2021

Retired US Army Major Tom Amidon is most proud of the cadets he trained and mentored for battle across the globe On November 11, 2020—Veterans Day—Tom Amidon awakens to a familiar blend of thoughts and emotions, rooted in his…
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“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Frederico Fellini I am stating this at the outset: pasta is my favorite food. Nothing comes close. Growing up, spaghetti was the only meal that kept me and my brother quiet at the…
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Jeff Carter, the original Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro chef, has returned to his roots Before anything else, make a note to visit the Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro in Townsend and order Executive Chef Jeff Carter’s North Carolina…
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Pulling the unemployment boost plug in Tennessee With “Help Wanted” signs in Tennessee so thick that a person needs a chainsaw to cut through them, Gov. Bill Lee pulled the plug early on $300-a-week expanded federal government…
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Knox County’s hunger ratings require us all to pitch in Five or six years ago, I started a new holiday tradition. On the day after Thanksgiving, I would visit my friend Billy Kidd, the late WIMZ DJ, as he kicked off his yearly “Camping…
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A look back at the life of a fellow presiding justice in the neighboring state of Alabama Of all those remarkable individuals I have met during my 40 years in local politics and the state judiciary, far and away the most interesting is…
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Alex Smith shares the beauty of life through oil paintings In early October, Knoxville native Alex Smith wandered through a First Friday crowd at the Emporium. His first local show since moving back to Knoxville in early 2019,…
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Challenging terrain speckled with stories of icy escapes On June 13, 1977, a handful of inmates from Brushy Mountain scaled the wall and melted into the Cumberland Mountains surrounding beautiful Petros. On their heels were every…
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COVID-19’s unexpected impact on the justice system You may be familiar with the phrase “Justice delayed is justice denied”. It’s a simple yet thoughtful concept that essentially means that if legal relief isn’t available in a…
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Of all the projects we undertake throughout the year, Best of the Best is the most intense. The first couple of years we used paper ballots that were included in the magazine. Candidly, it was a nightmare counting those, and there was a…
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