News - Friday, June 9, 2017

As all 5 feet, 3 1/2 inches of Dr. David Ross entered one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods in the dead of night, he had one goal: to save a life.

Even though Ross believed he was safe as he braved the streets to speak with a member of a Latin gang, doubt accompanied each step.

Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel is recognized in the 2017 Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business report as a leading Tennessee firm in the areas of labor and employment and general commercial and real estate litigation. In addition, two attorneys are recognized practitioners: Mark Cunningham for healthcare and Rick Hitchcock for environment.

Lynda Minks Hood, executive director of the Chattanooga Bar Association, was recently appointed to serve on the E.A.C.H. Council (board of directors) of Erlanger Health System Foundations.

Hood holds several professional memberships including Rotary Club of Chattanooga, the National Association of Bar Executives, the National Association of Female Executives, the Association for Fundraising Professionals, the Public Relations Society of America, the Association of Continuing Legal Education and the American Bar Association, among others.

A harassment conviction lingered on the record of Memphis resident Brenda A. for 10 years, the high cost of expungement making it difficult to erase the past.

Like many people convicted of misdemeanors and felonies, she paid her court fees and fines, along with probation costs, years ago, but had trouble cobbling together the money to expunge her record, making it hard to land a good job and make a fresh start.

I remember when I became an addict, almost to the day.

It was nearly September of 1994 when watching television for hours on end quit being a sign of mental illness and became the start of what I considered a healing process. The players of Major League Baseball had, inexplicably, gone on strike and hapless Commissioner Bud Selig was days away from cancelling the 1994 World Series.

A new pizza establishment wants to prove that quality and value can go hand-in-hand.

“We want to give our customers more bang for their buck but still deliver the kind of pizza that makes them want to come back,” says Josiah Johnson, general manager of Home Slice Pizza.

East is East and West is West – except where the Southeastern Conference is concerned.

The SEC politburo again has scoffed at the idea of adjusting its football divisions by true geographic standards, leaving Missouri, the third most westerly conference member in terms of longitude, in the Eastern Division.

I like the Marvel Studios movies. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk are great fun, and Marvel has done an impressive job of weaving a single meta-narrative out of all those films.

But something has been missing, something that would help me to make a stronger connection with the Marvel cinematic universe.

Economic development officials will always list a well-trained workforce as a must-have for any area – be it city, county, region or state – looking to recruit and retain employees for business.

With that in mind, Tennessee has become the nation’s first state to offer two-year university scholarships to all adult residents.

Community college graduates from the Tennessee Promise program are ready to make the jump to four-year campuses, but are the four-year schools ready for them?

And, are the four-year institutions prepared for returning adult students, who under the newly launched Tennessee Reconnect plan get another shot at earning a degree?

There are an estimated 900,000 adult Tennesseans who have some college or certification credit who might be able to head back to the classroom to complete studies, thanks to the newly launched Tennessee Reconnect program.

But, how do you get busy adults with jobs, family obligations and bills to make the leap? How do you even get their attention?

As part of Habitat for Humanity’s Home Builders Blitz 2017, which took place June 5-9 across the U.S., Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area and Collier Construction helped a family of four build a new four-bedroom and two-bathroom home in a Habitat for Humanity community located in Alton Park.

Both green|spaces and Tennessee Solar Solutions are celebrating 10 year anniversaries in 2017. To celebrate the occasions, Tennessee Solar Solutions is donating a solar installation valued at $20,000 that will be raffled as a fundraiser for green|spaces.

A number of factors influence residential home sales, both in a positive and negative manner. This week, I’ll take a look at some of these key factors.

While the overall influence is consumer confidence, the first factor to affect this measure is unemployment. As well-reported, both locally and nationally, the unemployment rate is low in comparison to 30-year averages. Additional reports say employers are experiencing a shortage of skilled workers in specific job categories. So, it can be assumed this area is applying positive pressure on consumer confidence.

While much attention has been placed on the record number of young adults who are delaying homeownership, recent research shows that 70 percent of Americans still believe that owning a home is an essential part of the American Dream.

The nationwide survey of more than 11,300 registered voters was commissioned by the National Association of Home Builders and conducted Feb. 14-18 by the polling firm Morning Consult.

If you’re going to achieve all your goals – sending your kids to college, retiring in comfort and leaving a legacy – you will need to save and invest throughout your lifetime.

But to really complete your financial picture, you’ll also need to add one more element: protection. And that means you’ll require adequate life insurance for your situation. However, your need for insurance will vary at different times of your life – so you’ll want to recognize these changing needs and be prepared to act.

30th annual Spring Garden Tour

The tour, sponsored by the Master Gardeners of Hamilton County, will take place Saturday, June 10, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday, June 11, 1-5 p.m. Featuring seven public and private gardens located in Chattanooga, Hixson and East Brainerd, the tour benefits educational programs sponsored by the Master Gardeners and the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased on the day of the event at any of the gardens. For more information, visit www.mghc.org/30th-annual-spring-garden-tour.