The week of Christmas brought fresh hope to Tennessee and Virginia as the newest approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19 arrived in both states. The Moderna vaccine was delivered on the heels of the Pfizer vaccine and is already being administered at sites throughout Tennessee and Virginia. Tennessee was slated to receive an initial allocation of a total of 115,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine while V ...

For the first time since March, Tennessee motorists are finding prices at the pump over $2 per gallon. Tennessee gas prices, on average, continue to trend upward, rising another six cents over last week. The Tennessee Gas Price average is now $2.04 which is nearly 15 cents more than one month ago and 28 cents less than one year ago.  Tennesseans who took a holiday road tri ...

General Shale, a leading U.S. producer of building material solutions, recently announced that it has signed a purchase agreement to acquire Meridian Brick, the nation’s largest manufacturer of masonry solutions. With the announcement, General Shale will become the leading supplier of innovative and sustainable masonry solutions in North America. The acquisition is a continuation of General Shale’s value-dr ...

Scott M. Niswonger, Chairman and Founder of the Niswonger Foundation, announced the award of an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will focus on educational opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).  This five-year grant, with the required matching funds, will provide $8.8 million dollars to serve schools in 21 school ...

The Tennessee gas price average continues to trend upward, climbing six cents over last week. The Tennessee Gas Price average is now $1.98 which is 12 cents more than one month ago and 34 cents less than one year ago.  “The recent gas price pump increases are a bit surprising given December demand numbers are the lowest posted for the month since 1999,” said Megan Cooper, spokeswoman, AAA - The Auto Club Gr ...

Above: Nurse Terese Castle immunizes Emily Boucher as Ballad executives Eric Deaton and Alan Levine look on. Emily Boucher, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon, Va., became the first individual in the region (outside of clinical trials) to receive the Pfizer COVID vaccine Tuesday afternoon. Immediately afterward, other high-risk, frontline healthcare provi ...

I fear my faith has overtaken my journalistic sense this month. If ye are of little faith, then please pardon the fact that what follows is more sermon than editorial. The December edition features a public service announcement created by the excellent message crafters at Creative Energy on behalf of the RegionAHEAD organization. You may have seen the heart-rending videos RegionAHEAD has produced featuring ...

Click here to download the December 2020 Edition ...

By Dave Ongie If you’re looking for silver lining around the dark cloud that is the COVID-19 pandemic, one was clearly visible on Thursday morning at BrightRidge headquarters. Members of BrightRidge’s leadership gathered along with elected officials and other local leaders to announce a giant leap forward in access to high-speed Internet service in Washington County. As of Thursday, 28 high-speed free Publi ...

Above: eHealth Technologies CEO Jeff Markin Rochester, N.Y.-based eHealth Technologies, Inc., a provider of medical record and image retrieval and clinical intelligence services, will invest $375,000 to establish a new customer support center in Scott County, Va. At a Thursday morning virtual press conference, the company said it will create 160 new jobs in the next five years. The company assists clinical ...