“I don’t know that I ever thought it (being director of schools) would last more than four years,” Rafalowski said.
Ronnie Oakes’ career spans 26 years as a Virginia State Police trooper, starting in 1969. He retired as a master trooper in 1995, a retirement that lasted just long enough to be elected Wise County sheriff to begin his first term in office in 1996. With subsequent re-elections, he has become the longest serving sheriff in Wise County history.
The seven-member Board of Education also went into an hour and 45 minute executive session with board attorney Pat Hull and Nashville attorney Chuck Cagle to discuss a potential lawsuit against the County Commission for not allowing the board to spend $1 million in restricted reserves on a sewer line project for Sullivan East Middle School.
Bonnie Macdonald has spearheaded the Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts, where she and her colleagues have worked to invigorate and connect the local creative community, bringing art more into the public sphere throughout the Model City.
Many Americans might be familiar with the filibuster conducted by Jimmy Stewart, playing Sen. Jefferson Smith in Frank Capra’s classic film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” but there have been some famous filibusters in the real-life Senate as well.
Lincoln Street, from Wilcox Drive to John B. Dennis Bypass, will soon be designated the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Parkway. “It’s the appropriate way to recognize someone who made such a difference in the lives of not just African-Americans, but everybody in America and particularly Kingsport,” said City Manager Jeff Fleming.
For the 19th year, Kingsport’s finances received a clean opinion – the highest opinion offered – and for the 18th straight year the city received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting.
Mayor John Clark, who has served on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen since 2012, including two terms as the city’s mayor, will not be running for re-election in the upcoming May election.
Jeff McCord, Governor-elect Bill Lee’s pick to be the next commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, suggested Lee was “purposeful” about going outside the Nashville bubble of leaders to fill his Cabinet.
That was the main message from a 2019 Regional Legislative Breakfast held Friday morning at the MeadowView Marriott and hosted by Tri-Cities chambers of commerce and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Because the cities are the engines of economic development, without which the state and its regions would stagnate, we generally look with favor upon the requests of Tri-Cities municipalities, but not entirely, this year at least.
"It has happened before, and we've extended the late fee deadline that time. We more or less set a precedent that we're going to have to extend the late fee (deadline)." — Alderman Mark DeWitte
The safety glazing for reception areas of 10 schools came in at a low bid of $72,200 from Armstrong Construction Co., plus an architect’s fee of $7,500 and a 6 percent contingency of $4,332 for a total of $84,032.
An apartment fire broke out shortly after 3 p.m. on Thursday at Stoneview Homes off Teasel Drive in Kingsport. Fire damaged the living room and kitchen area of one second-story apartment. Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze in about 30
A Kingsport-based food bank is already preparing for the impact the government shutdown could have on the food-insecure in this region. Rhonda Chafin, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee, said she’s “very concerned” about the shutdown potentially continuing longer than the end of next month. After that, those who receive aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) might not receive their full benefits.
