Knoxville, TN (WOKI) One person is dead after a house fire early this morning on Pilleaux Drive in North Knoxville.
Knoxville Fire Department officials say the call came in around 6:00 a.m.
They say responding firefighters had to cut a hole in the floor of the home to gain access to the fire which was determined to be below the floor in a crawlspace. Crews were able to extinguish the fire quickly.
Fire crews found the homeowner dead inside the residence. No other injuries were reported.
The home suffered significant smoke and water damage.
An investigation is underway to determine a cause.
Knoxville Fire Department crews respond to a house fire on Pilleaux Drive in Knoxville. (Courtesy: KFD)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) Investigators are now learning how a body ended up in a landfill in Anderson county.
Knoxville Police say 47-year-old Mark Denton was in a dumpster on Broadway for unknown reasons when the dumpster was emptied into a trash truck and dropped off at the Chestnut Ridge landfill.
His body was found December 11; that sparked an investigation with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
The medical examiner determined his death was accidental and occurred in Knoxville.
The Knoxville Police Department will now take over the investigation.
It began on Dec. 11 when ACSO found a man’s body at the Chestnut Ridge Landfill on Fleenor Mill Road. (Courtesy: WVLT)
Rockwood, TN (WOKI) A shooting suspect out of Overton County is dead after an almost two-hour long standoff with the Tennessee Highway Patrol in Roane County.
The situation began Friday morning at the Hutchinson Plant in Livingston. Officials say the suspect was involved in a shooting at the plant’s parking lot, then fled the scene.
A standoff with Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers ensued on I-40 in Roane County, just north of Rockwood, around 9:15 a.m. during which troopers worked to negotiate with the suspect. Officials have confirmed the suspect is dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound during the incident.
Emergency Management Officials in Overton County confirm two people were injured at the plant shooting, with one airlifted to a nearby hospital.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Mark Nagi confirmed that I-40 West in Roane County had reopened. The eastbound lanes are expected to remain closed for some time; traffic is being diverted at exit 340 and returned to the interstate at exit 347.
Throughout the situation, TDOT also reported several crashes. Pictures shared by Nagi show an intense wreck between several tractor-trailers. He said no one was seriously injured in the crash.
I-40 standoff in Roane County causes tractor-trailer crash. (Courtesy: TDOT)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – One person died after a crash on Chapman Highway Monday, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol crash report obtained by WVLT News.
Benjamin Jones was driving a 2013 GMC Sierra north on U.S. 411 when he crossed into the opposite lane. The 46-year-old hit another car, a 2007 Honda Ridgeline, head-on, according to the report.
Jones died from his injuries while the driver of the other car, 72-year-old Randall Shelley, was injured.
That’s according to the city’s homeless coalition and its president, Bruce Spangler.
On Thursday night the homeless coalition along with other city leaders hosted a memorial service for all the homeless people who died in Knoxville within the last year.
“They died for the most part because they had no permanent shelter,” said Spangler.
The ceremony took place at St. John’s Lutheran Church where all 141 names of those who died were read aloud as a way to make sure nobody was forgotten.
“This is a way for us to give dignity to their presence among us,” said Spangler.
Spangler said the biggest thing that city leaders can do to help fix homelessness in Knoxville is to continue to build more affordable housing complexes.
Warming shelters across the city open every time it’s expected to get to 25 degrees or colder. You can find more information by following this link.
TOWNSEND, Tenn. (WVLT) – Several leaders with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency spoke Wednesday morning, addressing their controversial decision to euthanize 13 bear cubs from Appalachian Bear Rescue.
Officials with the agency said the situation has prompted them to question the future of their relationship with the rescue.
What happened?
The back-and-forth between the state agency and the bear rescue began Wednesday when ABR posted to Facebook saying the TWRA had decided to put down the bears without communicating to the rescue first.
TWRA Executive Director Jason Maxedon said that isn’t true.
“Some of this information has been misconstrued,” Maxedon said. “We have been working with them and trying to keep them informed of what has been going on.”
TWRA Deputy Director Brandon Wear also spoke Thursday, outlining the timeline of the whole decision-making process.
According to Wear, ABR staff noticed one of their cubs had pneumonia-like symptoms near the end of November and sent it to UT for treatment.
Days later on Nov. 26, Wear said, TWRA learned about what happened and hosted a meeting with several expert groups to decide what should happen next.
On that list was the UT Institute for Agriculture, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, the National Park Service and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, he said.
According to Wear, ABR was told about the situation on Dec. 10. Maxedon said the rescue was given multiple chances to speak to veterinary staff about why the bears had to be put down.
“I personally spoke to the director of ABR about this decision,” Maxedon said. “The ABR director was invited more than once to speak to the veterinary staff.”
Maxedon went on to say that ABR staff did not agree with TWRA’s decision and did not want to discuss it with the agency.
So what does this situation mean for ABR? Maxedon and Dr. Dan Grove, a UT wildlife expert, both spoke on the rescue’s future with TWRA.
Grove said, at the very least, the rescue needs to fully sanitize two of its enclosures — the two that have hosted sick bear cubs.
“In terms of sanitation, because this is an outdoor enclosure, the recommendation is for a controlled burn,” Grove said.
That would burn off leaf litter and other natural material that could be playing host to disease-causing pathogens.
As for inside enclosures and any man-made structures, they’d need to be cleaned with chemicals before TWRA sent any bears to ABR.
However, Maxedon said the entire situation has put a strain on TWRA’s relationship with ABR, and cleaning the enclosures alone might not guarantee the agency works with the rescue again.
“We’re going to reevaluate our relationship with ABR,” he said, referring specifically to ABR’s comments about not being involved in the decision-making process.
Why are the bears being euthanized?
It’s a decision that’s faced plenty of pushback, even in just the day or so since the news was made public.
Grove outlined TWRA’s thinking process, trying to explain why the 13 bears need to be put down, even if treatment clears up their symptoms.
“Just because a treatment occurs and you resolve signs we can visibly see, doesn’t mean the bacteria might not still be there,” he said. According to Grove, a “cured” bear, when released back into the wild, could still infect other wild bears.
“We can’t run the risk that they may be a subclinical carrier for the disease,” Grove said. “It’s out of an abundance of caution that we’ve opted to go down this route.”
Even if treatment could guarantee that a bear, when released into the wild, would not infect others, there’s still a timing issue, according to Maxedon.
The director said, usually, bears only spend six to nine months in rehabilitation. After that, they’re released into the wild before they can develop bad habits around humans.
“We don’t want them to become so comfortable being around humans that they approach humans after being released to the wild,” he said.
What’s happened to the 13 bear cubs?
Maxedon said the TWRA had taken eight of the 13 cubs to UT already, and they had been put down. That means there’s five more still at ABR as of Thursday.
When asked, he reiterated that the TWRA does not make decisions like this lightly; he said anyone who works in the industry is passionate about wildlife.
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) The Knoxville Police Department is investigating after one person is killed and another injured in a shooting early Thursday morning on Washington Pike.
KPD says officers en route to the North Hills Apartments for a reported gunshot victim, spotted a car that had crashed into a fence in the 2900 block of Washington Pike. The driver, an adult man, was found to have been shot at least once; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers found another victim at the apartment complex; that man was taken to UT Medical Center with serious injuries.
Investigators believe that the shooting happened on Washington Pike and one of the men left the scene, heading to the apartment complex for help.
Officials say the department’s homicide unit is leading the investigation, and there is no suspect at this time.
Those with information are being asked to call East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers anonymously at 865-215-7165.
It happened around 3:40 a.m., KPD said, at North Hills Apartments when officers responded to a call for a shooting. (Courtesy: KPD)
New Tazewell, TN (WOKI) A Claiborne County man will spend nearly 40 years in jail after killing his wife who was a county jail employee.
Benjamin Wayne Hopson stabbed his wife, 49-year-old Lori Ann Hopson, multiple times while they were driving down Barren Creek Road in April. Her body was later found outside of the car.
Hopson pleaded guilty to the crime. He will serve 37 years in jail. Officials say he will have to serve the entire term.
Newport, TN (WOKI) Norfolk Southern now has a target date in mind for reopening one of their lines in Newport.
The rail company’s AS Line was damaged after heavy flooding from Helene wreaked havoc on parts of East Tennessee.
The AS Line runs from Newport through Asheville to Grovestone, N.C. Norfolk Southern projects the line will reopen on March 31, of next year.
“After Hurricane Helene moved through the Southeast in late September, bringing with it historic flooding and unprecedented damage, hundreds of railroaders from Norfolk Southern jumped into action. Teams reopened all core routes affected by the storm within 72 hours of landfall, clearing over 15,000 trees, deploying 400+ generators, and repairing multiple washouts, often in very challenging conditions and difficult-to-reach regions.” – Norfolk Southern
Officials say reopening the line will help the recovery efforts in Western North Carolina, specifically Asheville, Hendersonville and Waynesville.
Parts of the line that runs through Newport and Asheville were damaged from Helene. (Courtesy: WVLT)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) A Knox County man is facing prison time following a second degree murder conviction.
A jury found 35-year-old Stefen White guilty in the shooting death of his roommate about a year ago.
The DA’s office says on the evening of the shooting, White and the victim were arguing over White refusing to clean up after his dogs when White pulled a 9mm handgun and shot the victim in the chest three times.
Sentencing for White is set for February, 2025.
Officials said Stefen White shot his roommate following an argument about cleaning up after a dog. (Courtesy: KPD)
