Since Tennessee's first public charter schools opened in Memphis and Nashville in 2003, the state's charter sector has been contained to its four largest cities. But that could change in a few years under expansion work by Gov. Bill Lee's administration.

Starting next year, Tennessee teachers will have to restrict their instruction on race and racism under recently passed legislation that Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign into law.

Federal health officials this week released new guidelines for fully vaccinated people, saying they no longer need to wear face masks or socially distance to protect themselves from COVID-19.

Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston defended his marriage to a subordinate in his office on Thursday, saying his management decisions "are both legal and ethical."

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who has already signed into law two measures limiting transgender and LGBTQ rights approved by fellow Republicans in the legislature, says he anticipates signing several more as they reach his desk.

Some Chattanooga area fuel stations are running out of gasoline amid the Colonial Pipeline crisis with operators and motorists hopeful the outages are short-lived.

COVID-19 vaccination sites look much different today compared to several months ago, when eager drivers would often sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic to get their long-awaited first vaccine dose.

More than six months after voters elected Joe Biden as president, Tennessee's congressional Republicans continue to raise questions about the way the November 2020 election was conducted and want electoral changes before the mid-term congressional election next year.

Federal officials have been publicly silent in the four months following FBI raids on three sitting Tennessee Republican House members, two of them political consultants performing work for several GOP colleagues.

High school bands, military veterans, vintage car groups and an array of supporters for the nation's armed services marched through downtown Chattanooga on Friday in what U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann called "the most patriotic city in America."

A multimillion-dollar makeover is planned for a large chunk of historic Montague Park as the Chattanooga FC Foundation envisions synthetic turf soccer fields, sand volleyball and other upgrades.

Former President Donald Trump won't return to Facebook — at least not yet.

A pledge for racial equity developed by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce has drawn about 40 business leaders' signatures, as well as some criticism that the work falls outside the mission of the economic development organization.

Tennessee's Republican lawmakers are mounting a last-minute effort to ban public schools' teaching of certain concepts involving systemic racism, with the bill's sponsor saying citizens "must take a stand against hucksters, charlatans and useful idiots peddling identity politics."

A federal lawsuit has been filed challenging Tennessee's new permitless handgun-carry law, which starting July 1 would allow most adults to carry the weapons in public without having firearms training, undergoing state criminal background checks or having state-issued carry permits.

Real estate investors are buying up Chattanooga area apartment complexes for prices that have shot up 35% to 40% over the past several years, and rents are rising along with those values, leaving some tenants struggling to hang onto their housing.

The creation of new affordable housing units in Chattanooga has made some headway in recent years, but the processes are slow and the need is high, local affordable housing advocates said.

A Chattanooga attorney is one of the prominent voices speaking out against a bill in the Tennessee legislature that would create a "super court" of three judges initially appointed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee that some say is a politically motivated tactic to control the state's judicial system.

A Dade County sheriff's deputy allegedly left bruises on the arms of an 82-year-old man after the two had a dispute about a shared property line that turned physical, leaving the older man in handcuffs.

Bars and restaurants in Tennessee could keep up the coronavirus-era offering of to-go beers and other alcoholic drinks for two years under a bill now awaiting action from Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

Although Gov. Bill Lee wants to back off of local mask mandates and COVID-related business restrictions, most Tennessee school leaders expect to continue mask and social distancing requirements for students and staff for the rest of the academic year.

Hamilton County's mask mandate will expire at the end of the day Wednesday, but local health officials are recommending that citizens, businesses and schools still follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and continue to wear face coverings in situations with higher risk for COVID-19 exposure.

Declaring the COVID-19 pandemic no longer a health crisis but a "managed public health issue," Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday announced the end of any statewide public health restrictions and the revocation of authority for local leaders to impose mask mandates in 89 counties whose health departments he controls.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's proposed $250 million trust fund for student mental health is generating accolades for its magnitude, but new questions are emerging about the plan's unconventional funding approach.

"The first blessings box in Dade for free food and household item take-and-give was put up on the side of the library back in 2019," Huffman said.

NASHVILLE — Beginning July 1, most Tennesseans ages 21 and older will no longer be legally required to undergo state criminal background checks, firearms training or demonstrate firearm competency in order to carry a handgun either openly or concealed while in public.

In groups of four or fewer, families and loved ones whistled and cheered beneath their masks as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga undergraduates walked across the stage at McKenzie Arena at Friday morning's commencement ceremony.

Most Chattanooga leaders are concerned about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Tennessee and believe politics and misinformation are the driving forces behind it, according to the latest Times Free Press Power Poll - which surveys people in Chattanooga and Hamilton County who make or influence policy decisions at the local, state and federal levels.

Eve Williams is planning to open her new Mojo Burrito restaurant just down the road from the existing location on Dayton Boulevard, but she's got one big worry.

Tennessee legislators will consider two bills Wednesday that could increase the number of families opting out of vaccinations for their children on religious grounds — a growing trend that a recent state report cited as likely driven by anti-vaccine philosophy, not religion.

The jurors who sat quietly off-camera through three weeks of draining testimony in Derek Chauvin's murder trial in George Floyd's death moved into the spotlight Tuesday, still out of sight but now in control of verdicts awaited by a skittish city.

Outgoing Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke attributes a drop in the city's gang violence under his tenure to the Violence Reduction Initiative, his flagship program, rolled out in March 2014 to fight gang violence in a new way.

Outgoing Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said he spent eight years striving to maintain a human connection as he sought "renewal" amid unprecedented challenges.

Former Democrat Vernon Jones crowd-surfed across adoring Trump supporters in October after speaking at one of the former president's campaign rallies.

As the city welcomes a new mayoral administration, a third of the Chattanooga City Council will also be replaced Monday with newly elected representatives, ushering in a new era of city government.

Chattanooga agencies that assist low-income families with utility payments are preparing for an increase in requests for help as electric bills rise with the warmer weather - just as pandemic-related assistance that has softened the financial blow for many Chattanoogans struggling to pay their utility bills is running out.

The world's only known transgender billionaire warned Monday she may move her private family trust out of Nashville if Tennessee Republican lawmakers continue efforts to enact a series of anti-LGBTQ measures into law.

Redemption to the Nations is housing unaccompanied migrant children who arrived at the border in recent weeks in one of its unused buildings, a move that thrust the Chattanooga-based Pentecostal church back into the latest nationwide immigration debate.

A record-breaking season in the garden industry last year has contributed to a nationwide plant shortage this spring, but officials at Chattanooga-area garden centers say they've worked hard to make sure customers won't notice.