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FBI charges Tennessee man who attended insurrection with shooting at Knoxville federal building
The FBI has charged a Tennessee man who traveled to the Capitol Building during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection with shooting at a federal building in downtown Knoxville earlier this month. Mark Thomas Reno is charged in an FBI warrant unsealed this week in U.S. District Court with damaging federal property for allegedly firing upon […]
Guy Fieri’s Pigeon Forge restaurant accused of violating federal labor law
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s new restaurant in Pigeon Forge is in legal hot water, accused of cheating wait staff and violating federal labor law. A proposed “collective action” lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court against Downtown Flavortown, a new Fieri eater that opened in March on Teaster Lane in the tourism mecca of […]
Federal agents fight release of video in Grainger County slaughterhouse raid
Federal agents accused of targeting, mocking and, in some instances, brutalizing Latino workers at a Grainger County slaughterhouse claim their lives will be endangered by the public release of video from the controversial raid, court records show. Although the video is currently under seal, an investigation by the Tennessee Lookout reveals the footage appears to […]
Tennessee federal judge blocks Biden Administration LGBTQ protections
A Tennessee federal judge is blocking the Biden administration from enforcing an executive order designed to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in schools and the workplace. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. on Friday issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily bars the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from enforcing […]
Third East Tennessean charged with fraud for misuse of federal COVID funds
A Maryville woman who claimed she needed COVID emergency relief funding to keep her Christian ministry afloat instead used the money to fund a trip to Disney, buy land, two trucks and a travel trailer and pay off her student loans, court records show. Sarrah Denton Willhite has struck a deal to plead guilty to […]
Knoxville’s new top cop aims to break the ‘blue wall of silence’
When Knoxville’s new police chief watched for the first time the now infamous video of the police killing of George Floyd, his eyes immediately went from the officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck to the three officers who stood idly by. “The biggest thing that came to my mind when I saw the George […]
Johnson City Police sued by former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney
A former special federal prosecutor is accusing the Johnson City Police Department of protecting — either through “incompetence” or outright corruption — an alleged serial rapist. In an extraordinary move, former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kateri Dahl is suing Johnson City Police Chief Karl Turner and the city in U.S. District Court, alleging the chief […]
Hamblen County Commission chair denied residents free speech rights, suit alleges
Hamblen County Commission Chairman Howard Shipley admitted he violated the free speech rights of citizens, apologized for it, and promised never to do it again. But less than a year later, court records allege, he did it again. Now, Hamblen County taxpayers are on the hook for the cost of defending him in federal court. […]
East Tennesseans accused of fraud in Paycheck Protection loans
An East Tennessee woman who was already on probation in a federal fraud case is now accused of duping the Small Business Administration into awarding her a Paycheck Protection Program loan for a fake business and using the money to get plastic surgery in Florida and spend a week recovering at the Trump International Beach […]
Study shows a TVA change to solar and wind energy would cut costs to ratepayers
The Tennessee Valley Authority could save ratepayers billions of dollars by investing in solar and wind energy sources, according to a study released this week. A study by Synapse Energy Economics commissioned by the Sierra Club and made public this week shows TVA could save its ratepayers nearly $10 billion in energy costs by abandoning […]
Federal judge doesn’t buy IRS ploy in Grainger County slaughterhouse suit
For nearly two years, the Internal Revenue Service refused to reveal its role in a controversial 2018 raid at a Grainger County slaughterhouse in a bid to shield its agents from a civil-rights lawsuit, court records show. When the ploy failed, those records also show, the IRS then tried to use the delay the agency’s […]
Court allows John Does to sue Presbyterian Church over decades-old sexual abuse
A Tennessee appellate court is allowing three men allegedly raped as children by a Presbyterian pastor in Memphis more than two decades ago to sue the church and its governing body for allegedly covering up the crimes with a “whitewash” investigation kept hidden for years. In an opinion made public Friday, the Tennessee Court of […]