Morristown, TN (WOKI) Deemed a “total loss” following a devastating fire in January, what’s left of the historic Parks-Belk building in Morristown is coming down.
Crews have begun demolishing the structure located on Main Street which was destroyed in a massive fire which broke out shortly after the new year and kept fire crews busy for over 12 hours.
The building, valued at over $250,000, was set to be renovated as part of a plan to revitalize much of downtown Morristown.
Parts of downtown near the building have been closed since the fire. City of Morristown officials say those areas will continue to be closed while the building is demolished.
Jeffrey Scott Cicirelli was arrested in connection to the fire and charged with arson, reckless endangerment, burglary and vandalism.
According to court records, Cicirelli had planned to burn more buildings, with investigators finding fire-starting equipment stashed in buildings downtown.
Knoxville – At the halfway mark (six days of twelve) of early voting for the March 5, 2024 Presidential Preference/Knox County Primary Election, a total of 8,288 early votes have been cast, with an additional 724 votes cast by absentee ballot and in nursing homes.
REGISTERED VOTERS in KNOX COUNTY (as of Wednesday, February 21, 2024) – 299,140.
NEW VOTERS: A total of 189 first-time voters through the first six days (halfway point) of early voting.
EARLY VOTES CAST AT THE MIDWAY POINT COMPARED TO OTHER PPP/COUNTY PRIMARY ELECTIONS
March 2024 – 8,288 (total votes cast – TBD)
March 2020 – 9,989 (total votes cast – 83,148)
March 2016 – 6,857 (total votes cast – 92,219)
March 2012 – 4,921 (total votes cast – 49,747)
EARLY VOTES CAST BY AGE (Does not include absentee ballots)
EARLY VOTING – PRIMARY CHOICE BY AGE (Does not include absentee ballots)
Age 18 to 24 Republican 78, Democratic 32
Age 25 to 34 Republican 155, Democratic 53
Age 35 to 54 Republican 948, Democratic 196
Age 55 + Republican 5502, Democratic 1324
EARLY VOTES CAST BY COUNTY COMMISSION/SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT
District 1 (County Commission on ballot) 357
District 2 (County Commission & School Board on ballot) 649
District 3 (School Board on ballot) 691
District 4 (County Commission on ballot) 988
District 5 (County Commission & School Board on ballot) 1,600
District 6 (County Commission on ballot) 1,027
District 7 (No district races on ballot) 983
District 8 (County Commission & School Board on ballot) 1,410
District 9 (County Commission on ballot) 583
ABSENTEE BALLOT DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday, February 27. Anyone wishing to vote absentee can call the Election Commission at 865-215-2480 or can download an absentee request at https://knoxcounty.org/election/
RISE AND SHINE ON SATURDAY WITH THE ELECTION COMMISSION
If 10 AM is too late for you, early voting at the City County Building in downtown Knoxville opens at 8 AM on Saturday, February 24– early birds can take advantage of early hours!
PRE-GENERAL CAMPAIGN FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
All candidates on the ballot have a Pre-Primary Campaign Financial Disclosure due on Tuesday, February 27, 2024. It will cover the period from January 16 to February 24, 2024.
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) UPDATE: A large brush fire that broke out Tuesday night in the Halls community is fully contained by firefighters.
Rural Metro Fire officials reporting the three-acre blaze on Mynatt Road near Maynardville Highway was 100% percent contained by firefighters Wednesday morning.
ORIGINAL STORY: Fire crews are working a brush fire in the Halls community of Knox County.
Rural Metro Fire and Tennessee Division of Forestry personnel are fighting a three-acre fire on Mynatt Road near Maynardville Highway. Rural Metro Fire spokesperson Jeff Bagwell says no structures were threatened as of 9 p.m. last night. (Tuesday)
It is a slow-moving fire fueled by dead undergrowth and a slight breeze and a dozer is digging a fire line.
Bagwell says the fire was started by a man in a tree stand that had to be escorted out of the danger by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Facing a seven-point deficit with under 16 minutes to play Tuesday night at Missouri, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team answered the call and stormed back to claim a 72-67 road victory.
Sophomore forward Tobe Awaka posted a career-high 18 points and a co-game-best 10 rebounds for fifth-ranked Tennessee (20-6, 10-3 SEC).
Neither team made a field goal until the 15:31 mark, when junior guard Jordan Gainey’s fast-break dunk put the Volunteers ahead, 2-1, after the two sides combined to miss their first 10 shots and commit seven giveaways in the opening four-and-a-half minutes. Tennessee held Missouri (8-18, 0-13 SEC) without a field goal for the first nine minutes, as the home team missed its first 11 attempts and notched six giveaways.
Neither offense found its groove in the first half, but the Tigers went 3-of-10 (30.0 percent) from beyond the arc and 10-of-13 (76.9 percent) at the line, while Tennessee missed all nine of its 3-point attempts and shot 8-of-13 at the stripe (61.5 percent). Those differentials helped Missouri, despite logging 10 turnovers, take a 29-26 edge into the locker room after leading by as many as five points.
The Volunteers scored the opening four points of the second session, including junior guard Zakai Zeigler drilling a go-ahead 3-pointer with 19:15 on the clock for the team’s first long-range make. The Tigers, though, hit three 3-pointers in 99 seconds to spark a 13-5 run in 3:26, giving them a game-high seven-point edge, 42-35, with 15:23 left.
Tennessee responded with a dominant 32-12 surge over the course of 11 minutes, featuring a trio of 7-0 runs and seven straight made field goals, to go from down seven to up by a game-best 13, 67-54, with 4:03 left. Fifteen of the first 23 points came from fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht, who shot 6-of-8 during a five-minute stretch after not previously making a shot from the floor.
The Volunteers’ lead remained in double digits with under 100 seconds left and at nine with 60 ticks left, but the Tigers scored the final four points, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, to make it a five-point final margin in their 20th win of the season.
Awaka’s team-best point total came on a 6-of-8 clip from the field and a 6-of-7 ledger at the line, as he set career highs in both makes categories, as well as in free-throw attempts. His 10 rebounds, half of which came on the offensive end, gave him his second collegiate double-double.
Knecht finished with 17 points and grabbed a season-best 10 rebounds to notch his first double-double in a Tennessee uniform. Junior forward Jonas Aidoo, who eclipsed 100 blocked shots in his career, totaled 14 points and a game-best four blocks. Junior guard Zakai Zeigler added 10 points in the victory.
Graduate student guard Sean East II led all players in both points (24) and assists (six), as he went 7-of-15 from the floor, 3-of-6 on 3-pointers and 7-of-11 at the line. Graduate student forward Noah Carter scored 20 points, shooting 3-of-4 beyond the arc and 7-of-8 at the line, while adding a team-best seven rebounds.
Graduate student guard Nick Honor scored 10 points for the Tigers, although Tennessee held him to 2-of-9 3-point shooting. The Volunteers also limited Missouri’s top scorer in SEC play, junior guard Tamar Bates, to seven points on a 3-of-15 field-goal clip.
Despite having half as many made 3-pointers—the Volunteers went 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) and Missouri shot 10-of-27 (37.0 percent)—Tennessee used its strong interior play to claim the result, as it had a 32-22 advantage in paint points. The victors also had a commanding 26-6 cushion in bench points, good for its third-highest margin (plus-20) of the season.
The Volunteers now head home to Knoxville, Tenn., where they face Texas A&M at Food City Center, live on ESPN, Saturday at 8 p.m.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES • Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes now owns 799 victories in his career, six behind Rick Byrd for No. 14 on the all-time wins list (min. 10 years at a Division I school). • Barnes has now defeated every other SEC head coach at least once, as Missouri’s Dennis Gates—who joined the league last season—was the lone outlier entering Tuesday. • Barnes now has 24 total 20-win seasons in his 37-year Division I head coaching career, tying Jim Calhoun and Kelvin Sampson for No. 13 all-time, as well as matching the latter for fifth-most among active coaches. • Tennessee has now reached 20 victories in five of the last seven seasons, including each of the past three. • The Volunteers extended their road winning streak against Missouri to five in a row, stretching back to Jan. 17, 2018. • Tuesday marked the ninth time in their last 10 meetings with Missouri the Volunteers were ranked after never holding a ranking in the first 12 matchups. • The Volunteers are now 72-22 (.766) as an AP top-10 team and 31-9 (.775) as an AP top-five team in Barnes’ nine-year tenure, all in the past seven seasons. • Tennessee snapped a nine-game losing skid when recording fewer assists than its opponent. • The last time Tennessee had two players log double-doubles in the same game was 17 days ago, Feb. 3, when Aidoo and Zeigler did so. • The Volunteers last had two double-digit rebounders on Nov. 20, 2023, against Syracuse when Aidoo and fifth-year guard Josiah-Jordan James both hit that mark in double-double showings. • Tennessee’s plus-margin in bench points, 26-6, trailed only its plus-33 ledger, 36-3, on Nov. 6, 2023, against Tennessee Tech and its plus-23 mark, 26-3, on Nov. 21, 2023, against Purdue in Honolulu. • The Volunteers’ five-point margin of victory was their smallest of the year, one below their six-point decision, 85-79, at Georgia on Jan. 13. • Saturday’s affair marked just the fifth time in 26 games both the Volunteers and their opponent led for double-digit minutes. • Over the last three games, Tennessee has recorded 17 dunks and allowed just one on the other end. • Through the opening eight minutes, the two teams combined for 10 turnovers (six by Missouri) and a 1-of-17 field-goal clip (0-of-8 for Missouri). • Missouri, after missing its opening 11 attempts, did not make its first field goal until 10:56 remained in the first half, when Bates hit his lone 3-pointer of the evening. • The Tigers committed their seventh foul of the second half with 15:01 left, putting Tennessee in the bonus for the final 15 minutes. • Fifth-year guard Santiago Vescovi recorded two steals to give him 198 in his career, tying C.J. Watson (2002-06) for second place on the Tennessee’s all-time leaderboard. • With his first point of the night, James became the 40th player in Tennessee history to amass 1,200 points and he ended the night at No. 38 on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,203 after passing both Howard Wood (1977-81) and Len Kosmalski (1971-74). • With his first of four blocks on the evening, Aidoo became the 18th individual to record 100 as a Volunteer. • Awaka’s prior career-best point total was 11 on Dec. 5, 2023, versus George Mason, while his previous top mark in made field goals was four, recorded on four occasions. • The prior single-game high for Awaka in free-throw makes was five, registered thrice, while the lone other time he attempted seven shots at the line was on Nov. 14, 2023, against Wofford. • Awaka registered his fifth double-digit scoring performance and fifth double-digit rebounding total as a collegian, including his third of each in 2023-24. • Awaka’s lone previous double-double came on Jan. 2, 2024, when he amassed 11 points and 10 rebounds versus Norfolk State. • Saturday marked the first time in Awaka’s 59 outings that he has led the Volunteers in scoring. • Awaka doubled his season total in dunks, as he posted two on the night, his first time logging multiple slams in a game in 2023-24. • Knecht is the 10th SEC player in the last 12 years (2012-24) to record 14-plus points in 12 straight league games in a single season and the only Volunteer to do so in at least the last 19 campaigns (2005-24). • Over the last 13 seasons (2011-24), Knecht is one of just two SEC players to score 16-plus points in nine straight road games in a single campaign, alongside South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell (2016-17). • Knecht is the seventh Division I player with 16-plus points in nine consecutive road outings this season, including the only one in a Power Six conference. • Knecht, who surpassed his prior season high of eight rebounds on Jan. 16 versus Florida, recorded his seventh-career double-double and his first as a Volunteer.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 7/9 Tennessee came out on top in a low-scoring affair against UNC Asheville in Tuesday night’s home opener inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium, earning a 3-2 victory over the Bulldogs.
Pitching was the story of the game for the Vols (3-1) on a night where hits and runs were hard to come by. Freshman Derek Schaefer, sophomore Andrew Behnke and redshirt freshman Austin Hunley combined to pitch the entire game and strike out 10 while issuing just one walk on the night.
Schaefer got the start, the first of his career, and settled in nicely after a rocky first inning in which he allowed a run on two hits and a walk. The Arizona native retired all six batters he faced in the second and third innings before handing the ball off to Behnke to start the fourth.
Behnke led all pitchers in the contest with five strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work while allowing one run on four hits. Hunley held the Bulldogs scoreless over the final 3.1 innings, scattering three hits and striking out a pair to earn the win in his collegiate debut.
Kavares Tears led the offense with his second straight multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run to tie the game at one in the bottom of the second inning. Christian Moore also drove in a run with an RBI single in the third to give UT a 2-1 lead.
After UNCA tied the game with a solo homer by Ben Hemphill in the fifth, it was Hunter Ensley who drove in the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh to score pinch runner Bradke Lohry and make it 3-2 Big Orange. Hunley retired six of the final seven batters of the game to keep the Bulldogs from mounting any kind of comeback.
UP NEXT: Tennessee is right back at it with another midweek game on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. when it hosts in-state foe ETSU.
STAT OF THE GAME: Attendance for Tuesday’s contest was 4,699, which set a program record for highest attendance in a home opener, breaking the previous record of 4,550 versus Alabama A&M in 2023.
Blount County, TN (WOKI) A memorial motorcycle ride in honor of fallen Blount County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Greg McCowan will be held this weekend.
The ride is happening Sunday, February 25 and will depart from Pellissippi State Community College, the Blount County Campus, at 1:00 p.m. Participants are asked to arrive at 10:00 a.m. for staging.
Donations will be accepted at the event for Deputy McCowan and separately for injured Deputy Shelby Eggers.
For more information on the memorial ride, please click here.
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) UPDATE: The occupants and their four animals are safe following a house fire Tuesday afternoon in Knox County.
Rural Metro Fire crews responded to the home in the 7800 block of Stonewood Creek Drive in Corryton just before 3:30 to find heavy fire in the back of the house venting through the roof.
Stonewood Creek Dr. fire (Courtesy: Rural Metro Fire)
Fire officials say a light breeze fueled the spread of the fire and hampered efforts to extinguish the blaze. They say there was minimal heat damage to an adjacent home, but firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to any other structures.
No injuries were reported, but officials say oxygen was administered to one of the animals.
ORIGINAL STORY: Rural Metro Fire responds to a house fire in Knox County Tuesday afternoon.
Rural Metro Fire officials say they were on the scene of a working house fire in the 7800 block of Stonewood Creek Drive in Corryton at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday.
Rural Metro is asking that you please avoid the area as firefighters work to get that blaze under control.
Blount County, TN (WOKI) The man accused of killing a Blount County Deputy was back in court Tuesday. Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr. is accused of killing Deputy Greg McCowan and injuring Deputy Shelby Eggers during a traffic stop on February 8 in Maryville. The judge ruling that the case can move forward on a first-degree murder charge against DeHart.
“Based upon the proof before the court, the court finds that there’s probable cause to believe that the offense of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and felon in possession of a weapon was committed by the defendant, Kenneth Wayne DeHart,” ruled Judge William Brewer after a more than two-hour hearing Tuesday paving the way for a grand jury hearing on the matter.
“It was committed here in Blount County, Accordingly, charges will be bound over to the grand jury for its determination of probable cause.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, Brewer along with defense counsel for DeHart and prosecutors for the state of Tennessee heard testimony from Deputy Shelby Eggers and Special Agent Maria Cutshaw with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. In addition, the court showed Eggers’ and Deputy Greg McCowan’s body camera footage from the traffic stop and shooting. The footage, released by BCSO officials Friday, shows McCowan’s and Egger’s points-of-view during the entire encounter.
Public defenders for DeHart sought to make the case that the shooting was not premeditated and that DeHart should instead face a second-degree murder charge; the court ruled in favor of the state moving the matter to the Blount County grand jury to consider the first-degree murder charge, along with two other charges, attempted first-degree murder and felon in possession of a weapon.
The man accused of killing a Blount County Deputy is back in court today. (Tuesday)
Kenneth Dehart, Jr. faces first degree murder, attempted first degree murder and being a felon in possession of a weapon charges.
He is accused of killing Deputy Greg McCowan and injuring Deputy Shelby Eggers during a traffic stop on February 8th in Maryville.
Dehart, Jr. has not entered a plea on the charges, this will be his second time in court since being arrested last week after being on the run for five days.
