(Aired Weds 2/12/25)

For this Black History Month, an Africana scholar at Temple University in Philadelphia speaks on our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The lecture by Prof. Molefi Kete Asante is Thursday, starting at 6:30 PM in the University Center Auditorium on campus - free and open to the public.

Dr. Michael Williams is a professor of history - and director of Africana Studies - here at UTC.

(Aired Weds 2/12/25)

These days, how do you keep up with - and try to make sense of - the waves of headlines on politics and policy in Washington and Nashville, and how they resonate here in Southeast Tennessee?

It takes an “Open Door.”

That’s the name of a weekly email newsletter - out on Thursdays - recently launched by The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Sarah Dolgin is the politics reporter at the Times Free Press.

(Aired Weds 2/12/25)

In this corner of the Southeast, Thrive Regional Partnership reaches 16 counties where Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia meet - including the Greater Chattanooga area.

The nonprofit’s mission: to cultivate what it calls “responsible and inspired growth.”

Last week, Thrive’s Freight Mobility Committee - a group of public officials and representatives from private industry - met at McKee Foods in Collegedale.

Shannon Millsaps is with Thrive.
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Resilient Communities is another initiative at Thrive Regional Partnership that engages people to develop nature-based solutions for where they live.

This Friday is the deadline for communities to apply to participate.

John Bilderback is with Thrive.

(Aired Thu 2/06/25)

Maria Jordania - who performs as LVNDR - is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Chattanooga.

Last October, she was among the featured artists at Songbirds for TEDxChattanooga’s Sessions II - a mix of music and storytelling with a listening room vibe.

Watch:
Maria Jordania (LVNDR) | TEDxChattanooga | Part 1
Maria Jordania (LVNDR) | TEDxChattanooga | Part 2

(Aired Thu 2/06/25)

Here in Chattanooga, the Urban Forestry program is one of the quieter departments in city government.

But the office - tucked inside the squat Public Works building on East 11th Street - has a major responsibility: keeping thousands of trees healthy and safe for residents.

William Newlin of Chattamatters tells us more - and spoke with who’s in charge of Chattanooga’s tree canopy.

(Aired Thu 2/06/25)

On Chattanooga’s Missionary Ridge, you’ll find one of the oldest historically Black cemeteries in Tennessee.

Pleasant Garden Cemetery was recently nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to a vote by the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Opened in 1891, Pleasant Garden is the final resting place for leading members of Chattanooga’s African-American community after Reconstruction and during Jim Crow segregation, including tragic figures such as Ed Johnson - who was lynched on the Walnut St. Bridge in 1906 - and at least one of the Scottsboro Boys.

Fifty years ago, the cemetery was abandoned - but in recent years, volunteers have taken on tasks to restore the site.

This Saturday, Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors - and the African American Cemetery Preservation Fund - once again host a “Hike Through History” at Pleasant Garden.

Donivan Brown and Beth Murphy are with the Fund.

(Aired Weds 2/05/25)

Mon Rovîa describes himself this way: “Afro Appalachian folk artist. Rescued by grace from the Civil War in Liberia - here to instill peace.”

Last October, he was one of the musicians who performed and told his story at TEDxChattanooga’s Sessions II at Songbirds.

Watch:
Mon Rovîa | TEDxChattanooga | Part 1
Mon Rovîa | TEDxChattanooga | Part 2

(Aired Tues 2/04/25)

Next month, TEDxChattanooga returns to present its first event for 2025.

Sessions - showcasing local musicians and their ideas worth spreading - takes place at Songbirds on Friday, March 28th.

The lineup: Randy Steele, Bindy and Fawley.

Last year, TEDxChattanooga hosted two rounds of Sessions - the most recent in October, also at Songbirds.

Among the musicians on stage then: Abe Houck, a singer / songwriter whose music spans folk and garage rock to post-punk and country - as you’ll hear now.

Watch: Abe Houck | TEDxChattanooga

In the next few years, a new home for the Federal courthouse here in Chattanooga will be built on Vine St.

It will replace the Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on Georgia Avenue across from Miller Park.

The massive white marble building - constructed during the Great Depression - has been in operation since the 1930’s.

William Newlin of Chattamatters tells the story of this iconic building.

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For more stories on local government and exploring our community, visit Chattamatters at chattamatters.com - and Chattamatters on social media.

For a Broadway musical, “I Do! I Do!” is spare.

Two actors - a man and a woman - play a married couple, from newlyweds on their wedding day to when they sell their home fifty years later.

Their bedroom is the only set - with a large four-poster bed as the centerpiece.

“I Do! I Do!” is now on stage through Sunday at the Oak Street Playhouse Theatre here in Chattanooga - as our own Richard Winham tells us.