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Chattanooga Today, May 13, 2013

69 views · Published 13 May 2013 · 4:11 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: chattanooga times free press · 2013 · News & Politics

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Hello Chattanooga. Here's a quick look at today's top stories.

First of all, East Tennessee hospitals are seeing a dramatic rise in drug-dependent babies.

East Tennessee Children's Hospital treated 33 infants for drug dependence in 2008. Officials expect that number to skyrocket to 320 this year.

Drug-dependent infants can face excruciating pain, have trouble eating and sleeping, and in the worst cases suffer from seizures. And nurses place mittens on their hands because the babies constantly scratch their faces.
Tennessee is one of the top states in the nation for drug abuse. In most of these cases, mothers abused prescription painkillers or anti-anxiety medicines while pregnant.
An estimated 12 hundred drug-dependent babies were born in Tennessee in the last two years on record.
And Tennessee is fighting back. Health care facilities are now required to report every instance of a baby born dependent on drugs.
For now, the preferred way to treat drug-dependent babies is by giving them doses of morphine and gradually weaning them off over a period of either days or weeks.
That kind of care can cost an extra 55 thousand dollars per newborn.
And for now, there's little research showing how these babies may be affected in the long-term.
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Next up, apartment rents in downtown Chattanooga have risen up to 30 percent in the past few years.
One apartment complex downtown that listed rents at $850 dollars a month last summer now charges a thousand dollars monthly.
Rents around UTC have especially jumped over the past year. About a dozen apartment buildings in that area changed hands, including five that were sold twice in nearly 12 months.
And while nearly a half-dozen more apartment buildings are under construction or in the works downtown, demand is expected to remain strong - and rents don't look like they'll coming down anytime soon.
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Across the state line, a 68-year-old Chatsworth man who put a bullet through a dog when it stepped on his lawn has been jailed.
James Yaughn was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and discharging a firearm near a road.
But neighbors say this isn't the first time Yaughn has shot at pet dogs.
Deputy Diane Franklin said she watched him dragging a dog that appeared to be dead across his yard. A few minutes later, he called officers to say that a dog had been hit by a car. He later admitted he shot the dog with a 5 millimeter handgun.
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In business news, a Chattanooga-based hotel development company is building a four-story office downtown.
Vision Hospitality Group's new $4.2 million dollar corporate headquarters will go up on Broad Street and should be finished next spring.
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Also, folks who visit Paradise Garden in Summerville, Ga., this June for the annual Finster Fest will be greeted by a new museum.

The museum is tucked away behind Howard Finster's former studio and will include a media room to show visitors video of the artistic minister.
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Finally, the producers of "Iron Man 3" could not have made a less appropriate choice when they depicted slow internet speeds in Chattanooga.
In the course of the movie, Tony Stark gets frustrated in his search for sufficient Internet here, but ironically, Chattanooga is home to the fastest Internet speeds in the nation.
The inaccurate portrayal set Chattanoogans atwitter, sending out tweets like "Please tell Tony to come for a real visit to Chattanooga," and "Hey Iron Man, don't diss our internet."
Nevertheless, city officials were only too happy to piggyback on the film's popularity, taking the opportunity to score some free publicity.
The chamber of Commerce sent a news release to national media and since then almost 200 media outlets around the country have published the story, including Forbes, CNET and the San Francisco Chronicle.
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Turning to weather, today will be sunny with a high near 70. The low tonight will be around 45.

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