Cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in countries on opposite sides of the world Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders even as scientists cautioned that it's not clear if the new variant is more alarming than other versions of the virus.

Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is racing to contain a new coronavirus variant potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled relentless waves of infection on nearly every continent.

It's unclear where the new variant actually arose, but it was first detected by scientists in South Africa and has also been seen in travelers to Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel.

When the U.S. government allowed so-called hero pay for frontline workers as a possible use of pandemic relief money, it suggested occupations that could be eligible from farm workers and childcare staff to janitors and truck drivers.

The Erlanger Board of Trustees' decision last month to remove the hospital's chief of staff is drawing concern from physicians even outside the health system.

After being laid off amid the pandemic, James Boles quickly found a new job.

Times-Journal Inc., a media company that publishes several North Georgia newspapers including the Catoosa County News and Walker County Messenger, is suing Google and Facebook.

The Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals has approved the city's request to demolish a 129-year-old historic building that once was the site of the Wright brothers' first bike shop.

The last holiday season was far from the most wonderful time of the year for the U.S. Postal Service: Sick and quarantined workers, a flood of packages from shoppers loath to set foot in stores and a last-minute dump of packages from overwhelmed private shippers.

Times-Journal Inc., a media company that publishes several North Georgia newspapers including the Catoosa County News and Walker County Messenger, is suing Google and Facebook.

Animal neglect used to be such a problem on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, with basic services like sterilization out of reach for many due to poverty and remoteness, that packs of stray dogs would sometimes bring traffic to a halt on the main highway.

DEAR ABBY: My husband of 35 years moved out three years ago. I contribute a lot to his household because he's on disability. I have a great job and travel as a photographer. According to him, I was gone too much.

Dollywood is strikingly beautiful dressed in her winter finest. Shades of green and gold, red and silver bedecked with glitter and baubles - the park is a coat of many colors when Smoky Mountain Christmas gets underway each holiday season.

Saturday afternoon was the perfect example of why I never bet on sports. Never. Ever.

For the first time all season, Tennessee's up-tempo offense didn't produce any first-quarter points. It didn't matter.

Roughly 20 minutes before Saturday afternoon's kickoff between Tennessee and Vanderbilt, the Volunteers who went through the senior day ceremony ran out on the field one after the other and were greeted by first-year coach Josh Heupel.

I was pleased to see a strong and politically balanced rejection of the recently announced plan to pour more than $270 million into an attempt to prop up Moccasin Bend Hospital.

We learned last week that Tennessee Republicans in the statehouse were throwing cold water on a proposed congressional redistricting map drawn by state Democrats.

On the same day next November when Tennesseans decide whether to re-elect Gov. Bill Lee, they'll also decide whether the constitutional amendment effort he agreed to lead last week will pass.