News - Friday, November 4, 2016

As a citizen of the Soviet Union, Lucy Patterson was as far removed from the American Dream of home ownership as one could be. But as a Realtor licensed to sell real estate in the Greater Chattanooga area, she’s facilitating the very thing that once was out of reach.

Donald Trump is going to win easily in Tennessee.

Almost everyone, most of all the campaigns for both Trump and Hillary Clinton, accepts this fact, as evidenced by the lack of campaign time spent in the state – and most of the South, for that matter – during this contentious campaign cycle.

Terry Benedict grew up expecting to be an archaeologist who would discover the Holy Grail. But he took a detour instead and found himself in Hollywood supervising chase scenes, most notably for “The Terminator” and “Marked for Death.”

On April 1, 1942, Desmond Doss joined the United States Army. Three and a-half years later, he stood on the White House lawn, receiving the nation’s highest award for his bravery and courage under fire.

Of the 16 million men in uniform during World War II, only 431 received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Among these was a young Seventh-day Adventist Christian who refused to carry a gun and had not killed a single enemy soldier.

With the October 27 opening of the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute’s (TNACI) riverfront facility, the Southeast’s rich – but imperiled – aquatic biodiversity is going to receive a much-needed shot in the arm.

Located near a natural wetland along the banks of the Tennessee River downstream from downtown Chattanooga, the 14,000-square-foot facility will serve as the headquarters for a newly expanded staff of conservation scientists as well as visiting experts. Featuring an environmentally conscious design, the building provides access to cutting-edge equipment, including morphology and genetics laboratories, and offers much-needed space for staff to centralize and streamline ongoing projects, initiate new research, and host educational programs.

Super Lawyers has named attorney Mark Litchford, a director at Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, a 2016 Rising Star and a Top Rated Personal Injury Attorney in Chattanooga.

Super Lawyers is a nationwide rating service that utilizes a selection process consisting of independent researchers, peer review nominations, and evaluations to rate lawyers from more than 70 practice areas. To attain Super Lawyer status, attorneys must first be nominated by their peers in Tennessee, and only five percent of the state’s attorneys make it through the multi-phased selection process.

If Tennessee football coach Butch Jones thought last Saturday night was bad in Columbia, South Carolina, he had no idea what was waiting when he got back to Knoxville.

Fans were still stewing over UT’s 24-21 loss to unranked South Carolina. It dropped the then-ranked No. 18 Vols (5-3, 2-3 SEC) out of the polls and probably out of contention for the East Division title and SEC Championship game.

The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors (GCAR) last week brought together real estate professionals in a conversation designed to highlight how the market is changing and how local Realtors need to adapt. Through GCAR’s At Home With Diversity course, participants took an in-depth look at the topics of fair housing, diversity, and cultural differences.

Thirty-five years ago, the National Association of Realtors introduced the first Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. The year was 1981 and mortgage rates were over four times higher than they are today, and first-time buyers made up a much larger share of overall sales. While many home buyer and seller behaviors and preferences have changed, some have remained constant over the last 35 years.

While 2015 saw the median size of homes in Hamilton County and surrounding areas increase in number of bedrooms and square footage, smaller homes are making a comeback in 2016. After several years of growth in size, the first half of 2016 saw a slight decline (from 2,465 to 2,392 square feet) and plateau in median square footage of single-family homes. Economists point out this is a positive step in the post-recession cycle of economic recovery.

As I watched “Inferno,” I wondered when director Ron Howard realized he was making a bad movie.

It couldn’t have been when the film was proposed. Based on the Dan Brown novel of the same name, it stars Tom Hanks in his third outing as symbologist Robert Langdon following “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons.” The story, which sees Langdon racing around the globe to stop a virus from killing half the human population, must have sounded exciting, and Howard’s eyes probably lit up at the thought of filming in such exotic locations as Venice, Italy and Istanbul, Turkey.

Things I already knew, but have recently reconfirmed:

-- That, at any given time, my clothing (including the contents of my pockets) weighs about six pounds.

-- That the words eerie and Erie appear in more crossword puzzles than any other two homophones.

How much money will you need in retirement? To arrive at an estimate, you should consider various factors, such as where you’ll live, how much you plan to travel, and so on. Not surprisingly, you’ll also need to think about health care costs, which almost always rise during retirement.

Free rides to the polls

Officials with GoVoteCHA have partnered with a team of pastors and community leaders to offer free rides to the polls to any voter residing in Hamilton County. This transportation service will be provided on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 8). Voters may schedule their ride by visiting www.GoVoteCHA.org or calling (423) 708-4490.