Judy Walton has worked 25 years at the Chattanooga Times and the Times Free Press as an editor and reporter focusing on government coverage and investigations.
At various times she has been an assistant metro editor, region reporter and editor, county government reporter, government-beat team leader, features editor and page designer.
Originally from California, Walton was brought up in a military family and attended a dozen schools across the country. She earned a journalism degree from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., in 1984 and worked at two Kentucky newspapers before moving to Chattanooga in 1987.
Her investigative pieces include allegations of medical malpractice at Chattanooga’s Veterans Affairs clinic — stories that led to a federal investigation and a series of reforms. She was the first to report on massive ground and water pollution at the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Depot (now the VW assembly plant); during the first year of her stories on the quality and timetable for repairing the damage, federal government funding for cleanup tripled. More recently, she and colleague Cliff Hightower reported on financial irregularities at the Tennessee Multicultural Chamber of Commerce, which led Chattanooga and Hamilton County governments to withdraw funding for the organization.
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Cleveland Police Chief Wes Snyder's sudden retirement Friday followed discovery of a surveillance tape showing him and a woman entering and leaving an apparent love nest in a rental warehouse on Old Tasso Road.
Cleveland Police Chief Wes Snyder's sudden retirement may be linked to the discovery of a love nest in a warehouse unit rented to MainStreet Cleveland.
City leaders in Cleveland, Tenn., apparently weren't expecting police Chief Wes Snyder's abrupt announcement Friday that he will retire Jan. 5.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has agreed that Maurice Johnson should have a new judge as he tries to overturn his three murder convictions in the 1999 Valentine's Day triple slaying in Cleveland, Tenn.
The Bradley County district attorney threw out murder charges against one suspect in the 1999 Valentine's Day triple slaying in Cleveland, saying evidence of calls between the judge and a detective tainted the case so badly that Michael Younger couldn't get a fair trial.
Solving traffic snarls on Interstate 24 in Chattanooga most likely won't involve building double-decker lanes around Moccasin Bend or drilling a new truck tunnel through Missionary Ridge, as suggested by a couple of commuters.
NASHVILLE -- Skeptical about cops whose salaries depend on seizing money from motorists, some Tennessee lawmakers think it's time for more transparency and accountability in the state's judicial drug task forces.
When Wallace "Boonie" Stokes pleaded guilty to federal meth conspiracy charges this summer, he said in court it was a better option than facing the death penalty in the 2010 killing of Monroe County, Tenn., elections official Jim Miller.
Chattanooga's own bagpipe band wailed its way to victory Saturday in the 41st annual Stone Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival in Atlanta.
Two Cleveland High School students who painted rival Bradley Central's bear mascot blue before the big game last week face discipline through the school, but the incident apparently was never reported to police.
