News - Friday, October 26, 2018

Technology is often criticized for its isolating effects and it’s easy to make that argument when texting has replaced talking and people retreating into their phones instead of interacting IRL (in real life.)

But a new field of study at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee State University is harnessing an emerging technology to help people better understand each other.

With homecoming season well underway, Tennessee campuses are awash in school spirit. But the University of Tennessee system also is in flux, with a new board of inexperienced trustees, an interim chancellor at its flagship campus in Knoxville and an interim system president with little experience in higher education.

Attorney John Huisman has joined attorney Martin Pierce to form a new law practice, Pierce & Huisman, PLLC.

Pierce & Huisman will focus its practice on estate planning, elder law, wills and trusts, probate, conservatorship, special needs trusts, business succession planning, business transactions, entrepreneur law, start-ups, nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, employee benefits and retirement plans and tax law.

The Chattanooga Bar Association and the CBA’s Young Lawyers Division are organizing next year’s local high school mock trial competition. With the assistance of attorney members of both organizations, along with the Justices Ray L. Brock, Jr. and Robert E. Cooper American Inn of Court, the association hopes to provide jurors, judges and attorney coaches for the competition.

No one remembers why, but in 1978, a middle-aged family man named Rex Jackson left the sheet metal business and started a real estate company in LaFayette, Georgia. With little fanfare, he established a small storefront on the town square and began selling houses.

Every house has a history, but what if the house you’re trying to sell has a past that’s more ghoulish than most? If you or your community believes a house is haunted, it can make selling it more difficult.

However, there a several options for someone with a spooky property to sell. Just follow a few simple steps to get the haunted house off your hands.

October is Careers in Construction Month, an opportunity for home builders, suppliers and other construction professionals in the Chattanooga area to increase public awareness about the outstanding opportunities available in construction trades professions.

 For many kids, “the talk” is that moment their parents sit them down and explain the birds and the bees. For a young black girl named Starr, “the talk” consists of her father sitting her down and explaining what to do when (not if) a police officer pulls her over in a traffic stop.

It had all the elements of a Hollywood script or a best-selling whodunit, but the shocking 2009 Fourth of July murder of legendary Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was – horribly – all too real.

The Nashville police department took just four days to close the case. At a July 8, 2009, press conference, Metro Police announced their murder-suicide findings, stating McNair had been shot to death by his mistress, Sahel (Jenni) Kazemi, who then took her own life and was found at McNair’s feet, lying atop the 9-millimeter Glock pistol that had killed them both.

Born: Feb. 14, 1973 in Mount Olive, Mississippi

Nickname: Air McNair

College career: Alcorn State 1991-94. Highlights: Had 14,496 career passing yards for 119 TDs and 16,823 total yards, both FCS yardage records. In his senior season, he won the Walter Payton Award for I-AA player of the year and was third in Heisman Trophy voting before being selected No. 3 overall in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers.

During the summer of 2017, Sports Illustrated NFL writer Tim Rohan was assigned to write an in-depth story looking back at the 2009 murder of former Titans star Steve McNair by SI true-crime editor Adam Duerson. At some point, he mentioned the story to Peter King, the NFL writer who left SI in May.

The letters come like clockwork every Friday night. Before he nods off to sleep, Joe Doyle checks his email to read words of inspiration from his 85-year-old grandfather.

Jack Belcher has been writing Doyle letters since high school. But once Doyle became the starting punter for the University of Tennessee football team this season, Belcher made sure to send one every week.

It can be challenging to achieve your financial objectives. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone – but when should you seek help?

Here are some of the key life events in which you might be able to benefit from the services of a financial professional:

The Tennessee Supreme Court has revised one of its rules to require new lawyers to complete a course focused on the law in Tennessee before they begin practicing law. This requirement comes in the wake of the court’s adoption in April of the Uniform Bar Examination and ensures that new lawyers are knowledgeable about both general law and Tennessee law.

The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga has announced the recipients of the 2018 Community Impact Award and 2018 Inclusion Award. The awards will be presented at the 36th Annual Equal Opportunity breakfast on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

The Chattanooga Fire Department has formally joined the Tri-State Mutual Aid Association.

The Tri-State Mutual Aid Association is comprised of 50 fire and rescue agencies that protect at 13-county area surrounding Chattanooga and north Georgia. The association’s primary mission is to provide routine second alarm through fifth alarm responses and calls to rescue incidents and other emergencies.

Kim Nguyen, M.D., has joined Heinsohn, Donowitz, Rybolt and Nguyen at CHI Memorial Medical Group.

Nguyen earned her medical degree from University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California. She has previously worked at U.S. Naval Hospitals in Bremerton, Washington, and Okinawa, Japan. The practice is located in the CHI Memorial Medical Plaza building at 605 Glenwood Drive in Chattanooga. More information: 423 629-7220.

Moxy Chattanooga, River City Company and The Tomorrow Building will host a grownup match of musical chairs on Friday, Oct. 26, 6 p.m., in Miller Park. As many as 100 adults, 18 and older, can participate. The first-place winner will receive a complimentary one-night stay at the Moxy Chattanooga.

Americans on average spend more on health care than groceries, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Consumer Expenditure Survey shows. Saving money on medical care is a lot tougher than saving money on food, however.

Two big culprits: opaque pricing and ever-changing insurance company rules about what’s covered and what’s not.