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Chattanooga Update - July 25, 2013

127 views · Published 25 July 2013 · 5:40 · Indexed 22 October 2026

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

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Barack Obama will visit Chattanooga on Tuesday for the first time in his presidency.

Obama will tour the city's Amazon.com distribution center to highlight what he says is an improving economy but one that needs to do more to boost the middle class.
White House officials say Tuesday's speech will focus on manufacturing, high income jobs and the economy.
But GOP leaders say Tennessee's record shows that Republicans have better ideas for economic growth.
The state's Republican Party Chairman says it makes sense that Obama would want to visit Tennessee to learn how to get things done.
He said Republicans here have cut taxes, balanced the budget, and have the lowest debt of any state in the union.
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Erlanger's former interim CEO Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson is suing the hospital for $25 million dollars.

The lawsuit claims she was forced out in an elaborate political conspiracy that involved threats against her safety, hacking her computer and racial remarks.
The suit claims that during the CEO selection process, several top hospital officials said that quote "medicine is a white man's world."
Woodard-Thompson says she wants people to know the lawsuit is not about her and not about money. She says she's suing to ensure that Erlanger survives and provides quality care. She claims a group of people at the hospital are more interested in their personal gain than in local health.

The suit also states that several Erlanger officials advised Woodward-Thomspon to learn to shoot a gun and to be escorted by a security guard. She says she followed that advice.

An Erlanger spokeswoman says Woodard-Thompson was offered severance equal to 12 months' pay, or close to $500,000 dollars. She added that Woodard-Thompson's demand of $25 million dollars would be financially irresponsible.
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Four years after a Murray County High School student killed himself amid constant bullying, the boy's parents owe the school district $30,000.
David and Tina Long, whose 17-year-old son Tyler committed suicide in 2009, say they don't know what they're going to do.
Their 18-year-old twins start college in the fall, and they say they don't have $30,000 to give the school system.
The Longs sued Murray County Schools in 2010, arguing that officials did nothing to stop students from bullying their son. Now two U.S. courts have ruled against the Longs.
The majority of the $30,000 bill comes from making copies of thousands of records.
The Longs say they already lost their son and now all the costs are meant to warn other parents not to go after a school system.
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A Cleveland police officer is on leave and under investigation for what are believed to be allegations of sexual misconduct.
Three sources with law enforcement say the complaint was related to an incident that happened this week.
They say Officer Ross Wooten answered a call to a public housing apartment, then came back later and had sexual contact with a woman connected to the investigation.
If the allegations are true, it would be at least the third time such complaints have been raised against Wooten since he joined the department.
In 2005 a woman complained that Wooten had strip-searched her and forced her to have sex with him. She also complained he destroyed two crack pipes he took from her instead of turning them in as evidence.
An internal investigation found "insufficient evidence" of coerced sex but Wooten was suspended for three days for mishandling evidence.
And in 2006, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested Wooten on two counts of official misconduct related to complaints by two women that Wooten had sex with them.
The Cleveland Police Department says Wooten is now on administrative leave. 
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If workers at Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant vote for a union, they'll have to pay for the privilege.
A report in today's Times Free Press shows just how much they'll be paying and where that money would go.
Hourly workers would earmark two hours of pay each month in union dues. 
So a production worker paid $19 an hour wage would contribute $456 a year. If you multiply that by the number of workers and possible bonuses, it amounts to more than $800,000 a year.
The United Auto Workers says 38 percent of those dues would stay with the local group. Another 32 percent goes to the international union's general fund. And the remaining 30 percent goes into a strike fund.
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Finally, Chattanooga is looking to close two event halls where three fatal shootings have occurred since April.

The city attorney's office is reviewing whether there's enough evidence to ask a judge to close the doors at Emotion Event Hall and a second unnamed venue on main street.
The two places have shared more than 100 police calls since 2010 for everything from loud music to fights and shootings.
Certain illegal acts can lead to a place being labeled a nuisance and shut down through an injunction.
A decision is expected within the next week.

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