News - Friday, January 9, 2026

Lisa Goolsby found the deeper meaning of her business – the undercurrent of purpose beneath the day-to-day operations at Wired Coffee Bar in Ooltewah – while drinking a cup of coffee in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Finding the café where she ordered her cup of brew had been easy. She merely stepped into a mall near the university where she teaches marketing a couple of months each year, took in the cluster of coffee shops inside and chose one almost at random.

For a while now in Chattanooga, nearly every conversation about a newly opened Chinese restaurant has returned to the same refrain: it’s good, but it isn’t the Chinese restaurant the city needs.

What does Chattanooga need from a Chinese restaurant? The same things it needs from any restaurant: authenticity and quality. Everything else – freshness, range, technique, hospitality – harmonizes under those two standards.

As 2025 comes to a close, the Chattanooga Fire Department is marking a year defined by operational growth, expanded training and response capabilities and a significant leadership transition while positioning the department for continued progress in 2026.

I often say to clients, “Every move should feel like a sunrise.” As I prepare to take the reins and welcome 2026, this phrase has taken on a broader meaning, one that reaches far beyond a buyer stepping into a new home.

M-O-V-E. Four letters that make such an impact. By moving, we evolve to set a clear direction and take visible steps (large or small) to make a meaningful difference for our members and the public we serve. When we move, we show up, energize, connect with others and adapt to change.

Millions of Americans are pledging to improve their financial lives as the calendar flips to a new year. But without a concrete plan, those well-intentioned resolutions often fade quickly.

Financial goals consistently top the list of new year’s resolutions. A 2025 Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards study shows that financial resolutions are prominent, with saving more money (45%) and reducing debt (32%) ranking among the top three goals.

Welcome back to Flick Picks, your twice-monthly movie fix. From an animated biblical epic to a conspiracy-soaked arthouse satire and a nostalgic rom-com revisit, this installment runs the gamut of faith, weirdness and pure fun.

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My ears perked when I first learned Angel Studios was releasing an animated film about the biblical David. We’re studying his life at church, and I couldn’t help wondering how a story centered on a warrior king – one whose legacy includes adultery and murder – could be transformed into a family-friendly animated feature.

A slate of new Tennessee laws approved during the first session of the 114th General Assembly will took effect Jan. 1, ushering in changes across commerce, elections, public safety, health care, taxation and government operations.

The legislation reflects policy decisions adopted during the 2025 session and touches nearly every aspect of daily life, from vaping regulations and health insurance coverage to voter registration requirements and paid leave for state employees. Lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene for the second session of the General Assembly Jan. 13.

It is both telling and unsurprising that the Oxford University Press Word of the Year for the recently departed 2025 is “rage bait.”

Rage, after all, seems to have become the default emotional setting for many Americans. Most Americans, maybe. Rage bait – the spelling should probably be squeezed together – serves to stoke that condition.

After a season marked by inconsistency and underwhelming results against quality opponents, the University of Tennessee football program is undergoing wholesale changes on the defensive coaching staff and through the transfer portal.

The Vols (8-5, 4-4 SEC) finished the season with back-to-back losses, falling to Vanderbilt in the regular season finale and to Illinois in the Music City Bowl. Between the setbacks, head coach Josh Heupel began the dismantling of the defensive staff by firing defensive coordinator Tim Banks and hiring Jim Knowles to take his place.

There are many types of head coaching candidates out there with varying degrees of experience and expertise. Some have been head coaches before, while others would add a fresh face to the coaching carousel.

So maybe it’s time for the Tennessee Titans to think outside the box with their upcoming hire.

If an electric car stirs your interest but the lifestyle changes sound daunting, consider a plug-in hybrid. A plug-in hybrid is simply a rechargeable hybrid with a larger battery than a standard hybrid that enables a short range of fully electric driving. 

NASHVILLE (AP) — Mikayla Blakes scored 20 points to lead five Vanderbilt players in double figures, and the seventh-ranked Commodores stayed undefeated, beating Missouri 99-68 on Thursday night.

Vanderbilt (16-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) is a win away from matching the 17-0 start by the 1992-93 squad, which reached the program's lone women's Final Four.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith confirmed Thursday that the Tennessee Titans have reached out to interview him for their head coach opening.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored the only goal in a shootout to lift the Nashville Predators over the New York Islanders 2-1 on Thursday night.

Ryan O'Reilly evened the score with a short-handed goal late in the second period and Juuse Saros made 30 saves for Nashville before denying all three Islanders attempts in the tiebreaker.

A starting quarterback at Washington allegedly reneging on a lucrative deal to hit the transfer portal. Another starting QB, this one in the College Football Playoff, awaiting approval from the NCAA to play next season, an expensive NIL deal apparently hanging in the balance. A defensive star, sued by his former school after transferring, filing a lawsuit of his own.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit Thursday against President Donald Trump's administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs, citing concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families.

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione is due in federal court Friday for a pivotal hearing in his fight to bar the government from seeking the death penalty against him in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday, calling it the largest private investment in the state's history.

LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is preventing non-paying users from generating or editing images after a global backlash erupted over sexualized deepfakes of people, but the change has not satisfied authorities in Europe.

The chatbot, which is accessed through Musk's social media platform X, has in the past few weeks been granting a wave of what researchers say are malicious user requests to modify images, including putting women in bikinis or in sexually explicit positions.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — CES 2026 offered a glimpse of a future that feels straight out of a sci-fi movie: bendable screens, paper-thin TVs and cars and gadgets that can think for themselves as they get to know you and your family's wants and needs.

As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it, "The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here."

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal immigration agents shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland on Thursday, a day after an officer fatally shot a woman in Minnesota, authorities said.

The shooting drew hundreds of protesters to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at night, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield vowed to investigate "whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority" and refer criminal charges to the prosecutor's office if warranted.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As anger and outrage spilled out onto Minneapolis' streets over the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a new shooting by federal officers in Oregon left two people wounded, sparked additional protests and elicited more scrutiny of enforcement operations across the U.S.

Misrepresented and fabricated images spread widely on social media in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman, Renee Good, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal officers have encountered opposition in nearly all of the cities targeted by President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement campaign. But it was in Minnesota — a state in daily conflict with the Trump administration this year — that a 37-year-old woman was shot and killed by an immigration officer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sluggish December hiring concluded a year of weak employment gains that have frustrated job seekers even though layoffs and unemployment have remained low.

Employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, nearly unchanged from a downwardly revised figure of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, its first decline since June, from 4.5% in November, a figure also revised lower.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations is forecasting that the global economy will grow by 2.7% this year, slightly lower than last year's estimate, citing the impact of higher U.S. tariffs, economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.

U.N. economists predicted that growth would edge up to 2.9% in 2027. That's still well below the average 3.2% growth between 2010 and 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hurt economies around the globe. The estimate for 2025 is 2.8%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday that would extend expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as 17 renegade GOP lawmakers joined every Democrat in support.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to claiming that Venezuelan oil is now under his control, President Donald Trump is mincing no words. But no small part of that oil belongs to China under contracts it struck with Caracas years ago, setting the stage for a delicate diplomatic dance in the next few weeks.

BANGKOK (AP) — The United States, which played a major role in ending border clashes last year between Thailand and Cambodia, will be providing $45 million in aid packages to the two Southeast Asian countries in an effort to ensure regional stability and prosperity, a senior U.S. State Department official said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has agreed to display a plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, rebuffing House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said the commemorative memorial does not comply with the law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela's ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. military said, as the Trump administration continues to target sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors from the forces the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared "there is no safe haven for criminals" as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge said Friday that she expects to temporarily block efforts by the Trump administration to end a program that offered temporary legal protections for more than 10,000 family members of citizens and green card holders.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said at a hearing that she planned to issue a temporary restraining order but did not say when it would be issued. This case is part of a broader effort by the administration to end temporary legal protection for numerous groups and comes just over a week since another judge ruled that hundreds of people from South Sudan may live and work in the United States legally.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Drivers for Lyft and Uber protested self-driving Waymo taxis in San Francisco on Friday, urging state regulators to exercise greater oversight of autonomous vehicles, given recent events in which the cars killed pets and blocked traffic.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela's ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal immigration officers are pulling out of a Louisiana crackdown and heading to Minneapolis in an abrupt pivot from an operation that drew protests around New Orleans and aimed to make thousands of arrests, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis school system will offer families the option of remote learning for a month amid federal immigration enforcement in the city, the district said.

Under the temporary plan, teachers will simultaneously deliver lessons from their classrooms to students in the classroom and at home. The district provided the update late Thursday in an email to teachers that was obtained by The Associated Press.