News - Friday, December 28, 2018

Career law clerk Katharine Gardner loves sinking her teeth into a thorny legal conundrum. Instead of provoking her to madness, these prickly challenges bring out her ability to uncover the deep, hidden nuances of the law and to see the small details in a case and apply them to the larger matter.

Attorney Evan Vineyard has joined Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan as an associate.

Vineyard is a native of Summertown and focuses his practice on general civil defense litigation.

Vineyard holds degrees in political science and history from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a juris doctorate from the Belmont University College of Law, where he served as vice president of the Health Law Society and earned a Health Law certificate.

Ahead of the 2019 tax season, Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel has added a new tax department manager, Rachel Ragghianti, CPA, who brings a decade of experience in tax preparation and audit services to the firm.

Ragghianti will lead the tax team of CPAs, attorneys and paralegals in assisting clients with tax planning, preparation and compliance.

It’s not normally big news when a 78-year-old man decides to retire – at age 80. 

Yet Sen. Lamar Alexander created a flurry of chatter recently when he announced his decision not to run for a fourth term in 2020.

“I’ve had my turn,” Alexander said in an interview with The New York Times. “Everything comes to an end sometime, and it is good to know when that should be.”

During this season of giving, I find myself reflecting on all the ways in which Realtors give back to the local community.

When local leadership travels to national meetings, we have the opportunity to engage in an activity that supports a local or national charity. Just last month during the National Association of Realtors convention in Boston, more than 3,000 Realtors participated in a 5K walk and run, raising more than $140,000 for the Realtors Relief Foundation.

Small businesses across the Greater Chattanooga area are joining this holiday shopping season to promote the local products and services that make our community distinctive.

While local shops and restaurants can provide consumers with a more personal and satisfying experience, support for small businesses doesn’t have to stop with consumer goods and eateries. Most home builders, remodelers and professional service providers in the region are locally owned as well.

The general public might view “Aquaman” as the latest superhero movie in a never-ending procession of superhero movies. Good battles evil, beings with god-like powers pummel each other silly without doing any actual harm and, along the way, the sound and light show aims to dazzle even the most jaded eyes.

Jeremy Pruitt recruited with a purpose this year, selecting players with more knowledge of the environment and certainty of what Tennessee’s football program truly needed.

Instead of scrambling to sign recruits he didn’t know very well, Pruitt actually had time to get to know the players. Instead of juggling multiple roles on two staffs, Pruitt was able to devote all his energy to securing commitments in the stretch run.

The Hamilton County Commission has voted to deny a special permit for a proposed wastewater treatment plant to service North Hamilton County. The plant would have been placed at 7800 Mahan Gap Road.

After months of community meetings hosted by the Waste Water Treatment Authority and those in opposition, both sides were given a final opportunity to provide presentations to Hamilton County Commissioners at the last agenda session, held on Dec. 12. The commissioners listened and asked questions of the presenters over the course of the five-hour session.

Winter is here again – which might make you wish you were somewhere else. You might be thinking how pleasant it would be to become a snowbird and move to a warmer climate for the season.

Of course, your stage of life will help determine if you are prepared to be a snowbird now or if you’re just hoping to be one in the future. But in either case, you’ll need to be financially prepared.

The Vintage Car Rally Association has awarded Skyuka Hall in Chattanooga $46,575 to launch a STEM Lab, a program for instructing students in science, technology, engineering and math.

“These funds will have a profound impact not only on our students with autism but all of the students we’re preparing to lead successful lives,” says Dr. Josh Yother, head of Skyuka Hall. “Our environment allows students to develop academically, and this is a powerful contribution to help us achieve our mission.”

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has awarded the contract for the I-75/I-24 interchange modification design-build project.

The low bid of $132,644,398 was submitted by C.W. Matthews Contracting. The winning design-build proposal will complete design and construction of this project in less than three years.

The Chattanooga Police Department is sponsoring free crime prevention training designed for business owners and managers who are interested in making their facility and employees as safe as possible.

A nationally accredited Crime Prevention Specialist from the University of Tennessee’s Law Enforcement Innovation Center will cover lighting, access control, video surveillance, emergency management, glazing, environmental design and more during the four-hour session. The instruction will incorporate Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles, security and vulnerability assessments.

What’s America’s favorite family vehicle? The SUV? The minivan? These days, it could very well be the pickup truck.

While heavy-duty pickup trucks are still common tools of the trade for contractors and people who move equipment about for a living, so-called half-ton light-duty trucks have been making a steady move toward family vehicle status for years. Recent market changes and product developments have only bolstered that trend.

People on Social Security need a tax break. The rest of us need to make sure they get it – for everyone’s sake.

When Congress made Social Security benefits taxable in 1983, lawmakers didn’t index the tax thresholds to inflation. They “forgot” inflation again when adding a second layer of taxation in 1993.

Point taken. When you were a baby, that’s all you had to do to get what you wanted. Point at food, you ate. Point at your bottle, you drank. Oh, if only it was that easy to reach your goals, huh? Nope, not a chance, which is why you need “Everything Is Negotiable” by Meg Myers Morgan, PhD.