Imagine the furor among the GOP if, during and just after the Barack Obama administration, more than dozen of his campaign officials were arrested, referred for federal investigation, indicted, forced to resign or otherwise became enveloped in scandal. Not just controversy, but really ugly scandal.

In June of 2017, then-newly chosen Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Bryan Johnson sat in the front row of the 150-plus-strong audience seated before the Hamilton County Commission as it passed without fanfare a $691.5 million county budget with no tax increase — an increase that was sorely needed for public school needs.

Elvis - er, a Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest - has left the building. Tennessee's Capitol building.

A self-styled techie, Chattanooga's new mayor, Tim Kelly, sits at a desk filled with electronic devices that include two big computer screens, a tablet and a cell phone.

It's hard not to get caught up in the new space race - the tourism space race that makes us mortals close our eyes and dream of seeing the earth as a blue marble instead of planning a trip to the Tennessee Aquarium or to the Grand Canyon.

Hypocrisy is running rampant in Tennessee. No, this is not a new problem - seeing as we're a red state and Republicans and hypocrisy go together like bread and butter, cookies and milk, PB&J - you get it.

The signals aren't subtle. Just this year, the west has had historic heat and wildfire — after previous historic years of heat and wildfire. We've watched devastating storms, drought that's shrinking major reservoirs, an ice storm that crippled the entire state of Texas.

In the idealistic Americana paintings of Norman Rockwell, police were seen as community minders and menders.

Last week, Pam Sohn, opinion editor of the Times Editorial Page, interviewed Mayor Tim Kelly about policing and other issues. Here is a transcript, edited for clarity and brevity, of the conversation about policing:

The Chattanooga Police will not be auctioning off guns that have been seized or confiscated.

It would seem that Tennessee's state lawmakers and governor are doing all they possibly can to discourage COVID-19 vaccination.

It seems that everywhere we look, we see signs of life returning to normal in our post-pandemic world.

If you're scratching your head about why so many Republican governors are suddenly falling all over themselves to announce they're sending a handful or so of their state's National Guard troops or law enforcement officers to help out on our Southern border, you're looking for rational answers.

Come see Tennessee on Lee - Gov. Bill Lee, that is.

Who remembers when Gunbarrel Road in East Brainerd was a two-lane byway through cattle pastures with a few small houses here and there?

Two hundred forty five years. Seven to 10 generations. That's how old - or young - this country of America is.

Well, well, well. It seems Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee does listen to some people.

Sound the trumpets! Hamilton County at long last may be nearing the opening - perhaps by August 2022 - of a vocational and technical trade school in the heart of Chattanooga on a regular public bus line.

It's long been a joke - but not a joking matter - that thanks to Gov. Bill Lee, state lawmakers, the National Rifle Association and the Tennessee Firearms Association, our state motto might as well be something like, "Tennessee - where we let you shoot first, and we'll ask questions later. Maybe."

The surveillance camera video is horrifying.

Chattanooga has a lion's share of wonderful outdoor play areas and venues, from downtown Riverwalk stages to majestic bluff views to the quiet lush of the Cumberland Trail.

The United States vs. Georgia, a lawsuit filed Friday by Attorney General Merrick Garland, draws a long red line in the sand.

President Joe Biden announced this week that the White House will allocate a portion of the funds from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act toward public safety, including $350 million for state and local law enforcement agencies.