News - Friday, January 30, 2026

On a clear afternoon in East Tennessee’s McMinn County, a light breeze moves across a ridgeline draped in muscadine vines. From the tasting room at Tsali Notch Vineyard, the view stretches across farmland shaped by weather and time.

The scene feels pastoral, even serene, but the operation behind it is anything but passive. Every row of vines, every bottle on the shelf and every visitor who makes the drive reflects a set of decisions shaped by Tennessee law, Tennessee climate and Tennessee economics.

A bottle of wine shouldn’t require a glossary, credit check or a chemistry degree. Yet for many shoppers staring down a wall of labels, the experience can feel intimidating – hundreds of bottles staring back and no clear way to know what’s worth buying.

From the center of the vineyard, the land opens in every direction. Mountains stack against the horizon. The sky feels as big as a Billy Wilder western. Rows of vines run long and straight, broken only by the gradual slope of the ground.

Vineyard manager JD Dalton has been standing in this view for most of his adult life. He took over management of the farm in May 2009, the same year the owners purchased the property and its original 92 acres. Seventeen years later, the vineyard has more than doubled in size, stretching across 208 acres with roughly 6,000 vines rooted in clay soil that Dalton knows as well as his own backyard.

By the standards of the global wine industry, Tennessee is not supposed to work.

The state’s climate is hot, humid and wet, with summer rainfall arriving precisely when grapes are ripening and most vulnerable to disease. Spring temperatures can swing wildly, putting young shoots at risk of frost damage that can wipe out an entire season in a single night.

Tennessee does not have a single, widely recognized wine capital. Instead, wineries are distributed across the state, often located near population centers or established tourism corridors.

As a result, public familiarity with Tennessee wine tends to be shaped by a handful of destinations that attract large numbers of visitors, alongside smaller operations that primarily serve regional audiences.

The Tennessee Wine Trail (tennesseewines.com/tennessee-wine-trail) is a statewide tourism program administered by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. It links participating wineries across multiple regions rather than following a single route. Visitors can stop at any participating location, collect stamps or digital check-ins and earn prizes after completing a set number of visits.

Last week was a reminder of how quickly winter weather can change, but for home sellers, the focus remains the same: making a property feel warm, safe and inviting, regardless of the forecast.

The months of December through February typically see less robust real estate activity in many areas, largely due to the holidays and colder weather, according to the National Association of Realtors. That seasonal slowdown can make winter feel like a difficult time to sell a home.

The Chattanooga Housing Authority Board of Commissioners last week approved a transition in the People Implementation Entity for the Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant Program at College Hill Courts.

The board voted to end the authority’s contract with Urban Strategies and move responsibility for the role in-house, with CHA staff assuming oversight of the people-focused components of the initiative.

Morgan Stanley announced that Will Hunt, a financial adviser in the firm’s Wealth Management office in Chattanooga, has been promoted to executive director. Hunt, a Chattanooga native, has been with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management since 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Louisiana Monroe in 1994.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will deliver a free public lecture Feb. 5 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Trethewey’s lecture, titled “The Role of the Humanities in Our Personal and Civic Lives,” will examine the role of the humanities in American public life and begin at 6 p.m. in the University Center Tennessee Room. The event will include a lecture, readings from Trethewey’s work, a question-and-answer session and a book signing. Books will be available for purchase through Barnes & Noble. Parking will be available in the adjacent Lupton Hall Parking Garage and will be free beginning at 5 p.m. Nearby garages will be reserved for a basketball game at McKenzie Arena.

When planning for retirement, Social Security isn’t just another item on your financial checklist. For women, especially, it’s often the cornerstone of a secure retirement. The Social Security Administration reports that nearly 55% of Social Security benefit recipients are women. For many, it’s their primary source of retirement income.

Submitted for your consideration, a handful of under-the-radar bills that bear watching this legislative session.

The first, House Bill 1513, addresses the potential for corruption of the political system. For further corruption, I should say, given the already fetid state of affairs.

Robert Saleh, the Tennessee Titans’ new head coach, is about to undertake a big challenge given the way ownership shifts coaches and executives in and out constantly.

Saleh’s plate will be plenty full as the Titans hope he can bring some of the leadership characteristics that apparently followed Mike Vrabel out the door on his way to greener pastures and more success in New England.

Titans fans, how are you feeling about Mike Vrabel?

In perusing comments and the like on social media, there are plenty of Titans fans who are happy that Vrabel guided the New England Patriots to Super Bowl XL and are hoping he will bring home the prize he never quite got to in Tennessee.

The redemption of Mike Vrabel versus the redemption of Sam Darnold. That’s sort of how Super Bowl XL shapes up.

Vrabel’s story is well documented and familiar to Titans fans who watched him get fired two years ago, and then after sitting out 2024, is back and has rebuilt the New England Patriots seemingly overnight, even using a handful of ex-Titans players and coaches as part of that process.

Before you came out, you didn’t talk about it. But then you started to share, a little here a little there with people you trusted. Before that, though, no discussions. 

Same thing with your finances: you didn’t talk about them, either, and so you didn’t learn. But “Money Proud” by Nick Wolny fixes all that.

The BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE are two popular midsize luxury SUVs that offer the latest in luxury, space and technology. Of course, neither vehicle is aimed at the cost-conscious car shopper, but this is a situation where you do get what you pay for.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Ja'Kobi Gillespie had 21 points, J.P. Estrella scored five of his 17 points in overtime, and Tennessee beat Georgia 86-85 on Wednesday night for coach Rick Barnes' 850th career victory.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi dispatched 500 National Guard troops to clear roads blocked by fallen trees and Tennessee had nearly 1,000 linemen scrambling to restore power to thousands of Nashville homes as the Southern states raced to recover from a crippling winter storm before another blast of dangerous cold hits Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla's annual profit plunged to its lowest level since the pandemic five years ago as it lost the title of the world's biggest electric vehicle maker to a Chinese rival and boycotts hammered sales.

The EV company run by Elon Musk reported Wednesday that net income last year dropped 46% to $3.8 billion. It was the second year in a row of steep declines. The drop came despite the introduction of cheaper models and Musk's promise to remain laser-focused on the company after a foray into U.S politics.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday took a step toward rolling back a rule that limits smokestack emissions that burden downwind areas in neighboring states.

The so-called "good neighbor" rule is one of dozens of regulations that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has targeted for reconsideration or repeal. The Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the EPA could not enforce the rule, which is intended to block coal-fired power plants and other industrial sites from adding significantly to air pollution across state lines.

NEW YORK (AP) — No longer confined to the partisans and activists, the fierce backlash against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has begun to break out across American culture, spanning the worlds of business, sports and entertainment.

Bruce Springsteen released a new song Wednesday that slammed "Trump's federal thugs." OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told employees that "what's happening with ICE is going too far," referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And lifestyle icon Martha Stewart lamented that "we can be attacked and even killed."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Pretti was forcefully taken to the ground by federal immigration agents after kicking out the tail light of their vehicle during a Minneapolis protest 11 days before he was shot and killed by Border Patrol officers, videos that emerged Wednesday show.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — If there's been a soundtrack to life in Minneapolis in recent weeks, it's the shrieking whistles and honking horns of thousands of people following immigration agents across the city.

They are the ever-moving shadow of the Trump administration's Operation Metro Surge.

NEW YORK (AP) — As layoffs pile up, workers are feeling increasingly anxious about the job market.

In the U.S., economists have said that businesses are largely at a "no-hire, no fire" standstill, leading many to limit new work, if not pause openings entirely amid economic uncertainty. Hiring has stagnated overall — with the country adding a meager 50,000 jobs last month, down from a revised figure of 56,000 in November.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits inched down modestly last week, remaining at historically healthy levels despite recent high-profile layoff announcements.

Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 24 fell by 1,000 to 209,000 from the previous week's number which was revised upward by 10,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting 205,000 new applications.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shares of Altria dipped Thursday after the tobacco giant reported flat earnings due to declining cigarettes sales and challenging competition for newer products, including flavored nicotine pouches.

The Richmond, Virginia-based company said fourth-quarter revenue slid 2% to $5.8 billion, mainly driven by lower cigarette sales. Tobacco companies have long had to manage shrinking sales of their main product category, but Altria executives said cigarettes have been increasingly squeezed by the introduction of unauthorized disposable electronic cigarettes, which are often cheaper and come in fruit and candy flavors.

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft said Wednesday that its revenue for the October-December quarter was $81.3 billion, up 17% from the same time last year as it furthers its goal to expand global adoption of its artificial intelligence tools.

The company reported net profit for the quarter of $30.9 billion, or $4.14 per share, beating Wall Street expectations. Those results excluded the impact from Microsoft's investments in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are proposing sweeping changes to the nation's voting laws, a long-shot priority for President Donald Trump that would impose stricter requirements before Americans vote in the midterm elections in the fall.

The package expected to be released Thursday reflects some of the party's most sought-after election changes, including requirements for photo IDs before people can vote, proof of citizenship and prohibitions on universal vote-by-mail and ranked choice voting — two voting methods that have proved popular in some states. The Republican president continues to insist that the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was rigged.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is looking at basing the new Board of Peace, which is tied to both the Gaza ceasefire and larger international ambitions, in the Washington building that formerly housed the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to four administration officials.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's high-profile deployment of federal troops to six U.S. cities has cost taxpayers roughly $496 million through the end of December, and continued deployment could cost over $1 billion for the rest of the year, according to new data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are increasingly concerned that immigration enforcement is becoming a political liability in the upcoming midterm elections after two people were killed by federal agents during President Donald Trump's crackdown in Minneapolis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's increasingly one place that U.S. senators want to be — anywhere but Washington.

Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota became the fourth sitting senator to seek leadership of a home state in 2026 when she announced her campaign on Thursday. That's the most in recent history, according to an Associated Press analysis of congressional retirements.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies Thursday, potentially bringing the government a step closer to a partial shutdown if Republicans and the White House do not agree to new restrictions on President Donald Trump's surge of immigration enforcement.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — No. 18 Vanderbilt and Mississippi are flipping the locations for their home-and-home men's basketball series because of the impact of last weekend's winter storm.

The two teams had been scheduled to face off Saturday at Ole Miss. That game will now take place at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium instead, with a tip-off time of 5 p.m. Central.

BELZONI, Miss. (AP) — Hundreds of National Guard troops in ice-stricken Mississippi and Tennessee mobilized Thursday to clear debris and assist people stranded in cars or stuck at homes still without electricity as the Southern states raced to recover from a crippling winter storm before another blast of dangerous cold hits Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are proposing sweeping changes to the nation's voting laws, a long-shot priority for President Donald Trump that would impose stricter requirements, including some before Americans vote in the midterm elections in the fall.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration could reduce the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate, the president's border czar said Thursday, noting he has "zero tolerance" for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing Twin Cities operation.