Clint Cooper is the Free Press editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, representing the conservative side of the newspaper's opinion section. Previously he worked as a lifestyles reporter, and has been an assistant sports editor and Metro staff writer for the newspaper. Prior to the merger between the Chattanooga Free Press and Chattanooga Times in 1999, he was sports news editor for the Chattanooga Free Press, where he was in charge of the day-to-day content of the section and the section's design. Before becoming sports news editor, he was a staff writer. In the Life section, he is responsible for the content of the weekly religion page but also contributes entertainment stories to the current section; health, home and profile stories for the daily Life pages; and general news articles to the news columns. In the past, he has written on technology and baby boomers for the section. Clint has received honors over the years for his writing and design in both individual work and work as part of a team or section. Among those are several best overall team coverage awards from the Southern League (when he was either lead writer or content/design editor), a best section award by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association (when he was content/design editor) and several first-place awards in the community lifestyles category of the Tennessee Press Association contest (as part of a staff). The Chattanooga native is a cum laude graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in mass communications and did postgraduate work there in secondary education. Clint and his wife of 21 years, Donna, have one son, Patrick, 18. He enjoys acting, reading and running. Contact Clint at 423-757-6497 or ccooper@timesfreepress.com. You may friend him on Facebook.
Those looking with blinders at last week's United States Supreme Court ruling in a Maine case involving funding for schools got plenty of help from the rush-to-judgment media.
by Clint CooperRemember December 2020 when millions of Americans couldn't wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccination?
by Clint Cooper"Having any elected position," Chattanooga City Councilman and Hamilton County Commissioner Ken Smith said, "is not for the faint-hearted."
by Clint CooperAbortion, abhorrent as it is, is back where it ought to be - in the hands of the states.
by Clint CooperChattanooga for nearly three decades has been declared the largest city in the country with no abortion clinic.
by Clint CooperState Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, was one of 16 members of the Tennessee House of Representatives to score a 100% voting record on issues flagged by the Tennessee Federation of Independent Business during the 112th General Assembly in 2021-2022.
by Clint CooperLet us assert at the outset that we don't know, and there's no way to know, if anything would have changed.
by Clint CooperFifty years ago Friday, burglars broke in the Watergate complex headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C.
by Clint Cooper"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
by Clint CooperWith many Hamilton County races decided, or all but decided, in the May primary, some voters may feel like they can take a pass on the August general election.
by Clint CooperThe voter fraud conspiracy that has permeated Donald Trump's thoughts and actions since the November 2020 election has tendrils that have twisted and twined down to Hamilton County.
by Clint CooperYou're going to do what? Yeah, right.
by Clint CooperJust before we hit "delete" on what appeared to be another junk email recently, these words caught our eyes: "Did you know that Tennessee is 49th in the nation for voter turnout?"
by Clint CooperU.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is but one vote out of 435 in the United States House of Representatives, but he has been in office 12 years now.
by Clint CooperThe shots were fired only a day after a glowing Wall Street Journal report on the city hit the internet.
by Clint CooperThe words in Friday's newspaper were astonishing, even if not everyone realized it.
by Clint CooperThe newspaper's Life section is seeking life advice from readers for recent high school or college graduates.
by Clint CooperFormer two-term Chattanooga Mayor Charles A. "Pat" Rose, who died Monday, presided over what one report said at the time of his two terms in office (1975-1983) was "the greatest downtown growth in history."
by Clint CooperThe Tennessee Republican Party's State Executive Committee, given the rules in place, returned the only decision it could in a vote Friday on a challenge to the results in Hamilton County's recent mayoral primary by second-place finisher Sabrena Smedley.
by Clint CooperGeorgia voters on Tuesday decked up a United States Senate contest as Southern as the sugariest of sweet teas.
by Clint Cooper