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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The new 10th Judicial District attorney general sent his own investigator and a TBI agent to the Polk County Election Commission office Wednesday to look into allegations of vote-buying and voter intimidation during early voting.
Complaints of vote-buying and voter intimidation in Polk County early voting are under investigation by the district attorney's office.
POWELL, Ala. — A Powell man shot and wounded a man breaking into his house Wednesday, DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris said in a news release.
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — A special judge ruled Tuesday that veteran prosecutor Richard Fisher must be recused from the case against accused Valentine's Day slaying defendant Michael Younger.
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Special Judge John Kerry Blackwood today ruled that Richard Fisher cannot prosecute Michael Younger in the Valentine's Day triple killing that took place in 1999 in Cleveland.
The Bradley County Sheriff's Office seems to be having trouble with the concept of custody.
Steve Bebb, district attorney for Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties, will leave office at the end of this month, state sources confirm.
Vince Dean, Republican nominee for Hamilton County Criminal Court clerk, will be the guest speaker today at the Pachyderm Club.
The Bradley County Sheriff's Office is investigating how a prisoner in chains and shackles was left overnight in a courthouse holding cell with no access to food, water or a bathroom.
