News Hole [ˈnüz ˈhōl] — The vast media chasm that devours and records bits of timely information from around East Tennessee and beyond. This is a sporadic roundup of thought-worthy morsels scoured from its depths.
Happy Memorial Day! There’s a bunch of stuff to do today if you’re not stuck in an office somewhere.
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Tennessee state Rep. Andy Holt (R-Dresden) has taken to setting fires in his office, and he’s encouraging others to do the same. Specifically, Holt is taking issue with a series of tickets he’s been issued from stationary traffic cameras.
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A former science building on the Knoxville College campus tested to have such high levels of mercury contamination that state environmental officials want to declare it a superfund disaster site. Regardless, college leaders say they’re going to forge ahead with plans to reopen to campus, Knoxville’s only historically black college, which was closed in 2015 due to dwindling enrollment, loss of accreditation, condemned buildings, and outstanding debts topping $6 million.
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Walmart has announced it will open its first Neighborhood Market in Knoxville at the corner of Western Avenue and McKamey Road. Neighborhood Markets are smaller than the big “super centers” Walmart is best known for and mainly carries groceries.
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Court documents show that now former KPD officer Joshua Hurst, who resigned after being charged with multiple drug-related offenses in April, may have bought and sold prescription painkillers from police headquarters.
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Meanwhile, a Facebook post by KPD on May 25 has gone viral. It’s been shared more than 3,100 times and featured nationally in news articles. A pair of officers bought a kid a happy meal after arresting his mom for drunk driving, then took pictures (with the little tyke’s face blurred out), and posted it on the interwebs with the hashtag #kpdcares.
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Featured image: Mercury File
Former Mercury staff reporter Clay Duda has covered gangs in New York, housing busts in Atlanta, and wildfires in Northern California. And lots of stuff about Knoxville.
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