Funny guy, Ross Perot. First time I wrote about him, I said he had a mind half-an-inch wide. He called the next day – he sounds just like a Chihuahua …
A heart bigger than a Coupe de Ville: Memories of Big John Tate
The first time I met John Tate he was looking to buy his girlfriend a Christmas present. I’m not sure of the year, but it was probably 1977 – after …
Strange bedfellows: Agendas collide over school shooter’s ‘manifesto’
When Republican politicians and gun lobbyists line up on the same side of a red-hot issue as the state’s most influential newspaper, questions are begged and answers demanded. That’s why …
Remembering Dwight Kessel
Decades after he’d left Tennessee, Chris Holzen had a short but memorable encounter with his first boss.
“By complete chance I bumped into him in a parking lot outside a local …
Gloria Johnson considering U.S. Senate run
Nell Johnson’s daughter has always kept busy, but for the past two months she’s been riding a whirlwind; crisscrossing the state for speaking engagements and meetings, collecting awards. It’s been …
On the road with Mark Cawood
A week ago Monday, Mark Cawood was cruising around LaFollette when he got the itch to keep on driving. This is not an unusual thing for the former Knox County …
The shooting that changed everything: Central High School, 2008
Ryan McDonald would be 30 this year, if classmate Jamar Siler hadn’t shot him dead in 2008 when they were both 15-year-old sophomores at Central High School. Siler did it …
Who’s No. 1? Eat our dust, Florida and Texas
After inflicting three pretty terrible presidents on our young republic during its first century, the Volunteer State settled into its role as a political bridesmaid. Sorry Jacksonians, Johnsonians and any …