What has become a Blount County tradition announced again last week that the berries are in at Jerry Marsh Farms. Beautiful strawberries are now ripe and can be had already picked or you can do your own selecting. “We’ve got about 75 acres being farmed,” said Jerry, who has been farming for more than 40 years. “Only about four (acres) are planted in strawberries but that also means we have about 40,000 plants. They started coming in last week and we went ahead and opened.” Jerry Marsh Farms grows more than just strawberries. More...

A line of severe thunderstorms Sunday night left a swath of damage in the Straight Mountain area. According to the National Weather Service report, the EF-2 tornado cut a path 300 yards wide and 6.5 miles long and packed winds estimated at 122 miles per hour. The twister destroyed four structures and left 14 others with minor to severe damage. In all, seven chicken houses were also destroyed, and approximately 95,000 chickens were displaced or killed. The tornado also left dozens without power for a while Sunday evening. More...