From Local 3 News: Drone technology and a K9 unit assisted in locating a missing Bradley County juvenile on Saturday morning, May 24.The Bradley County Sheriff's Office Drone Team responded to Old Alabama Road SW Saturday morning after a minor was reported missing. Officers say they began the search with a K9 track in the area between Old Alabama Road SW and Candies Creek Road SW. Meanwhile, the D...  Read More

From Local 3 News: Bradley County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to Spring Place Road on Wednesday for a welfare check, following a report about a person in a vehicle who was slumped over the steering wheel.Deputies found Rex Woody Morgan in the vehicle and woke him up to be checked to by EMS personnel.When deputies at the scene suspected drug paraphernalia in the subject’s lap and saw a fi...  Read More

From TN.gov: Unemployment rates have dropped across nearly every Tennessee county, including all in Southeast Tennessee.In April, 94 counties saw declines. Locally, In Bradley County, the unemployment rate fell four-tenths of a point to 3.1%. McMinn County also saw a drop of six-tenths of a point, bringing its rate down to 3.6%.Rhea County’s jobless rate fell to 3.3%, a decrease of four-tenths fro...  Read More

From Local 3 News: Tennessee inmate Oscar Smith was executed Thursday for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons.Smith, 75, was executed by lethal injection and maintained his innocence until the end. His execution was the state’s first since 2020.Smith was convicted of stabbing and shooting Judith Smith and her sons, Jason and Chad Burnett....  Read More

From Local 3 News: A Chattanooga man will serve prison time after unlawfully transporting undocumented people back in December.Josef Alquan Rutley plead guilty to the charge in February; he has been ordered to serve 18 months in federal prison with three years of supervision after his release.During Rutley's hearing, the court heard evidence of 22 people being locked in a tractor trailer with no w...  Read More

Cleveland High School is celebrating the Class of 2025 for a record-breaking year of academic, athletic, and artistic success.Forty-three students were named Graduates of Distinction, and 92 were recognized as Raider Scholars. One student earned a perfect ACT score and became a National Merit Finalist.The school saw historic athletic wins, including football’s first county title in nearly a decade...  Read More

From Local 3 News: A man is behind bars on felony charges after trying to solicit sex from a minor in exchange for a tattoo.The Collegedale Police Department says Bradley Zach Wolchuk, 29, was arrested on multiple felony charges after a suspicious activity call at the Chick-Fil-A in Ooltewah.Officers arrived around 9:30pm on Tuesday after reports that a man was attempting to meet a juvenile for se...  Read More

From Local 3 News: The diploma of a senior at the Tennessee Christian Preparatory School in Cleveland is being withheld after she came out as gay on social media, NBC Nashville affiliate WSMV reports.Now, Morgan Armstrong is suing the school. Armstrong was also suspended and will not be allowed on campus or to any school events, including her upcoming graduation.The incident stems from when the st...  Read More

From Local 3 News: UPDATE: Suspect Dustin Winton, who had multiple outstanding warrants, is now in custody, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy says.PREVIOUS STORY: The McMinn County Sheriff's Office is searching for a man who is wanted for various drug charges and is believed to be armed.Deputies are currently searching in the Goodsprings area, west of Etowah.Dustin Winton, 43, is 6 feet tall and 215 p...  Read More

From TN.gov: Road Construction will not delay motorists traveling Tennessee's highways this Memorial Day weekend. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will suspend all construction-related lane closures on interstates and state routes from noon on Friday, May 23, through 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27. This will provide maximum roadway capacity for the record-breaking number of motorist...  Read More

From Local 3 News: Hamilton County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a motorcyclist Tuesday after the rider led them on a pursuit on Cummings Highway.One of the deputies saw that the rider's license plate was obstructed and tried to perform a traffic stop.The rider then led deputies through St. Elmo and tried to flee on foot, but was arrested.Christopher McMahan was charged with the following:Imp...  Read More

From Local 3 News: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has become the first utility in the United States to submit a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a small modular reactor, marking a significant milestone in the future of nuclear energy.The 4,500-page application was signed and submitted Tuesday morning by Scott Hunnewell, TVA’s vice president of th...  Read More

From the Chattanoogan: Tennessee’s tax revenue for April came in significantly lower than expected.Revenues totaled $2.7 billion, which is $117.6 million below budgeted estimates and $316.9 million less than last April. General fund revenues were down by $114 million.Despite the shortfall, Finance Commissioner Jim Bryson said the state remains cautiously optimistic. Sales tax collections were clos...  Read More

The Bradley County Commission met last night.The Commission passed a resolution to enter into a multi-year contract for a new county postage machine.They also approved increasing the Public Water Fund allotment to $40,000 for the 2025-26 budget year.Three zoning changes were approved following public hearings:•Property at 1098 and 882 Urbane Road was rezoned from C-1 Rural Commercial District to I...  Read More

According to a release on social media, a clothes dryer caught fire last night at the McMinn County Jail, but was quickly contained and extinguished.Sheriff Joe Guy said an inmate saw a flash in the dryer around 8:30 p.m. The fire spread under the dryer, prompting a quick response from jail staff, inmate trustees, and patrol deputies.Fire extinguishers were used, and nearby inmates were evacuated ...  Read More

From Local 3 News: The Rhea County Sheriff's Department, along with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee 12th Judicial District Attorney's Office are "actively and aggressively" investigating an illegal dump of waste at the Piney River Resource Management Area.The department writes in a Facebook post that the dumping was found on the Soak Creek River section o...  Read More

Cleveland City Schools is proposing two new community elementary schools to address the city’s rapid growth.One school would be in the northeast and the other in the southwest part of the city.More than 5,500 new homes have been approved since 2021, increasing student enrollment.The plan follows a 2021 facilities study and aligns with the city’s 20-Year Urban Growth Map.An ad hoc committee of city...  Read More

UPDATE: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has named the suspect killed in an officer-involved shooting on Hamilton Place Boulevard. 21-year-old Alricko Trimble Jr. has been identified as the driver.This is a developing story.PREVIOUS: Chattanooga police spotted a person "acting in a suspicious manner" about 5:30pm Friday in the 2100 block of Hamilton Place Boulevard, and attempted to stop the ...  Read More