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.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and police in Monteagle, Tennessee, are investigating the shooting of a local store clerk Saturday near Interstate 24's exit 135 in an argument over a cup of ice, authorities said.
by Ben Benton 5 hours agoPatty McMahon and 15 other archaeologists were already covered in red Georgia clay while the dew was still on the ground Thursday morning at a string of excavation sites a few hundred yards from the Chief Vann House Historic Site along Georgia Highway 52, historically known as the Old Federal Road.
by Ben BentonLeaders of rural counties across Southeast Tennessee didn't immediately follow suit after Hamilton County's mayor on Monday directed the health department to order residents to wear masks in public.
by Ben BentonA second arrest has been made and a third suspect in a June 27 fatal shooting that left a Franklin County, Tennessee, man dead remains at-large, according to the sheriff's office there.
by Ben BentonA magnitude 2.1 earthquake struck in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, Wednesday around 7 p.m. in a residential area north of Battlefield Parkway, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey.
by Ben BentonThe Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday was called to investigate a shooting involving two law enforcement officers in McMinn County that left a 62-year-old man dead.
by Ben BentonA Polk County, Tennessee, business owner and former independent congressional candidate faces felony charges in a grand jury indictment handed up Monday charging him with tax evasion and theft between $10,000 and $60,000.
by Ben BentonA man is dead and another is charged in a July 4 shooting death in Decherd, Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
by Ben BentonA trip through Bledsoe or Prentice Cooper state forest might first give the impression of a lush, dense forest of native species, but a local conservation group says a closer look at logging sites reveals a lack of biodiversity that could be helped by better state management of timbering in Tennessee's public forests.
by Ben BentonA Confederate statue in Cleveland, Tennessee, has given rise to multiple online petitions, at least one calling for its removal as an icon of racism and slavery, and at least two more calling for it to remain where it has stood for more than a century.
by Ben BentonA Franklin County, Tennessee, man was taken into custody Tuesday by the U.S. Marshals Service in connection with a June 4 nonfatal shooting inside a mall in Tullahoma.
by Ben BentonThe city of Etowah, Tenn., on Wednesday will hold a ceremony for a street name change in memory of slain 18-year-old 2017 murder victim Kelsey N. Burnette.
by Ben BentonAuthorities in Franklin County, Tennessee, have arrested a Tullahoma man on charges of first-degree murder and continue to seek two other men in connection with a shooting Saturday that left an Estill Springs man dead.
by Ben BentonA 25-year-old Englewood, Tennessee, police officer has been suspended without pay after being charged with reckless endangerment in a June 17 domestic incident in which authorities say he shook his infant daughter.
by Ben BentonDuring a Grundy County, Tennessee, man's exoneration hearing before the state Board of Parole that ended with a unanimous recommendation to Gov. Bill Lee for exoneration, the petitioner's line-up of witnesses included a sheriff and judge who were harshly critical of the original investigation and of the legal defense presented at trial.
by Ben BentonThe fate of a Grundy County, Tennessee, man's criminal record — cleared last year of murder charges and freeing him after 12 years in prison — now lies with Gov. Bill Lee after a hearing before the state Board of Parole ended Wednesday night with a recommendation for exoneration.
by Ben BentonA free man's work is never done.
by Ben BentonThe only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor had it taken away more than a century ago just before she died, then posthumously restored by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 in a back-and-forth not unlike the pitched battles she waged on the front lines for equal rights.
by Ben BentonResidents in Athens, Tennessee, have been placed on alert after a black bear was spotted running through town on Wednesday.
by Ben BentonThe Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is probing the death of a 49-year-old woman who was found ill June 10 in her cell at the McMinn County Justice Center in Athens, Tennessee, and later died that same day.
by Ben Benton