Knoxville, TN (WOKI) Knoxville police are asking for help in their search for a man they say threatened a woman at gunpoint on Friday.
KPD says 30-year-old Javonta Miles of Knoxville is charged with aggravated domestic assault and that officers’ efforts to locate him have, thus far, been unsuccessful.
According to Knoxville Police, Miles was charged following an incident that happened in the Montgomery Village community on June 13 when he threatened a woman at gunpoint.
Anyone with information on Miles’ whereabouts is asked to contact East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers at (865) 215-7165 or online at www.easttnvalleycrimestoppers.org. Tipsters can remain anonymous and are eligible to receive a cash reward.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The SEC announced Wednesday each school’s home and away matchups for the upcoming 2025-26 men’s basketball season.
The conference slate will run from Jan. 3 to March 7, with each team playing 18 games. Tennessee will face three teams both at home and on the road: Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers are slated to host nine SEC games on their home floor. Tennessee will play Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt at Food City Center. The outings against the Sooners and Longhorns will be the first in conference play in Knoxville in each series.
Tennessee will face Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt on the road.
This year’s home/away designations for Tennessee are nearly an exact reverse of 2024-25, with the lone exception being Alabama replacing Florida as a home-and-home matchup, while the Gators become a road-only foe.
The Volunteers are coming off one of the best campaigns in program history, as they went 30-8 (12-6 SEC) and reached the Elite Eight for the second year in a row. Tennessee, also for the second consecutive year, finished fifth nationally in the AP Poll, Coaches Poll and KenPom rankings.
Fans interested in purchasing season tickets for the 2025-26 season are encouraged to click HERE and fill out an interest form.
Game dates, times and network designations will all be released at a later point in the offseason.
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.
A 17-year-old is facing several charges, including first-degree felony murder, after a Monroe County deputy found a 41-year-old man with life-threatening injuries outside his home.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy responded to an assault on Forkners Chapel Road on June 12th and found Steven Reed who later died at the hospital.
A 17-year-old suspect was arrested and booked into custody at Knox County’s Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center is also charged with aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Knoxville, TN (Story courtesy of WVLT) – West High School Head Football Coach Lamar Brown will not return to the school next year, Knox County Schools Superintendent Jon Rysewyk announced Tuesday.
He will no longer coach in Knox County and has been given teaching duties at another school. Rysewyk did not say which school.
Rysewyk said the decision was prompted by an internal investigation into the school’s football staff, prompted in turn by allegations against two former assistant coaches.
Brown is not facing any criminal charges, but did oversee Chad Brooks and Richard Shaver, two former assistant coaches facing child sex crimes charges.He will no longer coach in Knox County and has been given teaching duties at another school. Rysewyk did not say which school.
Brooks was charged with multiple counts of aggravated statutory rape and statutory rape by an authority figure, and Richard Scott Shaver was charged with four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and two counts of attempted sexual battery by an authority figure.
Rysewyk said the investigation, led by the school district’s business and talent division, prompted concerns about the football program’s leadership. A letter provided to WVLT News said the investigation found a “significant lack of oversight of the West High School football program.”
“It was important for me and our whole team to look at the whole piece. Our investigation went all the way to the top, principals and athletics directors,” Rysewyk said, also touching on his time holding assistant coaching positions earlier in his career. “I was taught during that time that everything speaks to that coach and that program.”
Brown is not the only one facing allegations of mishandling. The letter also said “our investigation further determined that additional staff members at West High School violated KCS police and procedure, such as failure to report information to law enforcement and the Department of Children’s Services.”
The head coach’s reassignment isn’t the only action KCS took, Rysewyk said. In all, the school system outlined the following actions:
Written reprimand and non-renewal of teacher/assistant football coach
Resignation of non-faculty assistant football coach
Termination of educational assistant
Relieved head coach of coaching duties and reassigned teaching duties
Written reprimand and reassignment of teacher
Beyond the employment changes, Rysewyk said Knox County Schools had increased oversight in the hiring process for all West coaching positions and increased the training requirements at the school for the next two years. Rysewyk also said the school system had increased oversight into policy compliance and reviewed the athletics handbook.
“My message to parents is West is an incredible high school,” Rysewyk said. “It’s highly decorated and rewarded. I’ll also say I am not blind. This is a big deal.”
After Rysewyk’s announcement, Brown’s attorney, Jeff Hagood, released the following statement:
I am deeply, deeply disappointed in the actions taken by Knox County Schools (KCS) to reassign Coach Brown from West High School to another school. Coach Brown is a beloved figure in the West community, and he has poured his heart and soul into the players, school, and that community. The net effect of KCS’s decision will only hurt the players, students, parents, and the entire West community.
Most troubling to me is that Lamar was reassigned for the apparent sins of others. Lamar Brown has absolutely done nothing wrong. KCS’s stated reasons for reassignment are inaccurate…and that’s very troubling to me.
Lamar Brown will stand tall, despite his deep disappointment, as men of high character and integrity always do. Jeff Hagood, Attorney for Lamar Brown
In 2022, Brown was named Tennessee Titans Coach of the Year after leading the school to a Class 5A state championship with an undefeated season. He joined West as head football coach in 2016.
West HS HC Lamar Brown / Credit: 99.1 THE Sports Animal
An investigation is underway following an early morning house fire that leaves a cat dead.
The Knoxville Fire Department was called to the 1300 block of West 4th Avenue and found heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of a home. Crews were met by a man who said the bedroom of the house was on fire and that everyone was out of the home.
Crews quickly put the fire out but the home has suffered heavy smoke, water, and fire damage to the rear of the home.
Roane County, TN (WOKI) The man charged in connection with the death of a woman who was found along I-40 in Roane County last year is indicted Tuesday by a Roane County Grand Jury.
Stevie Bernard Williams of Rockwall, Texas was indicted on a single charge of leaving the scene of an accident knowing death resulted. The Grand Jury declined to indict Williams on five other charges in the death of 40-year-old Lateshia Patillo including criminally negligent homicide.
Patillo was found with serious injuries along I-40 in Roane County in October 2024. She was taken to UT Medical Center, where she later died.
Williams reportedly told investigators that he was traveling with Patillo in the area on the day she was found when she jumped from the passenger seat of his semi-truck that was traveling at approximately 68 miles per hour and that he did not contact emergency services, but instead continued on his route toward New Jersey.
An autopsy determined that Patillo died from multiple blunt force injuries.
According to an affidavit, Patillo died from several blunt force injuries. (Credit: Frankly Media)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) One person is facing charges following the discovery by investigators Monday of more than two-and-a-half pounds of meth at a North Knoxville home.
Officials with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office say the meth, an unspecified amount of marijuana and other items consistent with the manufacturing and distribution of illegal narcotics were seized during the execution of a search warrant at a home on Metler Drive, which is off of Clinton Highway.
KCSO says the bust comes as a result of a joint operation targeting methamphetamine distribution in Knox and Anderson Counties.
The investigation is ongoing, and the sheriff’s office says more charges are “likely.”
“This operation highlights the ongoing commitment of our agency and our partners in the 7th Judicial Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force to aggressively pursue drug traffickers and remove dangerous substances from our communities,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee softball’s Sophia Nugent and Karlyn Pickens have been named 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic Second Team All-Americans, the organization announced Tuesday.
It marks the first career Academic All-America honor for both players and extends a milestone streak for the Lady Vols. Tennessee has now produced multiple CSC Academic All-Americans in four consecutive seasons—setting a new program record and surpassing previous three-year runs in 2022–24, 2012–14 and 2007–09.
Nugent, a senior catcher from Seal Beach, California, enjoyed a career-best season at the plate in 2025. She posted a .298 batting average with 51 hits, 25 runs scored, nine doubles, 18 home runs and 61 RBIs. Nugent graduated in May with a degree in sociology, concentrating in criminology and criminal justice.
Pickens continued to dominate in the circle during her junior campaign. The right-hander went 25-11 with a 1.17 ERA and totaled a career-high 306 strikeouts over 226.2 innings pitched. A consensus first-team All-American for the second straight year, she was also named SEC Pitcher of the Year and Softball America’s National Pitcher of the Year. Pickens is currently pursuing a degree in sport management with a minor in business administration.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Tennessee’s SEC opponents for the upcoming season have been revealed, as the conference office announced Tuesday each school’s foes for the 2025-26 campaign.
As part of the 16-game SEC schedule awaiting second-year UT head coach Kim Caldwell, the Lady Vols play host to Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
On the road, UT will battle Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and South Carolina.
The SEC schedule consists of a single round robin of home or away (14 games) with one rotating opponent that will be played at home and away (two games). Each team will compete in eight home games and eight away games. The rotating opponent changes annually, and that foe for Tennessee this season is MSU.
This marks the 17th season of the 16-game schedule for SEC women’s basketball and the second with 16 teams after Oklahoma and Texas made their debuts in the league in 2024-25. Times, dates and television information for the 2025-26 SEC schedule will be released at a later date, as will the remainder of the Lady Vol non-conference slate. Season tickets are available at AllVols.com.
Six of the league opponents UT will face are ranked among ESPN’s “Way-Too-Early Top 25,” including defending NCAA runner-up and No. 1-ranked South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 11 Vanderbilt and No. 13 Ole Miss.
UT also previously released a trio of non-conference games away from Knoxville, including its season opener vs. No. 9 NC State in Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 4, a Dec. 3 ACC/SEC Women’s Basketball Challenge contest at perennial-power Stanford on Dec. 3 and a match-up with No. 17 Louisville at the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Dec. 20.
Tennessee returns three of its top four scorers and rebounders, including junior guard and All-SEC Second Team/SEC All-Defensive Team performer Talaysia Cooper (16.6 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 3.2 apg., 3.1 spg.), senior forward Zee Spearman (11.7 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) and senior guard Ruby Whitehorn (11.6 ppg., 4.0 rpg., 1.7 apg.). Additionally, it welcomes back key 2024-25 contributors in junior forward Alyssa Latham (3.9 ppg., 3.7 rpg.) and redshirt sophomore guard Kaniya Boyd (4.0 ppg., 1.3 apg., 1.3 spg.).
Also expected to return to the court is redshirt senior guard Kaiya Wynn, who missed all of last season due to injury but averaged 4.4 ppg. and 2.6 rpg. in 2023-24 and has appeared in 94 contests for the Big Orange during her career.
Caldwell and her staff also have recruited extremely well, adding a transfer portal class rated No. 1 by ESPN’s Charlie Creme and a high school signing group rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation by most analysts. The transfer class includes 6-foot-4 forward and Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year Janiah Barker of UCLA (7.4 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 1.4 apg.), 5-7 guard and All-ACC Second Team selection Nya Robertson of SMU (18.5 ppg., 62 3FGs, 111 FTs) and 6-5 forward Jersey Wolfenbarger of LSU (4.6 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 63% FG). The stellar prep class includes McDonald’s All-Americans Mia Pauldo, Deniya Prawl and Jaida Civil, as well as Mia’s twin sister, Mya, and Lauren Hurst, all of whom rank among ESPN’s top 60 recruits in the class of 2025.
MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (WVLT) – One of Hamblen County’s largest employers, Howmet Aerospace Inc., is expanding, bringing more than 200 jobs to the area.
It marks the company’s second expansion in less than a year. In July of 2024, Howmet announced a 50-position expansion. Now, another 217 jobs will be coming to Morristown.
Howett is a Pittsburg, Pennsylvania-headquartered company that manufactures components for jet engines and other aerospace technologies.
“Howmet Aerospace’s Morristown operations play a critical role in enabling the next generation of quieter, cleaner, more efficient engines and power generation,” President of Engine Products Merrick Murphy said. “We couldn’t be more excited to continue to grow in East Tennessee with the assistance of our tremendous state, local and regional partners.”
Currently, Howett employs more than 1,000 people in Hamblen County.
