News - Friday, October 16, 2026

Kelsey Grammer has spent decades bringing fictional characters to life. Now, the award-winning actor wants to make sure Americans don’t forget the real people who helped shape their country.

During an appearance Oct. 10 at Chattanooga’s Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, Grammer discussed his plans to direct a Civil War drama about a Union soldier whose descendants are seeking a posthumous Medal of Honor. He also revealed that he’s developing a mobile app designed to reconnect Americans with their history.

Kelsey Grammer has spent more than four decades entertaining audiences, most famously as psychiatrist Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier.” But these days, the Emmy-winning actor is pursuing projects that reflect another long-standing passion: American history.

Thrasher Elementary School on Signal Mountain is working with Chattanooga’s Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center to develop what could become the nation’s first Medal of Honor elementary school designation, an initiative that could eventually serve as a model for schools across the country.

At 40 years old, James Marcum found himself alone on a Colorado mountainside, struggling to breathe as crushing pain gripped his chest.

The Chattanooga cardiologist had been skiing with friends when an artery supplying blood to his heart suddenly went into spasm, cutting off circulation and causing a clot to form. Marcum immediately recognized the symptoms of a heart attack.

What will be known for the rest of this generation as the Long Horn Restaurant building has undergone its second makeover, this time bringing a touch – or, more accurately, a full-on body slam – of casual Mediterranean cuisine to the North Shore.

The Chattanooga Public Library is hosting The Tivoli Foundation: Your Ticket to History, an exhibit celebrating the history and restoration of Chattanooga’s Tivoli Theatre. The exhibit opened Oct. 10 on the first floor of the Downtown Library and will remain on display through Feb. 26, 2027.

Tennessee Realtors has named Travis Close the 2026 Realtor of the Year.

The award, presented during the association’s annual Fall Convention in Memphis, recognizes the member who best represents the character and professional profile of a Realtor.

John P. Franklin Funeral Home will host its annual festival Sunday, 2-4 p.m. in the funeral home parking lot, 1101 Dodds Ave. The free event will feature food, music, dancing and activities for all ages. Families, neighbors and friends are invited to attend.

The appraisal is an important part of many real estate transactions, but it can also be one of the least familiar steps for buyers and sellers. With changes underway in appraisal reporting, this is a good time to understand what might look different and what questions to ask.

Finishing your estate plan is a big step, but failing to notify the people involved can lead to confusion and complications when it’s time to use it. Since the events that bring those plans into action, such as an accident, serious illness or hospitalization, rarely come with a warning, talking with your family about your estate plan before a crisis occurs can provide clarity and help reduce uncertainty, conflict and stress later.

Tennessee stands at a fork in the road, faced with a vexing choice: Should the state stop trying to kill people or just get better at it? Opinion appears sharply divided.

Two botched executions using lethal injection protocols got us here. In May, officials fumbled for an hour without being able to establish an IV line for Tony Carruthers, resulting in a one-year reprieve for his death sentence.

As the Tennessee Titans ended the 2026 preseason, new head coach Robert Saleh told reporters he would stake his job on Cam Ward being a success.

“This kid’s not going to fail. Obviously, I put my job on that one, but he’s not going to fail. He’s special,” Saleh said Aug. 30.

When the Titans took Cam Ward No. 1 overall in last year’s draft, they probably had no idea the results would be like this after 22 games.

Based on his results at three different collegiate stops – Incarnate Word, Washington State and Miami – Ward was the NCAA’s all-time leader in career touchdown passes with 158. 

The reopening of Chattanooga’s Walnut Street Bridge is serving as the inspiration for a new exhibit at the Jewish Cultural Center that looks beyond bridges as physical structures to explore the connections they can represent.

“Bridge,” on display through Nov. 20, uses artwork to examine the ways bridges can connect generations, cultures and traditions while also representing passages from fear to safety, barriers to communication and the divide between seeing a need and responding to it.

DeWayne Brown II may have felt a little lonely last spring as his former University of Tennessee men’s basketball teammates either graduated or transferred. At one point, Brown was one of only two returning scholarship players remaining, along with sophomore guard Troy Henderson.

Fall is typically when automakers release the majority of their models for the new year. Most will be continuations of prior designs, but there’s also a good number that are all-new or getting major redesigns. 

If you’re thinking about buying a new vehicle in the next six months, it might be useful to know which ones have major changes or offer notable breakthroughs. To give you an inside scoop on what’s coming in the next few months, the automotive experts at Edmunds have picked five vehicles that promise to be well worth the wait.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a lawsuit from John Brennan that sought to force the Justice Department to preserve investigative records so that the former CIA director can challenge any eventual criminal case against him as a selective and malicious prosecution.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — At least eight states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults.

The company's chatbot model, ChatGPT, is giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging paranoia and coaching people to hurt others or commit suicide, Iowa's lawsuit said. At the same time, the chatbots are pretending to be agreeable and compassionate while preying on the vulnerable, according to the lawsuit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration sued California election officials Thursday, asking a judge to bar the state from counting mail-in ballots for next month's midterm elections from people the federal government has identified as "likely" noncitizens until their status can be confirmed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI employees fired for their roles in the investigation of President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents at his Florida estate sued on Thursday to get their jobs back, calling their terminations unlawful acts of "political retribution."

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials are moving ahead with a plan to allow specialty pharmacies to produce certain peptides, a class of largely unregulated injections that have become popular among followers of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other wellness influencers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Open enrollment for Medicare plans begins Thursday and enrollees will face a slew of changes that go into effect in 2027.

During the enrollment period, which ends Dec. 7, people will have the opportunity to choose between traditional Medicare and privately run Medicare Advantage plans in their area, as well as prescription drug plans. Those changes go into effect on Jan. 1.

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV met with a top aide on Thursday and resumed working from the hospital, as doctors reported his lung had recovered well from surgery to remove a cancerous nodule.

Leo's post-operative tests remained within normal levels and his physiotherapy session Thursday involved full mobility exercises, with the pope going about his daily activities independently, said the update from Leo's personal doctor, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and the head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli hospital, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.

WASHINGTON (AP) — High gas prices are intensifying inflation and vacuuming up more of Americans' dollars, yet consumers are still digging deep to spend, powering the economy, at least for now.

A slew of economic data Thursday showed that inflation accelerated last month as more expensive oil and gas began to lift prices in other parts of the economy, including shipping and warehousing, before the increases reach most Americans.

NEW YORK (AP) — Don't count out U.S. shoppers when it comes to shelling out money for the winter holidays despite higher fuel prices and other financial pressures.

The nation's largest retail trade group said Thursday that it expects American consumers will collectively spend $1.01 trillion this November and December, which would be 4.2% more than during the same months last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale inflation rose more than expected last month on a big jump in fuel costs as rising prices become a bigger economic challenge for millions of Americans, and a growing political problem for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes muscled higher following a shaky day of trading.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Thursday after erasing an early-morning loss and pulled closer to its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia defended her legal background and justified her truncated inaugural briefing as she navigates a rocky first week as the president's chief spokeswoman.

Zacharia sat down for an interview Thursday with the conservative Human Events outlet. In it, she said she did not have time to get fully prepared ahead of her first briefing on Tuesday and that it was always the plan to keep it short because President Donald Trump would field questions from journalists later that morning.