With rent on the rise in Knoxville, some people have to look for a more affordable place to live.

Rising rent in Knoxville pushes people to move to other cities

high-tech public toilets that feature see-through walls when they’re unoccupied.

High-end, transparent public toilets

But with headline inflation still at 7.7%, any raise an employee gets below those levels effectively means they will be earning less because their paycheck won’t buy as much.

Get ready for bigger paychecks: Record high increases expected in 2023

“When I turned over my ticket I saw a three percent health fee and I didn’t know what that was and to be honest I was a little angry at first,” he said. “Then it explained down at the bottom of the ticket that this was to provide health benefits for their employees and almost like an epiphany I thought that’s outstanding.”

Knoxville restaurant owner puts health insurance on the bill

Hancen Sale, the Government Affairs and Policy Director of the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, said the median principal and interest payment has increased from around $1,214 in 2020 and 2021 — to $2,306.97 as of November 2022.

Both Trotta and Sale said it's become more difficult for people who live in Knoxville to afford new houses. Sale said you have to make around $74,000 a year to afford a median-priced house in Knoxville, assuming you're able to put 20% down.

Average mortgage payment for Knoxville listings increases by almost $1,000 a month

BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, had been quickly gaining ground in the U.S. in recent weeks. On Friday, they officially overtook BA.5, accounting for an estimated 44% of all new infections nationwide and nearly 60% in some parts of the country, such as New York and New Jersey, according to the CDC's estimates. BA.5 now accounts for an estimated 30% of all new infections nationwide.

"The bad news is that it's likely that people who've been vaccinated and/or infected will still get infected" with these new subvariants, says Dr. Daniel Barouch, a virologist at Beth Deaconess Hospital in Boston who's been studying the new strains.

New omicron subvariants now dominant in the U.S., raising fears of a winter surge

BA.5 is no longer dominant in the U.S. for the first time since July, as two new subvariants take over

Looks like schools from elementary thru college are using green power throughout the USA.

Are there any in the Knoxville area?

Green Power Partnership Top 30 College & University

Green Power Partnership Top 30 K-12 Schools

Solar Schools

UNT shows it ‘means green’ by opting for renewable energy

Knox County sample ballot Nov. 8, 2022

Have there been people "poll watching" the early voting stations in Knoxville, Knox County?

If they are at polls Nov. 8, exactly what will they be watching for? I assume if you aren't voting you cannot just hang around the voting station.

Will police be stationed at each of voting station to make sure poll watchers aren't bothering people?

This Pennsylvania voter feels something just wasn’t right in the 2020 vote. So he’ll be watching the midterms up close

On November 1, New York City will require employers that have four or more people on the payroll – with at least one of them working in the city – to provide a “good faith” pay range listing the minimum and maximum base salary or hourly wage in all job advertisements.

Then come January 1, 2023, a similar law goes into effect in California for employers with at least 15 employees. Organizations will be required to include the salary or hourly wage range for what they “reasonably expect” to pay for a position.

Both laws will be far reaching, because they affect two of the most populous places in the US and will apply to companies that issue job postings that can or will be performed in New York City or California, or potentially would attract applicants who live there.

Many employers will soon have to advertise salary thanks to two new laws

Jordan Klepper speaks to voters about midterms

Jordan Klepper Fingers the Midterms

The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration, according to a calculation by a leading Washington budget maven, Eugene Steuerle, co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And unlike George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw the larger relative increases in deficits, Trump did not launch two foreign conflicts or have to pay for a civil war.

Trump Built a National Debt So Big (Even Before the Pandemic) That It’ll Weigh Down the Economy for Years

Millions of Americans can begin selecting their 2023 health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov on Tuesday, as the Biden administration pushes to keep the number of uninsured Americans at a record low.

Low costs expected to keep Obamacare interest high

The penalty has remained on the books in more than a dozen states, even though it hasn’t been enforced since the Civil War. But next month, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Vermont, Oregon and Tennessee will be given the opportunity to exorcise the punishment from their states’ constitutions once and for all...

Voters in five states have the chance to wipe slavery and indentured servitude off the books

Thanks to inflation adjustments to 2023 federal income tax brackets and other provisions announced by the Internal Revenue Service this week, more of your 2023 wages may be subject to lower tax rates than they were this year, and you may be able to deduct higher amounts of income.

New IRS rules mean your paycheck could be bigger next year

In a mega-deal that could have a huge impact on grocery shopping in America, Kroger and Albertsons announced Friday plans to merge.

Kroger (KR) and Albertsons, which both employ mostly union workforces, want to merge to be more competitive against non-union giants such as Walmart (WMT), Amazon (AMZN), and Costco (COST). The grocers are also facing increased pressure from Aldi, the fast-growing German discount supermarket chain.

What this mega supermarket merger could mean for your grocery bills

Private-equity firms invest in companies and aim to sell them in about five years for more than they paid. In recent years they’ve snapped up health care companies, with a particular interest in anesthesiology. But some physicians and patient advocates say the health care investments of private-equity firms and their drive to reap relatively short-term profits are inconsistent with putting patients first. Independent academic studies find that private equity’s laser focus on profits in health care operations can result in lower staffing levels at hospitals and nursing homes

The anesthesiologist who is putting you under may work for a private-equity firm

They're called maternity care deserts which means the county has no access to maternity care, no hospital that offers obstetric services, no OBGYN, no certified nurse-midwife or no birthing center.

"We're leaving women to fend for themselves" | Several East Tennessee counties considered maternity care deserts

36% of US counties are ‘maternity care deserts,’ raising risks for women and babies, new report finds

US factories are humming, and manufacturers are scrambling to find workers as the pace of hiring hits levels not seen in decades.

“I think we’re in uncharted territory,” said Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. “For every 100 jobs openings in the sector we only have 60 people who are looking. I think it’ll take quite a while to fill that pipeline.”

Made in America is back, leaving US factories scrambling to find workers

Here in Knoxville, there are twice as many children in need of care than there are available foster families.

Quin said that so of the children in state custody with nowhere to go are even having to sleep in the offices at the Department of Children’s Services.

Children sleep in offices as Knoxville DCS struggles to find homes