Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 1921, Charles H. Coolidge was born on Signal Mountain. The Chattanooga printer went on to earn the Medal of Honor for holding a position against a far larger German force over four brutal days in France in 1944.

A miniature pony went wandering over a Knoxville interstate this weekend, but the good news is that the little escape artist is already back home. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen on the road? Write in to tell us about it.

What if the biggest threat in your diet isn’t sugar or fat, but something hiding in more than half of everything you eat? Ultra-processed foods have been linked to plenty of chronic conditions, all of which can shorten your life. And they’re lurking in products you’d never suspect, from your morning bagel to the sauce on your stir fry. The good news? You don’t have to overhaul your kitchen or your budget to cut them out. On today’s episode of The Flyover Podcast, Ayla reveals six everyday swaps that push these foods off your plate, plus the one trick that exposes them on any label. Tune in here!

If you haven’t compared your car insurance in a while, there’s a good chance you’re paying more than you need to. Even if you checked rates a year ago, the market has changed. That’s why today’s sponsor, Insurify, makes it easy to compare quotes from more than 120 insurers in just a few minutes.

Flock Safety Responds to Burchett Bill

Flock Safety, which runs one of the nation’s largest license plate reader networks, is pushing back after Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett introduced legislation to limit automated surveillance technology.

Burchett says the widespread use of plate readers raises Fourth Amendment concerns. His Protection Against Mass Surveillance Act would restrict how certain federal funds can be used to buy or contract for the systems.

The company urged Congress to add oversight rather than ban the tools, saying public safety and privacy can coexist. Flock also noted that more than 40 courts have ruled that reading plates in public doesn’t require a warrant.

Meanwhile, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, the former WWE star Kane, has paused a $1 million deal to install 270 Flock cameras, calling the technology “blanket surveillance.”

87-Year-Old Driver Strikes Four Pedestrians

An 87-year-old driver ran a red light at Broadway and Fourth Avenue North just after noon on Saturday, striking four pedestrians lawfully in the crosswalk and killing one, according to Metro Nashville Police.

Police identified the driver as Thomas Cahill of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the man killed as Timothy Wedlock, 58, of Australia. Three others were hospitalized, two in critical condition.

Mayor Freddie O’Connell called it an incredibly tragic event and said crews were working to determine exactly what happened.

Investigators say Cahill, in serious condition himself, showed no signs of impairment. Detectives are reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing his wife’s caregiver to determine whether charges will be filed.

Forecast Sees Scattered Storms, Heat

Tennessee faces daily rain chances this week, with scattered storms across the east as a slow-moving upper-level low stalls over the region, forecasters say.

No day looks like a washout, but roughly half of East Tennessee could see afternoon and evening showers daily, with higher elevations most likely to get rain. Highs will hold in the mid-to-upper 80s.

Middle Tennessee starts cooler before heat builds back midweek, with Nashville-area highs climbing into the 90s and heat index values approaching 100 through Friday.

The bigger worry this week is water on saturated ground, where heavy downpours could trigger isolated flash flooding.

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➤ Polk County: Crews rescued 13 visitors from floodwaters on the Ocoee River on Sunday as flooding shuttered roads and triggered emergency declarations. (See Photos)

➤ Smith County: A boater was rescued Sunday morning on Cordell Hull Lake after his wife reported him missing when he didn’t return. Rescue crews found him semi-conscious in his boat upstream. (More)

➤ Washington County: The school district rolled out a new bus-tracking system for the first day of school yesterday. Students tap a GPS-enabled card when boarding and exiting, sending real-time check-ins to a parent app. (More)

➤ Knoxville: A miniature pony found wandering over I-275 Sunday morning has been reunited with its owner, police said. Officers had put out a call for help identifying who it belonged to. (See Pony)

➤ Franklin: A local mother and her two children are safely home after wildfires trapped them at their vacation house in Biscarrosse, France, with barricaded roads leaving evacuation impossible. (More)

➤ Clarksville: City leaders are weighing stricter downtown parking enforcement to address operating losses and thousands in unpaid citations, but some residents worry a $40 ticket could scare shoppers away. (More)

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➤ Sixteen-year-old Kristina Liutova won the inaugural Memphis Classic tennis tournament this weekend, rallying from a set down to beat Darja Vidmanova in her WTA main draw debut. She’s the youngest player to win a WTA singles title since Coco Gauff in 2019. (More)

➤ Tennessee basketball is the frontrunner to land former Vanderbilt forward Jalen Washington, who was granted a fifth year of eligibility by a court ruling earlier this week. The 6-10 power forward averaged 8.9 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Commodores last season. (More)

➤ Nashville Predators prospect Jack Ivankovic was named Canada’s starting goalie for the 2027 World Juniors, making him only the second Canadian goaltender to play in three World Junior tournaments. The 19-year-old posted a .921 save percentage at Michigan last season and helped the Wolverines reach the national championship game. (More)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: MLB | WNBA | Tennis | Little League Softball World Series

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➤ The Tennessee Titans announced that beloved Nashville honky tonk Robert’s Western World will open a satellite location on the 300 level of the new Nissan Stadium. (More)

➤ A mechanical contractor who helped build Elon Musk’s Memphis-area data centers says SpaceXAI owes his company more than $136 million for work since 2024. Two other contractors have also filed liens. (More)

➤ Fly by Night, a neighborhood Knoxville bar that opened in 2023, earned an honorable mention on USA Today’s Best bars in America 2026 list. The owners credited their longtime staff for the recognition. (More)

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➤ Lioness star Jill Wagner, whose Taylor Sheridan series premiered its third season Sunday on Paramount+, says she chose to raise her family on a Tennessee farm because she wanted her kids to grow up somewhere “magical.” (More)

➤ The Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s 12th annual Wildlife and Nature Photo Contest is open through the end of the month. Winners will appear in the 2027 calendar. (See Details)

➤ Country star Trace Adkins recounted on a podcast the 1994 shooting by his second wife, when a point-blank bullet passed through his heart and both lungs. He credited LifeFlight and Vanderbilt for saving him. (More)

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➤ The Real Reason Skin Starts To Thin After 50 (It’s Not What You Think. Remember when bruises faded fast and skin bounced back? New research shows a particular deficiency impacts strength and dark spots too—and you don’t have to accept paper-thin, discolored skin as the “new normal.” Unfortunately, most people don’t know that thinning, aging skin is often caused by this. Learn More

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes. Clicking the links will take you directly to these stories:

➤ Hidden ultra-processed ingredients lurk in over half your diet, but there are six simple swaps to fight back. (Hear Details)

➤ The first deaths have been reported in the nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak, with two victims confirmed in Michigan. (Hear Episode)

➤ New Yorkers can finally camp overnight in Central Park, but scoring a free spot means winning a coveted citywide lottery. (Listen Now)

What setting did you grow up in?

Previous Results:

Where is the strangest place you’ve ever dozed off?

At work: 27%
Someone’s house: 27%
My car: 23%
Other (tell us!): 23%

Tennessee’s state tree, the Tulip Poplar, is sometimes called what musical nickname based on the shape of its leaves?

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Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Flock Safety Responds to Burchett Bill

87-Year-Old Driver Strikes Four Pedestrians

Forecast Sees Scattered Storms, Heat

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