scale of things that really warms my heart,” Dr. Igbinedion concluded.
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