An endangered child alert has been issued in middle and east Tennessee for 14 year-old Jasmine Nicole Johnson, who has been missing from Cookeville since Aug. 13, 2015. Jasmine is a white female, 5’1″ tall, weighs 140 lbs., and has blue eyes and brown hair. She was wearing a black and white shirt with blue jeans shorts. According to police, ...

On August 20, Friends of the Smokies hosts the 21st annual Friends Across the Mountains Telethon to benefit Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The event has a long history as the only telethon for a national park, and has raised more than $3 million. “As we celebrate the 99th year of the National Park Service and look ahead to its centennial in 2016, ...

Jeep enthusiasts will be supporting Smoky Mountain Service Dogs, a non-profit organization that provides service dogs to disabled veterans, at one of the largest Jeep events in the southeast this month. More than 1,000 Jeeps and several thousand Jeep lovers are expected at the Third Annual Great Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion at the LeConte Event Center in Pigeon Forge on ...

The Sevier County Humane Society is asking for help from the community after taking in 56 dogs and cats from one residence on Thursday. A spokesperson for the animal shelter said they received a call on Sunday from an individual in need of assistance because he could no longer financially or physically care for the number of dogs and cats ...

Inside a crowded theater at Dollywood today, Dolly Parton unveiled the theme park’s latest project, a revolutionary new wood coaster named Lightning Rod scheduled to open in March 2016. Both the world’s fastest wood coaster and the world’s first launching wood coaster, Lighting Rod is a 1950s-era hot rod themed, 12-car train that takes 24 passengers on an adrenaline-charged lap ...

The popular western store Stages West is closed after suffering significant damage from an early morning fire on Thursday. The Pigeon Forge Fire Department responded to a fire call for the Stages West retail store located at 2765 Parkway shortly after 4 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2015 and had the fire extinguished before 6:30 a.m., preventing the fire from spreading ...

An employee of Wahoo Ziplines is in serious condition after a 50-foot fall from a zipline on Monday. The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office said it received a 911 call just after 11 a.m. on August 3, 2015 and responded to Wahoo Ziplines at 1200 Matthews Hollow Road in Sevierville, Tenn. where officers found Jeremy Blair, 35, had fallen from a ...

The automobile parts manufacturer OTICS USA, Inc. is looking to fill more than 100 positions at its new Sevier County facility. OTICS USA manufactures engine components for Toyota and currently has a manufacturing facility in Morristown, Tenn. The company announced in November 2014 that it was expanding operations and building a new plant in Kodak, Tenn. to increase production capacity ...

The husband of a woman reported missing last week has been charged with attempted murder. The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that they located Katherine Walker and arrested her husband Phillip Joe Matthews, 41, following an investigation that revealed she fled into hiding after he allegedly tried to kill her with a sword. On July 31, 2015, Sevier County ...

A new non-surgical weight loss procedure offers hope for mild to moderately obese people unsuccessful at losing weight through diet and exercise alone, who either may not want, cannot afford or do not qualify for bariatric surgery. The ReShape Integrated Dual Balloon System, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on July 28, 2015, uses two attached balloons filled ...