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.

Chattanooga I-24 interchange project at Broad and Market streets on track for August 2023 finish

by Ben Benton ·March 11, 2022

Contractor proposal trims project price tag by $69,000

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Construction of the Interstate 24/Broad and Market Streets interchange project continues as of March 11, 2022. According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the project aims to be completed by the end of August 2023.

‘Overkill’ by prosecutors’ or ‘petty’ defense by mask opponent? Battle lines drawn in Bradley County

by Ben Benton ·March 10, 2022

Jessica Hedgcock asks for jury trial

Staff photo by Ben Benton / Jessica Hedgcock, left, talks to her father, Joe Robinson, on March 10, 2022, prior to her hearing in Bradley County General Sessions Court on a criminal trespassing charge stemming from her refusal Feb. 4 to wear a mask at a local medical business and, afterward, refusing to leave when asked, police records show.

Cleveland, Tennessee, woman charged after refusing to wear mask at medical business in court Thursday

by Ben Benton ·March 9, 2022

A Cleveland, Tennessee, woman charged in February with criminal trespassing after she refused to leave a Cleveland medical business that required patients to wear masks has a hearing Thursday in Bradley County General Sessions Court.

Contributed photo by Bradley County Sheriff's Office / Jessica Hedgcock, 34, of Cleveland, Tenn.

Bradley commissioner violated the conflict of interest statute, comptroller says

by Ben Benton ·March 8, 2022

An audit by the Tennessee Comptroller's Office says Bradley County District 6 Commissioner Erica Davis violated the state's conflict of interest statute by indirectly benefiting from a county contract at Lake Forest Middle School.

Contributed photo by Erica Davis / Bradley County District 6 Commissioner Erica Davis

Judge dismisses 27 counts of child neglect against Cleveland, Tennessee, day care worker

by Ben Benton ·March 8, 2022

District attorney, sheriff promise to take case to grand jury

James Roger Carpenter Jr. / Contributed photo by the Bradley County Sheriff's Office

Suspect shot, killed in Marion County police pursuit

by Ben Benton ·March 8, 2022

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents are probing the circumstances that led to a deadly officer-involved shooting overnight Monday in Marion County.

suspect-shot-killed-maricounty-police-pursuit

Man dies when canoe overturns, marking Tennessee’s fifth boating death for 2022

by Ben Benton ·March 7, 2022

Victim identified as Ten Mile, Tenn., man

Staff file photo by Ben Benton / A blue heron perches on a boat dock on Watts Bar Lake at Foshee Pass Recreation Area in Meigs County, Tenn., in April 2017. A Ten Mile, Tenn., man lost his life on Watt Bar Lake Sunday when the canoe he was in overturned.

Chattanooga Marine killed in World War II to be laid to rest Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery

by Ben Benton ·March 5, 2022

Cpl. Thomas Harley Cooper made the ultimate sacrifice in the Battle of Tarawa

Contributed photo by Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency / U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Thomas H. Cooper.

Two men get prison sentences in Rhea County child sex abuse cases

by Ben Benton ·March 3, 2022

One man nets to 25 years in prison, another gets 16 years

McMinn County woman accused of having sex with underage boys makes first court appearance

by Ben Benton ·March 1, 2022

Court orders defendant to remain in car when picking up her children from school