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From Wrestlemania to the mayor’s house. Glenn Jacobs, better known by his WWE name “Kane,” was elected the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee Thursday, beating Democratic contender Linda Haney. The 51-year-old former wrestler, who was listed at 7’0” and 323 pounds at his peak as the Big Red Machine, considers himself a “Reagan Republican.” He listed seven goals on his campaign website: a commitment to keeping taxes low, a renewed focus on quality of education, continuing to attract new jobs to the area, improvement of roads and infrastructure, “full and absolute transparency,” safer communities and “a fresh outlook on limited...

KNOXVILLE (WATE) — While East Tennesseans are keeping an eye on the sky, there’s going to be plenty of action on the ground at Zoo Knoxville as the total solar eclipse passes through on August 21. There are more than 700 animals at the zoo and staff plans to observe them during the time of totality. The phenomenon is raising questions like, how will animals react when their daily routines are driven by the cycles of night and day? “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Phil Colclough, with Zoo Knoxville.

Knoxville, Tenn., could be the first city in the U.S. where Obamacare completely collapses, leaving tens of thousands of people without the option to buy a subsidized insurance policy. Humana, the city’s only remaining insurance provider on its Obamacare exchange, announced it is exiting the market in 2018. If that happens, Knoxville citizens will be in a rough spot. Unless another insurance provider fills Humana’s place, some 40,000 people in the Knoxville area will likely be left without the option to purchase an Obamacare-subsidized insurance policy, CNN reports. Knoxville is illustrative of one of the main problems with Obamacare: It...

Several posters containing the salutation “Dear White People” appeared at North Carolina State University Thursday, accusing white students of “perpetuating racism and white supremacy.” “Dear white people, there is no such thing as being ‘colorblind.’ You are perpetuating racism and white supremacy,” one poster stated, with another informing “white people” that “black people can’t be racist.”

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released the numbers, by county, of federal detention requests declined from January 2014 through September 2015. Santa Clara County, Calif., had the highest number, 1,856, followed by Los Angeles County, with 1,492.

The advertisement read: "Store closing sale – Cedar Springs Christian Store – Clinton Highway location – All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13, phone 865.947.XXX." Mrs. McGinnis placed the ad on July 26. It was supposed to run on July 28. But when she opened up the newspaper – the ad was nowhere to be found. So Mrs. McGinnis phoned the newspaper and spoke with a classified ad employee. "She said our ad did not run because it contained an offensive word," she told me. "I asked what that offensive word was and she said the...

As Knoxville, Tennessee, continued grappling with the killing of rising high school football star Zaevion Dobson, President Barack Obama took to Twitter to repeat his call for stricter gun control laws. "Zaevion Dobson died saving three friends from getting shot," Obama wrote Sunday from Hawaii, where he arrived Friday for the holidays. "He was a hero at 15. What is our excuse for not acting?"

A 15-year-old high school football player was hailed a hero after he was fatally shot as he covered three girls when a man “randomly” opened fire on a crowd in Tennessee, police said Friday.“Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old Fulton High School student and football player, was struck and killed after he had jumped on top of three girls to shield them from the shooters,” Knoxville police Chief David Rausch said, appearing emotional as he held back tears during a news conference.None of the three girls were injured, according to a GoFundMe page for Dobson, that said he was “our hero.”Thursday’s deadly...

'Take Off with Ted' Knoxville Rally Tuesday, December 22, 2015 Doors Open: 9:00 am Program: 10:00 am Farragut High School Gymnasium 11237 Kingston Pike Farragut, TN 37934 Register for the event.

Agency says it remains committed to solving the 5-year-old mystery WASHINGTON - The top FBI official in charge of the investigation into the deadly anthrax attacks has left the case, NBC News has learned. Richard "Rick" Lambert had been the inspector of the so-called AMERITHRAX case since September 2002, and had run every aspect of the five-year-old investigation. Just last month, he was transferred to the Knoxville, Tenn., field office of the FBI as its special agent in charge, according to the FBI. Lambert was the public face of the case, and his transfer is sure to fuel speculation that...

Full video replay in case you missed it. GOP Presidential candidate and front-runner Donald J. Trump was in Knoxville, TN today and gave a speech to thousands of supporters at the Knoxville Convention Center.

Live Stream: Donald Trump Campaign Rally from Knoxville, TN - Nov 16, 2015, 7:00 PM (EST)

KNOXVILLE - Donald Trump, polling as one of the front-runners for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is booked for a rally at 7 p.m. Monday at the Knoxville Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.

WHITE PINE (WATE) — A shooting Saturday evening in White Pine left an 8-year-old girl dead and an 11-year-old boy arrested on first-degree murder charges. . . . Latasha Dyer said her daughter was outside playing when her next door neighbor, an 11-year-old boy, asked to see her puppy. She said her daughter told the boy “no” and shortly after the 11-year-old boy shot her.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa -- A solider kneeling at a cross at a park in Knoxville has been the topic of debate for weeks now. Earlier this month, a resident asked the city to remove the cross, but on Sunday, the majority of the community rallied together to convince the city to keep it.Close to 2,000 people protested around the display in Young’s Park. They made their stance known before the city makes its decision on whether to remove the cross.Several veterans, state politicians and residents spoke Sunday saying the cross should stay.“That’s their constitutional right to be offended, but it's also...

KNOXVILLE — Two Sunnyview Primary School students and a Sunnyview teacher's aide died Tuesday afternoon when two school buses serving Sunnyview and Chilhowee Intermediate School crashed with "a big bang" in East Knoxville, authorities said. ~snip~ Police gave no names or ages of the students but said most ranged from kindergarten to second grade. Relatives of at least one victim learned of the death at the scene from the police chief and burst into screams and tears.

[snip] ACT for America, is – according to their website, “the nation’s largest non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization devoted to promoting national security and defeating terrorism. ACT for America has 280,000 members organized in more than 890 chapters nationwide and 11 countries worldwide.” One of their chapters is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. As an informational service to the community, the local president, John Peach, organized an evening presentation on the menace of Sharia law and attempts by local governments across America to institute provisions for incorporating it. [snip] Mr. Peach and his associate, Bill French applied for use of an auditorium...

KNOXVILLE — A Florida man sought in a triple killing was in custody Tuesday afternoon and being treated for a self-inflicted gunshot wound after holing up in a West Knoxville motel room, Knox County authorities said. David Eugene Smith, 27, who likes to refer to himself as “Prince David,” called E-911 about 9:25 a.m. Tuesday and declared that he was wanted in connection with the killings of two women and a man near Lakeland, Fla., according to the Polk County, Fla., County Sheriff’s Office.

Full Headline: Tennessee sheriff's deputy is FIRED after he was caught on camera choking an unresisting college student until he passed out A sheriff's deputy in Knox County, Tennessee has been fired after he was caught on camera allegedly choking a university student Saturday night. Frank Phillips, 47, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website. 'In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in...

Gov't Spending $4.8M to Tell Students to 'Get Fruved' March 17, 2014 - 9:13 AM By Eric Scheiner (CNSNews.com) - If a college student dressed up as a giant bunch of grapes jumped out of the shadows and told you to "get fruved," what could you possibly say? The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is getting more than $4.8 million taxpayer dollars to develop a healthy-eating campaign that has students -- dressed up as fruits and vegetables -- cavorting in the hallways of higher education. Getting "fruved" means you're eating your FRUits and VEgetables. Get it? The USDA’s National Institute of Food...