News - Friday, April 21, 2023

After eight years on the Hamilton County Commission and a mayoral bid that ended in a loss, Sabrena Smedley says being only a Realtor again feels good.

“I didn’t realize how much politics had become a part of my life,” she says. “Focusing solely on real estate again has been fun.”

For many Realtors, real estate is an all-in proposition. They commit to long hours, longer weeks and scant vacation time to build a successful business.

For other agents, real estate is one of multiple streams of income and, therefore, a part-time endeavor.

March usually signals the beginning of the homebuying and selling season. On a national level, existing home sales jumped 14.5% month-over-month in February, which was the first monthly gain in 12 months.

This is the largest monthly increase since July 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors. The sudden uptick in sales activity stems from contracts signed toward the beginning of the year, when mortgage rates dipped to the low 6% range, which caused a surge in homebuyer activity.

For many of us, springtime comes with renewed energy to declutter and tackle home improvement projects. As the dust settles and renovations are complete, you might find you’re left with multiple items that are no longer useful to you.

Before tossing everything in the garbage, check out this list to find ways to recycle unwanted items and dispose of hazardous materials properly.

People sometimes ask Blue Sky Couriers operations manager Kevin Beirne if runners are still necessary in an age when documents can be broken down into bits and bytes and delivered at the speed of light over a fiber optic internet connection.

The fleet of 25 Blue Sky drivers in Chattanooga serves as an emphatic yes, Beirne says.

“Notice” and “opportunity to be heard” have, historically, been considered constitutionally protected rights. Procedural due process is enshrined in the fifth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and in Article 1 § 8 of the Tennessee Constitution.

Hamilton County Schools has announced eight leadership assignments for the 2023-24 school year. The assignments include seven school principals and one district office position.

HCS has named Roxanne Anthony to the district office to provide support in the areas of equity and professional development. Anthony has served as principal at Harrison Elementary School since 2021.

Chattanooga mayor: Homelessness down in Hamilton County

Mayor Tim Kelly’s administration says the number of unsheltered people who experienced homelessness in Hamilton County in 2022 was down nearly 40%, marking what Kelly calls “record-breaking progress in the city’s work to end homelessness in Chattanooga.”

Renowned urban planner James Lima will be the next guest to take the stage at CIVIQ, Chattanooga Design Studio’s ongoing speaker series about urban design, planning and placemaking.

Lima will present “The Economics of Placemaking” Thursday, May 4, 5:30 p.m., at The Camp House (806 East 12th Street).

By definition, business owners put a lot of their financial resources into their enterprises. But as an owner, you may need to invest in more than inventories and payroll to help achieve the future you’ve envisioned.

Here are a few investments you may want to consider:

Asking illegal questions to candidates during job interviews is so normal that we almost forget where the boundaries exist. In the U.S., employers are not allowed to ask questions around marital status, pregnancy, age, nationality and so much more. Yet, they do.

The time around the NFL Draft often has been called the “season of lies” with rumors and speculation flying all around, often with little substantiation or fact.

NFL teams sometimes want misinformation out there to throw rival teams off the scent of what they really want to do on draft day.

The case for the Titans not drafting a quarterback early in this year’s draft comes down to this: Just how much are the Titans rebuilding in 2023. Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry are both still on the roster and expected to once again be the of the offense.

There seems to always be buzz about the quarterbacks when it comes to the NFL Draft. But it’s highly likely the first player from the University of Tennessee picked next week will be a player responsible for protecting the quarterback.

Offensive tackle Darnell Wright is projected to be a top 20 pick and could wind up in the top 10 when the draft takes place April 27-29 in Kansas City.

With its original e-tron, Audi was one of the first luxury European automakers to offer an electric vehicle. Last year, it expanded its lineup with the more affordable Q4 e-tron. Slotting between two gas-powered models, the smaller Q3 and the larger Q5, the Q4 e-tron is an all-electric compact luxury SUV.