News - Friday, April 21, 2017

Imagine a courtroom scene and several images might come to mind – a robed judge, a row of pensive jurors, a zealous prosecutor or passionate defense attorney.

But there’s a quiet, busy person in a typical courtroom environment that often goes unnoticed: The court reporter.

Linda Hershey uses her court reporting skills to work from home as a captioner.

Hershey, a 20-plus year veteran of captioning who lives in Chattanooga, describes her work as demanding, satisfying and flexible.

So flexible, in fact, that she was able to move to Iowa for three months to be with her mother, who was in the final stages of life. And flexible enough to allow her to take a working vacation to the beach and still perform her job.

Stenographic court reporters have been the silent witnesses responsible for creating an official record of the most important trials and moments of history.

They had front row seats at the historic Nuremberg trials, keeping a verbatim record of the Nazi war tribunals. More recently, they performed similar work during the Rwandan trials in Arusha, Tanzania, and provided real-time captioning on 9/11.

By any measuring stick, Randy Boyd is a renaissance man. The founder of Radio Systems Corp. served as commissioner of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development for two years before he stepped down earlier this year.

A Republican, Boyd announced in March that he was entering the race for Tennessee governor in 2018.

State Rep. Raumesh Akbari grew so emotional she couldn’t speak. On the verge of tears, the Memphis Democrat started to talk about a high school from her Shelby County district with a large number of undocumented immigrant students.

She went there two years ago to tell students about the Tennessee Promise, but she could give these young people, the children of immigrants who came here illegally years ago, nothing except hope for a piece of legislation to help them fulfill their dreams.

So the longer-than-necessary road trip was over and the even longer awaited move finally took place this past weekend. The Home of the Atlanta Braves is no longer in Atlanta.

Turner Field, conceived and originally constructed as the 1996 Olympics Track and Field venue, built by and converted with taxpayer dollars, has given way to a community onto itself. Jammed against the intersection of I-75 and I-285, already one of the busiest roadways in the Southeast, is SunTrust Field, a 60-acre development that somehow, someway, has a brand new baseball stadium as it centerpiece.

Liz Reinsel says she’s the poster child for what not to do as a real estate agent.

She confesses to not having a formal business plan. She doesn’t follow a timeline for what to do and when, either.

And while she stays in touch with the people who make up her sphere of influence, she doesn’t contact them like clockwork.

If you’ve seen the hyper-adrenalized trailer for “The Fate of the Furious” (“F8”), you might have the wrong impression of the film. Perhaps the fights, explosions and outrageous stunts in the two-minute preview have you thinking the movie is about action.

He never played basketball while attending Nashville’s Franklin Road Academy.

But those close to Will Wade insist he was giving subtle indications – even back then – that he was future head-coaching material.

Maybe it was the fact Wade spent all four of his high school years serving as an FRA student basketball manager. Maybe it was the way he would sidle up to players during practice, reminding them to bend their knees or tuck in their elbow while shooting free throws.

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones knew he got a special player when he signed five-star offensive lineman Trey Smith of University School of Jackson.

Jones says he got a special person in Smith, too.

The 6-foot-6, 313-pound freshman enrolled in January and has been one of the most watched players during Tennessee’s spring football practices, which conclude with Saturday’s 4 p.m. DISH Orange & White Game at Neyland Stadium.

The UTC Mock Trial program made history this year by earning a bid to the American Mock Trial Association’s national championship, to be hosted in late April in Los Angeles. This marks the first time a University of Tennessee Chattanooga team has advanced to the championship.

   The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors is hosting an “Open House Weekend” April 22-23, as evidenced by the many signs and balloons up throughout the region advertising the event.

This annual event was designed years ago to jump start the spring home selling season and encourage buyers to get out and look around. While the internet is a key tool in searching for homes that are available for sale, most purchasers still see value in getting inside homes to preview the finishes and layouts.

Springtime in Chattanooga is the perfect time to invigorate your home’s façade. Even if you aren’t trying to sell your home, and merely want to spruce it up, there’s a definite benefit to enhancing and preserving your home’s curb appeal.

On April 22, we observe Earth Day, a worldwide event focusing on protecting the environment. As a citizen of this planet, you may want to take part in Earth Day activities. And as an investor, you can learn some valuable lessons from the environmental movement.

Presented by Glass House Collective and green|spaces, the festival will focus on The Pool, an interactive art exhibit made of glowing panels of light. The event will also feature live DJs, a hip hop and spoken word showcase, a family fun picnic and more. Friday, April 21-Sunday, April 23, 1901 Roanoke Ave. Free event.