A trolley on Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. Photo by Clay Duda.

News Hole, June 8, 2016: “Tennessine” is Now a Thing–a Periodic Thing

In The Daily Dumpster Blog by Clay Dudaleave a COMMENT


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.


Go take a look down Gay Street. What’s missing?

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According to this new report by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, there was 48 percent more hate crimes committed in the state in 2015 than in 2014. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently noted a similar increase in hate groups operating in the state, with about 41 percent more active in Tennessee in 2015 than in 2014.

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Contrary to what you might think, a new element named “Tennessine” is not a combination of “Tennessee” and “asinine.” It’s to pay homage to researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University who helped discover the elusive 117th element.

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Federal investigators say a 22-year-old guy from Sweetwater has been posing as a Vols football player on Snapchat to target women, threatening violence and humiliation if they didn’t send him nude selfies. On Tuesday Brandon Douglas Shanahan was charged with 14 counts of extortion via Snapchat, which the News Sentinel says is the first such case to involve the popular messaging app. 

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Gov. Bill Haslam is expected to sign a bill today that would make it harder–or at least possibly make it take longer–for prison inmates to be reviewed for parole. Victims rights advocates say that’s a good thing.

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Photo: Clay Duda/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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