Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee, North Georgia and Northeast Alabama. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties. Ben was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. He has a bachelor's degree in communications from the the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2014, he placed third in the Green Eyeshade Awards for Disaster Coverage- All Dailies for his story on the South Pittsburg flood, and third place in the Specialized Site category for the newspaper's Civil War 150th anniversary online special section. Ben previously worked at The Daily Post-Athenian in Athens, Tenn., The Herald-News, in Dayton, Tenn., and at the Knoxville Journal, in Knoxville, Tenn. Ben, a lifelong UT fan, lives in Chattanooga with his wife, Lisa, and has been a Chattanooga resident since 1988. Ben has one son, Benjy, who works in town as a web developer. When he's not working, Ben likes to cook and hit the backroads in search of barbecue and the region's natural beauty. Contact Ben at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.
Of more than $1 million in uncollected misused, misappropriated or stolen public funds reported for the fiscal year ending June 2018, only $47,000 of it is owed to three Southeast Tennessee counties or government entities, according to two new Tennessee Comptroller's Office reports released this week.
by Ben BentonIt's that time of year when coyotes are on the move, and that could mean more sightings and encounters across the South and in the Chattanooga region.
by Ben BentonJust less than a month ahead of Labor Day weekend 1973, the Midwest Monster Peace Jubilee and Music Festival was billed as a "family-friendly" event to feature ex-Beatle Paul McCartney's new band, Wings, Dr. Billy Graham and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at a venue just a few miles north of Benton, Tennessee.
by Ben BentonThe human skull found in Manchester, Tennessee, on Nov. 20 has been positively identified as a man reported missing in 2016, according to police.
by Ben BentonThe Alabama Law Enforcement Agency in Montgomery says state troopers investigated 11 traffic deaths during the Thanksgiving holiday period
by Ben BentonA magnitude 2.5 earthquake shook a remote area of McMinn County, Tennessee, at 9:28 a.m. Thursday
by Ben BentonJackson County, Alabama, authorities are looking for a 30-year-old inmate who escaped from a work release detail at Stevenson Park.
by Ben BentonA Decatur, Tennessee, man charged in a 2016 crash in Meigs County that killed four people has pleaded guilty.
by Ben BentonA fire Sunday night destroyed the historic 166-year-old McKown House in Valley Head, Alabama, where a bed and breakfast was planned.
by Ben BentonJasper, Tennessee, alderman and well-known local business and civic leader Joshua Jennings died Monday after a brief illness.
by Ben BentonBetween Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, authorities in DeKalb County, Alabama, booked 22 people aged 18 to 64 on drug charges stemming from 13 separate operations, including one raid Monday night at what police describe as an alleged "drug house."
by Ben BentonA Coalmont, Tennessee, man faces arraignment Dec. 10 on charges in Grundy County of second-degree murder in the February shooting death of 39-year-old Bradford Orion Meeks.
by Ben BentonA Cedar Bluff, Alabama, woman was charged Monday in connection with the discovery of a woman in her care who needed medical treatment.
by Ben BentonA North Carolina man is behind bars on allegations of child sexual assault, according to Cherokee County Sheriff Derrick Palmer.
by Ben BentonDunlap, Tennessee, firefighters extricated the driver of one car involved in a two-vehicle collision near the Bledsoe County line Monday.
by Ben BentonWhile investigating an unrelated case last week, police in Manchester, Tennessee, found a human skull that so far has led to more questions than answers.
by Ben BentonAfter her disappearance on June 30, 2017, or July 1, 2017, after a party at a home at 108 Athens Pike in Etowah, Tennessee, Kelsey Burnette's body was found July 4, 2017, stuffed into a garbage can in a wooded area in downtown Etowah.
by Ben BentonAfter less than two hours of deliberation Wednesday, jurors in McMinn County found Joseph Wielzen guilty of first-degree felony murder and aggravated rape in the 2017 slaying of 18-year-old Kelsey N. Burnette.
by Ben BentonAfter her disappearance on June 30, 2017, or July 1, 2017, Burnette's body was found July 4, 2017, stuffed into a garbage can in a wooded area in downtown Etowah, Tennessee. Wielzen was arrested in June 2018.
by Ben BentonThe state rested its case Tuesday afternoon in the trial of 19-year-old Joseph Wielzen, who is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated rape in the 2017 slaying of 18-year-old Kelsey N. Burnette.
by Ben Benton