News - Friday, March 19, 2021

Two women are standing at the edge of an empty lot in a midday rain in southeast Chattanooga. One is wearing a pink windbreaker and blue jeans; the other, a denim jacket and black pants. Despite the steady shower, neither is wearing a hat or holding an umbrella.

For years, attorney Mark Kinsman would drive nearly 10 miles from his office in Hixson to downtown Chattanooga if he wanted to eat lunch with a colleague from another law firm – which is to say he rarely ate lunch with colleagues from other firms.

The Hamilton County Herald omitted one significant accomplishment from its March 5 high school mock trial story: Giada Puhlman of Homelife 1, a home school team in Chattanooga, secured Third Best Plaintiff Attorney for the Eastern Grand Division during the Tennessee Bar Association’s tournament Feb. 18-21.

Jay Robinson and the Robinson Team were awarded top accolades at Keller Williams’ recent annual meeting, held in Miami. The company named Robinson No. 1 luxury agent in sales of more than $800,000 across the company with $63,469,000 in 2020. Robinson was also named the No. agent 1 in Tennessee.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Realty Center agent Travis Close has earned the National Association of Realtors’ At Home with Diversity designation.

NAR President Charlie Oppler recently challenged national and state leadership to earn the certification. Close, who will serve as Tennessee Realtors president in 2022, completed the fair housing training at fairhaven.realtor, as well as additional implicit bias training.

February 2020 was the last month of “normal” activity for most of us last year. Who could have known our collective lives would be turned upside down in March?

Over the next few months, it will be interesting to compare the current market conditions to those of only one year ago.

Warmer weather is here, which means it’s time to tackle your home maintenance to-do list. Here are some items to cross off your list this spring:

Start from the top – literally

Clear your gutters of leaves and debris and get any damaged or loose shingles on your roof repaired.

The National Education Association Foundation recently awarded Hamilton County Schools teacher Erika Martin the California Casualty Award for Teaching Excellence.

Winners are selected based on their dedication to the profession, community engagement, professional development, attention to diversity and advocacy for fellow educators. Martin, an instructional coach at East Side Elementary, is one of 46 public school educators in the country to receive the award.

 In just a few days, we will experience the vernal equinox – one of the two times in the year when the sun is exactly above the equator. Apart from this astronomical anomaly, though, the equinox is mostly known as the beginning of spring – a fresh beginning and the time to spruce things up.

Many people want to remain in their homes after they retire rather than move to a senior living facility or community. Unfortunately, most homes aren’t set up to help us age safely and affordably.

If your goal is to “age in place,” some advance preparation could help make that possible -- or point to better alternatives.

Tennessee lawmakers, for all their zeal to create official state whatevers, have somehow neglected an obvious category: A state musical instrument.

Shame on them.

“Country, bluegrass, blues, Southern gospel and rock ’n’ roll all trace their roots directly to the Volunteer State,” the Tennessee Historical Society states.

Many of us are champing at the bit for the COVID vaccine. It feels like a ticket to freedom.

Glassdoor.com recently conducted a survey to understand where employees stand on the issue of the vaccine and returning to the workplace. Their results are quite interesting, and I wonder if you agree with their findings.

Selling a car privately has long been a way for people to potentially get more money for their vehicle compared to trading it in to a dealership. But it’s always been a laborious process.

You need to photograph your car from all angles, create ads, take calls and texts from strangers and then meet them so they can test-drive your car and complete the deal.

Sean McAuliffe’s business, International Key Supply, suffered financially when the pandemic began. So he set out to cut operating costs for the New York-based distribution company. He canceled a few services, and for more important ones, he contacted the providers to request deferred or lowered bills.

See Rock City recently presented a check for $12,899 to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Chattanooga.

The donation amount varies annually based on attendance and ticket proceeds from the Enchanted Garden of Lights holiday event. The grand total from the beginning of the 20-year partnership is now over $240,000.

EPB, CARTA and the Tennessee Valley Authority have launched the #ChargingChattanooga campaign, which turns Gig City’s CARTA electric vehicle charging network into a scavenger hunt to win prizes.

Participants can join the hunt by finding one or more of #ChargingChattanooga’s 14 charging locations and snapping a photo.

The Austin Hatcher Foundation’s next automotive project is the Keiki Cobra Factory Five MK4 Roadster. The assembly is part of the foundation’s STEM-based industrial arts education and therapy programming at its new Education Advancement Center on South Holtzclaw Avenue.

Forbes has recognized Chattanooga-based moving company Bellhop as No. 24 on its yearly list of America’s 500 best startup employers.

Forbes and statistics portal and industry ranking provider Statista compiled the list, which also included Chattanooga media outlet FreightWaves at No. 218.