Local News
Cherokee_land_deal

Why Cherokee land deal concerns neighbors

Sevier County leaders said leaders from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians expressed interest in a possible land purchase near Smokies Stadium. WVLT News learned the tribe approved purchasing 122 acres at the 407 interchange off of Interstate 40 behind Smokies Stadium. Neighbors expressed concerns over the possible development with many worried about a potential increase in traffic and noise near their communities...

pigeon_forge_school

Angry parents plan protest over embattled Pigeon Forge principal

Parents of children who attend Pigeon Forge Middle School are lashing out over the school board's handling of a sexual harassment case....

E_TN_farms

Too much rain takes toll on East Tennessee farms

"That's always the first thing out of anybody's mouth," said UT Extension Agent John Goddard, "you got any mud at your place?" Goddard said a rainy, wet winter has caused headaches for farmers all over East Tennessee. Goddard advises farmers in Loudon County. Goddard said simply getting around the farm can be a challenge and a danger for tractor drivers maneuvering hills.....

border_wall_emergency

East Tennesseans react to POTUS decision on border wall funding

Democrats and Republicans in East Tennessee share some common ground on the issue of immigration and the best way to handle reform. Friday, President Trump signed a budget, which keeps the government open but also declared a national emergency at the U.S. southern border to get funding for border wall construction. ...

tourism

Pigeon Forge sees record tourism growth

The City of Pigeon Forge held its annual State of the City Address and released financial numbers for 2018 and plans for 2019. The city's mayor, David Wear, reported $1.4 billion in gross receipts in the city for 2018. Amusements were up 7% for the year and lodging up 8%....

Featured

Top

  • TN_plants

    These 10 Plants Shaped Tennessee

    Whether walking through fields of high cotton or "sangin' in the hills," Tennesseans know plants are the state’s lifeblood. Two experts with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture recently led a project choosing the 10 plants that most shaped the state: American chestnut, beans (several varieties), corn, cotton, dogwood, ginseng, grasses (prairie and turf), tobacco, white oak, and, of course, kudzu...

Faith

  • attending_church
    The Top Reasons Young People Drop Out of Church

    Slightly fewer young adults are dropping out of church after high school, but those who do have more serious reasons for leaving than a decade ago.In a 2017 LifeWay Research survey released today, 66 percent of Americans between 23 and 30 years old said they stopped attending church on a regular basis for at least a year after turning 18, compared to 70 percent in 2007...

LifeStyles

  • brainexercise
    How Exercise Reprograms the Brain

    For an hour a day, five days a week, mice in Hiroshi Maejima’s physiology lab at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, hit the treadmill. The researcher’s goal in having the animals follow the exercise routine isn’t to measure their muscle mass or endurance. He wants to know how exercise affects their brains...

Tim Barnwell, Asheville, NC

Tech Bites

  • instagram

    Don't forget that Instagram is creepy, too

    With Facebook in the news for all the wrong reasons this week, it may be tempting to overlook the social media giant's photo-oriented sibling, Instagram. That would be unwise. Instagram, which you should absolutely never forget is owned by Facebook, has around 800 million monthly active users — and it exploits their data for ad targeting much like its scandal-prone big brother. This should worry you...