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Knoxville's North Waterfront Redevelopment Plan will move forward to envision the future of how the downtown and two huge new University of Tennessee districts will come together, but with far more options for public input.

The Knoxville City Council on Aug. 18 gave Mayor Indya Kincannon and the Knoxville Community Development Corporation approval to create a redevelopment district encompassing areas around World's Fair Park, the new Neyland Entertainment and Maplehurst Innovation districts, and residential and commercial properties.

The plan creates boundaries for a tax increment financing district, which funnels tax revenue into public improvements within the boundaries. The types of public improvements like walkways, road projects, riverfront amenities and parks will be determined as time goes on.

The plan's 7-1 approval was not without tension. Several councilmembers seriously criticized city leaders and Knoxville's Community Development Corporation for not engaging stakeholders. Only seven people came to two different public hearings KCDC hosted, and two work for the city and KCDC.

"When we asked for a redevelopment plan and a public process, I expected that the public would know sooner that a process was about to begin, than a day before a meeting," said Vice Mayor Lynne Fugate. "I'm gravely disappointed in this." 

Fifty-eight percent of Knox County residents surveyed by a local Republican polling firm say they reject police use of Flock Safety surveillance cameras.

In a survey this week of 350 likely voters, Spry Strategies found that not only did a majority of respondents reject the AI-enabled license plate readers and surveillance cameras, but almost everyone polled was aware of the controversy surrounding the cameras nationally and at home.

"When I saw that data, I knew it was going to be a good poll because the information was out there," Spry Strategies President Ryan Burrell told Knox News. "Even for me, it's relatively new. I think social media has quickly spread the information."

The mayoral election is one of the most high-profile contests in town. I started writing about the county mayor's 2026 race back in January 2024. It's been a lot of fun, and hopefully coverage about race kept you informed through the twists and turns.

Why would I pump the brakes now?

In 379 days, Knoxville voters pick a replacement for term-limited Mayor Indya Kincannon. No one has announced their candidacy or filed paperwork for a run, but speculation is heating up.

While we wait for candidates to file paperwork, I've done some digging to get you familiar with names you may start to hear soon.

Here's a snapshot of the list. Click the link in the comments for more:

• Former Knoxville councilmember Gwen McKenzie: consultant, former Oak Street Health executive
• Councilmember Amelia Parker: Peace Brigades International USA executive director
• Beau Hawk: ironworker, president of the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Central Labor Council, 2026 Democratic nominee for Knox County mayor
• Courtney Piper: Piper Communications president, Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council executive director

The news that Police Chief Paul Noel exchanged sexually charged text messages with a subordinate rocked Knoxville.

Councilmembers, who were notified of Noel's one-month suspension after a press conference Aug. 6, told me they were shocked and saddened. One described the news as a "gut punch." Noel, after all, was hired to clean up a department beset by racism and sexism and led by weak commanders.

Noel's offenses are fireable: The mayor's office commissioned an independent investigation of Noel's messages to patrol officer Jasmine Reed, and it identifies five standards in KPD's code of conduct that Noel violated: code of ethics, general responsibilities, unbecoming conduct, sexual misconduct and general misconduct.

Violations of three of the standards are fireable offenses.

Who makes the decision? Only the mayor can discipline the police chief, according to the city charter.

Kincannon decided to suspend Noel for 30 days without pay (he makes $226,000 annually, so he'll be out nearly $19,000) and must undergo counseling and training (and Noel will cover the costs). After that, he'll return to his job.

Why not fire Noel? Kristin Farley, a spokesperson for Kincannon, said Noel's offenses are punishable up to termination. She shared several the mayor considered before suspending him.

The Knox County Commission might ask the Knox County Sheriff's Office to stop its plans to use drones and cameras to spin up a new real-time crime center.

Commissioner Adam Thompson, who's leading the effort to gather more information about KCSO's plans, said Sheriff Tom Spangler didn't give commissioners and neighbors enough information about the plans for a contract with company Flock Safety. The company made national news after police officers misused its camera network to track women for personal reasons.

There are already 84 license place readers in use around Knox County, and KCSO wants to integrate new real-time cameras to stop crime. The data and footage collected from the cameras KCSO will use will be housed in its new Advanced Research and Communications Center, which is similar to a system the Knoxville Police Department recently started up.

The commission will vote July 27 whether to ask KCSO to pause its communication center until it answers "important questions concerning data collection, data retention, authorized access, auditing, information sharing, cybersecurity, privacy protections, oversight mechanisms and compliance with federal and state law."

Commissioners, Flock representatives and sheriff's office leaders will have a work session to learn about the crime center at 3:30 p.m. July 27.

When Knox County commissioners approved a surprise cut to the Knox County Schools budget, they ignited a long-smoldering conflict over how to pay for county operations and schools.

The money for both comes from the same place – taxpayers – and starts in the same spot – the Knox County budget. The county commission approves the schools budget, though much of it is already locked in by state mandates.

So when commissioners voted June 15 to take $4 million of KCS money to pay for raises for county employees, school board members were fired up and have pushed back.

"We've had a good working relationship with our county commission, but this lame duck commission's decision to cut school funding is a blow to that partnership," school board member Betsy Henderson said July 9 in a rare public rebuke to other officials.

Many of the winners in the May primaries promised to hold the line on tax increases and cut back on spending, but county leaders say there's not much left to cut. To pay for anything – any additional road repaving beyond what's been budgeted already, for instance – would require finding more money in the already bare-bones budget.

The challenge isn't going to get easier. The Tennessee Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations says Knox County needs to spend more than $5 billion to cover its infrastructure needs through June 2029, or nearly five times the county's annual budget. Infrastructure needs include roads, schools, policing, public health, housing, parks and libraries.

Beau Hawk, the Democratic nominee for Knox County mayor, marched in Caracas in support of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in 2020, Knox News has learned.

Hawk posed for photographs with other demonstrators and is quoted in an article by the Orinoco Tribune, an outlet that "aims to offer a counter-narrative to mainstream media and promote alternative voices and perspectives on the region, while challenging dominant narratives about Venezuela with an anti-imperialist perspective."

Hawk, 35, confirmed to Knox News he was at the Caracas demonstration. "I was young and dumb," he told Knox News on June 25.

Maduro became president of Venezuela in 2013. He was the hand-picked successor of the country's former leader, Hugo Chávez, and was narrowly elected president following Chávez's death.

Under Maduro, Venezuela underwent a spectacular economic collapse characterized by hyperinflation and chronic food and medicine shortages. His rule became best known for allegedly rigged elections, food shortages and rights abuses, including harsh crackdowns on protests in 2014 and 2017. Millions of Venezuelans emigrated abroad.

Shortly after he took office in 2022, Knox County Trustee Justin Biggs leased six luxury trucks that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and were highlighted in a Knox News investigation and state watchdog report about misuse of public money by the trustee's office.

Four years later, the investigation caused Biggs' support to dry up and resulted in the first primary election loss of a countywide official this century.

Now, with just two months left as trustee, Biggs has returned all six trucks.

I closed the loop on years of reporting in an article that published this morning.

In all, the trucks cost taxpayers  $248,977 over three and a half years. The six trucks were driven 226,593 miles collectively. That means taxpayers paid about $1.10 per mile in lease costs, not counting fuel or maintenance. For the trustee's office's trucks, taxpayers paid about 1.5 times as much as they would have had Biggs and his staffers driven their own vehicles for work and been reimbursed at the county's mileage rate of 72 cents.

Brent Gibson survived a postelection challenge and will remain the Republican nominee for Knox County sheriff in the Aug. 6 election.

Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee members voted unanimously June 11 to keep him on the ballot after candidate Mike Davis asked the party to reconsider the primary results. Corruption charges rocked the race days after the primary, ensnaring two of the four candidates.

The party's June 10 decision upholds Knox County Republican voters' decision to elect Gibson by a wide margin. He is the presumptive sheriff because he will be the only candidate on the Aug. 6 ballot because no Democratic candidates are running.

Davis challenged Gibson's victory after candidates with ties to the Knox County Sheriff's Office - David Amburn and former Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones - were indicted nine days after the election. Davis argued voters could have changed their minds if they knew the candidates were under investigation.

Davis challenged Gibson's victory after candidates with ties to the Knox County Sheriff's Office - David Amburn and former Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones - were indicted nine days after the election. Davis argued voters could have changed their minds if they knew the candidates were under investigation.

Members of Knox County's delegation on the state party board led the charge to maintain Gibson's nomination.

Here's the full conversation between Knox County GOP Chairman Martin Daniel and five of the eight Republican county commissioners. The text messages appear in full as they were sent with no editing:

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/05/22/read-the-fiery-group-chat-debate-between-knox-county-republicans/90194736007/

Smoking and vaping will no longer be allowed in Knoxville bars after the city council voted May 12 to ban it.

Assuming the city council passes the proposal from Smokefree Knoxville during a procedural second reading May 26, bars will have until Jan. 1 to comply with the new rules. They'll be fined $50 per incident if the Knox County Health Department finds owners noncompliant after that date.

Those who pushed for the ban said it would level the playing field for musicians and service workers who don't want to subject themselves to tobacco smoke on the job. Secondhand smoking is a public health issue, they said.

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/12/smoking-and-vaping-banned-knoxville-bars-starting-january-1/90032259007/

The 2026 Democratic and Republican county primary elections are tomorrow, and we want to answer your questions so you feel prepared headed to the ballot box.

Join me for a AMA on election logistics and issues at the heart of the Knox County races.

Here's the Knox News Voter's Guide we compiled with candidate interviews to help you choose the best option for you before you head to the polls: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/04/12/knox-county-primary-election-voters-guide-candidates-mayor-sheriff/89358548007/

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/eh1nEmj