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Tuesday, November 29th

Local News- The heavy winds and rains in our area is forcing a delay Tuesday for Polk County students. School officials say, due to the downed trees a

Local News-
The heavy winds and rains in our area is forcing a delay Tuesday for Polk County students. School officials say, due to the downed trees and power lines causing outages, students will be on a 2-hour delay Tuesday.All of the other school systems in our listening area will open on-time.
Channel 3-
As of midnight currently 30 structures on fire in Gatlinburg as residents and guests evacuate the city. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says 30 structures are on fire, including a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartments in Gatlinburg. The wildfire is also at the edge of the Dollywood property. Two groups of Rhea County elementary school students are safe this morning, after a field trip was cut short due to wildfires. According to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Fraizer Elementary and Spring City Elementary students were evacuated with staff as a precautionary measure due to wildfires in Sevier County. As of midnight Monday the students were on buses and being taken to a church in Maryville. Director of Schools Jerry Levengood confirms to Channel 3 that the fifth grade students were loading the buses after 1 a.m. and headed back to Rhea County.
Channel 3-
Chattanooga police say a juvenile has been arrested in connection to a double-shooting on Black Friday in the Hamilton Place Mall parking lot. The suspect has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and reckless endangerment. Due to the age of the suspect, their identification has not been released. Stay with us for updates to this story.

Channel 3-
Members of the Hamilton County Department of Education held a press conference Monday evening to provide updates on the deadly bus crash one week ago. Interim superintendent Dr. Kirk Kelly said five students remain hospitalized with three of them in critical condition and two of them in fair condition. Dr. Kelly said 292 students returned to the classrooms of Woodmore Elementary School Monday. He said that’s about 85% of the school’s student population. Dr. Kelly thanked the community for its heartfelt efforts to help the students and family members affected by the crash. In related story, Defense attorney Amanda Dunn said she anticipates 24-year-old Johnthony Walker will plead not guilty if a grand jury indicts him. Walker is charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. Police say another count will be added for a child who died two days after the Nov. 21 crash.
State News-
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Chattanooga, was set to meet today with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss a position on his Cabinet. Trump met Mondaywith candidates for top Cabinet posts, including retired Gen. David Petraeus, a new contender for secretary of state. Today’s meetings will include Corker, who is being considered more seriously for the diplomatic post, as well as Mitt Romney, who has become a symbol of the internal divisions agitating the transition team.

The Cleveland Daily Banner-
The Cleveland Holiday Inn Express has just been recognized as the Hotel of the Week for Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) World-Wide. This selection was made by the IHG Owner’s association comprised of hotel owners across all 13 brands under the IHG umbrella. This recognition was for the week of Nov. 14-20. “It’s truly a special honor to receive this recognition from the IHG owners’ association. Realizing that there are over 5,000 hotels that compete and with only 52 awarded each year, we are thrilled to be in that category (the top 1% worldwide),” owner Richie Hughes said. The Hughes family, Dale and Richie, built the Holiday Inn Express and Suites located just off of Paul Huff Parkway in 2012 with the goal of providing travelers to Cleveland with an excellent mid-scale product. Since opening, the Hughes family has been honored to have been the recipient of numerous awards, including 4 straight years “Best Hotel” in the Reader’s Choice Awards by the Cleveland Daily Banner. Most recently, the local property has been recognized by online hotel mogul Hotels.com with their highest rating of “Outstanding” achieving a 4.8 rating out of a possible 5 based on guests feedback and reviews.