News - Friday, May 5, 2017

One evening in late 2015, Keith Sanford went home and told his wife Julia, “The strangest thing happened to me today.

“I’m sure nothing will come of it,” added Sanford, then-president of First Tennessee Bank and a member of the search committee for the new Tennessee Aquarium president and CEO. “But they just asked me to apply for the job.”

In the morphology lab at the new Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, Dr. Bernard Kuhajda opens a trunk-like container and retrieves a preserved lake sturgeon measuring about a foot long.

He begins to explain how institute researchers count the scutes, or bony plates, to determine the age of the prehistoric-looking fish and how, in the adjacent genetics lab, the scientists will “unzip” its DNA, creating copies of the gene sequence for insights into how it’s related to other species and, ultimately, keep them all from going extinct.

Located behind the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, Songbirds Guitar Museum is a place where legends have come to rest.

Housed within the museum’s sparkling bright glass cases are instruments that have been touched by famous fingers. Among them are Chuck Berry’s Gibson ES 55, one of B.B. King’s Lucilles and a Gibson Firebird played by Duane Allman.

I knew that someone, somewhere would say it as well or better than I, so before I began writing this week’s column I Googled “minor league baseball” and “dignity.”

Bingo.

A writer for Bleacher Report, nowadays a sprawling web site with tentacles reaching into every aspect of every spot, hit the mark. Her name, it seems, is Emma Koch. She is a religious studies student who happens to love baseball.  I know this is true because of one thing she wrote her article under the byline of, I swear, Ipraythelordmysoultokeep.

Legislation that slipped through the House of Representatives honoring an unknown author who penned a Nathan Bedford Forrest apologist biography was enabled by the climate within the Republican-controlled body, a Memphis legislator says.

“… There’s a culture here at the Tennessee Legislature that there are certain acceptable norms when it comes to African-Americans or the African-American population in Tennessee. But those same norms would not be acceptable with other races of people.

One check of the 2017 NFL Draft shows why Tennessee was the favorite to win the SEC East Division last fall.

UT had six players drafted in the first four rounds, the most for the program since 2002, breaking a two-year drought with no players. The six Vols drafted tied for the most since 2010 and 2007. Eight Vols were drafted in 2003 and 10 drafted in 2002.

Judge Alexander McVeagh will be keeping the Hon. David Bales’ seat warm while the latter is on medical leave.

McVeagh, 31, was sworn in as the judge of Division II of Hamilton County General Sessions Court April 28 at the City/County Courts Building. Gov. Bill Haslam appointed McVeagh to the bench after Bales took a leave of absence to attend to his health.

When Tennessee law firm Davis, Kessler & Davis decided to expand by opening an office in Chattanooga, they considered many things most businesses would consider: location, accessibility, parking and – well – how some timeworn Tennessee barn wood would look on the outside and inside of an old grocery store.

“The Circle” is a movie with impeccable timing. Just one month after Congress and President Trump stirred an online hornet’s nest by repealing online privacy protections, the techno-thriller arrives in theaters with a story about an internet company that takes its government-granted freedoms to a harrowing extreme.

Whitewater recreation on the Ocoee River is set to continue well into the future under a new partnership between the Ocoee River Outfitter Association, the State of Tennessee, the U.S. Forest Service and Tennessee Valley Authority.

Key to the partnership was leadership from the State of Tennessee to establish the Ocoee River Recreational and Economic Development Fund. The initiative supports a new direction in Ocoee River management, marked by new interagency agreements and a commercial-use permitting program administered by Tennessee State Parks.

April marks the last regular meeting of the 2017 class of Leadership Chattanooga. Our topic for the day: law enforcement. Fittingly, we convened at the Police Service Center.

Chief Fred Fletcher, who recently announced his retirement from the Chattanooga Police Department after three years of service, kicked off the day by offering hard-earned lessons in leadership gained during his exemplary career.

Homeownership  isin the crosshairs of the latest proposed tax plan of the Trump Administration, according to National Association of Realtors President William E. Brown, a second-generation Realtor from Alamo, California and founder of Investment Properties.

So, you’re thinking about selling your home yourself. Before you put that sign in the yard, here are a few points to consider.

If you’re looking at the “numbers” and want to avoid hiring a professional Realtor to represent you, thus avoiding paying commission for their services, there’s another number you might want to consider. Only five percent of home purchases were made directly from previous owner last year, according to the National Association of Realtor’s 2016 Profile of Buyers and Sellers. Of that number, two percent knew the owner before the transaction. So, if you’re looking to sell it yourself, the “numbers” are stacked against you with only a five percent chance of success.

After increasing dramatically during the Great Recession, the formation of multigenerational households shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, a record 60.6 million people lived in multigenerational homes in 2014, according to a Pew Institute analysis of census data.

It’s Kentucky Derby time again. Even if you’re not much of a horse racing fan, you might appreciate all the Derby’s pageantry – the mint juleps, the women’s beautiful hats, the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home,” and so on. But if you look beyond the hoopla, you’ll realize just how much work it takes to put on such an event. And the efforts of one group in particular – the jockeys – may be able to provide you with some lessons in life – and in investing.

Friday afternoons in May will look a little different in select Downtown Chattanooga alleyways. Picnic in the Passageways, set for two of the alleys on the 700 block of Cherry Street, will take place every Friday in May, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. with food trucks, local music and art projects for everyone to enjoy.