News - Friday, October 2, 2026

It’s 4 a.m. in Chattanooga, and Alton Park Boulevard is asleep.

Unlike other city streets, it appears to be sleeping with one eye open.

Just past the crumbling concrete train trestle that welcomes drivers to Alton Park, a red GMC pickup truck with Georgia Bulldog-themed license plates is parked outside a small brick building. Despite the early hour, its glass front door glows warmly with light from inside.

When “Maus” was removed from the curriculum of an East Tennessee school district in 2022, some readers responded by trying to put more copies of the book into circulation.

Spencer Pennington remembers patrons bringing copies of Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust to the Northwest Georgia public library system where Pennington worked at the time.

A copy of George Orwell’s “1984” faces outward from a shelf at 2nd & Charles in Hixson, its black cover dominated by a watchful eye.

Nearby are Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” and Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.”

Imagine receiving an email with last-minute changes to your closing instructions or a phone call from someone who sounds exactly like a person you have been working with throughout your home purchase.

Would you know what to do next?

As a Realtor, I know how much trust buyers and sellers place in the professionals guiding them through a transaction. Protecting that trust is an important part of our work. This week, I’m sharing the National Association of Realtors Consumer Guide, “Fraud Red Flags,” to help buyers, sellers and homeowners recognize potential warning signs and know when to ask questions.

Scenic City Shakespeare will present a free outdoor performance of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at 7:30 p.m. at Greenway Farms, 4960 Gann Store Road. Additional performances will take place Oct. 3, 16, 17 and 24. Audience members should bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets, as seating is not provided. Reservations are recommended due to limited space. An ArtsBuild Artists Work Grant supports the production. Reservations

The Chattanooga Fire Department is urging residents to use caution when charging phones, laptops, e-bikes and other devices powered by lithium-ion batteries as part of this year’s Fire Prevention Week.

Fire Prevention Week, observed Oct. 4-10, will focus on the theme “Charge into Fire Safety: Safe Charging Is a Superpower.” CFD is partnering with the National Fire Protection Association to educate the public about reducing the risk of fires involving rechargeable batteries.

Giving to charity feels good, but understanding the tax benefits can benefit both the charity and you. Whether you donate regularly or are planning your first gift, knowing how charitable tax deductions work can help you make informed decisions while supporting causes you care about. Here are things to consider:

Here, there and everywhere:

• A candidate for governor you may never have heard of asked a candidate for governor you probably never have heard of to drop out of the race.

The first candidate is Jerri Green, who also happens to be the Democratic nominee in the race. She, or her campaign, called on Lauren Pinkston, an independent candidate, to abandon her bid. Pinkston, unsurprisingly, has declined.

Wearing orange-and-white checkerboard overalls with no shirt, Charles Lothamer stood nearby Hodges Library on the University of Tennessee campus with a plastic Home Depot helmet in his hand.

The Tennessee freshman had been awake since 7 a.m. on Friday and it was now 10 a.m. on Saturday. But no amount of sleep deprivation could prevent Lothamer from missing out on all the excitement surrounding his first big football game as a college student.

ESPN’s College GameDay made its 13th appearance in Knoxville. The guest picker for the pregame show was actor Johnny Knoxville, who grew up in South Knoxville and wore a full Tennessee uniform with shoulder pads to make his picks.

Tennessee sophomore civil engineering major Colby Lamb made a $1.5 million kick after being selected to take part in the weekly kicking competition sponsored by GameDay personality and former NFL kicker Pat McAfee.

Cam Ward had a chance to have a signature moment Sunday against the New York Giants.

Instead, he had his Will Levis “what the (insert expletive here) are you doing?” moment, throwing a game-ending interception on an ill-advised pass to the end zone with 17 seconds left and the Titans with two timeouts in their pocket.

The Titans are hoping the fourth time will be the charm, and the “win” column will see its first usage of the 2026 season. That said, Charm City residents the Baltimore Ravens are coming off a last-second win in Brazil last week, and look to dash the Titans’ hopes for a road win. Here are the Titans’ keys to notching that first W.

The Tesla Model Y has been the sales king of small electric SUVs since the moment it arrived. Many rivals have chased its success, but none have come close. Now it’s Rivian’s turn.

The Rivian R2 is the California EV automaker’s first small electric SUV, and it’s gunning for the Model Y. Rivian’s R1T truck and larger R1S SUV are excellent EVs, but their $80,000-ish price tags put them out of reach for most shoppers.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Christa Pike was in critical condition Thursday and receiving "lifesaving care" at a hospital, her lawyers said, a day after a failed attempt to execute her in what Tennessee's governor called a "deeply disturbing" outcome.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider whether a religious institution has a right to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary on residential property next to its Kentucky church.

The church's owner — a nonprofit formed by Roman Catholic priests — claims the Kentucky Supreme Court misconstrued a federal law and erroneously ruled against its plan to build a shrine on a residential plot that it bought for the project.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland is forming a bipartisan group of governors to respond to mounting concerns about the threats posed by artificial intelligence as he argued that states need to fill a void left by the federal government's inaction on the issue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is dispatching roughly 9,000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East, a U.S. official said Thursday. The bolstering of the American military presence comes as President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon.

NEW YORK (AP) — More swings in the bond market rattled stock markets around the world.

Thursday's moves were relatively modest on Wall Street after U.S. bond yields cranked higher but then gave back the gains later in the day.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and broke a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite also rose less than 0.1%.