News - Friday, September 8, 2023

The eviction docket on Thursdays in Hamilton County’s General Sessions Court offers a microcosm of the overburdened civil justice system.

Before court begins, dozens of aggrieved landlords and tenants crowd the courtroom of either Judge Alexander McVeagh or Judge Christie Sell to be heard. Many of the landlords have attorneys; many of the tenants do not.

A $2 million gift has been made to the University of Tennessee College of Law in the name of the Chattanooga-based law firm of Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers, P.C.

The gift will support UT Law’s Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, legal clinic, Douglas Blaze Professorship and scholarships for students interested in pursuing legal careers in advocacy.

Author George Bernard Shaw famously declared that youth is wasted on the young. Shaw might have reconsidered his position if he’d lived long enough to meet 21-year-old Realtor and day trader Nikolai Miller.

At a tender age, Miller has fashioned a lifestyle that makes optimum use of every waking moment. He rises at 3 a.m., day trades for a few hours, pauses to work out, and then either returns to day trading or prospects for real estate listings.

A few years ago, I was driving down a side street off Ringgold Road when a church sign struck my funny bone. “Instructions for getting into heaven inside,” the billboard read. And below it: “Now accepting ages two and under.”

Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise has added new members to its board of directors, including Andrea Hardaway, Gene Shiles, Jason Steele, Andy Leffler, Tamekia Brewer and Frank Hughes.

Hardaway is the president and founding partner of First Property Management. She is serving as CNE’s board chair.

“Believe people when they tell you who they are,” the poet Maya Angelou advised. Smart woman, she was.

Time and again Tennessee legislators have told us – and, more to the point, have shown us – who they are. They’re not hiding anything. If we don’t believe them, it’s not their fault, it’s ours.

The National Association of Realtors will soon release its 2023 Member Safety Report, which surveys Realtors around the nation about how safe they feel while on the job, their personal safety experiences, and the safety procedures and protocols their brokerage observes.

In the United States, women make up about half of the workforce. However, only a small percentage of women work in the residential construction industry.

Among those women who are working in the industry, a majority have a fulfilling career with opportunities for advancement and competitive pay. Women in construction also have the satisfaction of knowing they’re building homes that make a difference in people’s lives.

If you’ve ever lived off tips or commissions, you may be familiar with the up-and-down paychecks common in certain industries. Service jobs, sales jobs, creative careers and project-based work can all have fluctuating income, where seasonality, events or the general economy might affect your earnings.

Social Security benefits were once tax-free. That changed in 1983, when Congress decided to tax a portion of benefits for the highest-income recipients.

Back then, fewer than 10% of beneficiaries were affected. Lawmakers failed to update the law to account for inflation, however, so today most Social Security beneficiaries have to pay federal income tax on at least some of their benefits, says Ted Sarenski, author of American Institute of CPA’s “Guide to Social Security Planning.”

The Federal Trade Commission recently revealed the most reported text message scam: bank impersonations.

Reports of bank impersonations by text in 2022 jumped to 20 times the number reported in 2019. According to the FTC, consumers reported a loss of more than $330 million to text message scams in 2022. And cash that’s lost because of bank fraud or scams isn’t covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or National Credit Union Administration.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Evidently, judging from the roster moves made by the Tennessee Titans this off-season, things were broken.

There is always turnover on an NFL roster. In any given season, a roster is usually changed by about 25% to 30%. The salary cap, injuries and other factors simply dictate that this is the way business is done in the NFL.

As the Titans broke camp with 11 rookies on their 53-man roster, it was especially exciting for two members of the group.

Seventh-round pick Colton Dowell has become familiar to Titans fans in a short time, as the former Wilson Central and UT-Martin standout wide receiver grew up in Lebanon with his whole family being Titans fans.

The regular season is finally here, and the Titans open the 2023 campaign on the road at the Superdome in New Orleans against a revamped Saints team that they might be catching at the right time with Derek Carr in his first game at quarterback and Alvin Kamara out due to suspension. Let’s look at the keys for the Titans:

Although the season-opener felt like a home game, the University of Tennessee football team makes its real home debut Saturday when the Vols return to Neyland Stadium to host Austin Peay at 5 p.m. ET (SEC Network+/ESPN+).

It will be the first time in 294 days the Vols have played a game at Shields-Watkins Field against an opposing team. Tennessee finished 7-0 at home last season, the final one a 66-24 romp over Missouri on Nov. 12.

Pricing for new electric vehicles can be daunting for many shoppers. But more and more EVs are becoming available on the used vehicle market, and that’s creating greater opportunities for buying a lower-priced used EV. There’s also a further incentive to purchase a used EV that costs less than $25,000 thanks to an available federal tax credit of up to $4,000.