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Chattanooga Update - August 6, 2013

46 views · Published 6 August 2013 · 3:41 · Indexed 14 November 2026

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

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Collegedale has become the first city in Tennessee to offer benefits to same-sex spouses of government employees.

The city council voted 4 to 1 to approve the proposal.

The lone vote against it came from Mayor John Turner, who says HE voted for the 74 people who reached out to him opposing the policy.

The city's vote came after Collegedale Detective Kat Cooper said she was denied family health coverage for her wife Krista.
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Chattanooga is spending millions of dollars on a citywide wireless network that's accessible only to local government and only works part of the time.

Critics say the city is throwing away good money on a boondoggle. How much money?

Well, no one seems to know. After two weeks, the mayor's staff still can't figure out how much has been spent on the network the city already has.

The network was built with dozens of applications in mind.
It would let police officers tap into security cameras and firefighters access building plans.
The water supply could be wirelessly checked for contamination. Pulsing street lights would lead emergency crews to accidents.

But little of that ever happened, and many of the listed capabilities either don't exist or have been scrapped.

Councilman Larry Grohn says completing the system would cost taxpayers more than $750 million dollars.

Now Mayor Andy Berke says he wants to spend another $20 million dollars on the wireless network to help prevent traffic congestion.

But the network's current traffic system is almost never used. A city official was unable to recall the last time the system had been used, or describe the next time it would be used, despite the fact that more than 115 intersections throughout the city are already connected to the technology.

Two years ago, officials suggested the wireless network be opened to regular citizens, but that never happened.

And despite millions of taxpayers dollars spent, the mayor's staff says it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
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Convergys plans to add 400 more jobs in Chattanooga.

The announcement comes after the company already unveiled plans to hire nearly 500 more people earlier this year.

The company says it's hiring both full-time and part-time workers with starting pay of about $10 per hour.

The additions will put the company's local head count at more than 17 hundred people.

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Police are searching for a stabbing suspect in Dade County.

Detectives say Charles Lawson Jr. started stabbing people just a few minutes after they arrived for a gathering at his Wildwood home.

A witness says Lawson got into an argument with Allen and Juanita Taylor before pulling out a knife and stabbing them several times in the abdomen.

Juanita is expected to recover but Allen Taylor remains in the hospital.
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A Ringgold man has been charged with raping a 15 year old girl.

According to an incident report, 25-year-old Timothy Dewayne Kernea was supposed to take care of the girl for two weeks and she stayed at his house.

Records show Kernea had been arrested in the past and pleaded guilty to assault, vandalism and burglary.

He's now being held at the Catoosa County Jail without bond.

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