Ben Benton

Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee’s Bledsoe, Bradley, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Rhea and Sequatchie counties. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005. Ben was born and raised in Cleveland, Tennessee, a graduate of Bradley Central High School. He has a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Contact Southeast Tennessee reporter Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.

No charges filed in deadly I-24 road rage shooting in Marion County

by Ben Benton ·April 23, 2023

DA: ‘Valid case of self-defense’

South Pittsburg High School’s new pedestrian bridge delivered, installed

by Ben Benton ·April 21, 2023

New span over South Cedar Avenue expected to be finished by August

Developers say proposed $30 million RV resort in New Hope, Tennessee, will be good for community

by Ben Benton ·April 19, 2023

Developers proposing a $30 million RV resort with 250 to 400 spaces on the Tennessee River and the family that has owned the land since 1970 contend the project will be good for the community and could bring in an estimated $1 million a year in hospitality tax revenue.

Rhea County fatal shooting case goes to June grand jury

by Ben Benton ·April 17, 2023

The homicide case against a Rhea County man accused in the Feb. 24 shooting death of Roy Hickman Jr. has been sent to the Rhea County grand jury for consideration for an indictment.

Rhea County Sheriff's Office / Jackie Lee Goss, 29, is charged with criminal homicide.

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Tennessee Riverkeeper, others file lawsuit against EPA over failure to update industrial pollution guidelines

by Ben Benton ·April 16, 2023

Tennessee River a ‘poster child for freshwater microplastics’

Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / A view of the bridges over the Tennessee River in Chattanooga seen during a flight by Chattanooga Helicopter Tours on Oct. 27.

Petition seeks to keep possible 400-space RV park out of New Hope, Tennessee

by Ben Benton ·April 13, 2023

A possible 400-space RV park on the Tennessee River in Marion County has sparked a petition in opposition in the town of New Hope, Tennessee, where fewer than 1,000 people live in relative seclusion.

Staff Photo by Ben Benton / The Shelby A. Rhinehart Bridge over the Tennessee River in Marion County linking the towns of New Hope and South Pittsburg via state Route 156 is shown in 2008. A petition has been launched by some New Hope residents in opposition to a possible 400-space RV park on a 110-acre farm not far from the bridge.

Cleveland City Council approves Energy Authority for broadband project launch

by Ben Benton ·April 11, 2023

Cleveland Utilities customers will soon get access to a $72 million publicly-owned, high-speed broadband internet network following a 5-2 vote by the City Council that created an authority board to oversee its operations.

Staff Photo by Ben Benton / Cleveland Utilities Electrical Engineering Manager Kenny Longley on Jan. 5 holds a fiber optic line containing 12 colored tubes that each contain 12 fibers, also of varying colors, for a total of 144 fibers. The Cleveland Council approved the formation of an energy authority for the launch of a $72 million broadband project to serve Cleveland Utilities' customers.

Brothers file lawsuit against Marion County town of New Hope, demanding removal of facilities

by Ben Benton ·April 8, 2023

A pair of brothers in Marion County, Tennessee, has filed a complaint in Chancery Court demanding the town of New Hope remove its facilities from less than a half-acre of land they said now belongs to them after the town moved its volunteer fire department to new digs across the street.

Staff Photo by Ben Benton / The old New Hope fire hall in Marion County is shown April 6, 2023, in New Hope, Tenn., where brothers Charles T. King III and Michael D. King have filed suit over property where the town's old fire hall sits. They contend it's their property and the city structures should be removed along with\ a possible underground fuel tank, while the town contends the statute of limitations is up for the suit over property conveyed by their late father.

South Pittsburg gets $3.45 million in loans for water infrastructure improvements

by Ben Benton ·April 5, 2023

Loans will help fund replacement of city’s oldest water tank built in the 1930s

Staff File Photo by Ben Benton / Downtown South Pittsburg's Cedar Avenue is seen in 2012.

One dead, two jailed in Tuesday homicide near Jasper, Tennessee

by Ben Benton ·April 5, 2023

A man is dead and two others are jailed after an altercation between four men ended in deadly gunfire at a home near Jasper, Tennessee, according to authorities in Marion County.