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 Athens, Tennessee, city manager has been suspended for two weeks without pay after a special city council session investigating allegations by the police chief that the city manager was involved in the disappearance and reappearance of two city-owned Nest surveillance cameras.
by Ben BentonSix decades ago a couple of local train buffs got the idea of preserving the dwindling number of steam engines in the South on film, an endeavor that led to one of Chattanooga's most iconic attractions.
by Ben BentonThe $54 million State Route 60 widening project from near Interstate 75's Exit 25 to Eureka Road at the edge of the Hopewell community got underway Thursday with ceremonially tossed shovels of dirt.
by Ben BentonA Rhea County, Tennessee, woman charged in 2019 for burning a toddler's feet with scalding water as discipline was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday on a guilty plea to aggravated child abuse.
by Ben BentonThe senior judge presiding over a July hearing on a Bradley County, Tennessee, second-degree murder defendant's motion for acquittal and a new trial denied the motion, according to court documents.
by Ben BentonThe police chief in Athens, Tennessee, was dismissed Friday amid an ongoing city council special session investigating his complaints about the city manager and whether the manager was retaliating against him.
by Ben BentonThe Chief Vann House in Chatsworth, Georgia, has been added to the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom for its significance in slavery and the struggle of those enslaved to break their chains.
by Ben BentonThe Benton MacKaye Trail Association is seeking congressional approval for the trail in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina to be designated a National Scenic Trail, which would boost the number of long-distance trails in the U.S. with that designation to an even dozen.
by Ben BentonCriminal cases against two people charged in a Sept. 25 quadruple murder in McMinn County, Tennessee, have been bound over to the grand jury.
by Ben BentonThe Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is probing the Thursday morning shooting by Cleveland police of a man on Springhill Drive who was allegedly armed with a shotgun and was shot by officers when he advanced toward them.
by Ben BentonReflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center has grown beyond its gateway with the preservation of additional acreage this week, with a property acquisition from a private landowner.
by Ben BentonA Pikeville, Tennessee, man convicted in an August jury trial of two counts of first-degree murder in the 2017 ax murders of a mother and her adult daughter has been given two consecutive life sentences.
by Ben BentonJoker, the Bradley County Sheriff's Office K-9, is home this weekend with his human family after undergoing surgery for his gunshot wounds and some procedures in preparation for possible future treatments, according to officials.
by Ben BentonMcMinn County, Tennessee, has seen a record rash of violence over just more than a week's time, with three incidents leaving six people dead and five jailed.
by Ben BentonA Pikeville, Tennessee, man has been granted pretrial diversion on allegations of stealing timber from Bledsoe State Forest, and his charges will be cleared if he stays out of trouble for 11 months and 29 days.
by Ben BentonAir Force One on Sept. 11, 2001, sat waiting on the tarmac for then-President George W. Bush after a visit to Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, where he was talking to a classroom full of second-graders.
by Ben BentonFour people are dead and two others are behind bars in McMinn County, Tennessee, after a dispute Saturday over a 10-month-old child that led to a homicide the sheriff said is one of the county's worst ever.
by Ben BentonSoutheast Tennessee's Bledsoe and Grundy counties are among nine in the state to be targeted by an economic initiative to grow tourism using state-owned lands.
by Ben BentonA half dozen juveniles have been arrested in Chattanooga on charges out of Cleveland and Bradley County in connection with a burglary call that led to a foot pursuit and shooting that left a sheriff's office K-9 named Joker fighting for his life.
by Ben BentonTwo people were arrested overnight Tuesday on homicide charges in a double murder in Coffee County, Tennessee, authorities said Wednesday.
by Ben Benton