Fifteen veterans graduated Tuesday from the East Tennessee State University STRIVE (Startup Training Resources to Inspire Veteran Entrepreneurship) program on the campus of the Mountain Home VA. The program, one of only two of its kind in the country (the other is at Syracuse University in New York), fills a niche in giving veterans much-needed expertise in starting and running their own businesses, said Ed ...

Abby Mease NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership, the economic development organization serving Sullivan County and parts of Hawkins County has promoted Abby Mease to the newly created position of Workforce Development and Special Projects Coordinator. “Abby Mease, in her two-plus years here, has continued to overachieve beyond her duties,” said Clay Walker, NETWORKS CEO. “She was already carving this niche through ...

Stephen Moret, Shannon Blevins and Dr. Donna Henry will all return to the Southwest Virginia Economic Forum. File photos. The sixth annual Southwest Virginia Economic Forum, which annually engages participants through a shared vision of regional collaboration and growth, will be streamed via Facebook Live from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise May 26 and May 27 from 9 a.m. to noon each day. The 2 ...

Virginia First Lady Pamela Northam announced Wednesday the creation of a Pre-K program to make around 450 southwest Virginia children better ready for kindergarten. The three-week Kinder Camps program will be funded to the tune of just under $200,000 by Ballad Health and administered by the United Way of Southwest Virginia in 30 locations. “We’ll work with school systems to host the camps for children whose ...

Ballad Health officials Wednesday told reporters that the increase in COVID cases in the region over the last few weeks appears to be at least in part because of the introduction of a more aggressive variant or variants into the region. Eric Deaton “While the situation is not as bad as it was in January, we are seeing a very disturbing trend moving forward,” said Eric Deaton, Ballad Health COO. “The average ...

by Scott Robertson At a recent local event, the host was speaking in glowing terms about Crown Laboratories’ sharp upturn in growth and hiring. Unfortunately, the host repeatedly referred to the company as “Blue Lizard.” It was an easy mistake to make, as Blue Lizard was the product that put Crown Laboratories on the map over the last decade. But the remarkable growth the company has undergone in the last y ...

By Dave Ongie Monday, April 5 was a red-letter day in the state of Tennessee as the COVID-19 vaccines became available to everyone 16 years and older. With over a million Tennesseans already vaccinated – the vast majority of them 65 and older – the eyes of medical professionals and health experts now turn toward younger folks who have previously been unable to get one of the three vaccines that have receive ...

Representatives from Bristol Tennessee Essential Service (BTES) and the city of Bristol, Tenn., broke ground March 24 on two new sites in the Bristol Business Park off Highway 394 near Bristol Motor Speedway. “This is such a beautiful site,” said BTES Board Chair Erin Downs. “When you and I look around, we see the beauty of our region with this park nestled in the hills of northeast Tennessee. But when a fu ...

Above: Domtar Kingsport Mill Manager Troy Wilson surveys demolition work. Photo by Scott Robertson New Mill Manager Troy Wilson breaks down the timeline to completion When Troy Wilson was part of a mill start-up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1994, he had no idea he was writing his ticket to Kingsport. But that charter team experience made him the go-to-guy when, in 2020, Domtar decided to convert its Kingsport o ...

Mark Stevans The BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation will provide $541,700 to the First Tennessee Development District (FTDD) for a vaccine-related communications campaign. The grant from the foundation will support the organization’s “Take A Shot On Life” communications campaign, encouraging residents of northeast Tennessee communities, including Bristol, Kingsport, Greeneville and Johnson City, t ...