The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development moves to a staggered schedule for unemployment claimants completing their weekly certifications. This change will spread out the number of people certifying over three days, creating a more responsive experience for claimants using Jobs4TN.gov. More than 324,000 Tennesseans have applied for unemployment benefits over the last four weeks, creating an unprecedented demand ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials invite the public to experience SmokiEEEs @ Home during National Park Week. This new website at https://smokieees.org/ features videos and activities that connect students of all ages to the park from their homes by highlighting the three ‘E’s in SmokiEEEs: Explore, Entertain, and Escape. “During this time of uncertainty when the park is closed ...

The Tennessee Army National Guard used a hoist to rescue the pilot of a small plane that crashed in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Friday morning. Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers responded to a report of a small plane crash approximately 6 miles west of Clingmans Dome at approximately 11:00 a.m. on Friday, April 10, 2020. The single ...

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announced that all 56 Tennessee state parks and state-owned natural areas are closed to the public. The closure will last at least through April 14 in support of Gov. Bill Lee’s Executive order requiring all citizens to stay at home. This is a complete closure of facilities and access to all Tennessee State ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that all park areas, except the Foothills Parkway and Spur, will remain closed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All access to the park, including trails and roads, were originally closed on March 24 through April 6, in alignment with efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 across the region. The ...

Calling all Girl Scout Cookie lovers and supporters of the Girl Scouts! Did you know you can order Girl Scout Cookies Online? The Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians needs your help! The COVID-19 (coronavirus) has disrupted the Girl Scout Cookie Program. Public cookie booths were suspended halfway through the booth sales. This disruption means that troops across our ...

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee warns members that scammers are taking advantage of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and to be alert of potential scam activity. Reported scams include unsolicited phone calls that could be an attempt to fraudulently gain personal information. BlueCross is urging members and customers not to give personal information to these callers. “We want to advise all ...

The state of Tennessee experienced an unprecedented spike in new initial unemployment claims according to data released this morning by the United States Department of Labor. For the week ending March 21, 2020, Tennesseans filed 39,096 initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits. The week prior, the state received 2,702 new unemployment claims. The latest figure represents a nearly 20-fold increase ...

Sevier County Area Master Gardeners have a virtual hotline to assist those practicing social distancing—by gardening—during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of our day to day routines have been significantly impacted by the COVID -19 pandemic. In order to continue serving our community without being able to have staff on site at the Ask-A-Master Gardener Hotline, Sevier County Area Master Gardeners ...

Stopping short of ordering certain businesses to close, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Sunday ordered restaurants, bars, gyms and nursing homes to modify the way they do business for the next few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 17 calling for businesses across the state to utilize alternative business models beginning at midnight CDT ...