News - Friday, March 27, 2026

“Building a business in Chattanooga just got a little easier,” Mayor Tim Kelly said March 20, standing at the front of a bright, newly finished classroom where rows of chairs had filled quickly with city officials, entrepreneurs and community advocates.

While the Small Business Resource Center is designed as a single point of entry, the support it offers is powered by a coalition of local, state and national organizations that together form Chattanooga’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Rather than duplicating services, the center brings these groups under one roof, making it easier for business owners to access specialized expertise without navigating a fragmented system.

An ongoing tour through Chattanooga’s culinary tuck-ins leads to Hungry Mother, an artisanal breakfast and lunch spot offering a seasonal menu of bagels, sandwiches, espresso and coffee. It’s the kind of place you’re glad to find, even if it has a foible or two.

For Dawn Lemaitre, food is about nourishing the body as well as feeding the soul through family.

That philosophy is at the heart of Dishin’ with Dawn, her Chattanooga-based business that blends catering, private dining, family-style meals and hands-on cooking classes into something more personal than traditional food service.

Judicial temperament: The cornerstone of public trust in the federal courts

In a recent column, we wrote about judicial restraint and its critical role in retaining public respect and support for the federal judiciary. In this column, we will write on a related topic: judicial temperament.

School assignments matter to families. They shape daily routines, long-term planning and often where people choose to buy a home. But imagine purchasing a home only to learn later that your child may be bused to a school 30 minutes away, even though the neighborhood school is less than a mile from your front door.

Officials have broken ground on Phase 2 of the seven-phase One Westside redevelopment project, marking another step in a sweeping effort to transform the city’s historic College Hill neighborhood.

The latest phase will bring 144 new mixed-income apartments to downtown Chattanooga, providing housing for residents relocating from College Hill Courts public housing as well as new tenants seeking affordable and moderately priced options. Construction is underway, with completion expected by the end of 2027.

A UTC nursing professor has received national recognition for her work improving health care access and education. Kristi Wick, a UC Foundation associate professor and the Vicky B. Gregg Chair of Gerontology, was named the 2026 recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Practice Award from the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties.

The national ambassador for young people’s literature will visit the Chattanooga Public Library’s downtown branch (1001 Broad Street) April 9 at 5:30 p.m. as part of his nationwide tour, “Behold, The Picture Book! Let’s Celebrate Stories We Can Feel, Hear and See.” Barnett will explore how words, illustrations and even page turns create a uniquely engaging reading experience for children and adults alike. The free event is open to the public.

Rising prices might not dominate headlines the way they did a year or two ago, but retirees are probably still feeling them. Even when overall inflation cools, the costliest expenses – health care, utilities, insurance and property taxes – tend to rise faster than broad inflation numbers suggest. That creates a squeeze that can make you question whether your income plan is built to last.

By Rhiannon Potkey

Any momentum generated by the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team in head coach Kim Caldwell’s debut last season has completely evaporated. The Lady Vols ended one of the most disappointing seasons in the program’s storied history with a first-round exit in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

You do it with your stocks. Your entire investment portfolio, in fact, is diversified. As an investor and a businessperson, you know how important that is for your bottom line. You also know what a benefit diversity is in your customer base and your workforce and how homogeneity isn’t necessarily a good thing in the long run. So now read more and get ready to grow….

It’s pretty common for new-car shoppers to look at what they can afford and go from there. Typically, that means focusing on vehicles from mainstream brands, even though owning a luxury vehicle is something many people aspire to. 

But there’s a right-now alternative that could be intriguing: For about the same price of a new mainstream car, you could get a used luxury car instead.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has opened investigations into how race is considered in admissions at three medical schools, ratcheting up its pressure campaign against colleges and universities.

The Justice Department opened the investigations Wednesday into possible discrimination at the medical schools of Stanford University, Ohio State and the University of California, San Diego. Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for civil rights, announced the investigations on X.

As the Trump administration wages war on Iran, it's citing national security to seek an exemption from the Endangered Species Act for expanded oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico — a move alarming environmental groups who say it could set a dangerous precedent for future fossil fuel projects.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Iran appears to be setting itself up as the gatekeeper for the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important artery for oil shipments. The move could cement Tehran's de facto chokehold over the crucial waterway and formalize its ability to keep its own oil flowing to China.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday announced it had eased restrictions on a group of Belarus-linked financial and potash companies in the latest sign of improving ties between the country's autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, and Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With pressure mounting, senators moved quickly Thursday to debate a "last and final" offer to end the funding impasse that has jammed airports and put the livelihoods of Transportation Security Administration workers in jeopardy as Republicans try to address Democratic demands for changes to President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement changes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump may believe the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword — as long as it's a Sharpie.

During a Cabinet meeting Thursday that discussed the war in Iran, record-long security lines at many of the nation's top airports, rising oil prices and skittish stock markets, the president interjected by holding up a custom-made black and gold Sharpie and offering a long story about how his preferred marker came to be a White House fixture.