On Friday, July 31, hundreds of local Republican leaders attended an annual fundraiser at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Who knew that being a former band geek would one day come in handy.

Editor's note: When the Trump administration ordered hospitals to report COVID-19 data to the Department of Health and Human Services rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as they had been doing, it provoked worries from public health experts.

It took some time - maybe too much time - but Joe Biden finally put forward an energy and climate plan that has some bite, both for the earth and for rebuilding the U.S. economy.

It does seem - judging from Tennessee's primary election on Thursday - that voters are tired of the status quo.

Put 500 or so "law and order" Republicans in a Chattanooga Convention Center room in the middle of a pandemic, along with a sheriff who shares the general GOP disdain for anything common sense like the county's currently mandated social distancing and mask mandate, and ask yourselves what could possibly go right.

Another day, another gaffe

An Illinois state lawmaker says it's time to stop teaching history because it's racist.

A veteran Chattanooga political observer said recently that this fall's election could have echoes of 1974, when President Richard Nixon's resignation amid the Watergate scandal made every Republican running radioactive.

Domestic issues have dominated the 2020 presidential campaign so far - the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic fallout and renewed concern about racial inequities.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar." To be a good liar you have to keep track of all the lies you've told, and to whom, in order to keep the truth hidden. But Honest Abe never knew President Donald Trump, or perhaps anybody like him.

Warning lights are flashing red. Warning sirens are blaring.

A new, exhaustive study by Gallup and the Knight Foundation found that Americans across the board are losing trust in the media.

When The New York Times Magazine published the "1619 Project" last year, supporters hailed this retelling of America's founding as a "woke" counternarrative meant to correct the historical record.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on and as people rise up against entrenched racism, it's easy to forget that we're facing another global crisis.