News - Friday, April 24, 2026

Losing your friends at a major music festival is an inevitability. It happens gradually. One person veers toward a food vendor, another disappears into a crowd pushing toward the stage, phones come out and then fail. Even when messages and calls connect, there’s no meaningful way to describe where you are in a sea of tens of thousands of people moving in every direction at once.

Totem cofounder Carter Fowler says the creators of Totem never seriously considered building an app to do what the device does because, at a fundamental level, a phone cannot do what Totem is designed to do.

Smartphones rely on centralized infrastructure – cell towers, Wi-Fi, satellites and power grids – but Totem’s technology is the opposite, he explains. It is decentralized, operating independently of those systems.

By David Laprad

On a warm Sunday afternoon, residents gathered at the Red Bank Community Center then spilled out toward a wooded trailhead that had been more than 60 years in the making. With a ribbon stretched across the entrance and a crowd of city leaders, partners and neighbors looking on, the city officially opened the Godsey Ridge Trail System – a project many described as both a milestone and a promise fulfilled.

As part of the opening of Godsey Ridge Trail System, Sunshine Loveless, director of SORBA Chattanooga, shared guidance on trail etiquette and safety for the new multiuse system:

• Before you ride or hike: Before heading out, riders should wear a helmet and perform a quick bike check, making sure tires are properly inflated, brakes are functioning and the crank and chain are in good condition. It’s also important to bring water and snacks and to wear appropriate clothing, including closed-toe shoes, for a safe and comfortable ride.

Long before Chef Kenyatta Ashford entered professional kitchens or won “Chopped,” he learned what food meant in a crowded Louisiana home, where meals were rooted in history and identity rather than presentation.

Growing up in a family in which his father was one of 13 siblings and his mother one of nine, gatherings were large, loud and anchored by dishes such as gumbo, red beans and rice and seafood-stuffed vegetables.

In a few months, we will observe the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That document announced the formation of a new nation and laid the foundation for the rule of law in that new nation.

With its soaring, aspirational proclamations that all persons “are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” the Declaration laid the groundwork for federal courts to interpret the Constitution and give meaning to concepts such as liberty, equality and justice.

The real estate market changes quietly at first, which is why it pays to watch the signals. Slightly more choices for buyers, a little more time to make decisions and increased negotiating room can reshape the buying or selling experience from one week to the next.

The city of Chattanooga is launching a new Down Payment Assistance Program that will provide up to $21,000 to qualifying first-time homebuyers through a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.

The program is designed to expand access to homeownership as housing costs rise and the average age of a first-time buyer climbs to 40 nationwide. Funds are available to households earning up to 120% of area median income – about $92,000 for a two-person household and $114,000 for a family of four.

The Hunter Museum of American Art will invite guests to step into an Alice in Wonderland-themed evening of entertainment April 24 on the museum’s River Terrace. Presented by Tremont Tavern and co-chaired by Amber and Dan Norton, the open-air event will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres, specialty cocktails and mocktails, themed activities and performances and a costume contest inspired by Wonderland. General admission includes food, drinks and dancing, while VIP tickets offer access to a private lounge, enhanced food and beverage options and valet service. Proceeds support the museum’s mission to provide arts education and community engagement.

Southern’s School of Education, Psychology and Counseling has received the 2025 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement, a national honor awarded by the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

The award recognizes educator preparation programs that achieve a perfect accreditation score with no stipulations or areas for improvement. Southern was the only institution in Tennessee selected and is among just 22 programs nationwide to earn the distinction this year.

Food City officials recently presented a $12,000 check to the Gamma Pi Boule Foundation, continuing a partnership aimed at supporting scholarships and community-focused initiatives.

The presentation, held inside a local Food City store, brought together company leadership and representatives of the foundation to mark the latest contribution.

As a person of faith, I find it heartwarming to witness the piety with which our Republican leaders model spiritual values for the country.

It starts at the top, of course, with President “Two Corinthians” Trump’s social media depictions of himself – first as a pope, then as a Jesus-like figure delivering divine, hands-on healing to a reclining, apparently ailing figure. Who looks oddly like Jeffrey Epstein.

The Audi Q5 and BMW X3 are among the most popular options for shoppers interested in a small luxury SUV. Each one offers a practical size, a classy cabin and a relatively affordable way to get an SUV with a luxury badge.

Notably, the Q5 and the X3 also received full redesigns last year. The BMW X3 adopted a radically different design inside and out. The Audi Q5’s exterior didn’t change much, but inside there’s a new emphasis on technology.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The criminal indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center this week was met with much outrage but little surprise from civil rights leaders, who have for more than a year prepared for heightened legal scrutiny from the Trump administration, and how to mount a coordinated response.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department's internal watchdog announced a review Thursday of the department's compliance with the law mandating the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, stepping into a politically sensitive saga that has shadowed the Trump administration for the past year.

In a spate of recent appearances in Congress, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recoiled almost every time a lawmaker referred to Medicaid cuts enacted in President Donald Trump's big 2025 tax and spending bill.

Throughout the budget hearings, many Democrats raised concerns about how the cuts could affect rural hospitals and leave vulnerable Americans without health insurance. Kennedy frequently interrupted them to claim no cuts existed.

OFF THE COAST OF RHODE ISLAND (AP) — Offshore wind turbines roughly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty were spinning off the coast of Rhode Island on Thursday, sending clean electricity to the region.

Wind farms are taking shape and operating along the East Coast, even as President Donald Trump seeks to end the U.S. offshore wind industry. He often talks about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to "shoot and kill" small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel.