Chattanooga Times Free Press | Stories by Jacqueline Koch

Posted: Tuesday - Nov. 24, 2009

A former city employee accused of lying about breast cancer and subsequently receiving thousands of dollars in assistance appeared briefly in criminal court this morning as the district attorney’s office sorts through claims of fraud.

Posted: Tuesday - Nov. 24, 2009

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BlueCross offers credit monitoring after Social Security numbers compromised

After 68 computer hard drives were stolen last month, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is providing members whose Social Security numbers may be at risk with credit monitoring service for a year.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 23, 2009

New female red wolf coming to Nature Center

The Chattanooga Nature Center will welcome a new female red wolf in early December, hopefully leading to a litter in the spring.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 23, 2009

Battle of the Badges

Emergency responders are used to playing on the same team for the sake of helping others.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 21, 2009

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Drill simulates Silverdale gang fight

Inmates at the Silverdale Detention Center took over a pavilion in the recreation yard Friday morning, hanging white sheets to disguise their activities and taking two corrections officers hostage.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 21, 2009

5 Creative Arts students suspended

Five Chattanooga Center for the Creative Arts students have been suspended after two separate incidents of drugs on campus.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 21, 2009

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Firetrucks that do it all

About a year ago, Chattanooga Fire Department officials asked firefighters what features they'd want on their firetrucks if they could have anything they liked.

Posted: Friday - Nov. 20, 2009

Chattanooga: Training exercise at Silverdale simulates gang fight

Silverdale corrections officers, special operations team members, Chattanooga police hostage negotiators and emergency responders took part this morning in a simulated gang fight and hostage situation at the detention center.

Posted: Friday - Nov. 20, 2009

Southern Adventist student killed in Micronesia

At Southern Adventist University, where yearlong student mission trips are common, the news of one student's death in Micronesia cast a cloud of grief over the Collegedale campus.

Posted: Friday - Nov. 20, 2009

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Local doctors have questions, concerns about health care bill

The introduction of the U.S. Senate's health reform bill Wednesday left local doctors and health care professionals with mixed reactions and many questions.

Posted: Thursday - Nov. 19, 2009

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Officers have a blast in explosives course

Eleven-year-old Ethan Cady learned a simple but vital lesson Wednesday: "Don't play with explosives."

Posted: Tuesday - Nov. 17, 2009

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Jury to decide whether killing was justified

What started as a fistfight earlier this month led to the city's 16th homicide, though a jury will decide whether the shooting was justified and committed in self-defense.

Posted: Tuesday - Nov. 17, 2009

Deputies will stay till areas annexed

After receiving several questions about deputies patrolling areas targeted for annexation by Chattanooga, Sheriff Jim Hammond wants to set the record straight.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 16, 2009

1 Comment

Chattanooga: Fatal shooting case sent to criminal court

The case of an 18-year-old charged with criminal homicide was bound over to criminal court this morning.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 16, 2009

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TBI faces belt-tightening from budget grip

If the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation imposes fees for evidence analysis, the Chattanooga Police Department could face more than $17,000 a year to submit items in homicide cases.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 16, 2009

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Sheriff going after grants

In tough economic times, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is applying for every grant it can.

Posted: Sunday - Nov. 15, 2009

Officers continue to support child

After news reports about 6-year-old Jaquez McKinze's crippling injury and the Chattanooga police officer who befriended him, donations and support poured in for the boy and his mom.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 14, 2009

5 Comments

No burger, lighter charges

Because three freshman University of Tennessee football players did not snatch a cheeseburger from an alleged victim, they face charges of attempted aggravated robbery instead of straight aggravated robbery.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 14, 2009

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Monitoring Hamilton County’s '12 Most Wanted'

Makie James Johnson eluded Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office deputies for 10 years.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 14, 2009

2 students face weapons counts

Two East Ridge Middle School students were arrested Friday for bringing weapons to school, officials said.

Posted: Friday - Nov. 13, 2009

Suspended ex-medical examiner arrested on new charges

A former Bradley County medical examiner defrauded a company to obtain several prescription drugs and then unlawfully distributed them, according to a court affidavit.

Posted: Thursday - Nov. 12, 2009

Chattanooga: Former medical examiner arrested by TBI

Bradley County’s former medical examiner and pathologist was arrested today by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Posted: Sunday - Nov. 8, 2009

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Deputies to leave new city territory

Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond says he’ll pull his deputies out of areas annexed by Chattanooga and bolster patrols in unincorporated areas.

Posted: Saturday - Nov. 7, 2009

Drug deal, robbery lead to homicide

At a local park where children were playing on a nearby playground, an attempted robbery during a drug deal turned fatal Thursday night, resulting in the city's 16th homicide of the year.

Posted: Friday - Nov. 6, 2009

1 Comment

Jackson charged in connection with playground shooting death

Chattanooga police charged one man in Thursday night’s shooting with criminal homicide after an attempted robbery and drug deal turned fatal.

Posted: Friday - Nov. 6, 2009

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Gloves over guns

A locker at the Westside Boxing Club on Central Avenue is filled with at least 100 small notebooks, each including the picture of a local boxer, the places he has traveled, and fights won and lost.

Posted: Wednesday - Nov. 4, 2009

Oxycontin thefts keeping authorities busy

People continue to get Oxycontin fixes by hopping from doctor to doctor to pick up supplies of the prescription painkiller.

Posted: Wednesday - Nov. 4, 2009

2 Comments

Robbers target parking lots

Seventy-one-year-old Barbara Jolley was putting groceries in her car trunk when a thief yanked her purse from her shoulder.

Posted: Wednesday - Nov. 4, 2009

Corrections officer arrested

A Hamilton County Sheriff's Office corrections officer was booked Tuesday into the jail where he works on charges of aggravated assault, domestic assault and kidnapping.

Posted: Tuesday - Nov. 3, 2009

Killing solved, but suspect also homicide victim

After Chattanooga police came up with a suspect in last year's fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man, they couldn't arrest him, even though they knew where he was.

Posted: Tuesday - Nov. 3, 2009

2 Comments - Audio

NAACP to meet with City Council on race concerns

Even before two black men were fatally shot by police in July, complaints about racial inequality in Chattanooga frequently reached the local NAACP chapter, the group's president said.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 2, 2009

Chattanooga: NAACP says city’s residents see major race problems

The Chattanooga chapter of the NAACP will meet with the City Council’s public safety committee Tuesday to address what it perceives as racial profiling in the community.

Posted: Monday - Nov. 2, 2009

1 Comment

Police say despite court ruling they will obtain search warrants

Though a state Supreme Court ruling has made it easier for police to search property of those on probation or parole, local law enforcement officials say they’ll continue to get warrants and have reasonable cause before they search.

Posted: Saturday - Oct. 31, 2009

Indicted firefighters served as junior volunteers

A Mowbray Mountain volunteer firefighter is accused of giving gasoline to a fellow firefighter, who poured the fuel on a vacant home, set it on fire, then waited for a call from the fire department, according to a grand jury indictment.

Posted: Saturday - Oct. 31, 2009

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Many frights out tonight

Halloween is notoriously full of fright and horror, but it shouldn't be filled with danger, officials say.

Posted: Friday - Oct. 30, 2009

Volunteer firefighters charged with arson

Two volunteer firefighters are facing aggravated arson charges after being accused of starting at least one fire at a vacant residence on Mowbray Mountain then coming to the scene to put out the fire.

Posted: Thursday - Oct. 29, 2009

Officers probing 3 fatal wrecks

Soddy-Daisy police reconstructed a fatal accident scene Wednesday morning, but officers still are working to determine what happened in the death of a 22-year-old Friday evening.

Posted: Thursday - Oct. 29, 2009

Nashville man indicted in cold-case killing

An indictment in the killing of Lesley "Spud" Washington Jr. three years after the crime may bring closure but not necessarily understanding, his father said.

Posted: Wednesday - Oct. 28, 2009

Silverdale employee fired over sex charge

A Silverdale Detention Center employee accused of having sexual contact with inmates has been fired and faces felony charges, records show.

Posted: Monday - Oct. 26, 2009

1 Comment

Taser tells police to aim away from chest

Police may make a more conscious effort to aim Taser probes away from a person's chest after the stun gun's manufacturer issued a safety advisory last week.

Posted: Saturday - Oct. 24, 2009

BlueCross cleared after bomb threat

A second telephoned bomb threat in Chattanooga in three days forced the evacuation of BlueCross BlueShield's downtown location early Friday afternoon.

Posted: Friday - Oct. 23, 2009

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Professor tells 'warm, fuzzy' stories of death

After more than 100 University of Tennessee alumni had eaten and imbibed, Dr. Bill Bass took center stage and immediately began discussing decaying bodies.

Posted: Thursday - Oct. 22, 2009

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Officer keeps his promise to 6-year-old accident victim

Six-year-old Jaquez McKinze can't move the left side of his body.

Posted: Wednesday - Oct. 21, 2009

2 Comments - Audio

Officer files federal complaint alleging racial discrimination

For Kenneth Freeman, it's no longer about getting his job back.

Posted: Tuesday - Oct. 20, 2009

1 Comment

Former officer files federal complaint

Former Chattanooga police officer Kenneth Freeman has filed a federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging racial misconduct against the Chattanooga Police Department and the city.

Posted: Tuesday - Oct. 20, 2009

1 Comment

Chattanooga: Fired officer files federal complaint

Former Chattanooga police officer Kenneth Freeman has filed a federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging racial misconduct against the Chattanooga Police Department and the city.

Posted: Tuesday - Oct. 20, 2009

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Council upholds firing of officer

In upholding the firing of former Chattanooga police officer Ralph Kenneth Freeman, City Council members expressed disbelief that he further would compromise his career after shoving a Walmart greeter.

Posted: Monday - Oct. 19, 2009

1 Comment

Chattanooga: Officer’s firing upheld by panel

An appeals panel has sustained the firing of embattled former Chattanooga Police Officer Ralph Kenneth Freeman, finding that Chief Freeman Cooper acted appropriately in his termination of the officer.

Posted: Monday - Oct. 19, 2009

Chattanooga: Officers testify at termination appeal hearing

A termination appeal hearing for former Chattanooga Police Officer Ralph Kenneth Freeman will continue this afternoon after two internal affairs officers and Mr. Freeman’s extra-job employer testified this morning.

Posted: Monday - Oct. 19, 2009

Agency ministers beyond prison bars

When Calvin Figgures left state prison after a stint for drug crimes, he entered a halfway house in Chattanooga but found he had no way to get a job.

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