In only its second marching season, the Heritage High School Legion of Generals Band received an invitation to the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, quite a feather in its shako.

County Mayor Claude Ramsey will be the featured speaker at Thursday's Launch session at the Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace, at noon.

The Chattanooga Music Teachers Association is bringing a hometown piano prodigy back to town to serve as guest clinician in its two-day workshop.

Upcoming events at area college campuses. BRYAN * Monday: Preregistration for spring semester continues through Friday. * Monday-Wednesday: Dr. Robert Brabenec, professor emeritus of mathematics at Wheaton College and founder of the Association of Christi

Air Force Maj. Robert A. Groves has been named Outstanding Air Force Medical Service Educator 2009-Officer Category.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students are combining three American operas into one performance directed by Ronald Ulen, which will be presented tonight and repeated Sunday afternoon in UTC Fine Arts Center.

Kids, your artwork could decorate packages under hundreds of Christmas trees next month.

Friends of the Festival won nine awards for the 2009 Riverbend Festival at the International Festival and Events Association's annual convention in Indianapolis.

In June, the Chattanooga Community Kitchen served a record 16,000 meals to the homeless. September's numbers were almost as high: 15,000 meals that month.

During an interview with Dr. Andrew Lunn last week, the dentist talked about the importance of not keeping Halloween candy around for more than two days.

SUSAN PIERCE: For the fourth consecutive week, Christopher Straub was in "Project Runway's" bottom two and evaded being "aufed," even though he deserved to be cut loose far more than Nicolas Putvinski, who got the judges' boot.

Candy is dandy, but kids could get cash for those treats.

The Tennessee Art Therapy Association is holding the 2009 Connections Through Art Therapy conference today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Chattanooga State Community College. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.

Three longtime Chattanooga philanthropists and a business fairly new to town will be honored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals for their exemplary practices at the National Philanthropy Day Awards on Nov. 4.

I did something I've never before done on vacation: I lost weight.

Moms looking for good bargains on children's clothing and toys can start their Christmas shopping early when the highly anticipated Just Between Friends consignment sale opens today at Camp Jordan Arena.

Nancy Olson, a New Jersey mom who began a national network of shelters for homeless families, will speak this morning at the opening of the local affiliate's new day center.

KZ106 will bring a rare collection of original art, handwritten song lyrics, concert posters and gold records to Hamilton Place when the "KZ106 Classic Rock Art Show" opens Friday. The free show will be on view through Sunday during regular mall hours. All works are available to purchase.

Upcoming events on area campuses. Berry College * Monday: The Music Department launches a new concert series to coincide with the 100th anniversary of music education on Berry's campus. The Alabama String Quartet will inaugurate the series at 7:30 p.m. in

The Tennessee Environmental Education Association presented its 2009 Distinguished Service Award to George Bartnik, the Tennessee Aquarium's education programs manager.

I've been on Jenny Craig one month and have lost 13 pounds.

I've always found there was nothing that a Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll and a tall, cold glass of Mayfield milk couldn't make better when I was stressed out. I rationalized those Swiss Cake calories with the knowledge that the milk was healthy for me.

An hour before kickoff at home football games, The Tribe starts gathering at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School to paint up.

Memorial Health Care System Foundation was the recipient of the Judges Choice Award by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy Southeast Regional Cabinet at its inaugural AHP Southeast Best Practices Awards program. Pink!, the foundation's black-tie fundraiser, received the AHP recognition.

Constitutional attorney Ann Coulter will speak at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Monday, Oct. 5, at noon in the University Center Auditorium. Her talk will be "Evaluating the Change in American Government."

When statistics show that one of every two first marriages ends in divorce, according to First Things First, two couples have soundly beat those odds.

Wow! I was astounded at the response my first column received last Sunday. Obviously, my story struck a chord with many of you who have the same weight issues.

SUSAN PIERCE: The latest challenge on "Project Runway" was to create a dress made of newspaper, paying homage to the iconic paper dress first designed in 1968.

Shortly after Vilma Fields, who was director of the Chattanooga African-American Museum for 20 years, met Rose Martin almost 10 years ago, Mrs. Fields told the younger woman that she was going to follow her as that museum's director.

Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park launches its fall lecture series on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Tennessee Aquarium auditorium. Dr. Nicholas Honerkamp, archaeologist and UTC Foundation Professor, will give an overview of the archaeological evidence link

Upcoming events on area college campuses. CHATTANOOGA STATE * Tuesday: Lauren Pelon concert, Humanities Theater, 7:30 p.m., free. 697-3383. * Wednesday: DJ and Caricaturists, Amphitheater, 10 a.m. -- 2 p.m. * Friday: Music by Tim Cofield, Noah Collins and

The audience will become the classroom when Girls Inc. of Chattanooga launches a clever new fundraiser, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grade Girl," as the theme of its fifth annual Blast Off.

Woo-hoo! I had my first weigh-in Tuesday night since starting Jenny Craig and I’d lost 4.2 pounds.

This weekend's dozen festivals offer a wide variety of appealing venues, ranging from county fairs and city parks to a Victorian mansion and Cherokee festival grounds.

A trade "secret" slipped out Monday while two Rockettes were in Chattanooga.

Leah Hofmann and Alina Williams, two members of the Rockettes’ precision dance team performing in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Nashville, visited Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts this morning to lead a master class.

If you’ve read my column on the front of today’s Life section, you know I’ve committed to diet and blog about the experience as part of the Times Free Press’ project, “The Shape We’re In.”

I've been making the rounds lately saying goodbye to some old friends: Bread Basket's cream cheese brownies, Tony's Chicken Tetrazzini and Chili's Chicken Monterey.

Over the past two years, Dr. Verbie Prevost has been collecting the work of world-renowned artist/illustrator Barry Moser, then turning her acquisitions over to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Lupton Library.

In order for a delivery van to pull up at Signal Centers, staff must first clear the playground.

Personalization is the hottest trend in nursery and children's room design, according to local designers. Shop any baby boutique or Web site, and you'll see monogrammed items ranging from pacifiers that may be personalized with baby's name to monogrammed ceramic piggy banks.

Amy Piazza was 24 and a nonsmoker with no family history of cancer when she noticed a small lump in her breast.

There will be swinging, swaying and dancing under the stars Saturday night when Chattanooga Downtown Partnership sponsors its annual Swingfest.

The South Carolina State Guard announces that Cpl. Mark Alan Day of Taylors, S.C., a former Chattanoogan, has graduated from Warrior Leaders Course.

The Young Professional Association of Chattanooga is hosting its third annual Signature Event on Saturday, Sept. 19, at Loose Cannon Studio.

More than 700 East Brainerd residents and business people joined forces to raise a 7,000-square-foot playground in six days at East Brainerd Elementary School this week.

Want to spend a relaxing morning watching butterflies flutter by?

In a renovated garment mill in East Chattanooga, the fabric of a new performance art is being pieced together by a teacher and students.

Bargain hunters looking for a great deal can shop eight boutiques in one location today and Saturday when the seventh Chattanooga Boutique Warehouse Sale opens at Loose Cannon Studio.

Mike Purcell, new president of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Alumni Board of Directors, has bought his season football tickets and has plans in motion to entice more alumni to join him in Finley Stadium.