News - Friday, June 5, 2026

The puppet stands only a few inches tall, but bringing it to life requires patience measured not in minutes but in fractions of an inch.

In Matt Eslinger’s small home studio, he leans over a miniature figure. His camera waits for the next frame. He adjusts a hand slightly and presses a Bluetooth controller.

Ask Matt Eslinger about stop-motion animation, and the conversation will turn to the artists who helped define the medium.

At the top of the list is legendary animator Ray Harryhausen, whose creatures in films such as “Jason and the Argonauts” and “Clash of the Titans” captivated generations of moviegoers.

For anyone curious about stop-motion, Matt Eslinger has no shortage of recommendations.

His list spans decades of filmmaking, from childhood favorites to modern masterpieces. He cites “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Coraline,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” and Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs” as examples of the medium at its creative peak.

Rows of blooms stretch across the property in vibrant shades of pink, yellow and purple. Children crowd around the goat pens while couples stroll through flower-draped archways and pause for photographs among the gardens. Months of planning, planting and hard work have finally culminated in this moment.

A New York-based duo known for blending jazz, soul and storytelling will bring a vintage atmosphere to Chattanooga this month. Acute Inflections, a jazzy R&B pair with a minimalist sound built on voice and upright bass, is scheduled to perform June 14 at The Granfalloon.

Strong associations do not run on one person’s leadership. They move forward because members step up, share their time and bring different strengths to the table.

This Director Spotlight features Beverly Boss, whose path to real estate started with coaching and helping people prepare for big life transitions. That same service mindset carries over into their work as a Realtor and how they show up for Greater Chattanooga Realtors.

As your new graduate prepares to step into the next chapter of life – whether that’s more education or starting a career – one of the best things you can do is help them understand how to use credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards wisely. They can be powerful financial tools, but without some basic knowledge, they can also lead to trouble.

The Chattanooga Fire Department has formally established a Community Risk Reduction Division to coordinate and expand its prevention, education and outreach efforts across the city.

The new division will focus on identifying community-specific risks and implementing programs designed to prevent emergencies before they occur, according to a department announcement.

You don’t know. You just don’t. Not because you’re ignorant, but because the information’s new, you’re still learning, you need directions somewhere or your body’s doing something weird. You’re smart, but you can’t know everything, and that’s OK. 

By Rhiannon Potkey

After an unprecedented run of success under former head coach Tony Vitello, the University of Tennessee baseball program hit a few stumbling blocks to begin the Josh Elander era.

The Vols had a quick exit from the NCAA Tournament, going 0-2 for the first time in program history and getting eliminated in the regional round for the first time since 2019. Tennessee opened the tournament last Friday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with a 7-3 loss to East Carolina in 14 innings. The Vols saw their season end the following day, losing 5-4 to Virginia Commonwealth.

Buying a car is a major investment, especially when everyday costs keep rising. It can seem especially daunting given that the average price of a new vehicle is close to $50,000 in 2026.

This is why the experts at Edmunds have compiled a list of the five least expensive vehicles on sale in 2026.

The NCAA is on the cusp of extending Division I athlete eligibility from four years of competition to five and essentially setting an age limit, just the latest development on a topic that has been a point of contention in college athletics for decades.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — June is widely recognized as Pride Month, but a handful of Republican governors have bestowed alternative titles that both supporters and opponents view as counterprogramming.

Without directly saying the idea was to replace Pride, the governors of Indiana and Tennessee rebranded June as Nuclear Family Month to celebrate units made up of "one husband, one wife and any biological, adopted or fostered children."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is again seeking to boost the struggling U.S. coal industry, with an announcement expected Thursday to spend nearly $700 million to support coal-fired power plants and coal exports.

A White House official said the administration will use authority under a Cold War-era national defense law to support 13 coal plants across the country and help build coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia — the first new U.S. coal plants since 2013. The money will also help restart a shuttered coal-fired power plant in Maryland and support construction of a long-delayed coal export terminal in Oakland, California.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied Thursday after falling oil prices and yields in the bond market eased the pressure on U.S. stocks. Banks, small companies and other stocks that had earlier been left behind by the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology led the way.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is on course to pass legislation that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy despite opposition from Republican leaders who warn the bill will undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans cleared the first hurdle on Thursday as they are struggling to pass legislation to fund President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agencies, narrowly beating back a Democratic effort to permanently block Trump from creating a $1.776 billion settlement fund for payouts to allies who claim they were persecuted by the government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American journalist who has lived in China since 2010 and worked for several state media organizations there pleaded guilty in a U.S. court Thursday to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, the Justice Department said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is still waiting for clarity from the Pentagon following President Donald Trump's back-and-forth on troop levels in Europe, upending the lives of military personnel and potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars, two U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The manufacturer of a firefighting foam that contaminated the water supply in northeastern Wisconsin with PFAS chemicals for decades agreed to a $10 million settlement with the state, the governor and attorney general announced on Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — As if Scott Pelley's years in a glamorous, globetrotting, seven-figure dream job weren't enough, he's pulled off one more thing to stir your envy: a cutting takedown of his boss that went loudly public.

The "60 Minutes" correspondent's searing rebuke of CBS management this week, in which he questioned his bosses' credentials and motives, may have ended in his firing, but amounted to the sort of mouthing-off that workplace peons typically only fantasize about.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Television and movie actors on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify a four-year contract with studios and streaming services, a month after their union leaders negotiated a deal they say provides protections against synthetic actors created by artificial intelligence.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Trump administration's push to expand oil and gas development in Alaska faces a new test Friday, with the latest lease sale set for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Opponents of drilling in the refuge's coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska's arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. But supporters of drilling see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury's financial crimes arm wants banks to help identify payroll schemes tied to people living in the country illegally, as part of the Trump administration's latest measure to clamp down on immigration.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — also known a FinCEN — issued an advisory Friday to banks that tells them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring unauthorized workers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American job market continues to show surprising strength, shrugging off the high costs of the Iran war.

Employers added 172,000 jobs in May – roughly double what forecasters had expected – and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a face-to-face negotiation on the conflict, saying he sees "no point" in it.

Thursday's letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader's 26 years in power.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that developing countries have gained an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of output by Western countries has shrunk.

In a speech to the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin accused the West of undermining the global economy and finances with unilateral sanctions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agencies early Friday, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Thursday that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy, overriding objections from Republican leaders who warned the bill would undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his "permanent" choice for the critical security post.

The Republican president's disclosure that he was ruling out installing Pulte in the position full-time came after bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte's lack of national security experience. The position requires Senate confirmation, something that lawmakers indicated was unlikely if Pulte were the nominee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate blocked an extension early Friday of a key surveillance program used by U.S. intelligence agencies as concerns mounted over President Donald Trump's selection of federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte to serve as director of national intelligence.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — Miles from shore, Chris Kemp pumps and reels as he battles a fish 150 feet below. Eventually, it gives up, and the 10-pound red snapper is hauled aboard the Jodie Lynn II.

There's barely time to rejoice. As Kemp raises his trophy for a picture, the charter boat's captain rushes over and then drives a knifelike tool into the fish's gas-filled bladder. The procedure, required by federal law, is intended to improve the fish's chances of survival after release.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last time Washington, D.C., residents chose a new delegate to Congress and a new mayor in the same election, gas was $1.33 a gallon and George H.W. Bush was president.

This fall they will do it again — under starkly different circumstances.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife and three other individuals, in the latest move by the Trump administration to pressure the island's leadership that drew immediate condemnation from Havana.