Covenant Health Park is the name of Knoxville’s new $114-million multi-use stadium.
Boyd Sports, LLC, and Covenant Health have reached an agreement for the naming rights to the new stadium which will feature 7,500 seats, create an estimated 400 jobs, and be the home of Smokies baseball, One Knoxville Soccer Club and many other events.
Branding for the stadium is expected to revealed today (Wednesday).
The Smokies will play their inaugural game in the stadium against the Chattanooga Lookouts next year on April 15th.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your help to find a missing 12 year-old girl.
Raileigh Capps is white with light brown hair and brown eyes. She has no runaway history and has a white rose tattoo on her left forearm and nose and navel piercings.
She was last seen wearing grey Mickey Mouse sweat pants, a white T-Shirt and a brown fuzzy jacket.
We have her photo on our website, newstalk 987.com. If you have any information please contact KCSO at 865-215-2243.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office responding to a threat at South-Doyle High School today (Tuesday).
Kimberly Glenn with KCSO says the Major Crimes Unit and Juvenile Detectives were on the scene and later said the building had been cleared.
Knox County Schools did confirm that the school was on lockdown today (Tuesday).
This comes after Sheriff Tom Spangler’s announcement a few weeks ago that school violence would NOT be tolerated.
(Story courtesy of WVLT) One week into Knox County’s 2024-2025 school year, Sheriff Tom Spangler is reinforcing just how seriously his office is taking school security.
False calls are among Spangler’s top concerns. The Knox County sheriff said his agency responded to 117 threats last year, making 41 arrests. The Knoxville Police Department’s story is similar; officers responded to 63 threats last year at 30 schools across the district.
The sheriff wants parents and students to know he’s taking false calls seriously for the new school year.
“Unfortunately we know something’s going to come about, we know someone is going to make a false call,” Spangler said. ”If it happens and if you’re caught, we’ve made it very clear. I’m going to sound redundant, but it’s that important to me that we hold these individuals accountable.”
A false call is a severe thing to Spangler, who said using resources to respond to bogus threats puts the rest of the public at risk. Officers rushing to a school can be a danger to people on the road and cannot respond to real emergencies.
It’s become such a problem that the state has stepped in, upping false call charges from misdemeanors to felonies. Getting caught would mean a student goes a year without their license (or has to wait a year before getting it if they don’t already have it).
It’s something Spangler is grateful for.
”It’s very much a start, and I’m thankful they added some accountability,” he said.
Locally, students are facing higher repercussions as well. A source familiar with the Knox County juvenile court system, who chose to go unidentified, told WVLT News that kids accused of making threats will face the “highest extent of the law.”
Spangler’s message to parents: Make sure your students know what making a fake threat could mean for them and their futures.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference released the 2024 SEC Cross Country Preseason Coaches’ Poll on Tuesday with the Lady Vols tabbed to finish fourth in the league.
Points for the men’s poll were awarded on a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13 basis, while points for the women’s poll were awarded on a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15 basis. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams.
Florida earned nine first-place votes in the women’s poll, while Alabama had seven. Arkansas rounded out the top three on the women’s side.
Tennessee enters its first season under head coach Justin Duncan but returns a deep and talented roster that placed third in the SEC in 2023 before winning the NCAA South Region title and finishing sixth in the nation at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Four of the Lady Vols’ top five finishers from the NCAA meet return in 2024, including Ashley Jones, Jillian Candelino, Rachel Sutliff and Caroline Lyerly. The foursome helped lead UT to the program’s best finish at the national meet since 1989.
At the region meet, all four runners garnered All-South Region accolades en route to capturing their first team title on the grass since 2005.
At the SEC Cross Country Championships, the Lady Vols placed third with Jones and Sutliff earning All-SEC second-team recognition. Candelino and Lyerly landed on the All-SEC freshman team for their performances at the conference meet.
Tennessee’s season opener is slated for Friday, Aug. 30 at home at Cherokee Farms Cross Country Course. The women will open at 8 a.m. ET with a 3-mile run, followed by the men at 8:30 a.m. running a 4-mile.
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) UPDATE: We’re learning more now about a “domestic incident” that led to the arrest Monday of a Knoxville man.
Knoxville Police Department officials say the incident occurred in West Knoxville.
KPD says the girlfriend of 20-year-old Omar Amengol Cortes told police he shoved her out of her car and drove away with her four-year-old daughter.
Police later found the child and the car, which was abandoned.
Cortes was taken into custody outside of West Town Mall; he was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Knoxville Police Department announces the successful apprehension of a man involved this (Monday) morning in a domestic incident involving a missing child.
KPD says a man identified only as Omar at this time, was taken into custody around noon after leaving the scene of a domestic incident in the victim’s car with the victim’s child inside the vehicle.
A post on social media stated that police were searching for Omar in the area of 600 Buckey Drive.
According to KPD, the child has since been found safe and the car was recovered.
Here’s our latest poll question here on 991TheSportsAnimal.com. Tell us your record prediction for the Vols this football season. Feel free to share the poll. Vote below. Photo credit of Nico Iamaleava from UT Athletics.
991TheSportsAnimal.com Website Poll
991TheSportsAnimal.com Poll Question
Besides the QBs, which FIRST YEAR Vols football player will make the biggest impact on offense?
Hendersonville, TN (WOKI / WVLT) For the first time, investigators are offering a reward in the case of Sebastian Rogers.
Tuesday marked six months since the Sumner County teen disappeared from his home.
Sebastian, who has autism, was last seen February 26 at his Hendersonville home. According to the FBI, the 15-year-old went missing wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, and black square-framed glasses,
Investigators are now offering a $50,000 reward for Sebastian’s safe return or the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for his disappearance.
The new reward is being offered by the FBI in partnership with the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office.
If you have any information about the whereabouts of Sebastian, you are asked to contact the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office at (615) 451-3838, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND or [email protected], your local FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
A $50k reward is being offered for information leading to Sebastian Rogers. (Courtesy: TBI)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) A dangerous semi-truck is no longer traveling the roads in Knox County.
Officials with the Tennessee Highway Patrol announcing Monday a trooper with THP’s MC+ in Knox County found 37 violations involving the commercial motor vehicle including multiple blown tires and electrical wires that were arcing, which nearly caused a fire.
THP says the trooper “removed the unsafe driver and the CMV off the road.”
Information about how the semi-truck sustained the damage was not released.
THP said there were multiple blown tires and electrical wires that were arcing, which nearly caused a fire. (Courtesy: THP)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI / WVLT) Summer may be waning, but don’t put that bug spray up just yet.
The Knox County Health Department is warning about a mosquito born infection; it’s already sent six kids to the hospital. Despite kids being back in school, the health department says the La Crosse virus is still a concern.
“We think school is back and so we’re done with summer, but the mosquitos aren’t,” said Dr. Corinne Tandy with the Knox County Health Department speaking with WOKI news partner, WVLT. “So, we often see mosquito season reaching into that late summer through August through September until the temperatures really start cooling down in October.”
Health department officials say there are typically no symptoms of the virus but those who do get sick experience fever, headache, nausea and vomiting.
KCHD officials say the best way to avoid a La Crosse infection is to prevent or reduce mosquito bites. La Crosse is spread by the bite of an Aedes mosquito, which bites primarily during dawn and dusk in wooded areas.
The department recommends people also:
Use insect repellents.
Treat clothing with repellents
Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants if working in grassy areas and cover strollers/baby carriers with mosquito netting
Control the mosquito population in your yard by reducing standing water on the property
Once a week, turn over items that hold water, such as swings, buckets, toys, and flowerpot saucers
This is the highest number of cases reported in Knox County since 2020, according to the health department.
