Authorities are asking for help finding a missing Knox County man who was last seen in Sevier County.
21 year-old Christopher Burleigh, Jr. was last seen leaving a friend’s house in a red 1992 Chevy S10 with the license plate number 152-BBWD that he had borrowed. The vehicle is where he left it and he has not returned to his home. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office at 865-453-4668
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that Greenbrier Road will be open as far as the ranger station for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians on Friday, April 7. Old Settlers Trail and Grapeyard Ridge Trail will also be open.
Hikers will be able to access Old Settlers and Grapeyard Ridge trails by parking at the ranger station and walking on the road to the trailheads. The road beyond the ranger station will be closed to vehicles.
Some areas will remain closed while NPS trail crews replace log foot bridges and reroute some washed out sections of trail. The closed areas include Porters Creek Trail, Brushy Mountain Trail, Ramsey Cascades Trail, and backcountry campsites 31, 32, and 33. It is expected that the trails will reopen this summer. In addition, the Messer Barn is closed until structural repairs can be made for visitor safety.
Greenbrier Road was closed beyond the ranger station after the road and area trails and culverts sustained damage during a July 2022 flood event. In February 2023, the entire area was closed for repairs, slope stabilization, and culvert replacement.
Road closure status is available on the park’s websites, https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm; https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm; https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm. Hikers and backpackers should contact the Backcountry Office at 865-436-1297 for more information.
The principal at Hardin Valley Academy is placed on administrative leave with pay.
Knox County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jon Rysewyk appointed Michael Reynolds as the interim principal. He retired from Central High School in 2018.
Our news partner WVLT News reached out to KCS to find out if the action was due to a previous incident regarding a gas valve being intentionally left on by a contracted janitor and KCS says that there was an internal review of the incident.
Reynolds will start at HVA on Monday.
Updated story: Two people are dead including a child and an investigation is underway following a house fire in Rocky Top.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is taking over the investigation started by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office into last night’s fire in the 100 block of Ponderosa Lane.
TBI officials confirmed the adult who died went back into the house to try to save the child but both died in the house.
Original story: Two people are dead and an investigation is underway following a house fire in Rocky Top.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are investigating last night’s fire on Mountain Side Lane.
Tomorrow, a special hearing will take place in the Tennessee State House to vote whether or not to expel three Democratic members for their role in a recent gun reform protest at the State Capitol.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton says the three representatives will be allowed to present their cases.
Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are two of those members and they say
what they did is constitutional and they will fight the expulsion. Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville is included in this vote and says she will bring representation to the meeting.
The three lawmakers reportedly engaged in “disorderly behavior” after leading chants for gun reform on House floor last week in the wake of the deadly Covenant School shooting in Nashville which left seven people dead, including the suspected shooter.
There needs to be a vote of 2/3 majority for them to be expelled and Republicans do hold a majority in the House and Senate.
Tennessee Democrats argue the expulsions are politically-motivated, and an act of retribution for demanding stronger gun laws. According to Fox News, only two other members have been ousted from the state House of Representatives since the Civil War.
A Friendsville man is taken into custody and charged with multiple offenses against minors.
Anthony Duke Soto was indicted for 14 total charges following an eight month long investigation. Some of those charges include:
Continuous sexual abuse of a child
Aggravated child abuse/neglect
Child abuse/neglect
Four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure
Seven counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor
Sheriff’s Office officials opened an investigation into Soto in August 2022 after three female teenagers reported Soto had sexually abused them on his boat, officials said.
The victims said Soto offered them alcohol and marijuana before touching them sexually.
Multiple teenage girls later came forward and reported that Soto victimized them at his home and on his property, officials said. Investigators then interviewed multiple minors, including family members, that also alleged Soto abused them either physically or sexually, officials said.
Soto is being held in the Blount County Correctional Facility on $750,000 bond and faces a hearing in Blount County Circuit Court at 9 a.m. on April 10.
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An Oneida man is arrested on rape charges following an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
TBI agents began investigating 38 year-old Tommy Duncan on reports he had raped the same woman on at least four different occasions.
TBI agents arrested Duncan Monday night and charged him with four counts of Rape. He was transported to the Campbell County Jail, where he was booked on a $150,000 bond.
A resolution to expel Knoxville District 90 Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson from the State House of Representatives has been filed following her removal from committee placements after her involvement in gun violence protests at the state capitol on Thursday, March 30.
Johnson’s removal and expulsion resolutions come alongside Representative Justin Jones’s, D-Nashville, removal from his committee appointments for his involvement in the protests.
Johnson Tweeted on Tuesday morning, asking people to be at the state Capitol on Thursday.
Representative Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, was also censured, however he had no committee placements to be removed from. Additionally, the representatives had their ID badges to get into the legislature deactivated.
No damage was done to the capitol, and no arrests were made according to Tennessee Highway Patrol officials.
The protests followed the Covenant school shooting in Nashville on March 27 that left six dead, three of whom were children under 10 years old.
On April 3, students from colleges and other schools around Nashville left the classroom and marched to the Tennessee Capitol to demand action from the state’s politicians.
Monday’s march made its way to the Capitol steps, after which youth activists, survivors, and families of shooting victims took turns speaking.
Protestors and state representatives alike expressed anger and concerns over Governor Bill Lee’s proposed legislation, claiming what the governor proposed isn’t enough.
“The need to put an armed security guard in every school is a result of the real problem. It is NOT a solution to the problem,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons said. “I am appalled that Governor Lee would rather militarize our schools and make our children feel imprisoned in their own learning environment than reach across the aisle to pass common sense gun safety legislation.”
Story courtesy of WVLT
A fugitive and ex- chief of staff to Maryland’s Governor is shot and killed by FBI agents in West Knoxville.
FBI officials confirm that an agent was involved in a shooting in the Gold’s Gym parking lot in Farragut last night after authorities attempted to take Roy McGrath into custody.
After the incident, he was taken to the hospital where he died as a result of his injuries.
McGrath was a fugitive from Baltimore and was found here in Tennessee by law enforcement. He was indicted in October 2021, and faced a maximum of 100 years in federal prison for charges that he illegally recorded former Governor Hogan and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state government.
