News - Friday, July 3, 2026

Imagine a Coca-Cola can stretched to 240 feet in diameter and nearly five stories tall.

Now imagine two of them rising from the landscape along Interstate 75.

For months, motorists have driven past the towering concrete structures near South Chickamauga Creek, watching them gradually take shape. Most people never get a closer look.

Outside Chattanooga’s Downtown Public Library, ribbons of blue-green flow across the plaza, weaving between oversize flowers painted in shades of pink and cream.

Created as part of Chattanooga’s Amplify Chatt initiative, the mural transforms an ordinary stretch of sidewalk into a welcoming public gathering place.

This installment of Food FAQ dives into the flavorful world of Middle Eastern cuisine with lunch at the brand-new Shawarma Taste in Red Bank. Ready your palate!

I had a fantastic lunch at Shawarma Taste today! I’m thrilled to have them in Red Bank.

Ah, then it seems my job here is done.

People say you get what you pay for. But in today’s economy, it can feel like you’re paying more and getting less. Riverfront Nights turns that equation on its head.

Instead of asking audiences to settle for second-rate entertainment, Riverfront Nights delivers far more bang for your buck than you’d expect from many ticketed shows – let alone a free concert.

The week of June 13-18, 12 members of Greater Chattanooga Realtors traveled to Washington, D.C. for the 2026 Realtors Legislative Meetings, where they met with members of Congress and congressional staff to advocate for policies that increase housing supply, build stronger communities and support self-employed professionals.

Nate Ament didn’t shy away from tough coaching when he chose to attend the University of Tennessee. Rick Barnes and his staff were going to make sure the highly-touted freshman wasn’t cut any slack.

After being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of last week’s NBA Draft, Ament expects nothing to change in his new home.

Margaret had saved diligently for decades. Every paycheck, a portion went toward her retirement account. Then, the day finally came: she retired. Suddenly, the hardest part wasn’t the saving. It was learning to spend.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many retirees find the shift from building savings to living off them emotionally difficult, even when they’ve planned carefully. Here are five smart strategies that can help you feel more confident about what’s ahead.

Your tongue can barely stay behind your teeth. Is it Rocky Road that’s tempting you or chocolate chip cookie dough? Maybe something with caramel on top or just plain vanilla dressed up in a rainbow of sprinkles. 

Have you ever had a bad ice cream cone on a hot summer’s day? Probably not – so dip into the new book “Ice Cream Queen” by Lokelani Albanza, and have a taste.

Happy birthday to us United States of Americans! We’re (almost) 250! And we don’t look a day over, what … 234? 218? Remember the Bicentennial and that flotilla of tall sailing ships in New York Harbor? Remember anything else? Seems like yesterday, right?

Two new hybrid SUVs have hit the market in the last two years from brands known for their outdoorsy images: the Jeep Cherokee and the Subaru Forester. The Jeep Cherokee has been redesigned for 2026 after a three-year hiatus. Notably, every new Cherokee has a hybrid power train that gets more than 30 mpg.

NEW YORK (AP) — After weeks of complaints from frustrated fans, StubHub is being sued by customers who say the ticket reseller's inability to fulfill orders crushed their dreams of going to World Cup.

Julia Reeker Moghal and Reuben Renteria, both of California, sued the ticketing giant this week in federal court in New York, alleging that "false and misleading" sales practices left them without the tickets they purchased for group stage matches last month.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have donated $26 million to charities this week ahead of their Friday wedding at Madison Square Garden.

The donations were spread out across 20 local and national charities, according to Swift's publicist, with many located in areas where the couple has deep ties. The announcement did not include any mention of Swift and Kelce's wedding, but a law enforcement official briefed on security plans has told AP that the wedding will be held Friday, with a smaller rehearsal dinner Thursday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Olympian was indicted Thursday on a felony charge in what President Donald Trump has called vandalism of the Reflecting Pool.

David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, was indicted on a single count of property destruction in Washington, D.C. court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to intervene after a judge ordered a former Fox News reporter to be fined $800 a day if she refuses to reveal her confidential source for stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the FBI's Chicago field office is abruptly leaving his position, according to a resignation message he sent to colleagues and multiple people familiar with the situation who said he was told to retire.

Douglas DePodesta has served as special agent in charge in Chicago, one of the FBI's largest offices, for nearly two years and has been with the bureau since 2002.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers slowed hiring last month and added only 57,000 jobs, less than half the previous month's total and a sign companies still have a cautious economic outlook.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the unemployment rate declined to a low 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though the drop mostly occurred because many people out of work gave up looking and were no longer counted as unemployed.

NEW YORK (AP) — More drops for chip stocks and other AI winners overshadowed gains for the majority of Wall Street.

The S&P 500 was little changed Thursday, even though more than two-thirds of the stocks within the index rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1% to another record, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8% after erasing an early gain.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consultants tied to President Donald Trump may have engaged in financial fraud, tricking donors who wanted to support the nation's bipartisan 250th anniversary organizer into sending their money instead to a rival group set up by his administration, according to a report released Thursday by House Democrats.

Today will be a fairytale. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding is slated to take place Friday at Madison Square Garden, where the couple's closest friends and family — and several hundred more — will attend what is expected to be an elaborate event inside the iconic New York venue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday demanded firmer commitments from the Trump administration that it would not go ahead with plans to renovate a historic golf course in Washington, D.C., until the matter was resolved in court, pointing to comments by the president as an indication that the changes could be moving ahead.

WASHINGTON (AP) — On Saturday, President Donald Trump's administration plans to launch Trump Accounts, tying the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence to an effort to boost financial independence for American kids.

Under the program, parents can open special investment accounts for any child born during Trump's second term and automatically receive $1,000 from the government. Accounts can be opened for older children — as long as they don't turn 18 before the end of the calendar year — but they will not receive the $1,000. The accounts are set to open for deposits July 4, which is also the day the Treasury Department plans to transfer the $1,000 bonus.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday condemned senators who blocked changes to a world-first social media ban for children, saying tech giants would use the delay to destroy incriminating documents that could be used as evidence against them.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada took a step Thursday toward opening a new route for its vast oil reserves to Asian markets as Prime Minister Mark Carney advanced a Pacific Coast pipeline from Alberta, seeking to reduce the country's dependence on the U.S. while easing separatist tensions and preserving environmental protections.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has berated and belittled many of his European counterparts expected to attend next week's NATO summit in Turkey. But host Recep Tayyip Erdogan has drawn on his close ties with the U.S. president to secure his presence at the Ankara event — an appearance that may even come with a significant gift related to Turkish defense.

President Donald Trump has been warning recently that communism will pose a threat to the U.S. if Democrats win in the upcoming midterm elections.

"It's the biggest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, September 11th," he said on Wednesday, segueing into a political message as he visited the newly constructed Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump reshaped this year's U.S. Senate map by sidelining some Republican incumbents and promoting loyalists to replace them. Now the question is whether he'll put his money where his mouth is.

With four months to go until November's elections, it's still unclear how much MAGA Inc., the country's largest political war chest with $382 million in the bank as of last month, plans to spend on key races. The silence has persisted even as Senate Republican leaders have urged Trump's team, both privately and publicly, to pick up the tab for the president's decisions.