The state of Tennessee has announced the location of 176 Opportunity Zones, including several in Northeast Tennessee. Opportunity Zones are a new community development tool established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This new tool is designed to drive long-term capital to low-income communities. The new law provides a federal tax incentive for investors to re-invest their capital gains int ...

Photo above: (L-R) Marcus McCall, Gavin Philipp and Kevin Kruse atop the Bristol Hotel. The Bristol Hotel, an independent boutique hotel originally slated to open in October, is now scheduled to open in late August, according to its principal owner. Marcus McCall of McCall Capital told reporters during an information session at the hotel May 24 that it would not be open in time for the August races at Brist ...

Photo above:(L-R) Lewis Wexler, Sr. Susan Wexler, Harrison Wexler, Lewis Wexler, Jr. Monro, Inc. (NASD: MNRO), the nation’s largest independently owned and operated auto service chain last week closed the purchase of 99-year-old Johnson City, Tenn.-based Free Service Tire Company. Monro will keep the Free Service branding in place along with 96 percent of the existing Free Service employees. The transaction ...

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced this week that the Virginia Information Technologies Agency’s (VITA) contract with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) will create approximately 40 information technology (IT) service desk jobs in Clintwood, Dickenson County, by this fall. “I am pleased that this partnership will create forty new jobs and have a significant economic impact in the r ...

Photo above: Tennessee Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Bobby Rolfe, right, and Sigma Industries, Inc., CEO Denis Bertrand flank an artist’s rendering of the Surgoinsville spec building. Clay Walker, Networks Sullivan Partnership is at far left. A Quebec-based advanced manufacturing company will locate its U.S headquarters and establish a manufacturing facility in Surgoinsville. RMC Advanc ...

For the 19th consecutive year, the Tri-Cities Airport Authority (TCAA) has been awarded a certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financ ...

Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, along with a bipartisan group of attorneys general, sued Purdue Pharma today for its unlawful marketing and promotion of OxyContin and other drugs and its role in causing and prolonging the opioid epidemic in Tennessee. The State’s lawsuit, filed in Knox County Circuit Court, alleges Purdue violated the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, violated its 2007 settlement ...

The highest gas prices in Tennessee are found in Bristol, Kingsport and Johnson City, according to AAA monitoring. Now comes word those prices will likely increase nationwide in the coming weeks. The state average is the same as last week, and 22 cents less than the national average. However, Tennessee motorists are paying 47 cents more per gallon than this time last year. · The most expensive gas price ave ...

A Kingsport debate between the leading Tennessee gubernatorial candidates originally set for May 22 has been cancelled by the organization that had scheduled it. The PEAK Young Professionals organization made the announcement via email Monday. “Due to scheduling conflicts that have arisen over the last two weeks with several of the gubernatorial candidates, less than half of the candidates are now confirmed ...

On the Long Island of the Holston River, 101 years ago, a town was founded. Now, that town has reclaimed its prodigal drink. The Long Island Iced Tea, which has long been a favorite among mixed drinks, was actually first produced on the Long Island in Kingsport during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, Kingsport is reclaiming its rightful place in history as the home of the original Long Island Iced Tea. "W ...