News - Friday, February 6, 2026

Andy Witkowski has a question for pet owners – one that can break your heart even as he asks it.

He first invites you to imagine stepping outside with your dog for a routine walk. The sun is out, the air is fresh and your pet is happily working off some pent-up energy.

On Market Street, Smith + Howard’s Chattanooga office occupies a workspace that feels built for scale. From here, the independent CPA firm serves closely held businesses, nonprofit organizations and growing companies whose needs stretch beyond tax returns into advisory, transactions and strategy.

Chattanooga Airport recorded a new all-time passenger high in 2025, serving 632,384 travelers, a 14% increase over 2024, airport officials report.

The milestone continues a period of rapid growth since April Cameron became president and CEO in 2023. Passenger traffic has increased more than 41% over the past three years and nearly 68% over five years, placing Chattanooga among the fastest-growing small hub airports in the country.

A major new work is being added to the permanent collection at Sculpture Fields at Montague Park with the public unveiling of “Meridian Coda,” a sculpture by acclaimed artist Ed McCullough.

Scheduled for installation at the 33-acre outdoor art museum at noon Friday, Feb. 6, “Meridian Coda” represents the culmination of McCullough’s lifelong artistic practice. The work explores enduring themes of family, connection and loss – ideas that shaped his work for decades.

Two University of Tennessee at Chattanooga communication students have earned national recognition in the 2025 Hearst Awards, placing among the top student communicators in the country in competitive national contests.

Clara Paulson, a junior Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College, placed 12th nationally in the Hearst Photo One Competition. Emily Mitchell, a fall 2025 graduate with a degree in communication and a minor in rhetoric and professional writing, placed 13th nationally in the Hearst Multimedia Visual Storytelling Competition.

Have you ever had fast-food regret? I’m not talking about the regret that sets in when your digestive system files a formal complaint after you consume 1.2 pounds of greasy, processed substances masquerading as food. I mean the wave of horror that hits the moment you’re locked into a slow-moving drive-thru, boxed in by curbs and traffic, with no way out but through.

What began as a conversation in a living room in 1991 has grown into one of Tennessee’s oldest accredited land trusts, protecting more than 1,500 acres of land on Lookout Mountain and shaping generations of young conservation leaders.

Lookout Mountain Conservancy, known as LMC, is preparing to celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2026, a milestone leaders say reflects both long-term land preservation and an expanding focus on people, education and community engagement.

The Chattanooga Film Festival will return for its 13th year this summer with a mix of in-person and virtual programming.

The festival will take place June 18-21 at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre, with a virtual component running June 19-27. Organizers also released a first wave of films and special events planned for the 2026 edition.

If you’re a local business owner, you’re juggling many priorities: growing revenue, managing expenses, supporting your team and planning for your own future. What if one tool could help with all these goals?

A workplace retirement plan might be that solution and can, directly or indirectly, offer benefits that extend beyond simple savings.

The folks who claim to want to Make America Great Again seem to have a pretty low opinion of some Americans. Guess which ones?

A House bill by Rep. Johnny Garrett, (R) Goodlettesville, would effectively bar from federal office anyone from Tennessee who is not a “natural-born citizen of the United States.” It defines that as someone “born in the United States or born abroad to parents who are United States citizens.”

With the average cost of a new vehicle hovering around $50,000, buying a new SUV might seem well out of reach if you’re on a tight budget. But automakers have increasingly been selling entry-level SUVs that are smaller and less expensive than all-star SUVs like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. 

That little star on your U.S. driver’s license is about to save you $45.

Air travelers in the U.S. without a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification, such as a passport, are subject to a new fee that began Feb. 1.

It isn’t a penalty or a fine – it’s payment for noncompliant travelers to use the Transportation Security Administration’s new alternate identity verification option called ConfirmID. But the process takes extra time, and paying the fee doesn’t guarantee you’ll make your flight.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday will launch TrumpRx, a website it says will help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers at a discounted rate at a time when health care and the cost of living are growing concerns for Americans.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is distributing more than $1 billion to its 16 universities for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which ended last August.

The total distribution jumped more than $200 million from the previous year. The current total includes $37.4 million retained by universities that participated in the College Football Playoff and bowl games.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Telehealth company Hims & Hers said Thursday it will launch a cheaper, off-brand version of the weight-loss pill Wegovy, just weeks after drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched its highly anticipated reformulation of the blockbuster medication.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says it would be "up to the president" to decide whether or not to sue Kevin Warsh, Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, if he fails to lower interest rates.

During remarks at a private black-tie dinner of the elite Alfalfa Club on Saturday night, Trump said he might sue his newly selected Fed chair nominee if he didn't lower interest rates. Asked about it later that night by reporters, Trump said the remarks were made in jest. "It's a roast," Trump said. "It was all comedy."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that demands made by Democrats for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are "unrealistic" and warned that the Department of Homeland Security will shut down next week if they do not work with Republicans and the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in his first game since Halloween, Jakob Chychrun added a pair of goals and the Washington Capitals beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Thursday night.

Logan Thompson returned in goal from an injury of his own and made several sparkling saves, and the Capitals won for the fourth time in five games entering the Olympic break. Tom Wilson, who is on Canada's roster for those Olympics, also scored for the Caps.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Mikayla Blakes scored 37 points, 19 in the fourth quarter, to rally No. 7 Vanderbilt to an 85-84 win over No. 16 Kentucky on Thursday night.

Blakes scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to give the Commodores (22-2, 8-2 SEC) a 59-58 lead and they stretched the lead to double figures with 6:15 left in the game. Four free throws from Aubrey Galvin in the final 19 seconds sealed the win.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Sandra Mosqueda watched with an amused smile as her 2-year-old son, Atreus, began sweeping the floor with a miniature mop.

Atreus is part of the inaugural class of infants and toddlers receiving free preschool in a citywide program in San Antonio, Texas. It's something his mother doesn't take for granted. As a child, she herself wasn't able to start preschool this young. In the case of her two older boys — now in first grade and kindergarten — the free preschool set them up for success in elementary school.

LONDON (AP) — The European Union on Friday accused TikTok of breaching the bloc's digital rules with "addictive design" features that lead to compulsive use by children, in preliminary charges that strike at the heart of the popular video sharing app's operating model.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A division of the U.S. Agency for International Development eliminated by Trump administration cuts last year was reborn Thursday as an independent nonprofit, allowing its international work to continue in a new form.

This reincarnation of USAID's Development Innovation Ventures as the nonprofit DIV Fund is thanks to $48 million raised from two private donors. It is a rare instance of continuation after the Trump administration froze all foreign funding last year and unleashed Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to tear down the agency that delivered U.S. foreign aid for 60 years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking back on the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump boasts that he has resurrected the American economy by imposing big import taxes on foreign products. He made his case in a recent opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, chiding the paper and critics, including mainstream economists, who predicted that tariffs would backfire, raising prices and threatening growth. "Instead,'' he wrote, "they have created an American economic miracle."

BOURJ HAMMOUD, Lebanon (AP) — Tiny Lebanon sits on one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East and its government is weighing whether it can use that stockpile to restore a crippled economy while its citizens are looking at gold as a way to protect their battered assets.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina and the United States agreed Thursday to ease restrictions on each other's goods in an expansive trade deal that boosts a drive by President Javier Milei to open up Argentina's protectionist economy and a push by the Trump administration to reduce food prices for Americans.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon sales surged 14% during the fourth quarter, helped by strong holiday spending and a better-than-expected growth in its prominent cloud computing unit.

But shares fell 11% in after hours trading on Thursday as investors appeared to be spooked by the Seattle-based tech company's plans to increase capital spending by nearly 60% to $200 billion from last year's $128 billion as it sees opportunities in artificial intelligence, robots, semiconductors and satellites. The company's fourth-quarter profits also were slightly below analysts' projections.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used his social media account to share a video about election conspiracy theories that includes a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle.

The Republican president's Thursday night post immediately drew backlash for its treatment of the nation's first Black president and first lady. It was part of a flurry of social media activity that amplified Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and a Trump attorney general from his first term finding no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston regularly games out responses to threats like destructive tornadoes or hazardous waste leaks. He's added a new potential menace: the federal government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees have rejected a top-secret complaint from an anonymous government insider alleging that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard withheld classified information for political reasons.

A federal jury this week found Uber to be legally responsible in a 2023 case of sexual assault — ordering the rideshare giant to pay $8.5 million to a woman who said one of its drivers raped her during a trip using the platform.

The verdict, reached Thursday in Arizona, follows years of criticism against Uber's safety record, much of which spans from thousands of incidents of sexual assault reported by both passengers and drivers. Because Uber drivers are categorized as gig workers — working as contractors, rather than company employees — the platform has long maintained it's not liable for their misconduct.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Elon Musk's "Vegas Loop," a network of underground tunnels to ferry passengers in Teslas, was under fresh scrutiny this week from Nevada lawmakers who raised concern about alleged workplace safety and environmental violations.

Lawmakers spent hours grilling state safety officials over alleged violations by the Boring Company, the Musk-owned venture with tunneling projects also planned in Nashville and Dubai. Company officials declined to attend but provided written answers defending the project.

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House border czar Tom Homan's announcement that enforcement in Minnesota was being unified under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement followed months of internal grumbling and infighting among agencies about how to carry out President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market roared back on Friday, as technology stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin halted its plunge, at least for now.

The S&P 500 rallied 2% for its best day since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,206 points, or 2.5%, and topped the 50,000 level for the first time, while the Nasdaq composite leaped 2.2%.

Energy Star, the program that helps guide consumers to more energy-efficient appliances and electronics, has survived the Trump administration's plans to cut it.

The program received sufficient support in Congress that it was included in budget legislation signed this week by President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Friday requested records related to firms partially owned by the husband of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, taking the extraordinary step of scrutinizing the spouse of a sitting House member.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's racist social media post featuring former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle was deleted after a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats who criticized the video as offensive.