Knox County has again achieved one of the highest honors in the arena of governmental accounting and finance reporting, winning what is considered the “triple crown” for finance departments.
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recently recognized the county for receiving all three of its awards:
• The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award
• Distinguished Budget Presentation Award
• Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award
GFOA, a non-profit founded in 1906, studies and reviews the planning, financing, and implementation of more than 21,000 checkpoints of governmental operations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Knox County is one of about 300 governments to receive the honor.
“I’m extremely proud of our finance department, which I believe is among the best in the state,” said Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. “Winning these awards once again proves just how good they are.”
In their review of the county reports, the GFOA took a thorough look at every aspect of the files from cover to cover. Each of the reports adhered to every applicable accounting standard in effect by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). They also graded on reader appeal and understandability.
GFOA officials also praised the county finance department’s hard work.
“The Triple Crown designation represents a significant achievement,” said Natalie Laudadio with GFOA. “To qualify, each entity must meet the high standards of all three separate award programs. Each award program recognizes governments that produce reports which communicate their financial stories in a transparent manner and meet applicable standards.”
The Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) announcing the appointment of Steven Matijcio as the museum’s new executive director following a national search. Matijcio is leaving his post as director and chief curator at the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston. He succeeds David Butler, who retired at the end of December after serving as the KMA’s executive director since 2006.
Matijcio comes to the KMA with a wealth of curatorial and administrative experience and a solid track record of significant engagement with contemporary art and artists at a global level. Prior to his position at the Blaffer Museum, Matijcio served as curator at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio (2013-2019) and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (2008-2013). He previously held positions in a number of important galleries and museums including the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg; Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto; Art Gallery of Ontario; and National Gallery of Canada. He was chosen from an international pool of candidates in 2011 to participate in curatorial residencies in Gwangju, South Korea and Berlin, Germany; named artistic director of the 2012 edition of the Narracje Festival in Gdansk, Poland; and more recently was chosen as commissaire (artistic director) of Manif d’art—the Quebec City Biennial. He has lectured on theory and criticism at the University of Manitoba, written for numerous catalogs and journals (including the Guide to the 27th Sao Paulo Bienal), and was commissioned in 2003 by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to curate one of its first online exhibitions. Matijcio holds a master’s degree from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, New York and bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto.
Taylor Wortham, chair of the KMA’s Board of Trustees, notes that “Steven’s experience and qualifications are very impressive, but what stood out to all of us during the hiring process was his passion for art and history, as well as his smart, enthusiastic, and outgoing personality. He and his wife, Anita, who just welcomed their first daughter last summer, enjoyed a wonderful visit with us for his final interview, and I know they’re really looking forward to becoming a part of our museum family. I could not be more excited to introduce him to our supporters and the rest of the Knoxville community, and I look forward to his contributions to this next chapter of the KMA.”
“I spent the formative years of my career in the Southeast,” says Matijcio, “and the values this region invests in community, people, and culture have continued to resonate. I’m excited to engage all of these cornerstones in Knoxville and build upon the inspiring ascent of the KMA in the state and country. The KMA has thought a great deal about what Appalachia means locally and nationally, and we will navigate what a “Global Appalachia” means today, tomorrow, and well into the future.”
Steven Matijcio begins his duties at the KMA in late February.
The Knoxville Museum of Art celebrates East Tennessee’s rich, diverse visual culture and its connections to the wider currents of world art. The museum is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park. Regular hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am-5pm, and Sunday, 1pm-5pm. Admission and parking are free.
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team stormed back from a 15-point deficit, including a 14-point margin with under 17 minutes to go, to thrice tie the score down the stretch Wednesday night at Mississippi State, but could not claim the victory.
Fifth-ranked Tennessee (11-4, 1-1 SEC) got 26-plus points from both fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht and junior guard Zakai Zeigler in the 77-72 setback at Humphrey Coliseum in the team’s conference road opener.
After Mississippi State (11-3, 1-0 SEC) took a 16-11 lead midway through the first half, the Volunteers scored the next three points to pull within two. The home team then began to pull away, using an 8-0 run in 1:24 to go up by 10, 24-14, with 6:11 on the clock.
The Bulldogs later used a 7-0 surge in 1:47 to push the margin to 15 points, 33-18, with 1:49 on the clock. At that point, they were shooting 50.0 percent from both the floor (12-of-24) and from beyond the arc (4-of-8), while Tennessee had respective 28.0 percent (7-of-25) and 15.4 percent (2-of-13) clips.
Mississippi State took a 13-point advantage, 35-22, into the locker room behind 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from graduate student forward Tolu Smith III.
Early in the second half, Tennessee used aggressive, full-court defense to spark a 9-0 run that included back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in just 36 seconds. The spurt cut the deficit all the way down to three, 49-46, with 13:52 to play. The Volunteers added another 3-pointer, making it a 5-of-7 stretch from deep including three by Knecht, to get the margin down to two, 51-49, with 11:36 on the clock.
The Bulldogs extended the lead back to seven, 62-55, with 6:42 left, but Tennessee countered with seven straight points in 1:15 to level the score at 62 with 5:17 to go. It marked the first tie since the score was 8-8 with 15:12 on the first-half timer.
Tennessee had multiple chances to take the lead, but went cold offensively and did not score for 2:56, as Mississippi State tallied six straight points to go ahead, 69-63, with 1:50 to play. The Volunteers, though, would not cave, scoring four points in 11 seconds to make it 71-69 with 1:17 left and went on to tie the score at 72 on a dunk by Knecht just 43 seconds later.
A three-point play by Smith gave the edge back to the Bulldogs, 75-72, with 14.7 seconds on the clock. They then got a stop at the other end and used a run-out dunk to make it a five-point final margin.
Knecht led all scorers with 28 points, registering 26 in the second half alone. The Thornton, Colo., native shot 9-of-13 after the break, including a 4-of-7 mark from 3-point range, to log his second session this season with over 20 points.
Zeigler, meanwhile, scored a career-best 26 points—eclipsing the prior mark of 24 he set in the same building—on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 4-of-9 ledger beyond the arc. The Long Island, N.Y., native, who set a career high in made field goals and went 4-of-5 at the stripe, also dished out seven assists and came away with three steals. He scored eight of the Volunteers’ first 10 points, including each of the first six, as well as six of their last nine.
Freshman guard Josh Hubbard scored a team-leading 25 points for Mississippi State, shooting 8-of-15 overall, 5-of-10 beyond the arc and 4-of-6 on free throws. Smith, a Preseason First Team All-SEC performer in his third game back from injury, added 23 points, finishing 7-of-10 from the field and 9-of-12 at the stripe. He also drew nine fouls in the victory.
Tennessee had a 22-10 advantage in fast-break points, but the Bulldogs, behind Hubbard’s performance, notched a 33-4 margin in bench points. The home team shot 50.0 percent in both halves, while Tennessee was over 23 percent better in the second frame than the first, logging an 18-of-32 (56.3 percent) figure in its comeback bid.
Up next for Tennessee is a trip to Athens, Ga., where it plays Georgia, live on ESPN2 at noon from Stegeman Coliseum.
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 • Wednesday marked Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes‘ 1,200th game as a head coach, making him the 13th DI coach to reach that mark, including the third such active coach. • The Volunteers dropped to 27-8 (.771) while ranked in the AP top five during Barnes’ tenure, across four different seasons. • After starting 2-of-3 from beyond the arc through three minutes, with both makes by Zeigler, Tennessee missed each of its next 12 long-range attempts and did not connect on another until Zeigler hit one with 16:20 left in the second half, starting a 4-of-5 stretch. • Tennessee’s 22-point first half marked its lowest total in a frame this season, as the prior figure was 25 in the second half against top-ranked Kansas (Nov. 22, 2023) in Honolulu and versus Georgia Southern (Dec. 12, 2023) at home. • With his 129th appearance in a Tennessee uniform, Vescovi moved into sole possession of the No. 10 spot on the program’s all-time leaderboard. • Vescovi also made his 125th start as a Volunteer, tying Vincent Yarbrough (1998-2002) for third-most in Tennessee history. • Additionally, Vescovi passed Dale Ellis (1979-83) to enter the top five on Tennessee’s all-time minutes played list, now with 3,955. • Zeigler has now connected on at least four 3-pointers in four of the last five contests after doing so in just two of his first 75 outings. • Zeigler’s prior career-best point total was 24 on Jan. 17, 2023, in his last road appearance at Mississippi State. • Previously, Zeigler’s career-high made field goals tally was eight on Dec. 17, 2022, at ninth-ranked Arizona. • Knecht’s 26 second-half points were the most in any frame by a Volunteer this season, eclipsing the 22 he scored after the break Nov. 29, 2023, at No. 17/16 North Carolina.
Around 10:20 a.m., deputies responded to a home on County Line Road, where they found a woman and two juveniles had been assaulted, SCSO officials said. (Courtesy: WVLT)
Sevier County, TN (WOKI) A man is arrested after a domestic dispute sparked a standoff with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday morning.
SCSO officials say deputies responded around 10:20 a.m. to a home on County Line Road, finding a woman and two juveniles who had been assaulted; they were taken to a safe spot while responders stayed at the home.
Police say 38-year-old Deivys Roca Ortega was inside the home and refused to come out. The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team was called who deployed CS gas, forcing Roca Ortega from the residence.
He is charged with three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of child abuse.
Sevier County, TN (WOKI) A woman is sentenced to two decades in prison Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a deadly shooting at Soaky Mountain Waterpark in July 2021.
Sarah Romine pled guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated assault in Sevier County Circuit Criminal Court; she was sentenced to 16 years in prison with no parole for second-degree murder and four years in prison with 30% parole eligibility for aggravated assault. The sentences will be served consecutively.
Kelsy Cook and Angie Russell were shot just after the park had closed on July 31st, 2021. Cook was airlifted to UT Medical Center and pronounced dead later that evening while Russell’s injury was non-life-threatening.
Another man, Joshua Dannels, was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm while intoxicated. Officials said he was released on a $2,500 bond two days after the shooting.
Officials said crews responded to the fire at around 12:50 p.m. on Wednesday in the 5700 block of Strawberry Plains Pike. (Courtesy: Rural Metro Fire)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) Rural Metro fire officials are urging homeowners to get their chimneys cleaned and inspected following a fire Wednesday afternoon in the 5700 block of Strawberry Plains Pike.
Rural Metro officials say crews were called to the home just before 1:00 p.m. Once there, they found heavy fire coming from a wood stove in the basement.
It was reported that a large amount of cardboard was placed in the stove; officials say that led to the buildup in the chimney catching fire.
If you have not had your chimney serviced in sometime, fire officials advise not using it until you do, adding that your life could depend on it.
“Please make sure you’ve had those chimneys professionally cleaned and inspected. You’ve not had that service this year” urged Rural Metro Public Information Officer Jeff Bagwell. “Please don’t use it until you do so. Your life could depend on it!”
Strawberry Plains Pike was shut down temporarily as firefighters worked the scene; the roadway has since reopened.
Bonnaro releasing the line-up for this year’s festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
The four-day event will begin on June 13th.
Headlining the main stage on Thursday will be Pretty Lights, followed by Post Malone on Friday, Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday, and Fred Again on Sunday.
Other big artists include Fisher, Interpol, Cage the Elephant and Megan Thee Stallion.
The presale window for tickets opens tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 a.m., with general sales to follow if still available.
More than 70,000 local residents don’t have a valid driver’s license. But the Knox County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office is looking to change that.
In a first of its kind event, Criminal Court Clerk Mike Hammond will host a Driver’s License Reinstatement Resource Fair to address the large number of residents with a revoked or suspended license in the area.
“Knox County ranks second in the state for the highest number of residents without a valid driver’s license, so I wanted to do something to fix this,” Hammond said. “We will assist those who sign up with reinstating their licenses and helping them remove any barriers so they can become valid drivers.”
The event takes place from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, January 20 at the Pellissippi State Community College: Magnolia Avenue Campus. To register for the event and learn more about the Driver’s License Reinstatement Program, please visit https://criminalcourt.knoxcounty.org/services/drivers-license or call (865) 215-237.
Hammond said in some cases, many folks already qualify and will receive their license on site. In other cases, local and state officials can meet with them and talk about what requirements are needed to get them legally back on the road.
“Our office established the program several years back to help folks who needed it to satisfy their requirements from the state to get their license back and over the years we’ve helped more than 2,500 people,” Hammond said. “We think that doing an event will not only make it easier on folks but also help even more people.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football has earned back-to-back top-20 finishes in the final polls as the Volunteers were No. 17 in the AFCA Coaches poll and No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday.
Tennessee (9-4) capped the season with a 35-0 Citrus Bowl blanking of Iowa, who finished No. 24 and No. 22, respectively in the final AP and Coaches polls.
The Vols were one of six Southeastern Conference teams in the final polls, joining No. 4/3 Georgia, No. 5/5 Alabama, No. 8/8 Missouri, No. 9/9 Ole Miss and No. 12/12 LSU. Tennessee was No. 21 in the final College Football Playoff rankings released on Dec. 3.
It is the 46th time in program history that the Vols have been ranked in the final AP poll. It’s also the first time since 2003-04 that they finished in the top 20 in back-to-back seasons. They will carry a streak of 29 consecutive weeks ranked in the Coaches poll into the 2024 season.
In 2022, the Vols completed an 11-2 campaign ranked No. 6 in both final polls. Head coach Josh Heupel joins John Barnhill (1941-44), Bowden Wyatt (1956-57) and Bill Battle (1970-72) as the only UT coaches to lead his teams to back-to-back top-20 finishes in the AP poll through his first full three seasons.
In seven years as a head coach, Heupel has now led his teams to a final ranking four times. His 2018 UCF team finished No. 11/12, while his 2019 squad was No. 24 in both final polls.
Heupel has guided the Vols to 20 victories over the past two seasons, making it the winningest two-year stretch for Tennessee since 2003-04. That win total is tied for third among current SEC programs during that span.
