News - Friday, September 19, 2025

When it comes to the year-old Songbirds Foundation space on Main Street, new executive director John Dooley is quick to point out, “We don’t really advertise it as a museum anymore.”

 At first glance, though, that’s exactly what it looks like. Thirty rare guitars, along with vintage pedals and amplifiers, dominate the displays in the intimate venue. A sprinkling of celebrity-owned instruments, including the Fender Dolly Parton used to write her most recent album, punctuate other exhibits. 

September marks Realtor Safety Month, and while we often focus on how to stay safe as professionals, it’s just as important to help our clients think about safety, especially when their home is on the market. 

Sellers are opening their doors to the public, which means more foot traffic and, unfortunately, more vulnerability. 

Ernest Howard Whitaker, a conservation trailblazer with deep Tennessee roots, has received the Robert Sparks Walker Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor in the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards, presented by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

SORBA Chattanooga, Hamilton County Parks & Recreation and Outdoor Chattanooga have teamed up to bring modular bike skills features to the Riverwalk near the Hubert Fry Center. These pop-up trail elements offer a fun, accessible space for riders to build confidence and sharpen their bike handling skills. Join Outdoor Chattanooga on-site for special activation days with free access to bikes, volunteers offering tips and optional $10 Intro to Mountain Biking courses that include instruction and bike use. Friday, 5-8 p.m. Free. Riverwalk near Hubert Fry Center, 4301 Amnicola Highway, Chattanooga. Information

The Chattanooga City Council has approved Mayor Tim Kelly’s compromise budget, finalizing a property tax rate of 1.93 and unlocking $44.8 million in additional revenue. The lower rate – the lowest ever under the city’s current government structure – still results in higher tax bills for most residents due to a significant rise in assessed property values.

Hiring in 2025 has become disconnected from corporate realities. You’ve seen the news. Companies are laying people off. Things are hard. And, frankly, they have been since 2020. 

Most job seekers look for and apply to jobs online. Applications and resumes are fed into what’s called an applicant tracking system or ATS. Companies use an ATS to track applications and to put candidates through interview steps. 

Our neighbor Jim told me the other day that he’d been up early that morning and, through a window, saw a trio of visitors in our backyard, calmly munching on our tomato plants: a deer and two fawns.

Jim’s efforts to protect our harvest by spooking the visitors with noise were met only with indifference. These deer came to eat breakfast, and eat breakfast they did.

When you plan a trip, you consider the destination, the climate, activities that interest you, transportation needs, anticipated costs, best time to go and coverage for your work, home or pets. It’s a holistic approach, looking at your trip from a variety of angles.

If Ally Brown’s family had decided to travel West for a vacation in 2020, she might never have become a member of the University of Tennessee soccer team.

Brown and her family drove through Tennessee on their trip after leaving their home in Wheaton, Illinois. Once they approached Knoxville, Brown noticed all the signs for UT and started doing some research about the program. 

One of the biggest positive changes for the Tennessee Titans this year through the first two games has been the improvement on special teams.

That has been directly the result of the Titans’ hiring of John “Bones” Fassel to oversee the special teams units.

The Tennessee Titans went nowhere in the year and a-half in which Will Levis was their starting quarterback.

And while Levis was an easy scapegoat, putting the ball in harm’s way at inopportune times, he had plenty of help in the Titans’ unraveling. A big problem was offensive line play with too many penalties and sacks.

The Titans enter AFC South play Sunday as the Indianapolis Colts come to town. The 0-2 Titans need this game in the worst way, especially with the 2-0 Colts headed to Nissan Stadium. Let’s look at what the Titans need in order to win.

First down

Protect Cam Ward. Ward has already been sacked 11 times in two games, and that rate is not sustainable if they want to keep him in one piece and let him develop into a solid quarterback. Even with the offensive line injuries, the protection has to get better in order to give Ward a fighting chance.

SUVs are undoubtedly practical, but they can often be a bore. What if you also want sporty performance from your family-hauler? Surprisingly, your best bet might just be an electric SUV. 

Thanks in part to the inherent advantages of EV powertrain design, hair-raising acceleration is no longer exclusive to low-slung exotics. Plus, many automakers are now making well-rounded performance SUVs that also provide improved handling, stronger braking and sportier aesthetics. 

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that he has often praised.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two ABC affiliate owners spoke out against late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel ahead of ABC's decision to suspend the presenter over comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Their comments highlight the influence local TV station owners have on national broadcasters such as Disney-owned ABC.

ATLANTA (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine advisory committee will vote Thursday on new guidance for shots against hepatitis B and chickenpox, raising worries among public health experts that the votes and discussions will create unwarranted vaccine concerns among parents.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Farm Aid — the annual fundraising concerts launched by Willie Nelson,Neil Young and John Mellencamp during the farm crisis of the 1980s — celebrates its 40th anniversary on Saturday in Minneapolis.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Harvard Business School graduate was arrested Thursday on fraud charges alleging he swindled fellow alumni of the prestigious school out of over $4 million in a Ponzi scheme, even assuring one investor they would soon "brag" about their "crazy gains" at the school's reunion.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three members of a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico's finances, who were recently fired by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Thursday alleging their firings were illegal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department is moving closer to making President Donald Trump's " no tax on tips " promise a reality. But new guidance released Friday tends to limit the number of tipped workers who will be able to claim the benefit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC took comic Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show off the air indefinitely Wednesday, just hours after Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr called his comments about Charlie Kirk's assassination "truly sick."

WASHINGTON (AP) — As late-night talk shows undergo major changes and controversy, a new poll finds that while most Americans don't watch them regularly, the ones who do make such programming part of their routine are more likely to be Democrats.

Only about one-quarter of Americans say they have watched a late-night talk show or variety show at least monthly in the last year, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll was conducted after the announcement that Stephen Colbert's show was being canceled but before Jimmy Kimmel's suspension.

ATLANTA (AP) — Access to COVID-19 shots is the big question as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine advisers meet again Friday, after putting off a controversial vote on a different vaccine for newborns.

People in many states already are reporting frustration as they they try to determine, or prove, if they qualify for updated COVID-19 vaccines — even as infections have climbed over the past month.

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s hand-picked vaccine advisory committee on Thursday recommended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopt new restrictions on a combination shot that protects against chickenpox as well as measles, mumps and rubella.

BANGKOK (AP) — Russia and Vietnam have developed a back-door method of concealing arms deal payments to avoid American and other Western sanctions, using the profits from joint oil and gas ventures to pay off defense contracts without any open transfers of cash through the global banking system, according to internal Vietnamese documents obtained by The Associated Press.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5% Friday, in a decision that was widely expected, given recent inflation trends that have stayed above target.

The Bank of Japan issued its decision on the overnight call rate after a two-day meeting by its policy board.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Friday passed a short-term spending bill to extend government funding for seven weeks and avoid a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1, but prospects looked dimmer in the Senate, where the two parties show no signs of budging on the matter.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans' outlook on the direction of the country has soured dramatically, according to a new AP-NORC poll that was conducted shortly after last week's assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Claudia Sheinbaum promised Thursday to strengthen trade relations in the face of U.S. tariff threats and pushed to keep the most important free trade agreement in the Western Hemisphere alive in the lead-up to negotiations next year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is talking with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday in a push to finalize a deal to allow the popular social media app TikTok to keep operating in the United States.

The call between the two leaders began around 8 a.m. Washington time, according to a White House official and China's Xinhua News Agency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to let it enforce a passport policy for transgender and nonbinary people that requires male or female sex designations based on birth certificates.

The Justice Department appealed a lower-court order allowing people use the gender or "X" identification marker that lines up with their gender identity.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida federal judge on Friday tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against The New York Times.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled that Trump's 85-page lawsuit was overly long and full of "tedious and burdensome" language that had no bearing on the legal case.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Five men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison in the African nation for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel, their lawyers said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. attorney whose office has been investigating mortgage fraud allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James has been told to resign or be fired, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday, amid a push by Trump administration officials to bring criminal charges against the perceived adversary of the president.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday extended a signature state program aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions through 2045, a move Democrats cheered but Republicans warned would raise gas prices.

The program known as cap and trade sets a declining limit on total greenhouse gas emissions in the state from major polluters. Companies must reduce their emissions, buy allowances from the state or other businesses, or fund projects aimed at offsetting their pollution. Money the state receives from the sales funds climate-change mitigation, affordable housing and transportation projects, as well as utility bill credits for Californians.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution honoring conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Friday, but a significant number of Democrats voted against it, highlighting the deepening political divide in the wake of his assassination.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Friday confirmed Mike Waltz to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, filling the last vacancy in President Donald Trump's Cabinet after eight months of delays and the withdrawal of a previous nominee.

The bipartisan vote for Waltz came after a recent procedural hurdle sent his nomination back to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where it had to be voted on again on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate rejected competing measures on Friday to fund federal agencies for a few weeks when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, increasing prospects for a partial government shutdown on that date.

Leaders of the two parties sought to blame the other side for the standoff. Democrats accused Republicans of not negotiating with them to address some of their priorities on health care as part of the funding measure, even though they knew some Democratic votes would be needed to get a bill to the president's desk.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a regional summit taking place at the end of October in South Korea and will visit China in the "early part of next year," following a phone call between the two on Friday.