In a Jan. 8 letter to shareholders, Miners Exchange Bank (MEB) President and CEO Charles Ward announced the bank is selling all outstanding shares to Salvosa Group, of Winston-Salem, NC for $49.87 per share in cash. Salvosa will become the bank’s parent holding company. The transaction is unanimously supported by the MEB board, Ward said. Ward told shareholders the transaction would close sometime in Q2, an ...

Bristol Dragway will serve as one of the Sullivan County COVID-19 vaccination locations for the next two months it was announced today by officials from the track and Sullivan County Health Department. Vaccinations for Phase 1a1 and 1a2, for individuals who are 75 years of age and older, will be distributed at the Dragway starting Thursday, Jan. 7, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The daily schedule is subject to change ...

There has been anecdotal evidence in recent months indicating the Appalachian Highlands is becoming an attractive option for those looking to relocate. The Johnson City Area Home Builders Association and various quasi-governmental agencies have reported an influx of phone calls from people around the United States looking to move to our region. Now there is some tangible data to support those anecdotal repo ...

Despite steady rises during the month of December, gas prices remained unchanged during the first week of 2021 according to AAA. As a result, Tennessee remains the 10th least expensive market in the nation. “Holiday road travel was down at least 25 percent,” said AAA spokeswomen Megan Cooper. “With fewer people on the road, Tennessee motorists saw little change at the pump from the last week of 2020 to the ...

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 ...