National chains and local coffee hangouts are switching the summer sweet treats for the more cozy flavors we associate with the fall season. But we are still a few days away from Starbucks rolling out the OG pumpkin spice latte as part of its fall menu.
“Best of all, very low precipitation chances are expected next week,” read a message from the National Weather Service office in Nashville. “Making it a great time to let your AC recover and open the windows for a bit while you enjoy your first taste of pumpkin spice for the year.”
Here’s when you should bundle up and grab the latest fall treats.
When does the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte come out?
PSL lovers don’t fret, you don’t have to wait for the first day of fall to get your hands on one. Starbucks’ fall menu launches on Aug. 26.
Not in the PSL lifestyle? The worldwide coffee chain has a couple of other fall treats that you may enjoy. Including:
Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte
When is the first day of fall?
The first day of fall is Sept. 22, at 1:19 p.m. CT/ 2:19 p.m. ET, also known as the autumnal equinox.
The equinox is known as the astronomical start of the season, but there is another method used to measure the change in seasons.
The meteorological start to fall is based on the annual temperature cycle and the 12-month calendar. With this definition, each season begins on the first of a particular month and lasts for three months. This means summer will end on Aug. 31 and fall will start on Sept. 1, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Cold front brings fall temperatures early to the Volunteer State
The official first day of fall is still almost a month away, but you might have to break out a light sweater, especially in the evening, as a cold front moves across the state starting Aug. 25.
Nashville and surrounding areas are set to experience below average temperatures Aug. 26-30.
Temperatures across the state are expected to dip, according to the weather service. With many areas seeing weather 10-20 degrees below normal.
People in Middle Tennessee see an average temperature of 80°F during August, which means the cold front could take temperatures into the high 70s and low 80s, according to the weather service.
In East Tennessee, forecasts call for highs in the 70s and lows well into the 50s as the cold front moves in.
Those in West Tennessee will get a break from the 90-degree days as temperatures cool off into the upper 70s and lower 80s with lows in the upper 50s to middle 60s each day.
When is the last day of summer?
Tennesseans can keep summer vibes going until Sept. 21.
Jordan Green and Diana Leyva contributed to this story.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Justin Rose made up a three-shot deficit over the last five holes against hard-luck Tommy Fleetwood, and then made two birdies in a playoff against U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun to win the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday.
Rose delivered another sterling performance, closing with a 3-under 67 for his 24th victory worldwide that puts him back into the top 10 in the world at age 45 and secures his spot in another Ryder Cup.
He birdied four straight holes, and narrowly missed a 13-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at the TPC Southwind for a win in regulation. Rose wound up making six birdies over the last eight holes he played, the last one a 10-foot putt on the 18th on the third playoff hole.
“An amazing last 90 minutes,” Rose said. “I played unbelievable golf down the stretch. When I bring my best, I know I’m good enough to play and to compete, and to now win against the best players in the world. Very gratifying day for me.”
Spaun showed plenty of moxie on his own. He made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to pull into a share of the lead and closed with a 65. He also made a 30-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole with Rose in tight.
“I hung in there the best I could, and he beat me to the hole first. Just wasn’t meant to be,” said Spaun, who locked up a spot in his first Ryder Cup.
Lost in his remarkable rally was another setback for Fleetwood, who has become a sympathetic figure in golf for close calls and his graciousness in defeat. This looked to be his time to add a PGA Tour title to his wins around the world, especially when his 35-foot birdie on the 12th was the first of three birdies in a four-hole stretch that gave him a two-shot lead with three to play.
But he hit pitch through the green on the par-5 16th and had to scramble for par. He was between clubs on the 17th, hit a poor shot and a worse par attempt from 7 feet for bogey. Needing birdie on the 18th to have a chance, he drove into a bunker.
Fleetwood shot 69 and finished one shot out of the playoff along with Scottie Scheffler, who grazed the edge of so many putts on the back nine and had to settle a 67.
“There’s a lot of positives to take, as much as I won’t feel like that right now. I’m just going to look at what I feel like I could have done and how close it was,” Fleetwood said.
“All these experiences and these close calls, like I say, there’s no point in allowing them to have a negative effect on what happens next. What would be the point?” he said. “It was a great week. I did a ton of good stuff, and as disappointed as I am, I have to try to find the strength to make it all a positive experience and hopefully next time go again.”
Scheffler has not finished worse than eighth place in his last 12 tournaments dating to March. He played the final round without his regular caddie, Ted Scott, who had an emergency family situation back home in Louisiana.
Rose wasn’t the only player leaving the TPC Southwind with a big smile. Bud Cauley was on the bubble for finishing in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup when he holed a bunker shot for birdie on the 17th hole and locked up his spot for the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs next week outside Baltimore.
Rickie Fowler, who missed the postseason last year, shot 69 to tie for sixth and advance to the BMW Championship. Others who moved into the top 50 were Kurt Kitayama, Jhonattan Vegas and J.T. Poston.
The top 50 are assured of being in all the $20 million signature events next year.
There was plenty of movement around the bubble. Jordan Spieth never got on track this week, finished with a shot in the water on the 18th and shot 68 to tie for 38th to finish 54th. Chris Kirk was inside the top 50 until he hit into the water on the 15th for bogey and failed to birdie the par-5 16th. A closing birdie left him at No. 51.
For all that was at stake, the best drama was at the top, particularly with Rose. He played in the final group with Fleetwood was three shots behind when Rose hit 6-iron to just inside 15 feet for birdie at the par-3 14th. He followed with two more short birdies, and then poured in a 15-footer on the 17th for his fourth in a row.
“This is going to be a fun one for us to celebrate,” Rose said.
Ever since we had family move down to Nashville, it has become one of our absolute favourite places to visit. With direct flights from Montreal, we flew down for a week and stayed in a small area just outside the city. From eating our way across town to exploring the incredible Gaylord Opryland Resort, there’s something for everyone in this amazing place, whether you have little ones, a tween (like me), or you’re aiming for more of an adults-only kind of vacation.
The Gaylord Opryland Resort has everything you’d want in a great destination, and you can just stay put! Explore the history of country music in one of the country’s most iconic spots, or dine at more than 20 amazing restaurants on-site (there are options for Italian, Mexican, American, steakhouse, and Southern cuisine, as well as a Jack Daniel’s restaurant, a personal favourite). You can wander around this massive hotel for hours – there are over 50,000 tropical plants spread throughout the hotel’s indoor gardens and atriums, including the Garden Conservatory, the Cascades, and the Delta. The resort’s horticultural displays are considered among the most exquisite in the world, with a wide variety of tropical, international, and Southern species. And then there’s SoundWaves, an upscale, indoor/outdoor water attraction with a variety of water features including waterslides, a lazy river, and both indoor and outdoor pools. We spent an entire day there – there are food and drink options, lots of seating, endless ways to cool off, and even cabanas you can rent.
Nashville’s downtown strip on Broadway, also known as the Honky Tonks, is a great area to explore with the family during the day, and when night falls, it definitely has a more grown-up vibe (that’s wildly fun!). Live music plays all day from the various bars (some of which allow kids in the daytime), there’s amazing food options (like the infamous Hattie B’s Hot Chicken), souvenir shops, boot stores, candy and ice cream, and much more.
History abounds in Nashville too, with various landmarks to check out such as Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and Belmont Mansion.
For the kids (and kids at heart), there’s definitely no shortage of fun things to do, from go-carting and mini putt to escape rooms, Nashville Zoo, Madame Tussauds, and Adventure Science Centre. The Nashville Farmers Market is always a hit with families.
If the sites don’t win you over, the people will. They ooze friendly southern charm and hospitality, and are super welcoming.
There’s always something to do in beautiful Nashville, and we can’t wait to go back!
Vacations are fun … but they’re better with your best friend. And choosing a pet friendly destination that isn’t over-run with tourists will really allow you to get away from it all!
Start making your plans, but don’t call the kennel or schedule a sitter for your dog or cat. We’re giving you the inside scoop on nine great pet friendly trips to avoid crowds, so you and your furry travel buddy can really relax.
Pet Friendly Trips To Avoid Crowds
Big Bend, Texas
Big Bend isn’t on the way to anywhere else, so you have to make an effort to get there. And that means fewer people do. Plus, with amazing scenery, friendly locals, and a pet friendly ghost town, you’ve got the makings for a fantastic pet friendly trip!
The diversity of Big Bend is its biggest draw. Massive canyons, vast expanses of desert, forested mountains, and an ever-changing river provide a stunning variety of landscapes to admire. One of the best places to experience all the area has to offer is Big Bend National Park.
Unfortunately, the National Park doesn’t allow pets on any trails, on the river, or in the backcountry. However, leashed pets can walk the 200+ miles of dirt roads running through the park – and most of them get little very little traffic! Jeep trips, a scenic drive along the Rio Grande to Presidio, and exploring the little communities are other popular activities.
Pet friendly campsites are available year round at Big Bend National Park and at many private campgrounds in the area. You’ll also find many, many pet friendly vacation rentals and Airbnbs in Big Bend. And there are four pet friendly hotels within easy driving distance of the National Park.
If you’re looking for pet friendly trips where you can really stretch out, it’s hard to beat Dixie National Forest. Covering almost 2 million acres, it would take a lifetime to explore the 1,600 miles of trails, hundreds of miles of scenic drives, 500 miles of fishing streams, and 90 lakes within the park’s boundaries. And the best part is … every square inch is pet friendly!
The stunning scenery of southern Utah is something to behold. But if you’re traveling with pets, the area’s most popular attractions – Bryce and Zion National Parks – will leave you disappointed. Both of these national parks have strict pet regulations.
Fortunately, Dixie National Forest provides plenty of options! We highly recommend the Red Canyon Trail, a five-miler with plenty of ups and downs that winds through the incredible hoodoos.
Dixie has 18 seasonal campgrounds, which are generally open from May through September. If you’re planning to travel outside camping season, the town of Panguitch has several pet friendly hotels which provide good access to the park.
Florence has all the amenities that make a shore town fun, but without the inflated price tag and touristy atmosphere. The locals are friendly and the pace is relaxed, though you and your pet will find plenty to do!
You can take a drive down to explore the Oregon Dunes, hike the Sweet Creek Trail past eleven waterfalls in the Siuslaw National Forest, or rent a kayak and watch for otters as you paddle the Siuslaw River.
Be sure to visit Cape Perpetua, where you and your pet can walk over ancient lava flows that formed the coast in this part of Oregon. All 26 miles of trails here are pet friendly, so you’re sure to find something that suits you. If you’re looking for the best view, climb nearly 800 feet to the overlook, where on a clear day you can see 70 miles of coastline!
Florence boasts a surprising number of pet friendly restaurants for a town this size. There are also several pet friendly vacation properties. And the Best Western welcomes two pets per room, including cats and dogs up to 80 pounds.
Fort Worden State Park – Port Townsend, Washington
Located on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Fort Worden was an active military base until 1953. Now it’s a truly unique 433-acre state park overlooking the Puget Sound.
While exploring twelve miles of pet friendly trails, you’ll find bunkers and gun batteries atop strategic hilltops. Of course, your pet won’t want to miss the two miles of sandy beaches. And bring the canoe or kayak, because the park has two convenient boat ramps.
You can choose to stay in one of the park’s two pet friendly campgrounds, or opt for a truly unique pet friendly vacation rental experience. Three dozen Victorian houses which comprised the original barracks have been renovated into vacation accommodations, and five of the units welcome pets!
All of this is just a few miles from the quaint fishing village of Port Townsend. With historic buildings, a lovely marina, and great eateries, it’s a great choice for pet friendly trips.
For those looking to be dazzled by spectacular vistas, prepare yourself for the Hudson Valley. Just 90 minutes north of Manhattan, where the Hudson River cuts along the backbone of the Catskill Mountains, you’ll find rolling hills, quaint villages, and plenty of wide-open spaces to explore.
During your visit, plan to spend a day at Bear Mountain State Park. You’ll want to pack a picnic and pull up a bench while you admire the view. When the weather cooperates, you can spot Manhattan’s skyscrapers on the horizon!
After lunch, hit the Appalachian Trail on the east side of the mountain. It includes 800 stone stairs and is considered one of the most beautiful trails built in the last fifty years. And be sure to take a stroll around Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where many famous (and some infamous) people have been laid to rest.
There is no shortage of lodging options for pet friendly trips to the Hudson Valley! From Kingston to Newburgh to Tarrytown, you’ll find campgrounds, hotels, and vacation rentals ready to welcome your furry family members.
Take the ferry to Mackinac Island, and you’re in for a special treat! At just 3.8 square miles, this jewel sits in Lake Huron between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas, about a 15-minute ferry ride from shore.
Eighty percent of the island is preserved within Mackinac Island State Park, and personal automobiles have been prohibited here since 1898. Pets, however, are very welcome! You’ll find ferries, lodging, restaurants, horse-drawn taxis, guided carriage tours, and bike and kayak rentals for cats and dogs eager to explore.
Though camping isn’t allowed on Mackinac Island, there are three pet friendly lodging options to choose from. Mission Point Resort has beautiful grounds and a restaurant with pet friendly patio, and welcomes pets for an additional per-stay fee of $100, plus tax. Park Place Suites offers three condo units in the heart of downtown, which come complete with a yard. They charge an additional pet fee of $30 per night. Sunset Condos offers more seclusion and fantastic views of Lake Huron and the Mackinac Bridge. Their pet fee is based on the size of your pet – less than 40 pounds is $75 per stay, more than 40 pounds is $100 per stay, and two pets over 40 pounds are $150 per stay.
For off-the-beaten-path pet friendly road trips, there’s nothing like the Natchez Trace! Stretching 444 miles from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi, it’s a blissfully quiet, billboard-free retreat from other American highways.
Along the way, more than 100 exhibits, interpretive signs, and marked trails provide archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic insights.
The Trace is best enjoyed at a relaxed pace, because there’s something to sniff around every bend! And when it’s time to really stretch your legs, 28 pet friendly hiking and self-guided trails are just steps away.
Appreciating the changing landscapes is another enchanting part of the Trace. From thick forests, to boggy cypress swamps, over 2,000 types of plants live and bloom along the route. The drive is especially lovely during the spring bloom and the colorful fall foliage.
The only overnight accommodations you’ll find on the Natchez Trace are primitive national park and forest campgrounds. However, there are plenty of pet friendly lodging options in the towns and cities just off the Trace. If you’re traveling at one of the more popular times of the year, reservations are recommended.
Many of our national parks see millions of tourists every year, but few visitors spend much time outside the park borders. This is definitely true of Yellowstone National Park, and it makes Paradise Valley the perfect place for a pet friendly trip that avoids crowds!
As the Yellowstone River flows north out the border of the park, the landscape opens up and mountain peaks frame the view. The beauty of the valley beckons you outdoors, as the river tumbles over perfectly worn stones. And there are plenty of activities to choose from!
The Yellowstone is a world-class fly fishing river with many access points along it’s shores. Wildlife viewing is always exciting in this part of the country, with antelope, big horn sheep, bison, elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer often seen from the roads. And the hiking is spectacular, with the Gallatin National Forest offering spectacular pet friendly trails for both serious hikers and those just out for a stroll in nature.
Between privately-owned and national forest campgrounds, finding a place to pitch your tent isn’t too difficult here. And Gardiner and Livingston both have several pet friendly hotel options. If you’re willing to drive a bit further, Bozeman offers even more pet friendly lodging.
If there is a Mecca for dogs, it’s Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury. This 150-acre off-leash playground for pups was the vision of artists Stephen and Gwen Huneck. The property has a pond, hiking trails, and a pet friendly art gallery. But the heart of Dog Mountain is the chapel, with its pews carved with dogs on the ends and stained glass windows celebrating the gifts dogs bring to our lives.
Over the years pet lovers have contributed tributes, pictures, letters, and notes to their departed pets, covering the walls several layers deep. The result is a masterpiece beyond description.
Nestled along the banks of the Passumpsic and Moose Rivers, the picturesque town of St. Johnsbury has more bridges than traffic lights. And it makes a perfect base camp for exploring Vermont’s Green Mountains and New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
If you get a clear day, be sure to take the drive up Mount Washington. At 6,288 feet, it’s the highest peak in the Northeastern United States.
The Fairbanks Inn in St. Johnsbury offers pet friendly rooms with a $25 per night pet fee, and there are many camping options in the area.
We hope this gives you some ideas for places you can take your pets to avoid the crowds and enjoy a relaxing getaway. If you have some favorite destinations for off-the-beaten-path pet friendly trips that you don’t mind sharing, please leave a comment below!
WASHINGTON — Racist text messages invoking slavery raised alarm across the country this week after they were sent to Black men, women and students, including middle schoolers, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other agencies.
The messages, sent anonymously, were reported in several states, including New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. They generally used a similar tone but varied in wording.
Some instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time “with your belongings,” while others didn’t include a location. Some of them mentioned the incoming presidential administration.
It wasn’t yet clear who was behind the messages and there was no comprehensive list of where they were sent, but high school and college students were among the recipients.
The FBI said it was in touch with the Justice Department on the messages, and the Federal Communications Commission said it was investigating the texts “alongside federal and state law enforcement.” The Ohio Attorney General’s office also said it was looking into the matter.
Tasha Dunham of Lodi, California, said her 16-year-old daughter showed her one of the messages Wednesday evening before her basketball practice.
The text not only used her daughter’s name, but it directed her to report to a “plantation” in North Carolina, where Dunham said they’ve never lived. When they looked up the address, it was the location of a museum.
“It was very disturbing,” Dunham said. “Everybody’s just trying to figure out what does this all mean for me? So, I definitely had a lot of fear and concern.”
Her daughter initially thought it was a prank, but emotions are high following Tuesday’s presidential election. Dunham and her family thought it could be more nefarious and reported it to local law enforcement.
“I wasn’t in slavery. My mother wasn’t in slavery. But we’re a couple of generations away. So, when you think about how brutal and awful slavery was for our people, it’s awful and concerning,” Dunham said.
About six middle school students in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, received the messages too, said Megan Shafer, acting superintendent of the Lower Merion School District.
“The racist nature of these text messages is extremely disturbing, made even more so by the fact that children have been targeted,” she wrote in a letter to parents.
Students at some major universities, including Clemson in South Carolina and the University of Alabama, said they received the messages. The Clemson Police Department said in a statement that it had been notified of the “deplorable racially motivated text and email messages” and encouraged anyone who received one to report it.
Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee, issued a statement calling the messages that targeted some of its students “deeply unsettling.” It urged calm and assured students that the texts likely were from bots or malicious actors with “no real intentions or credibility.”
Missouri NAACP President Nimrod Chapel said Black students who are members of the organization’s Missouri State University chapter received texts citing Trump’s win and calling them out by name as being “selected to pick cotton” next Tuesday. Chapel said police in the southeastern Missouri city of Springfield, home of the university, have been notified.
“It points to a well-organized and resourced group that has decided to target Americans on our home soil based on the color of our skin,” Chapel said in a statement.
Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland also sent an email to parents stating “many students” received text messages containing “racist threats.”
“Local law enforcement and the FBI are aware of these messages, and law enforcement in some areas have announced they consider the messages low-level threats,” the email said.
Nick Ludlum, a senior vice president for the wireless industry trade group CTIA, said: “Wireless providers are aware of these threatening spam messages and are aggressively working to block them and the numbers that they are coming from.”
David Brody, director of the Digital Justice Initiative at The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said that they aren’t sure who is behind the messages but estimated they had been sent to more than 10 states, including most Southern states, Maryland, Oklahoma and even the District of Columbia. The district’s Metropolitan Police force said in a statement that its intelligence unit was investigating the origins of the message.
Brody said a number of civil rights laws can be applied to hate-related incidents. The leaders of several other civil rights organizations condemned the messages, including Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who said, “Hate speech has no place in the South or our nation.”
“The threat – and the mention of slavery in 2024 – is not only deeply disturbing, but perpetuates a legacy of evil that dates back to before the Jim Crow era, and now seeks to prevent Black Americans from enjoying the same freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness,” said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. “These actions are not normal. And we refuse to let them be normalized.”
Former, Memphis, Tennessee, police officer Arica Hutchison was sentenced to six months in prison plus two years supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft from a program receiving federal funds. The program in question was Crime Stoppers, which rewards people who provide information leading to an arrest in a crime. According to court documents, Hutchison entered false information into department databases and listed an accomplice as a tipster, after which she fraudulently obtained $18,500 from the program for the fake tips. Hutchison must also pay $22,000 in restitution, get a mental health assessment and counseling, take a financial literacy class, and undergo substance abuse and alcohol treatment.
Sheila Keen-Warren, 61, was released 18 months after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Marlene Warren, Florida Department of Corrections records show. The plea deal came shortly before her trial would have started.
Keen-Warren, who has maintained her innocence even after her plea, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. But she had been in custody for seven years since her arrest in 2017, and Florida’s law in 1990 allowed significant credit for good behavior. It had been expected she would be released in about two years.
“Sheila Keen-Warren will always be an admitted convicted murderer and will wear that stain for every day for the rest of her life,” Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said in a statement Saturday.
Greg Rosenfeld, Keen-Warren’s attorney, has said she only took the plea deal because she would be released in less than two years and had been facing a life sentence if convicted at trial.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Ms. Keen-Warren has been released from prison and is returning to her family. As we’ve stated from the beginning, she did not commit this crime,” he said Saturday in a text message.
Marlene Warren’s son, Joseph Ahrens, and his friends were at home when they said a person dressed as a clown rang the door bell. He said that when his mom answered, the clown handed her some balloons. After she responded, “How nice,” the clown pulled a gun and shot her in the face before fleeing.
Palm Beach County sheriff’s investigators had long suspected Keen-Warren in the slaying, but she wasn’t arrested until 27 years later when they said improved DNA testing tied her to evidence found in the getaway car. Rosenfeld has called that evidence weak.
At the time of the shooting, Keen-Warren was an employee of Marlene Warren’s husband, Michael, at his used car lot. Since 2002, she has been his wife — they eventually moved to Abington, Virginia, where they ran a restaurant just across the Tennessee border.
Witnesses told investigators in 1990 that the then-Sheila Keen and Michael Warren were having an affair, though both denied it.
Over the years, detectives said, costume shop employees identified Sheila Warren as the woman who had bought a clown suit a few days before the killing.
And one of the two balloons — a silver one that read, “You’re the Greatest” — was sold at only one store, a Publix supermarket near Keen-Warren’s home. Employees told detectives a woman who looked like Keen-Warren had bought the balloons an hour before the shooting.
The presumed getaway car was found abandoned with orange, hair-like fibers inside. The white Chrysler convertible had been reported stolen from Michael Warren’s car lot a month before the shooting. Keen-Warren and her then-husband repossessed cars for him.
Relatives told The Palm Beach Post in 2000 that Marlene Warren, who was 40 when she died, suspected her husband was having an affair and wanted to leave him. But the car lot and other properties were in her name, and she feared what might happen if she did.
She allegedly told her mother, “If anything happens to me, Mike done it.” He has never been charged and has denied involvement.
But Rosenfeld said last year that the state’s case was falling apart. One DNA sample somehow showed both male and female genes, he said, and the other could have come from one out of every 20 women.
And even if that hair did come from Keen-Warren, it could have been deposited before the car was reported stolen. He said Marlene Warren’s son and another witness also told detectives that the car deputies found wasn’t the killer’s, though investigators insisted it was.
Aronberg last year conceded that there were holes in the case, saying they were caused by the three decades it took to get it to trial, including the death of key witnesses.
Michael Warren was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering and odometer tampering. He served almost four years in prison — a punishment his then-attorneys said was disproportionately long because of suspicions he was involved in his wife’s death.
He did not respond to a phone message left for him Saturday.
“Truth is boring, facts are boring, and outrage is really interesting,” says Utah’s Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican who oversees elections in her state. “It’s like playing whack-a-mole with truth. But what we try to do is just get as much information out there as possible.”
In the past week, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed a voting machine had changed a voter’s ballot in her Georgia district during early voting, and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X, has promoted various conspiracy theories about voting machines and voter fraud both online and at a rally for Trump in Pennsylvania.
The floodgates are “very much” open, said David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who now leads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a nonpartisan group that works with state and local election officials.
“This is making election officials’ lives much more difficult,” he said.
Eric Olsen, who oversees elections in Prince William County, Virginia, said combatting misinformation has become an important and challenging part of the job.
“It’s really difficult from our position, a lot of times, because social media feels like a giant wave coming at you and we’re in a little canoe with a paddle,” he said. “But we have to do that work.”
On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly attempted to sow doubt about the upcoming election – something he did ahead of his two previous bids for the White House. Even after he won in 2016, he claimed he had lost the popular vote because of a flood of illegal votes and he formed a presidential advisory commission to investigate. The commission disbanded without finding any widespread fraud.
This year, Trump claims that Democrats will cheat again and uses “Too Big to Rig” as a rallying cry to encourage his supporters to vote. Election experts see it as laying the groundwork to again challenge the election should he lose.
The conspiracy theories that have surfaced in recent weeks are not new. There have long been claims of “vote flipping,” with the most recent ones surfacing in Georgia and Tennessee.
What to know about the 2024 Election
A claim in Georgia’s Whitfield County was highlighted by Greene on Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” show. Jones has a history of spreading falsehoods and was ordered to pay $1.5 billion for his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was a hoax.
County election officials issued a statement, noting the case involved one voter out of 6,000 ballots that had been cast since early voting began. The ballot was spoiled, and the voter cast a replacement that was counted. Officials said there was no problem with the voting machine.
Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said every report they’ve seen so far of someone saying their printed ballot didn’t reflect their selections on the touchscreen voting machine has been a result of voter error.
“There is zero evidence of a machine flipping an individual’s vote,” he said. “Are there elderly people whose hands shake and they probably hit the wrong button slightly and they didn’t review their ballot properly before they printed it? That’s the main situation we have seen. There is literally zero — and I’m saying this to certain congresspeople in this state — zero evidence of machines flipping votes. That claim was a lie in 2020 and it’s a lie now.”
In Shelby County, Tennessee, county election officials said human error was to blame for reports of votes being changed. Voters had been using their fingers instead of a stylus to mark their selections on voting machines, officials said.
In Washington state, Republican Jerrod Sessler, who is running for the state’s 4th Congressional District seat, shared a video on social media this week that claimed to show how easily fraudulent ballots can be created. But the video did not make clear that voter information on each ballot is checked against the state’s voter list.
“A ballot returned using fake voter registration information would not be counted and is illegal in Washington state,” Charlie Boisner, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said in an email.
Musk recently invoked Dominion Voting Systems as part of his remarks at a rally in Pennsylvania, seeming to suggest its equipment was not trustworthy. Dominion has been at the center of conspiracy theories related to the 2020 election and settled its defamation lawsuit against Fox News last year for $787 million over false claims aired repeatedly on the network. The judge in the case said it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations made by Trump allies on the network were true.
In a statement, Dominion said it was “closely monitoring claims around the Nov. 2024 election” and was “fully prepared to defend our company & our customers against lies and those who spread them.”
A request for comment from Musk was not immediately returned.
He has often sparred online with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Recently, the two tangled over Musk’s claim that there were more registered voters in Michigan, a presidential battleground state, than people eligible to vote. Benson said Musk was including in his count inactive voters who are scheduled for removal. A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee claiming problems with the state’s voter list.
During an interview last month, Benson said she was disheartened to see someone in Musk’s position repeating false information.
“If he was sincerely committed, as he says he is, to ensuring people have access to information, then I would hope that he would amplify the truthful information — the factual, accurate information — about the security of our elections instead of just amplifying conspiracy theories and in a way that directs the ire of many of his followers onto us as individual election administrators,” Benson said. “It’s something that we didn’t have to deal with in 2020 that creates a new battlefront and challenge for us.”
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Fernando reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Some Shelby County, Tennessee, voters say touchscreen voting machines swapped their votes to candidates from another party. But the machines did not malfunction.
Early voting began Oct. 16 in the county, and a day later state Democratic lawmakers said at a press conference that some Democratic constituents reported their votes were registering for Republicans.
Social media users took notice, with one calling for a bipartisan end to voting machines.
“Votes being swapped from (Kamala) Harris to (Donald) Trump,” said sticker text on an Oct. 20 Instagram video. “It doesn’t matter what political party you align with. We all need to band together and agree these voting machines need to go!”
The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
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The county’s election administrator said the problem was that voters’ fingers’ inadvertently touched the wrong box on the touchscreens. Each candidate’s name is in the center of a large box.
(Screenshot from Instagram)
The Instagram video plays a short clip of a news report from Action News 5 (WMC-TV) in Memphis, which said members of the state’s Democratic caucus had received calls from voters about their votes being changed.
“I do not believe that it is anything nefarious in any way, shape or form,” Shelby County Election Commissioner Vanecia Kimbrow said in the news report.
The news report said it was unclear whether any Republican voters had experienced similar issues.
Kimbrow said at the Oct. 17 news conference that she received constituent reports in about 10 to 12 precincts “of some irregularities with the voting machines.”
Kimbrow said the machines are new and highly sensitive and that voters should use a provided stylus rather than their fingers to ensure they make their preferred selections. She also urged voters to be “very careful and very intentional” about casting their votes and to review their ballots.
Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips explained what happened to two local news stations.
“There were a few voters that felt that the machine was switching their votes. That’s really not what was happening,” Phillips told Fox 13 (WHBQ-TV) in Memphis. She said the issue was the placement of the voters’ fingers on the touchscreen ballot.
Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips in a video shows voters how to select a candidate on touchscreen machines by clicking the candidate’s name in the center of the box, not on the smaller box in the upper left corner. (Screenshot from Shelby County Election Commission X post)
Phillips gave a demonstration to ABC 24 (WATN-TV), also in Memphis. The ballot shown on the screen has a small box on the upper left side within a larger box containing a candidate’s name.
If voters use their fingers to touch the smaller box on the upper left, they could accidentally touch part of the larger box above it that has a different candidate’s name. Republican candidates’ names are listed first on the ballot, ABC 24 said.
“Whichever pressure is heavier, it’ll pick that one, and that might be the one above it,” Phillips said. “The real simple fix for that is either use a stylus, but the easiest way is just touch the candidate’s name.”
Similar issues have been reported in Tennessee’s Davidson and Williamson counties, according to Nashville’s WKRN-TV.
The Shelby County Election Commission posted a video on X Oct. 17 showing how the machines work. In the video, Phillips urges voters to aim for the center of the larger box.
Phillips told PolitiFact in an Oct. 23 email that the commission has found no evidence of equipment malfunction, and the complaints about votes being swapped were limited.
“The Shelby County Election Commission has received three direct complaints at the polling sites. Of those who complained, each successfully cast their ballot for the candidates of their choice,” Phillips said.
Phillips said the commission shared voting machine demonstrations on social media, on its website and with media outlets. It has also encouraged voters to use the stylus to select candidates and urged voters to bring concerns to poll workers or request a paper ballot.
Our ruling
An Instagram post said voting machines in Shelby County, Tennessee, are swapping votes from Harris to Trump.
Election officials said there were no voting machine malfunctions. Voters had inadvertently touched the wrong area of the ballot when using the touchscreens.
The county received three complaints about the issue at polling sites; eventually, each person who had the issue cast a ballot for the candidates of their choice.
As the Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to Hurricane Helene’s deadly impacts and braces for Hurricane Milton to hit Florida, some social media users amplified baseless falsehoods about FEMA stealing disaster supplies.
In a video shared Oct. 2 on Facebook, Jeremy Herrell, the host of Live From America TV, a conservative media website said: “FEMA, that now has jurisdiction in a lot of these areas, is literally confiscating donations and relief materials,” listing items like first aid kits, food and water.
(Screenshot from Facebook)
On Threads, a user claimed that a friend in a disaster-stricken community in Tennessee told them that FEMA and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were “out here confiscating supplies from community donation centers.”
“I’m trying to share it bc this is what is *actually* happening and it will never ever be reported so it must be spread!” the poster wrote Oct. 4, using an abbreviation for “because.”
(Screenshot from Threads)
These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
FEMA is not “confiscating” emergency supplies or donations meant for Hurricane Helene survivors. Officials from FEMA and local leaders in states like Tennessee and North Carolina have denied these claims, warning that they impede disaster relief.
FEMA officials deny claims, warn they hinder disaster response
FEMA Press Secretary Daniel Llargues told PolitiFact that claims about FEMA confiscating emergency supplies are false.
“We bring commodities to the state,” Llargues said. “We hand them over to the state,” and the state distributes them.
In North Carolina, for example, Llargues said FEMA delivered supplies to Raleigh, North Carolina, and then groups including the North Carolina Air National Guard moved them to the state’s western end.
“But FEMA taking, confiscating the supplies — that’s another rumor” without any factual basis, he said.
On Oct. 6, ABC News’ “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos said the falsehoods about FEMA have prompted online attacks on the agency, such as one social media post that said “a militia should go against FEMA.”
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told Stephanopoulos such attacks have been harmful and demoralizing to FEMA staff, but also to first responders and local staff and volunteers.
“It has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there,” she said. “When you have this dangerous rhetoric like you’re hearing, it creates fear in our own employees, and we need to make sure we’re getting help to the people who need it.”
“FEMA does not take donations and/or food from survivors or voluntary organizations,” the agency wrote. “Donations of food, water, or other goods are handled by voluntary agencies who specialize in storing, sorting, cleaning, and distributing donated items.”
Workers helping with clean up efforts stop for lunch under the shade of a tree as a building destroyed by Hurricane Helene is seen in the background Oct. 5, 2024, in Newport, Tennessee. (AP)
Local leaders say supplies are not being ‘confiscated’
During an Oct. 3 media briefing, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, was asked about rumors that FEMA, the Red Cross, or the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency funds were turned away.
“That’s totally inaccurate,” Lee said. “There’s a lot of misinformation — in fact, there’s some belief and understanding that it may be coming from foreign sources just to confuse on the ground what’s happening here. There’s no confiscation of supplies or of products coming in by FEMA or TEMA.”
In X posts, Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs, another Republican, acknowledged frustration with FEMA and also encouraged people to “pitch in to help” without spreading misinformation about the emergency.
“To my knowledge, FEMA, TEMA, nor anyone else is confiscating supplies,” Jacobs wrote in an Oct. 4 X post. “Please quit spreading those rumors as they are counterproductive to response efforts.”
Two things: 1) To my knowledge, FEMA, TEMA, nor anyone else is confiscating supplies. Please quit spreading those rumors as they are counterproductive to response efforts. 2) If everyone could maybe please put aside the hate for a bit and pitch in to help, that would be great.
North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety also created a “Hurricane Helene: Fact vs. Rumor” webpage, where it addressed the “rumor” that the state was “discouraging donations in the wake of Hurricane Helene” and “physical donations are being confiscated by state and federal officials.”
The page said North Carolina encourages financial donations and is “working with these organizations to stand up logistical operations to coordinate the collection and distribution of countless physical donations from across the state and country.”
“Donations are not being confiscated by state and federal officials,” it said.
In a video on that page, Justin Granny, a North Carolina Emergency Management spokesperson, said misinformation can spread quickly on social media.
“If you see something alarming, pause and verify it through a trusted source of information before you share it,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is spread confusion during an already stressful time.”
Facebook posts claimed FEMA “is confiscating supplies and donations” meant for Hurricane Helene survivors.
FEMA officials and local and state leaders in Tennessee and North Carolina said these statements are baseless. FEMA delivers supplies and donations to states; the states and state-designated groups deliver the supplies.
Week 6 of college football features just one matchup between top 25 teams, but there’s still plenty of teams on upset watch.
That’s typically how these types of weeks work. Will a team like No. 4 Tennessee get a scare at Arkansas? What about No. 8 Miami at Cal in an ACC After Dark special? Can No. 12 Ole Miss bounce back with a win at South Carolina? We’re about to find out.
Here are the games we’re keeping a close eye on Saturday. All times are Eastern and all odds are from BetMGM.
The day begins with the only ranked matchup. Marcel Reed looks likely to start at QB for A&M as Conner Weigman continues to recover from a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, Missouri is looking to get its deep passing offense on track. QB Brady Cook excelled throwing the ball down the field a season ago but is averaging just 7.1 yards a pass so far in 2024.
It’s hard to see how Iowa’s offense can keep up. But the Iowa defense is the best unit Ohio State has seen so far, and we’re excited to see how the Buckeyes look against the stingy Hawkeyes.
Ole Miss is looking to bounce back from an ugly 20-17 upset loss to Kentucky last week. South Carolina’s defense is just as good as the Wildcats. Ask Kentucky. The Gamecocks dominated Kentucky in a 31-6 Week 2 win. But can South Carolina’s offense keep up? Stay tuned.
Tennessee’s offense has produced the highlights so far, but the defense has given up just 28 points over four games and the defensive line has shown itself to be one of the best in the SEC. It’ll be a big challenge for the Arkansas offense, which can be explosive when it’s not turning the ball over.
Miami’s learning what life is like in the new ACC as it heads out west to visit the Bears for a late-night kickoff in Berkeley, which is also hosting “GameDay.” Can Miami and Heisman hopeful QB Cam Ward keep rolling against a feisty Cal team which is off to a 3-1 start?
Live49 updates
Touchdown Georgia!
The Bulldogs are in the end zone on a short run by Trevor Etienne. That finishes off an 11-play, 75-yard drive for Georgia.
Big man TD for Ole Miss!
Ole Miss defensive tackle JJ Pegues (325 pounds) tumbles forward for a 1-yard TD run!
The Rebels took advantage of another short field after recovering a South Carolina fumble.
Ole Miss 14, South Carolina 0, mid 1st
Touchdown Ohio State!
The Buckeyes are on the board first after a 14-play, 88-yard drive is capped off by a 14- pass from Will Howard to Emeka Egbuka.
In Athens, Auburn started with the ball but quickly punted it to Georgia and now the Bulldogs are in the red zone.
In Columbus, the Buckeyes have the ball after a brief opening possession by Iowa. They’ve crossed midfield and are nearing the red zone.
Ole Miss strikes first
In another key SEC matchup today, Ole Miss is off to a quick start vs. South Carolina with Henry Parrish Jr. rushing in a touchdown from 3 yards out to start the scoring.
Ole Miss got the ball in great field position after SC failed to convert on a fake punt.
Ole Miss 7, South Carolina 0, early 1st
We are underway with the afternoon slate of games. This window features plenty of ranked teams in action.
Ole Miss-South Carolina Iowa-Ohio State Auburn-Georgia Indiana-Northwestern
Final: Texas A&M 41, Missouri 10
The Tigers tacked on a late field goal, but it’s an abysmal performance overall. It’s Texas A&M’s largest margin of victory over a top-10 team in school history.
Final: Penn State 27, UCLA 11
The Bruins get a garbage-time TD at the end of the game, but they’ll remain winless in the Big Ten after another big loss.
Touchdown Texas A&M!
The Aggies are piling it on now. It’s Le’Veon Moss once again, scoring his third TD of the day with a 18-yard run.
Missouri turns it over on downs
That’ll likely do it for the Tigers. On fourth-and-19, Brady Cook scrambled and had a receiver open, but the ball fell incomplete.
There’s just nothing positive happening for No. 9 Missouri today.
Louisville, SMU trading TDs in shootout
In what’s perhaps the most competitive game of the morning window, Louisville has tied things up with SMU on a 86-yard TD throw from Tyler Shough to Ja’Corey Brooks.
End of 3Q: Texas A&M 31, Missouri 7
The Tigers have the ball in A&M territory and they desperately need points on this drive to stay alive. They’re facing a third-and-5 at the 44.
Mizzou finally on the board
It took almost 40 minutes of gametime, but Missouri has scored. Brady Cook finds Theo Wease Jr. for a 59-yard catch-and-run touchdown to make it 34-7.
A&M adds field goal
The Aggies’ lead is up to 34-0 after a time-consuming drive ends with a 38-yard field goal by A&M kicker Randy Bond.
There’s just over 6 minutes left in the third quarter.
Touchdown Texas A&M!
The Aggies are piling it on now. Le’Veon Moss just broke off a 75-yard run to open the second half and it’s now 31-0 A&M!
We are back for the second half in College Station. Can Missouri climb its way back into the game, or at least make it competitive?
Early scoreboard update
Saturday scoreboard
Halftime: Texas A&M 24, Missouri 0
The Aggies go into the break with a massive lead. Conner Weigman is back and dealing the pigskin, completing 15 of 19 passes for 193 yards in the first two quarters.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee has announced a price increase for football tickets starting in 2025, with most of the increase going specifically to help pay players.
What You Need To Know
Tennessee adding 10% talent fee to college football season ticket prices in 2025
The increased price will go specifically to help pay players
The program also is boosting prices by 4.5%
An email to season-ticket holders said the increase will “help fund the proposed revenue share” for athletes and help Tennessee get the best talent
The increase announced Tuesday morning in an email to season-ticket holders notes a new 10% talent fee for all invoices to “help fund the proposed revenue share” for athletes and help Tennessee attract and keep the best talent. A video link features Athletic Director Danny White explaining the reason for the price increase per seat across Neyland Stadium.
“As the collegiate model changes, we have to remain flexible,” White said of the price hike, which includes a 4.5% increase on top of the 10% talent fee. “We have to continue leading the way. That connection between resources and competitiveness has never been tighter. Only now we have the ability to share these resources with our athletes. We can generate revenue that will go directly to our players. This will give our teams the best chance to be successful and bring championships home to Rocky Top.”
The increase comes with Tennessee off to a 3-0 and ranked sixth in the AP Top 25.
The announcement also includes a link to updates on talks between the NCAA and major college conferences trying to settle three antitrust lawsuits related to athlete compensation for name, image and likeness. They have a settlement agreement in place to pay $2.78 billion in damages to hundreds of thousands of college athletes, dating back to 2016.
At a hearing last week, the federal judge overseeing those cases declined to grant preliminary approval of the deal and kicked it back to attorneys to address her concerns with certain aspects of the agreement.
The NCAA changed its rules in 2021 to allow athletes to cash in on their fame through sponsorship and endorsement deals after decades of prohibition.
Tennessee has been working to be at the front of the changing landscape supporting athletes. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava was a prized recruit who signed with the NIL collective supporting Tennessee athletes, the Volunteer Club founded by Spyre Sports Group. It was among the first and most well-organized to emerge around the country after the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes making money off their fame.
That deal prompted a meeting between NCAA investigators and Tennessee officials in January followed by a scathing letter from Chancellor Donde Plowman to NCAA President Charlie Baker. She ripped the NCAA for creating “extraordinary chaos” by failing to provide clear rules for name, image and likeness for both universities and athletes.
The attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA a day after Plowman’s letter was released. A federal judge granted the AGs a preliminary injunction Feb. 23 barring the NCAA from enforcing NIL rules.
White cited NIL for creating an even closer connection between resources and competitive success. Tuesday’s announcement notes the current settlement projections could take effect as early as July 1, and the athletic director said Tennessee wants to be as transparent as possible with a fan base that has helped build the nation’s best athletic department. White said the ticket fee is a big key to continuing that success.
“We want to be a leader in college sports. that means we want to be a leader in revenue sharing,” White said. “We want to have the very best experience for our athletes right here on Rocky Top.”
White, whose latest contract extension was announced in August, credited fans for selling out 102,000 seats at Neyland Stadium for a third consecutive year with a waiting list of 15,000 for season tickets. He said that comes as other programs around the country are talking about downsizing stadiums that they can’t fill. Tennessee fans can start renewing tickets for 2025 on Thursday with a deadline of Feb. 27, with the option of a 10-month payment plan to handle the cost.
Tennessee won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title in men’s basketball and the program’s first national championship in baseball in June.
Dollywood is such a perfect destination from Greenville! At just about three hours from the Upstate, it’s a favorite with Kidding Around readers and their families. See what advice Kidding Around’s Bethany had to offer after her day at the park in Pigeon Forge in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.
Find a place to stay near Dollywood. This article contains Stay22 affiliate links.
Why You Should Consider Dollywood For Your Next Theme Park
I’ll be honest; we truly had such a great family experience visiting Dollywood that I’m not even quite sure where to start. During our visit, I was immediately struck by the carefulness and attentiveness of the Dollywood theme park staff. The park was well-maintained, clean, and attractive. We found a wide variety of attractions for all ages. And, our family, despite visiting for one and a half days, never stopped enjoying our time at the park.
Dollywood: Review of The Rides & Play Areas
Rides Even a PreK Age Kid Would Love
As a family with young children, we were impressed by how many rides Dollywood provides for children. Our then five-year-old was tall enough to ride several small roller-coasters and most other rides when accompanied by an adult.
Even our then two-year-old was big enough to ride most of the rides in the “Country Fair” section of Dollywood. There are adorable rides like “Busy Bees” and the classic “Amazing Flying Elephants” which are always a hit for little kids just dipping their toes into theme parks. There are a couple of rides for PreK ages in the “Wildwood Grove” section of the park as well.
I noticed that the attendants in “Country Fair” were especially alert to helping families with small children. I saw rides stopped on several occasions because a small child was scared or crying. The child was politely allowed to get off, and then the ride was started again for the rest of the group.
The rides also spanned different thrill levels allowing all children to have fun, with multiple choices to ride comfortably. Most of the rides could also seat adults who wanted to ride with their children.
Dollywood Tip: If you visit the Centralized Measuring Station inside the park, your child will receive a colored armband coded by which rides your child is tall enough to ride. This armband will help you not accidentally wait in line for a ride that your child is too small to ride.
Rides for the Entire Family
We also found a couple of Dollywood rides that our entire family could ride. One of which was the Dollywood Express, an authentic coal-fired steam engine, that explore some of Dolly Parton’s history. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of riding the Dollywood Express during our daughter’s nap time (I thought she might fall asleep). Instead, though, she had a complete melt-down and struggled to get free during the entire ride. The train does not stop for anything, so you may want to be sure your kids are happy before boarding.
Dollywood also has a couple of great family rollercoasters, FireChasher Express. Children as small as 39 inches can ride this roller coaster, making it ideal for families wanting a ride that everyone can enjoy. The coaster is a fast-paced ride through a curling track with a mid-stop inside a “fireworks truck.” The car experiences a back-blowing explosion (complete with small flames as a special effect) that shoots the roller coaster back to the station. The fire is a bit thematically scary for some children, but the ride is not too intense.
Another great rollercoaster for younger riders is Blazing Fury, which starts as a sightseeing ride through a mine but ends with a minecart off the rails twist. This rollercoaster only has a couple of small hills and quick twists but is completely dark in the last seconds of the ride.
Roller Coasters for Big Kids and Adults
Not only did we find plenty of rides suitable for our young kids, but my husband and I enjoyed the larger roller coasters as well. My personal favorite roller coaster was the Wild Eagle roller coaster. It’s a massive rollercoaster that runs at 60 mph, but the ride is smooth, and the harnesses fit very snug, making it a more pleasant ride. The Lightning Rod is also super popular, and is a wooden roller coaster that resembles a 1950’s hot rod.
The new Big Bear Mountain roller coaster opened in 2023 and is a blast to ride. It’s a coaster that picks up speed at different points in the ride and follows a story line of getting chased by a bear. It’s located at Wildwood Grove. Dragonflier is another popular coaster right in that same area and is a great one to hit while you’re in that same part of the park. It’s really fun because you can dangle your feet!
Dollywood Tip: If you are visiting with small children, be sure to check out the “Parent Swap” feature that allows you to wait in line once and take turns riding the roller coaster while the other parent watches the children.
In addition to the Dollywood rides, my kids enjoyed playing in the playgrounds and water spray areas of the park.
Wildwood Grove at Dollywood
When you go to Dollywood, head right for Wildwood Grove because there is so much to see and do for your whole family! Wildwood Grove is based upon adventure, curiosity, and a little fairy dust. It beckons guests to use their imagination to explore a world with exciting possibilities around every corner. You enter Wildwood Grove through what looks to be an old tree and wind your way past the Treetop Tower and Giant Tree Swing, back towards the indoor playground at Hidden Hollow and splash pad at Wildwood Creek.
Our kids loved every minute we spent here because they not only got to experience age-appropriate adrenaline rushes in the rides but really did feel like they got to explore a world that was uniquely set up to trigger their imaginations. For both kids and adults, we mostly live a life of structure, and it’s good to get out of that box and have fun together and try new things, which is exactly what is encouraged at Wildwood Grove.
Plan to spend at least a couple of hours at Wildwood Grove throughout your time at Dollywood. We started the day there, and before we knew it, it was time for lunch. We headed back at the end of the day to go back on our favorite rides and see if the Dragonflier line was shorter (it wasn’t – the ride is crazy popular).
Let’s Eat & Meet in Wildwood Grove!
You can’t go anywhere in Dollywood without smelling the delicious food offered throughout the park, and Wildwood Grove is no different. Till & Harvest is the anchor restaurant at Wildwood Grove. They serve Smoky Mountain Mexican cuisine like burrito bowls, with grilled meat and vegetables.
A sweet shop is located next door, and there are popcorn stands and ice cream carts throughout the area. Don’t forget that free ice water is offered at most concession stands and all restaurants. This was a lifesaver for my kids and me throughout our time at Dollywood.
There are also Meet & Greets with characters at Wildwood Grove, which we totally missed because I forgot to set the reminder on the Dollywood app, which you should absolutely download for your trip there. So if you’d like to meet some cute bears and fairies, set that reminder on your app.p-0
Rides at Wildwood Grove
Here are all the rides offered at Wildwood Grove:
Frogs & Fireflies A super cute ride for little kids where they get in a frog or firefly car and bounce around in circles in a motorized ride.
Giant Tree Swing An old school favorite updated to be in Wildwood Grove’s theme, the Giant Tree Swing is a big boat-like swing that goes back and forth, getting higher and higher each time. We did this a couple times as it was a favorite of my kids.
Hidden Hollow This is the most genius activity in Wildwood Grove, so props to Dollywood for thinking of it. Hidden Hollow is a black-lit indoor playground for kids that also has comfy seats for parents. There are slides, sensory objects, climbing apparatuses, and a section for kids under three years of age. Again, this is indoors – which means a nice, cool, respite from the summer heat. And it’s located right next to the restrooms.
Dragonflier This roller-coaster is crazy popular and looks like quite the thrill ride for people of any age, yet even my almost 5-year-old was big enough to ride. But she chickened out, so we had to back out. If you decide to go on this ride, go first when you get there or get the TimeSaver pass and use it to skip the line here. Guests need to be at least 39”.
Big Bear Mountain This roller-coaster is a fast and fun ride through the story of getting chased by a bear. It’s also the longest coaster at the park.
Wildwood Creek Another genius creation in Wildwood Grove is the creek, which is basically a splash pad, which feels divine in 90+ degree heat.
Treetop Tower A non-scary ride for any age that goes up and spins around a couple of times before coming back down. Guests need to be at least 36”.
Mad Mockingbird I could have gone on this ride all day long. It’s a swinging ride from the carnival days of my youth but way better. Guests sit in a swing that looks like a mockingbird and are spun around in the air to the point where it feels like you’re flying. There’s a handle where you can move the bird’s wings to make the swing change position in the air. Guests need to be at least 36”.
Black Bear Trail Guests ride around on a motorized bear through some bushes and trees. It’s cute and great for kids, although I saw plenty of adults riding around on the bears, which was hilarious. Guests need to be at least 36”.
Dollywood Shows You Don’t Want to Miss!
While we missed out on most of the shows due to my kids’ ages, I enjoyed watching two shows in The Little Engine Playhouse. I love children’s books, so I was delighted to find out that the shows were based on books. I was equally impressed that the shows kept not only me entertained but my two-year-old mesmerized. Outside The Little Engine Playhouse, we also had fun watching a small magic show.
Dollywood Tip: Schedule a show for the hot part of the day to give your kids a break from the heat! The Dollywood app is a great way to keep track of the shows the day you go and you can set a reminder for ones you want to see on the app.
Each summer features a different main show, including everything from bubble shows to dog stunts. Be sure to arrive early as the theater gains a crowd quickly. The shows do not play every day, so you will want to consult the show guide as you plan your time in the park.
This year we also visited in the peak season and were able to see the nightly fireworks and drone show during Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration. The show was great and definitely worth staying until closing time to see. You can see the fireworks most clearly from near Firechaser at the top of the park. Most of the rides continue to run until closing time, but some of the rides up near the fireworks do close at dusk.
Dollywood Review of the Food
We ate inside the park our first year, but the food was expensive and the plates small. In later years we instead opted to pack our cooler with sandwiches and tailgated in the Dollywood parking lot. Consider bringing a couple of lawn chairs if you choose to do so. Re-entry is easy with a stamp upon exit, and the parking lot shuttle runs during the entire day. If you are willing to fork out the money, the park has great turkey legs and Aunt Granny’s is a popular place to eat inside the theme park as it’s basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. You’ll also find the famous best cinnamon bread at Grist Mill.
Dollywood Tip: You can get free ice water at any of Dollywood’s food vendors. This helps fight the heat of the summer.
The Dolly Parton Experience
New in 2024 is the Dolly Parton Experience where guests can walk through different Dolly museums that hold many of her dresses, shoes, and even wigs that she’s worn throughout her career. There are really cool sets of movies and shows she has been on, a room that looks like a giant bus as she made her way to Nashville, and papers that she wrote some of her most famous songs on.
Front of one of the buildings at the Dolly Parton Experience
You can also walk through her tour bus/RV. The Dolly Parton Experience is all part of your admission ticket is to your right when you walk into the park.
The entire experience is just so cool and you learn a lot about East Tennessee’s most famous resident and the stories behind her songs. My kids loved the “Dress Up Dolly” part where kids (or adults) use magnetic cutouts of Dolly’s dresses and wigs to dress her up on a big board in the Behind the Seams building.
Dress Up Dolly!
Definitely be sure to stop here during your time at the park. It’s worth the time to see many of Dolly’s over-the-top dresses and learn about the stories behind her most famous music.
Dollywood Extras
I felt like one of the biggest perks of visiting Dollywood was the unique variety of attractions for our family. Here are just a couple of the enjoyable spots we enjoy throughout the park:
Baby-Care Stations If you are breast-feeding or bottle-feeding an infant, you will be happy to find out that Dollywood does have a nursing station with gliders and a changing station. I also noticed several family bathrooms throughout the park. The bathrooms are well-maintained and clean during our visit.
First-Aid Stations We managed to scrape a knee within moments of getting in the park and had the opportunity to visit the first-aid station. The nurse was able to save the day by applying an Angry Bird bandage to my kid’s knee.
More Dollywood Tips for Families
Don’t miss the tram back to your parking spot just because you have a stroller! The tram has stroller parking in the front of the tram.
While you aren’t allowed to bring food in the park, you can get your hand stamped, leave the park, and reenter during the same day.
The roller-coasters have sample restraint systems outside where you can check to be sure that you fit in and are comfortable with the restraint system.
The restaurants inside the park can help warm bottles for bottle-feeding parents.
You can turn in your tickets after your visit for a credit on a season pass. The season pass is an excellent deal and costs less than three visits to Dollywood. They also have a preschooler season pass program, where you can get a free season pass for them, so you will want to keep an eye out for that deal.
You can also purchase a 1-day, 2-day, or 3-day pass to visit both Dollywood and Dollywood Splash Country on the same trip.
If you’re a homeschooling family, don’t miss Homeschool Days at both parks where homeschoolers get significant discounted tickets.
I received media tickets in order to write about Dollywood but this post contains my honest opinion about our trip. We had such a great time that we have made several additional family trips to Dollywood since the original publication of this review.
More To See At Dollywood
The team at Kidding Around are huge fans of the country music legend and her amusement parks and because of that, there is no shortage of information from our trips to share with readers. If you are planning a trip to Dollywood, we encourage you to make the most out of your trip with the information offered on Kidding Around.
Homeschool Days If you are looking to have an adventure, Dollywood will be offering Homeschool Days for families that are utilizing the homeschool option. These days focus on mostly science and math – and really, what’s cooler than learning about the laws of physics by riding a roller coaster?
Christmas At Dollywood – Smoky Mountain Christmas The famous theme park becomes a mecca with over five million lights draped across every single building. Shows like It’s A Wonderful Life play throughout the month-long festival. And a Christmas parade is held nightly at 8:15 pm, an engaging entertainment show full of lights and colors.
Splash Country Water Park Dollywood is a popular place to visit for Greenville families as it’s tons of fun and only three hours away. While you’re there, you can beat the heat by spending some time at Dollywood’s Splash Country.
Dollywood 2700 Dollywood Parks Blvd, Pigeon Forge, TN
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Election officials in Memphis decided Tuesday to leave three gun control questions off the November ballot after top Republican state leaders threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding.
On Monday, Tennessee’s election coordinator, Mark Goins, sent a letter to the Shelby County Election Commission warning that the gun control measures violated several of Tennessee’s laws, making them void and ineligible to be placed on the ballot. The letter was sent hours after House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Speaker Randy McNally issued their state funding ultimatum.
Goins added that “unequivocable declarations by the General Assembly” left “no authority” for Memphis officials to propose such amendments to the city’s charter. Goins also raised concerns that the city had not properly followed the public notice procedures required to put a referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot.
In a statement, the Shelby County Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips said the state elections coordinator guides the commission in running elections, “and we will follow his direction.”
“If the City of Memphis decides to challenge this interpretation, we will respect the final decision made by the courts,” Phillips said.
Earlier this year, the Memphis City Council approved a proposal to ask voters if they wanted to tweak the city charter to require permits to carry a handgun, ban the possession of AR-15 style rifles and implement a so-called red flag ordinance, which allows law enforcement officials to remove firearms from those found to be an imminent danger to themselves or others.
The council had acknowledged at times that they were potentially risking the ire of the Republican-dominant Legislature since the measures likely conflict with Tennessee’s lax gun laws.
Regardless, council members representing the large Black-majority, left-leaning city said they were willing to take the risk.
“If the General Assembly wants to punish us and punish our citizens for asking for their help, we will deal with that accordingly, but that would be absolutely heartbreaking,” Councilman Chase Carlisle said during a council meeting in 2023.
In 2021, Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Bill Lee signed off on permitless carry for handguns. In May of this year, they banned local cities and counties from implementing their own red flag laws. Meanwhile, many inside that same Republican supermajority have rebuffed calls to place limits on firearms, an effort that has only increased after a gunman shot and killed three adults and three 9-year-olds in a Nashville private school last year.
The continued push to put the gun control questions before Memphis voters prompted not only the state’s top Republican lawmakers to threaten to withhold funding, but also led Secretary of State Tre Hargett to warn that his office would not approve Memphis’ ballot if it included the gun initiatives.
Last year, Memphis received nearly $78 million from the state’s sales tax revenue. The city currently operates an $858 million budget.
“Guns pose a different risk for residents of Memphis than they do for some other municipalities, but we understand that we need to work with our state to determine a set of tools to restore peace in our community,” said Mayor Paul Young in a statement responding to the Legislature’s ultimatum. “What happens next is up to the voters and the legislative branches.”
What to know about the 2024 Election
McNally praised the election commission’s decision, saying that he appreciated the panel “recognizing the county cannot make state law.”
Members inside Tennessee’s white-majority Legislature have long criticized Memphis leaders, especially for how they have managed the city’s crime rates, and expressed doubt over how Black leaders were handling the issue. In 2023, the city saw a record-breaking 398 homicides, while burglaries jumped to more than 14,000.
The rate of reported crime in Memphis for the first half of 2024 remained below the first half of 2023 in almost all major categories, however, including the violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, according to preliminary figures from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Trust only further broke down this year when Republican lawmakers and the governor signed off on legislation designed to undo police traffic stop reforms set in place after officers fatally beat Tyre Nichols last year.
State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, who represents a Memphis district and was one of two Black Democratic state lawmakers who were briefly expelled from the Legislature for protesting the lack of action after the Nashville school shootings, said the election commission’s decision was “dangerous for democracy” and he hoped the city council would take legal action.
“I am furious and disappointed that the Shelby County Election Commission felt that it needed to yield to the tyrannical and authoritarian actions of the Republican leadership of this state,” Pearson said. “They are abusing their positions and authority to intentionally circumvent the will of the people in our city.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal appeals court has shot down Tennessee’s attempt to collect millions of dollars in family planning funds without complying with federal rules requiring clinics to provide abortion referrals due to its current ban on the procedure.
Last year, Tennessee’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a federal complaint seeking to overturn the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to disqualify the state from receiving money offered through a family planning program known as Title X. A lower court later determined that Tennessee was unlikely to succeed and the state appealed that decision.
In 2021, the Biden administration announced that clinics that accept Title X funds must offer information about abortion. However, Skrmetti’s argued that HHS did not alert officials how the rule would apply in states with abortion bans now allowed under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Yet the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argued in a ruling Monday that Tennessee could not use its abortion ban law to “dictate eligibility requirements” for Title X funding. The 31-page ruling means the federal government will not reinstate Tennessee’s Title X funding while the lawsuit continues through the courts.
Furthermore, the appeals court said that the state was not obligated to accept the money and noted that the Tennessee Legislature approved of replacing the lost federal dollars with state funding.
“Tennessee was free to voluntarily relinquish the grants for any reason, especially if it determined that the requirements would violate its state laws,” the ruling stated.
A spokesperson for Skrmetti’s office said they were “reviewing the opinion and considering next steps.”
Tennessee has been a recipient of the program since it launched in 1970, recently collecting around $7.1 million annually to help nearly 100 clinics provide birth control and basic health care services mainly to low-income women, many of them from minority communities.
Under the latest rule, clinics cannot use federal family planning money to pay for abortions, but they must offer information about abortion at the patient’s request.
Tennessee bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy but includes some narrow exceptions.
In March of 2023, HHS informed Tennessee health officials that the state was out of Title X compliance because of its policy barring clinics from providing information on pregnancy termination options that weren’t legal in the state — effectively prohibiting any discussions on elective abortions. The state defended its policy and refused to back down, causing the federal government to declare that continuing Tennessee’s Title X money was “not in the best interest of the government.”
HHS later announced that Tennessee’s Title X funds would largely be directed to Planned Parenthood, the leading provider of abortions in the United States, which would distribute the money to its clinics located in Tennessee.
“Millions of people across the country rely on essential care — like birth control, STI screenings and treatment, cancer screenings, and other key sexual and reproductive health care services — funded by Title X,” said Ashley Coffield, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi in a statement. “The state’s decision not to comply with all-options counseling is playing politics with our bodies.”
Labor Day weekend is upon us, which means lots of people will be traveling. Here’s what to do if your flight gets canceled or delayed.
Airports, highways, beaches and theme parks are expected to be packed across the U.S. this Labor Day weekend as a lot Americans mark the unofficial end of summer the same way they celebrated the season’s unofficial start: by traveling.
After what’s already been a record-breaking summer for air travel, the Transportation Security Administration predicted its agents would screen more than 17 million people during a holiday period that started Thursday and runs through next Wednesday, about 8% more than last year.
The TSA anticipates Friday being the busiest day. In a sign the summer travel season really is winding down, however, the agency said that fewer than 2 million passengers passed through airport security checkpoints one day this week — the first time that has happened since early March.
If you plan to be part of the crowds heading out of town to enjoy one last blast of summer, here is a rundown of what you need to know.
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports on Labor Day travel.
How is holiday travel going so far?
Busy, as expected, and flight delays were common.
Airlines had canceled more than 200 U.S. flights as of late afternoon on the East Coast, a modest number by current standards. However, more than 4,500 other flights were delayed, led by Southwest and American, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Plenty of people appeared to have heeded experts’ advice to get away as early as possible on Friday.
Lines of cars and passengers appeared at Los Angeles International Airport before the sun was up. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was buzzing early but slowed by midmorning, and parking spaces were still available.
Why travel over a holiday weekend?
Boston resident Dani Fleming flew across the country to visit her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. She got to the airport at 4:30 a.m. for her departing flight and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the lines moved both there and at San Francisco International Airport.
“The flight was easy. (I) napped for a little bit, watched movies,” Fleming said. “This was a breeze.”
Benjamin Schmeiser and his wife and 16-year-old daughter planned to fly from Chicago to San Diego to attend a concert of 1970s rock bands. It was the family’s first flight together since COVID-19 hit.
“We have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time, and I’m happy that we can get the whole family in on the trip,” Schmeiser said while waiting at O’Hare International Airport. “A lot of us are huge live music fans, and we love sports. Now that travel is open, it’s much more affordable, we’re able to travel a lot more.”
Where are the potential trouble spots?
Weather is the leading cause of flight delays. Forecasts call for rain and maybe scattered thunderstorms from Texas to New England plus parts of Florida over the weekend, spreading over more of the Southeast on Monday.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was still working to restore all services after what airport officials described as a possible cyberattack last weekend. Flights have been running normally all week, but the airport told passengers to arrive extra early and to avoid checking bags, especially on smaller airlines, because of problems with the bag-sorting system.
Michael Novick got to SeaTac 30 minutes earlier than usual and checked three bags for his American Airlines flight to Dallas on Friday. “I was a little concerned about what things might look like, but it was absolutely seamless,” he said. “It was a normal day.”
The only thing out of the ordinary: gate agents checked boarding passes manually, Novick said.
What are prices like?
Motorists are getting a break on gasoline. The nationwide average Friday was $3.35 per gallon, compared to $3.83 a year ago, according to AAA.
For electric vehicles, the average price for a kilowatt of power at an L2 commercial charging station is about 34 cents. The average is under 25 cents in Kansas and Missouri but tops 40 cents in several states, including New Hampshire, Tennessee and Kentucky. Hawaii is the costliest, at 56 cents.
Average airfares in July were down 7.1% from June and 2.8% from July 2023, according to the government’s consumer price index. Steve Hafner, CEO of the travel metasearch site Kayak, said airfares are dropping as the peak summer-vacation season ends.
When is the best time to hit the road?
Early morning or late evening. Transportation-data provider INRIX says traffic will be heaviest between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, when people head home.
When will airports be busiest?
The TSA expects to screen 2.86 million people Friday. That’s impressive, but it won’t rank among TSA’s top 15 days — 14 of which were this year. The single-day record of 3.01 million was set July 7, the Sunday after Independence Day.
TSA says it has enough screeners to keep the time it takes to get through regular lines to 30 minutes or less and to no more than 10 minutes for PreCheck lines.
American Airlines expects to operate 6,400 flights Friday, the same as Thursday, and 6,300 on Labor Day itself.
What should I do if my flight is delayed or canceled?
Check your flight’s status before leaving for the airport. It’s better to be stuck at home than stranded at the airport.
If your flight is canceled, the airline might automatically rebook you. That might not be the best option.
“Get on the phone (to the airline’s help center), get in front of an agent, reach out to the airline via social media if you have to, but find out what the other options are,” says Julian Kheel, the founder and CEO of Points Path, a browser extension that lets users compare fares with deals available using frequent-flyer points.
Kheel said agents at the airport have more leeway to help but might be overwhelmed by the number of passengers needing help. DIY rebooking on the airline website or app might be faster, he said.
Phone tip: If the airline has international help numbers, call one of those to get through more quickly.
What about refunds and reimbursement?
Airlines are required to provide refunds — including for extra fees paid — to passengers whose flights are canceled for any reason. However, they are not required to pay cash compensation, and no major U.S. airlines do. Only Alaska, Southwest and JetBlue even promise travel vouchers if the cancellation is their fault.
If you’re stuck overnight, ask the airline about paying for a hotel, meals and ground transportation. All major U.S. airlines except Frontier promise to help with all three for “controllable” disruptions, according to the Transportation Department’s airline-policy dashboard.
Keep receipts for all out-of-pocket expenses in case you can file a claim later.
A few final tips
— Leave early. Everything will take longer than you expect, including getting through airport security.
— Watch the weather. Even if skies are clear at home, there could be storms at your flight’s destination or along your road route. Have a backup route.
— Don’t check a bag. About one in every 170 checked bags was lost, damaged or stolen in May, the latest month covered by government figures.
— Be nice. “Go with the flow. You don’t need to hate on the customer-service people. They’re doing the best they can,” said Shannon Beddingfield of Texas as she prepared to board a flight to Orlando, Florida.
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Teresa Crawford in Chicago, Mat Otero in Dallas, Haven Daley in San Francisco and Jae C. Hong in Los Angeles contributed reporting.
When a woman vanishes and misses a hair appointment, her hairdresser becomes the driving force to find out did she leave her husband or is she dead? “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant investigates.
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When Marsha Brantley, 50, of Cleveland, Tenn., suddenly vanished in 2009, her husband Donnie eventually became a suspect in her murder. But was Marsha even dead?
The case was unusual from the start because for months after Marsha disappeared, nobody reported her missing – not her friends, her family or even her husband. No one took much notice until her hairdresser, Kelly DeLude, worried about a missed appointment and started asking questions.
“I felt compelled to find out what happened to her,” DeLude tells “48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant. “I wasn’t trying to be a detective. I was trying to be a concerned friend.”
DeLude eventually called police, and investigators later picked up the case.
Marsha and Donnie Brantley
Jana Wills
The investigation was full of seeming contradictions from the start. Donnie Brantley claimed he hadn’t reported Marsha missing because she had left him. Then, police say he lied repeatedly about where she had gone and what she’d taken with her. Still, there was almost no physical evidence of a crime – no blood, no fingerprints, no crime scene at all. And with no body to prove there even was a murder, the investigators’ biggest hurdle in solving the disappearance of Marsha Brantley may have been Marsha herself.
When Donnie Brantley was deposed in a 2013 civil suit, he didn’t seem to want to talk much about his feelings for Marsha. In answering questions on video, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment or said he couldn’t recall more than 100 times.
Brantley was arrested in 2013, but prosecutors dropped the charges after deciding they didn’t have enough to get a conviction. Two years after his 2014 election, District Attorney General Stephen Crump charged Brantley again with essentially the same evidence.
Lee Davis, Brantley’s attorney, says his client is 100 percent innocent.
“What proof is there that she’s in fact dead – as opposed to gone missing or living someplace else?” says Davis.
It’s a case “48 Hours” has been working on for five years, and it raises questions about the challenges prosecutors often face when someone vanishes without a trace. It also includes a stunning ending that nobody – including prosecutors – saw coming.
Det. Zach Pike | Bradley County Sheriff’s Office: I’m raisin’ my family here. My parents raised their family here and their parents raised their family here! It’s a place that I like to call home and hopefully this is where I’ll remain.
Kelly DeLude | Marsha’s hairdresser: Cleveland, Tennessee is beautiful. …known as the “City with Spirit” … You can’t swing a ball bat without hittin’ a church.
Kelly DeLude: A lotta people know one another … and we do have a lot of older homes and a lot of history here … I’m very proud of our town.
Kelly DeLude: I’ve been a hair dresser for over 30 years … You have certain clients that you kinda click with and you’re closer to – and for me, Marsha was one of those clients.
Jana Wills | Marsha’s cousin: She was fun. She was outgoing … she was one of my favorite cousins.
Kelly DeLude: She did confide in me and I confided in her.
Jana Wills: She was beautiful … She was always kind.
Kelly DeLude: She loved her husband … She mentioned him every time.
Elise Brantley | Donnie Brantley’sdaughter: …when I think of her, my first few words would not be giving, loving. I didn’t see a lot of that from her, even as her stepdaughter.
Peter Van Sant: How would you describe her?
Elise Brantley: Loner. …I believe that she was very depressed.
NEWS REPORT: A case that sounds like a “48 Hours” mystery … a Bradley County woman disappears without a trace.
Kelly DeLude: It struck me, oh, my goodness — she’s, you know, she’s not been in, that is odd … and I said, you know, she’s overdue.
NEWS REPORT: When Marsha disappeared in June 2009, her husband Donnie Brantley did not report her missing…
Elise Brantley: It’s hard seeing my father in this way, it’s a scary thing. …I know the inside of this man and the heart of him … he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Peter Van Sant: He loved her?
Elise Brantley: Yes.
Peter Van Sant: And they had a real marriage?
Elise Brantley: Yes.
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: During the years of your marriage am I correct that you maintained romantic relationships with persons other than your wife?
DONNIE BRANTLEY: Upon the advice of counsel I plead the Fifth.
Det. Zach Pike: We have a guy who’s told numerous lies about where his wife went, and we can prove otherwise.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: He may be the singularly most dishonest defendant I’ve ever dealt with.
NEWS REPORT: Authorities have not located Marsha’s body but were able to charge her husband with premeditated first-degree murder based on evidence.
Det. Zach Pike: I think we have a great circumstantial case.
Lee Davis | Defense attorney: There’s no blood, no fingerprints, no DNA … no body. …and there’s no crime scene … What proof is there that she’s in fact dead? …as opposed to gone missing or living someplace else.
Kelly DeLude: I felt compelled to find out what happened to her. …I knew that something was very, very wrong.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: He murdered her. He murdered her.
Elise Brantley: That’s crazy. It’s ridiculous. … It’s just not him.
Lee Davis: He’s 100 percent innocent of these charges.
Kelly DeLude: If he did do something to her… and if I just let this go, he’ll get away with it!
MARSHA AND DONNIE
Justice may finally be at hand for Marsha Brantley, a 50-year-old writer and animal lover who disappeared in 2009.
Peter Van Sant: You ready to go?
Lee Davis|Defense attorney: We’re ready for trial.
In February 2018, Marsha’s husband, Donnie Brantley, has come to court ready to stand trial for allegedly murdering her.
Peter Van Sant [outside courthouse]: This is a very important day for Donnie Brantley.
Lee Davis: It’s very important. He’s had a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head for nine years.
Back in 2014, when “48 Hours” first began investigating this case, Marsha’s aunt, Medra Justis, and cousin Jana Wills met with Steve Crump, who was about to take over as district attorney general.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Ultimately, I believe we will be able to do justice in this case.
Medra Justis: We’re just lookin’ forward to bringing this thing to a close.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: We’re gonna create within this district a cold case working group.
Crump raised the family’s hopes that he could win a conviction in a case guaranteed to be an uphill battle for the prosecution, because Marsha Brantley had simply vanished.
Prosecutor Steve Crump [to Justis and Wills]: We don’t have a crime scene. We don’t have … a dead body. We don’t have what you normally think of in terms of a homicide case.
As the years passed, Jana and her husband Mark became frustrated that there would never be justice.
Mark Wills: It’s a tragedy. It’s somethin’ that no one should have to experience, or no one should have to go through.
Peter Van Sant: What do you think?
Jana Wills: What happened to her? Will we find her?
It’s a good question — especially since the man they believe knows what happened to Marsha has, in their opinion, never offered to help.
Peter Van Sant: Not a phone call, not an email, not a text message?
Jana Wills: No.
Peter Van Sant: Not a postcard, nothing?
Jana Wills: None of her family.
Peter Van Sant: Did he organize any search parties?
Jana Wills: No. None.
Mark Wills: He proffered no help.
A civil deposition in 2013 shows that Donnie Brantley likely will never have much to say:
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: She was the love of your life, right?
DONNIE BRANTLEY: Yes.
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: OK, when did she stop being the love of your life?
DONNIE BRANTLEY: I plead the Fifth.
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: Didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance, did it?
DONNIE BRANTLEY: I plead the Fifth.
In 2012 – three years after Marsha went missing – Jana Wills and Medra Justis went into the house where Marsha and Donnie lived for nine years. They were upset by the chaos they found.
Medra Justis: This is the home where Marsha and Donnie lived for nine years.
Medra Justis: …somebody had no respect for her and we knew who that was. And Donnie Brantley is going to pay for what he’s done to her.
Medra Justis: There was not a picture of Marsha to be seen anywhere.
Jana Wills: There were pictures of Donnie and his daughter, but none of Marsha.
Growing up, Jana was especially close to Marsha, her older cousin.
Jana Wills: She would come and pick me up from high school sometimes and we would go get ice cream.
From a young age, Marsha had an endearing passion for pets.
Jana Wills: …she had her favorite dachshund named Barney … she taught him to pray before he ate his meals … He would cross his little paws [laughs].
As an adult, Marsha volunteered at a local animal shelter.
Jana Wills: I looked up to her when I was a little girl.
Kim Shank was Marsha’s closest friend.
Kim Shank: She was 5’10” … Even though she seemed to kind of command the room … she was probably one of the more shy people to be that commanding with her physical presence.
Medra Justis: She was a friendly person, a sweet person.
Especially to her parents. She grew up in an affluent family, an only child with no children of her own.
Jana Wills: She took care of her mother a lot, because her mother was ill for a very long time.
In 1999, Marsha met Donnie Brantley on a dating website. He was a divorced father of a teenage daughter.
Kim Shank: She called me and she said, “Well I’ve met someone,” and it was getting really serious. And she said, “I want you to meet him.”
Marsha and Donnie Brantley
Jana Wills
Marsha and Donnie shared a love for the outdoors. She was an avid hiker, while Donnie was a competitive bicycle rider. At 41, this was Marsha’s first serious relationship.
Kim Shank: He was what I always wanted for her … somebody that she could be in to and love and share her life with and live on happily ever after.
Marsha even wrote poetry for Donnie: “…with love so pure and true, I can but only thank my God I fell in love with you.”
Donnie’s daughter Elise was happy her dad had found a soul mate.
Elise Brantley: When we would sit and watch movies on weekends and that kind of thing, they would hold hands.
They were married in 2000, and moved into the house Marsha’s parents had built for her. But shortly after the newlyweds settled down, tragedy struck.
Medra Justis: Her mother passed away in November of 2000. And her father passed away in December.
Jana Wills: Imagine losing both your parents in less than a month.
Mark Wills: She was devastated. It was a lot of sadness, I mean, it was just heartbreaking.
Elise Brantley: I saw a different side of her when she lost her parents. There wasn’t a lot of … happiness after that.
But Marsha did her best to carry on. A large inheritance enabled her to help Donnie set up a handyman business franchise. She also quit her job as housing director at nearby Lee University to pursue her passion.
Kim Shank: She wanted to write young adult novels.
Reggie Jay and Nancy Grill were members of a writers’ group that Marsha formed in 2007.
Reggie Jay: She was very talented and definitely had what it took to be successful.
Peter Van Sant: What was the name of this writing group?
Reggie Jay: Thunder Rock Writers Group …the other name …was the Big Girl Panties Group. …We would critique each other’s work and we would say, “Put your big girl panties on because, you know, you might get your feelings hurt.”
Grill and Jay say Marsha was the best of the bunch.
Reggie Jay: “Dirty Little Secrets” is a story that Marsha wrote. [Reading aloud] “…The sun rose above the Kudzu covered trees as I swept the house and chased the dust outta the front door and across the porch with a broom.”
Peter Van Sant: Wonderful imagery. She can write, this woman.
Reggie Jay: Yes.
But in June 2009, a dark chapter began in Marsha Brantley’s life — with a plot twist right out of a novel — she seemed to fall off the face of the earth.
Kelly DeLude: “I knew that something was very, very wrong.”
WHERE’S MARSHA?
In her 30 years as a hairdresser in Cleveland, Tennessee, Kelly DeLude says cuts, perms and parts are only part of the job.
Peter Van Sant: As a hairstylist, are you also a therapist?
Kelly DeLude: We’re in their personal space, so people certainly — share with us, probably a lot more than they would the clerk at the grocery store, you know [laughs].
But of the hundreds of clients DeLude has cut and consoled over the years, there has been only one whose face haunts her dreams.
Kelly DeLude [in salon]: When I would go to sleep at night, I would think of Marsha. And when I would wake up in the morning, I would think of Marsha.
Marsha Brantley first came in for a cut in the year 2000, and the two came together like scissors and hair.
Peter Van Sant [in salon]: What was it about Marsha that made the two of you click?
Kelly DeLude: We just got along … we would just talk the whole time. …we would just sort of catch up with one another. …She really spoke mostly about her home life with Donnie and her dogs. Her dogs were like her children.
“She seemed troubled. She seemed a bit depressed,” hairdresser Kelly DeLude says of Marsha Brantley during an April 2009 hair appointment
Jana Wills
DeLude says Marsha couldn’t say enough nice things about her marriage and her husband. As the years went by, the two women grew closer. But during what turned out to be Marsha’s final hair appointment in April 2009, Kelly saw a side of Marsha that left her concerned.
Kelly DeLude: She seemed troubled. She seemed a bit depressed.
Kelly DeLude: She was asking me if the economy had affected the business here, and I said, certainly, it had, you know? And she said, “Well, you know, it’s really affecting our business.”
Marsha told her Donnie’s handyman business was failing and money was tight. Still, DeLude expected Marsha to call about six weeks later to set up her next appointment.
Peter Van Sant: …and she was very regimented in coming to see you.
Kelly DeLude Oh, yeah. Yeah, she — she colored her hair — so most women are, sure.
But DeLude never got that call. She was too busy to notice. But as spring turned to summer, Marsha’s neighbor stopped into the salon.
Kelly DeLude: She said, “Kelly, when was the last time you did Marsha’s hair?” And I said, “Let me look.” And I looked at my file and I said, “April. That is so unusual. Is she OK?” …And she said, “She has not been walking her dogs. They are barkin’ their heads off.” And … her flowers were dead in the yard.
Kelly DeLude: And when she mentioned that, it struck me, “Oh, my goodness. She’s … she’s not been in. That is odd.”
Odd enough, says DeLude, that she was moved to pick up the phone.
Kelly DeLude: I called Marsha.
The call went to voicemail. She left a message, but didn’t hear back. For days, she called again and again — and no Marsha.
Kelly DeLude: One night I decided, “Well, I’m gonna call Donnie and … ask him if he knows where Marsha is. …I actually called … Donnie’s business, and the phone was disconnected. So that really concerned me.
Marsha’s neighbor was concerned, too — so much so that she decided to confront Donnie in person at his house.
Kelly DeLude: She literally went up, knocked on the door, and when he answered, she said, “Donnie, where’s Marsha?” And he told her the most ridiculous story. “She’s leaving me. She went out West.”
Peter Van Sant: Had she ever talked about trouble in the marriage?
Kelly DeLude: No, never.
For DeLude, it seemed inconceivable that Marsha would suddenly leave the house her parents had built for her, leave behind her beloved dogs, and most of all, leave the husband she adored.
Peter Van Sant: What are you thinking?
Kelly DeLude: I’m thinking at that point, he has done something to her. I knew that something was very, very wrong. … I had no peace about it. …And so finally, I thought, I’m gonna call around … And in my mind, I thought, you know, “I’m crossin’ a little line here into meddling.”
Peter Van Sant: You’ve become a detective at this point. You’re gathering information. You’re calling various people, right.
Kelly DeLude: Well I was, but I wasn’t tryin’ to be a detective. I was tryin’ to be a concerned friend.
DeLude found a member of Marsha’s writing club and got more disturbing news.
Kelly DeLude: She told me that Marsha was no longer coming.
One of the strangest things about this case is that for months, nobody reported Marsha Brantley missing. Her relatives, they live on the other side of the state; her best friend, Kim Shank, she’s in Ohio, and the members of her writer’s group, well they just didn’t hang out socially. In the end, it would be her hairdresser who tipped authorities to a potential murder.
Kelly DeLude: I came into work the next day and … I called the … Cleveland Police Department. …And I said, “I need to report a missing person.”…And he said, “Excuse me … Are you her mom, her sister?” And I said, “No, actually, I’m her hairdresser [laughs].
Kelly DeLude: He said, “Well, ma’am, if he says she’s gone, and that she left him, she left him.
Hairdresser Kelly DeLude and attorney Jerry Hoffer
CBS News
Undeterred, DeLude turned to the best social network she knew: her customers.
Peter Van Sant: And you can cut and talk at the same time. You’re good at that.
Kelly DeLude: Oh, yeah [laughs]. For 30 years, yes.
DeLude chose a person who was long on brains under all that short hair — local attorney Jerry Hoffer.
Kelly DeLude: He couldn’t get away. So, when I was cutting his hair, I said, “You know, Jerry, I’m gonna tell you a story. And when I get finished I want you to tell me what you think.
Jerry Hoffer: I’m listening to the story … And I’m just sitting there thinking, “Man, this guy is — he might’ve killed his wife!”
SEEKING ANSWERS
Kelly DeLude: I felt like finally justice is gonna be done.
Jerry Hoffer: Right after I got my haircut … I walked in the D.A.’s office … And I just kind of in a flippant way, I said, “You’ve got, you’ve got a dead lady out there. You all need to be looking for her.”
Prosecutors agreed, and sent their investigator, Walt Hunt, now retired, to Marsha’s house to look for her.
Walt Hunt | Former investigator: When I approached him … he told me that they were having some marital issues.
But it wasn’t just what Brantley said — it was how he said it — that really caught Hunt’s attention.
Walt Hunt: He was pretty cool, and maybe a little cooler than I might expect.
Kelly DeLude: He was cool, calm, steady as a rock. He said that is not normal.
Hunt’s instincts convinced him to call the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. They would launch what would become a nine-year coordinated effort between state and local agencies, all dedicated to finding Marsha Brantley.
Jana Wills
Det. Zach Pike: It was around October 2011 … And I jumped at the opportunity … to be able to assist … with the investigation.
When Zach Pike and David Shoemaker of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office got the case in 2011, they quickly saw why Donnie Brantley was a suspect. He had always denied any role in his wife’s disappearance, but he’d lied when he claimed that Marsha had taken her phone.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: I think her cellphone in his possession is easily, in my mind, the most damning fact.
Det. Zach Pike: The cellphone never left pinging from a tower that’s two miles or less from the home.
In June 2009, right around the time authorities think Marsha disappeared, they say Donnie used her phone to make a highly suspicious call.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: …he calls on that cellphone … the Chattanooga Singles line.
Peter Van Sant: He calls a dating…
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Yes. Chattanooga Singles line.
While Donnie was apparently seeking a new love interest, investigators say he couldn’t seem to keep his story straight about his old love, Marsha.
Lt. David Shoemaker: She took a camper and moved to Townsend, Tennessee. … Every time someone asked him what happened to Marsha, it’s something different
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Gone to Florida … gone out west to … work as a missionary. …They were all lies.
If Marsha had left, investigators were struck by what she had left behind.
Det. Zach Pike: All of her clothes. Her shoes. Documents important to her. The baby book that … her mother compiled for her … brushes, toothbrushes, all that’s still in the house. …She left her car.
Lt. David Shoemaker: Importantly, she left her house.
The one her parents had built for her.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: That doesn’t make sense.
If Donnie Brantley did kill his wife, they say a look at the family finances may provide a motive.
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: Did she keep the money or you?
Lee Davis: There was no affair with Donnie while Donnie was married to Marsha. …There was an intimate relationship that started after Marsha left.
And there was other suspicious behavior. Authorities discovered that just hours after Investigator Hunt had interviewed him, Donnie went to a pawn shop and sold a number of Marsha’s possessions, including …
Prosecutor Steve Crump: …14-karat gold cross, a Figaro necklace, a Figaro bracelet, a herringbone necklace and a Toshiba laptop.
And there was something else Marsha left behind that friends and family say she valued more than all the material possessions in the world.
Jana Wills: Marsha loved her dogs. …they were her kids.
Peter Van Sant: Would she have ever left the house without her dogs?
Jana Wills: No. Never.
In March 2010, authorities ask Donnie Brantley to take a polygraph test. Surprisingly, he accepts.
Peter Van Sant: How does he do?
Det. Zach Pike: Fails it.
Peter Van Sant: Fails it?
Det. Zach Pike: Flying colors.
Then, during that 2013 videotaped deposition, Donnie refused to answer — “I plead the Fifth” — or said he “couldn’t recall” more than 100 times.
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: Are there other items of hers which you sold when she disappeared?
DONNIE BRANTLEY [pauses, reaches for a bottle of water before answering]: I plead the Fifth.
That performance, combined with circumstantial evidence, helped convince police in August 2013 to arrest Donnie Brantley and charge him with the murder of his wife.
WDEF NEWS REPORT: Donnie Brantley is now an inmate at the Bradley County Jail being held on a half million dollar bond for the first-degree murder of his wife, Marsha.
But after seven months behind bars, Donnie is freed when then-Prosecutor Steve Bebb decides he doesn’t have enough evidence yet and drops the charges.
Steve Bebb: …the family had told law enforcement that they didn’t feel good about going forward with it at this time and they wanted to try to get more evidence.
Jana Wills: We didn’t think that it was time yet.
Peter Van Sant: Cause you get one shot at this.
Jana and Mark Wills: Right.
Months later, newly-elected Prosecutor Steve Crump focuses his legal sights on Donnie Brantley. But it would take another two years to arrest and recharge him.
Prosecutor Steve Crump to reporters: I was interested in it from the very beginning.
Elise Brantley: Four cars pulled up and told him to get on the ground. It was pretty traumatizing.
Finally, in February of 2018, nearly nine years after Marsha Brantley disappeared, her husband’s murder trial is scheduled to begin.
Peter Van Sant: You’re convinced you’ve got the right man.
Det. Zach Pike: No doubt.
Det. David Shoemaker: The things that he did, things he said — all point toward a guilty man.
TWICE CHARGED
Peter Van Sant: How big a case is this among people here?
Det. Zack Pike: I think it’s pretty big, for the simple fact that this doesn’t happen here everyday. People don’t just disappear and not be seen for nine years.
Detective Zack Pike and Lt. David Shoemaker of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office say as Cleveland, Tennessee natives, the Brantley case hits them close to home.
Peter Van Sant: In some ways is this personal for you?
Det. Zack Pike: Absolutely. Been many nights I haven’t slept, wonderin’ where Marsha is.
Lee Davis| Defense attorney: There’s no proof that Donnie Brantley murdered his wife, Marsha. …I’ve asked ’em point blank, “If Donnie is responsible, as you suggest, tell me how he did it?”
Donnie Brantley’s lawyers, Lee Davis and Janie Parks Varnell, say their client should never have been charged with murder once, let alone twice.
Janie Parks Varnell | Defense attorney: Law enforcement had tunnel vision … and they had tunnel vision that led directly to Donnie Brantley. And the rest of it they just ignored.
Peter Van Sant: Who murdered Marsha Brantley?
Det. Zack Pike: Donnie Brantley.
Peter Van Sant: You say the same?
Lt. David Shoemaker: I say the same.
Peter Van Sant: Where?
Lt. David Shoemaker: At her house — at their house.
Lee Davis: No proof of a crime scene. No proof of a body, an autopsy.
Peter Van Sant: Is there a witness in this case?
Lee Davis: No. There’s no … trace evidence, there’s no blood, no fingerprints, no DNA, no fiber analysis.
Lee Davis: What proof is there that she’s, in fact, dead?
He’ll argue at trial that this case is actually about a nine-year-old marriage that, because of financial problems, may have reached a breaking point in June 2009.
Lee Davis: And she — she told Donnie that she needed some time to herself and time to think.
Which is why, Davis says, it’s ridiculous to argue Donnie’s failure to report Marsha missing is suspicious.
Lee Davis: When your wife tells you she’s leaving the marriage, you don’t call the police or 911.
Jana Wills | Marsha’s cousin: She would never have left her family, she would never have left her home, she would never have left her friends and just disappeared and contacted no one.
Peter Van Sant: He’s using her phone after he’s told law enforcement that she took it.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Yes.
Davis says that certainly doesn’t help Donnie, but it shouldn’t hurt him either.
Lee Davis: He lied about her cellphone. And that is something that has complicated the case. …There is a huge world of difference between somebody who lies about a cellphone and proof of a first-degree murder.
Nor should it hurt the defense that Marsha left many of her belongings behind – even if Donnie pawned some of them. Davis says he needed cash, but left most of her things alone because he figured she’d one day come back to get them, including her beloved dogs.
Peter Van Sant: Let’s talk about the dog issue.
Lee Davis: If you believe that Marsha was murdered, you would say she would never … leave the dogs behind … if you look at it from the lens of Marsha was troubled and depressed or not sure what she was gonna do, the one thing she wouldn’t do is take the dogs with her. She’d make sure she left the dogs with somebody who was gonna take care of them, no matter what, and that’s Donnie.
Elise Brantley: They got those dogs together. They were … their dogs. They weren’t just hers.
And Davis says there was one thing Marsha definitely didn’t leave behind: a wad of cash they kept hidden in the attic.
Lee Davis: She took with her a large amount of money, which was her money.
Peter Van Sant: And how much money are we talkin’ about?
Lee Davis: Probably talkin’ between $100,000 and $110,000.
Davis says all that money could have been Marsha’s gateway to a new life away from her husband and Cleveland, Tennessee. Donnie’s lawyers also claim that all those stories he told about where his wife may have gone, were actually suggestions once he realized she truly was missing.
Lee Davis: In the State of Tennessee, there are 283 missing persons cases open right now.
Though a civil court ruled that Marsha is deceased, her name can still be found on the National Missing Persons website.
Lee Davis: There is one for Marsha Brantley. Right now that’s open. Listing her as a missing person. Not a murdered person. Not a person who they suspect has been murdered by her husband.
Lee Davis: She’s … a smart woman … she left for reasons of her own.
Reggie Jay : She was always self-assured and … was a leader type personality.
But a couple of months before Marsha disappeared, Reggie Jay says the writers group was stunned by a bitter email exchange with her.
Reggie Jay [reading email]: She says, “Ladies … I just wanted to let you all know that I’d be missing for some time” without explaining.
Peter Van Sant: When you read that, what’d you think?
Reggie Jay: I was mad. I thought, “How dare you do that to us.”
Peter Van Sant: She writes, “No one in the group is responsible for my MIA, missing in action, status. I merely said I’d be missing.”
Reggie Jay: At that point, I truly did think to myself immediately, “Did Marsha write that?”
Peter Van Sant: Who’d you think wrote it?
Reggie Jay: Donnie!
But neither side in the legal case agrees with her. The defense says Marsha wrote the email because she was about to leave town.
Lee Davis: She was separating herself from those relationships that was closest to her.
The prosecution says she only sent it because she planned to quit her writing group, and the email itself proves she wasn’t actually going anywhere.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Later in that email she says … “But you all will see me around. Cleveland is a small town. We’ll certainly run into one another.”
Reggie Jay and Nansy Grill were bewildered and concerned. They remembered around the time of the emails, Marsha, who had suddenly lost a lot of weight, said something that now seemed ominous.
Reggie Jay: And she just made the comment, “I’ve been so depressed that I could hardly get off the couch.” And I remember doing sort of a double take, looking and, like, “Marsha, are you OK?”
Robin Terrero | Former pharmacist: I think that there was a whole lot going on with Marsha that she didn’t tell anyone, even the people in her writing group.
If Marsha Brantley had a secret, “48 Hours” contacted one of the only people she might have told. Robin Terrero is a former pharmacist who worked with doctors to treat patients. She specialized in hormone replacement therapy.
Robin Terrero: She first came in 2004, in June of 2004.
Terrero says Marsha was going through menopause and was having a tough time, including night sweats and mood swings.
Robin Terrero: It can be very, very severe.
Peter Van Sant: And in the worst cases, what can it lead to?
Robin Terrero: Well, I mean, there have been cases known where women did commit suicide during this time.
Terrero worked with Marsha’s doctor, who prescribed medications for her right up to the time she disappeared.
Robin Terrero: What concerned me more with Marsha was not what she shared, but what she didn’t share. …that there was a lot more underneath there than she was willing to share with me.
Terrero’s chart notes show Marsha repeatedly reported feeling depressed, including this passage one month before she disappeared:
Robin Terrero [reading]: On May 1st, 2009, “Patient has been off of hormones since April the 12th. Was having severe depression.”
Peter Van Sant: So Marsha said to you she was experiencing severe depression?
Robin Terrero: Yes. It was underlined. Severe.
Peter Van Sant: And what are the last notes that you have written
Robin Terrero [reading]: On 5/18 …She was having … mood swings, sleepless. She was … up and down.
Lee Davis: You have a woman who … describes herself as being severely depressed. Those things were disclosed in 2010 to law enforcement and from all I can tell, they’ve never been investigated.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: There was no significant mental illness. …I never thought that that was the real answer.
In 2015, the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy revoked Robin Terrero’s license for unprofessional conduct unrelated to Marsha’s treatment. She was never charged with a crime.
Peter Van Sant: What do you think happened to Marsha Brantley?
Elise Brantley: I wish I knew. …I really have no idea
Peter Van Sant: Did you ever just look him in the eye, daughter to father, and say, “Dad, did you do this? Did you kill her?”
Elise Brantley: I did not. …I knew he didn’t.
Jana Wills: She’s gone. She’s dead.
Kelly DeLude: Well, he’s disposed of her body very well. I know that.
Now, after nine long years, a jury will hear both sides of Marsha Brantley’s mysterious disappearance.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: This has got to be done exactly right. We don’t have any room for error.
AN UNEXPECTED TWIST
NEWS REPORT: A Bradley County cold case from nearly a decade ago heads to trial next week…
But just two days before Donnie Brantley’s murder trial is set to begin, Prosecutor Steve Crump — the man who four years earlier promised Marsha Brantley’s family justice — gives “48 Hours” some shocking news.
Peter Van Sant: I’ve heard you have an announcement to make.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: We just met with the family … and we told them that we’re probably gonna be dismissing this case on Monday.
Peter Van Sant: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re going to dismiss this murder case?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Yes.
Peter Van Sant: Why?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: This is an unusual case. …We’re afraid that the judge will enter a judgment of acquittal because we can’t prove that Marsha Brantley was murdered.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: You only get one shot.
Crump fears the jury would never get a chance to decide on guilt or innocence — that the judge would rule there just isn’t enough evidence to go on and throw the case out.
Peter Van Sant: To be charged with murder, dropped, charged with murder and dropped again, I’m sorry, I — I just feel like there’s some incompetence here.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Sure. Well, and — and I — I can appreciate that. …and my view of what Donnie Brantley did to Marsha Brantley hasn’t changed. I don’t believe we have the wrong guy. I don’t believe — we have the wrong set of facts. This is a legal decision, one that is made as a matter of trial strategy.
Crump stands by what he’s done.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Maybe I should have done it earlier. Maybe I should have seen this sooner. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it was incompetence. I’ll never stop self-evaluating … but no matter what the outcome is, I better always do the right thing.
Hairdresser Kelly DeLude reacts to learning there will be no trial for Donnie Brantley.
CBS News
Peter Van Sant [at Kelly DeLude’s front door]: Hey Kelly.
Kelly DeLude: Hello.
Peter Van Sant: I have some rather startling news to tell you. …There will not be a trial.
Kelly DeLude: Are you serious? …That’s terrible. That’s terrible.
On Feb. 5, 2018, court convenes to make it official.
Peter Van Sant [outside court:] Hey Zach.
Det. Zach Pike: Good morning.
Peter Van Sant [outside court]: “It’s kind of a sad day for you.”
Det. Zach Pike: Absolutely.
Peter Van Sant [to Donnie Brantley outside court]: That’s him, that’s Brantley. Donnie can I just ask one thing? What’s going through your mind, after all you’ve gone through, this is such a day of victory for you…
[Donnie Brantley walks by without speaking]
Judge: This is the state of Tennessee versus Mr. Brantley. General would you like to approach? Do you have a motion to make?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Yes, your honor.
Steve Crump [to judge]: I made the decision on Saturday that we would not go forward with this case.
Nearly 10 years after Marsha’s disappearance, it takes a judge just 10 minutes to dismiss the case against Donnie Brantley yet again.
Judge: At this time, Mr. Brantley is free to go.
For Donnie, it’s a second victory.
Surrounded by his defense team and his daughter, Donnie Brantlley tells reporters, “I look forward to putting this difficult time behind me.”
CBS News
Donnie Brantley [addressing reporters outside the courthouse]: I’d like to thank the judge for dismissing the charges. But also, I’d like to thank my family for all their support during this extremely stressful period. And I look forward to putting this difficult time behind me.
For Marsha’s family, it’s a second devastating blow in court.
Medra Justis | Marsha’s aunt: I felt like life has been squeezed out of me.
Jana Wills | Marsha’s cousin: My family is crushed, but tomorrow’s a new day. …This isn’t the end.
Later that month, the judge orders Donnie’s record of criminal charges in Bradley County to be erased. And Steve Crump does something “48 Hours” found remarkable.
Peter Van Sant: So this is from the case file?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: It is.
Peter Van Sant: And this is an extraordinary thing … because generally, you don’t get to see this pretrial.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: That’s right.
With Detective Pike guarding the evidence, Crump showed “48 Hours” what a jury never got to see. He hopes that by showing the evidence, a viewer may remember something important and call in a tip.
Peter Van Sant: And what are you holding in your hand?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: This is a receipt for … for a torch kit — for a welder.
They are receipts for items Donnie bought around the time Marsha disappeared, including duct tape and plastic sheeting.
Lee Davis: The man runs a home repair business!
Prosecutor Steve Crump: We believe … that all of these receipts represent preparations for disposing of Marsha Brantley.
Peter Van Sant: Disposing of her body?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: Yes, correct.
Peter Van Sant: What do we have here?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: A greeting card.
It’s a greeting card Crump says Donnie hand delivered to that ex-girlfriend he’d been calling.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: This was delivered, we believe, the day after Marsha Brantley disappeared.
Peter Van Sant: And what did Donnie write on the inside of this card?
Prosecutor Steve Crump: “Hi, girl!!” With two exclamation points. “Things are better for me now!!” … “Call me if you can,” with his number.
DEPOSITION ATTORNEY: Do you know how a card got in Stephanie Richardson’s mailbox on the morning of June the 3rd, 2009? In your handwriting?
DONNIE BRANTLEY: I plead the Fifth.
Preosecutor Steve Crump: it provides at least in part a motive. There’s another woman.
“48 Hours” wanted to meet that “other woman.”
Peter Van Sant [in car]: We’ve decided to drive out to her neighborhood to try to speak to her … I’m gonna go up to the door, and knock, and see if Stephanie is home.
Stephanie Richardson is now married.
Peter Van Sant [on porch]: Hey, Stephanie.
Stephanie Richardson: Hi, how are you?
Peter Van Sant: I’m Peter Van Sant with CBS News, “48 Hours.”
Stephanie Richardson: Nice to meet you.
Peter Van Sant: It’s really nice to meet you.
She disagrees with the prosecutor’s interpretation of the card.
Richardson says she did date Donnie, but not while Marsha was in his life.
Peter Van Sant: The prosecutor’s claiming that there was an affair.
Stephanie Richardson: That’s not true.
Peter Van Sant: I would love to ask you just a few questions about that. Would you be —
Stephanie Richardson: No. …You have to understand [cries] this is my life. I don’t want to deal with this anymore.
Donnie Brantley has gone back home to Georgia, where he’s spending time with a new love interest and his grandchildren, too.
“Getting to see that grandfather side of him is just a whole other very special side,” says Elise Brantley, pictured with her father and daughters.
Elise Brantley
Elise Brantley: Getting to see that grandfather side of him is just a whole other very special side … What I want people to know … is how loving, kind, thoughtful and how hard working he is.
Despite the prosecution’s repeated failure to prove Donnie Brantley committed a murder — or even that a murder was committed — they pledge to work harder to one day bring the Brantley case back to court.
Prosecutor Steve Crump: I’ve been very plain that we’re not gonna stop and so, whatever he feels — relief or whatever he may feel — I wouldn’t get accustomed to it.
Back in Cleveland, former writing group member Nansy Grill believes Marsha’s story may have one last dramatic chapter.
Nansy Grill: I’m probably the only person in the world that doesn’t really, truly, believe that Marsha is dead.
Reggie Jay: What?!
Peter Van Sant: Do you believe that one day, Marsha Brantley may re-emerge?
Nansy Grill: I think it’s a possibility.
Marsha Brantley
Jana Wills
But sadly, Marsha’s family thinks Grill’s hope is pure fiction.
Jana Wills: Oh yeah, I think about her every day. …Can we get her back? Can we lay her to rest beside her mother and father? …Our family has a hole there that can’t be replaced and we will do everything we can to find her … And we won’t give up.
HAVE INFORMATION?
To call in a tip, contact the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office at (423) 728-7336.
If you’re not looking too closely, some recent Kamala Harris ads may give the false impression that some leading news organizations are taking sides in the campaign for president.
The advertisements, which have turned up in some Google search feeds, include links to legitimate news stories but feature — in words that appear to be headlines from the originating news organizations — pro-Harris messages written by the Democrat’s campaign. They were revealed in an article by Axios this week.
Google and the campaign defend the practice as legitimate and legal, used in the past by both Democrats and Republicans. But it has raised concern from some of the outlets and others.
Said Jane Kirtley, a media ethics professor at the University of Minnesota: “What it’s about is confusion and deception.”
Assorted methods of advertising
While television remains the dominant form of political advertising, the under-the-radar Google ads also indicate there will be many different ways political campaigns try to reach voters this fall.
The Google ads have popped up for consumers making searches, usually in targeted geographic regions. One ad, for example, has the headline, “VP Harris’s Economic Vision — Lower Costs and Higher Wages.” Copy underneath reads, “a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead. We won’t go back to the failed trickle-down policies that hurt working families.”
The ad includes a link to a story on The Associated Press’ website, where those messages do not appear. Similarly, an ad that links to a story by The Guardian says Harris “is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”
A spokesman for the Guardian said that “while we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure that it is being used appropriately and with our permission. We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”
The AP also said it was unaware that one of its articles was being used for this purpose. “AP’s journalism is independent, fact-based and non partisan and must not be misrepresented in any way,” spokesman Patrick Maks said.
Other Google search ads have run using material from CBS News, CNN, Time, PBS and USA Today, according to the Google Ads Transparency Center.
There is no indication that any of the linked articles were altered in any way. But Kirtley said she questioned how many people who see the advertisement will click on those links, and instead mistakenly think the ads were quoting from the articles. For news organizations, that’s crucially important at a time they’re fighting against perceptions of bias by some in the public.
“Their brand is being co-opted for political advertising without permission or prior knowledge,” she said. “It’s fine if they chose to endorse someone, but you don’t want your reporting to be turned into an endorsement.”
News content used outside of news spaces
It’s not the only instance of news outlets needing to be cognizant of their work being used in a political context in an unauthorized way. The AP would not discuss on Thursday whether it has needed to take action to prevent unauthorized uses of its now-iconic photograph of former President Donald Trump following an assassination attempt this summer; it will reportedly be on the cover of Trump’s upcoming book.
Google notes that the Harris ads are clearly labeled as “sponsored” so they are distinguishable from regular search results, and reveal that they are paid for by the Harris campaign. “It’s fairly common for advertisers to link out to or cite external websites, including news sites, in their ads,” Google said in a statement.
What to know about the 2024 Election
Indeed, the campaigns of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn used similar Google ads during Republican primary campaigns. But in 2017, Facebook decided to ban a similar practice in its advertising after the Wall Street Journal raised questions about it.
The Harris Google ad campaign seems limited in scope. The ads linking to Guardian and AP articles both appeared only in searches by users in the swing state of Pennsylvania, and both have appeared less than 2,000 times, according to the Ads Transparency Center. The Harris campaign said it had no plans to discontinue the ads.
“I just don’t think it’s a big deal,” said Robert Shrum, a veteran Democratic political strategist and director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California.
Harris’ Google effort is an indication that campaigns will be searching for new and creative ways to reach voters in the next few months, said Steve Caplan, who is teaching a class in political advertising at USC this fall. One expected trend: an explosion of commercials on streaming services like Netflix that never used to accept advertising.
“You’re trying to find new and innovative ways to break through in a media environment that’s very cluttered, and that takes strategy and creativity,” Caplan said.
Still, television ads — especially in swing states — are expected to dominate.
___
Associated Press correspondent Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.
You have to check out Soaky Mountain Waterpark the next time you visit Eastern Tennessee! The park is right outside of Gatlinburg and we have all the details. Kristina took her kids to Soaky Mountain and shares her Soaky Mountain Waterpark review and tips on how best to enjoy it with your family so you can plan your own visit to Soaky Mountain Waterpark.
Media tickets were provided for this review.
I love a good waterpark with lots of thrills and excitement and cool water on a hot day. This is exactly what Soaky Mountain in Sevierville, TN, less than three hours from the Upstate, delivers.
The waterpark opened in 2020, cost $90 million to build, and employs 500 people, so it was a great boost to the local economy. It’s located directly across the street from Wilderness at the Smokies, which is a great resort to stay at. You can buy discounted tickets to Soaky Mountain if you stay there.
Attractions at Soaky Mountain Waterpark
The 50-acre park has some serious waterslides and play areas. Our favorite ride was the head-first, mat racing slide. We must have ridden that one six or seven times. It was a blast! The 35,000 square foot wave pool was a lot of fun because the waves truly mimic those at the ocean – but no sharks or jellyfish or weird ocean animals. Big win. The pool is able to generate waves up to six feet high.
Rides We Loved
My kids (ages 10 and 6) loved The Hive, a multi-story water playground with several age-appropriate slides for kids, although lots of adults were playing with their kids on it.
The ride we went for first was Rainbow’s Revenge, a huge, multi-passenger raft ride through a bright, colorful, and semi-fast tube. That one was a blast and getting in line early made it a fun start to the day.
After that adventure, we hit the Avalaunch, which the waterpark describes as “a first-of-its-kind water coaster with four flying saucer features that create a drop-and-dive sensation and one wave curved wall.” I can confirm that is quite a sensational ride. I did it twice and had adrenaline pumping the rest of the day. Awesome.
After that, we basically tried to do everything that my youngest, at about 46”, was tall enough to do, which was almost every ride. The faster rides have a height requirement of 48”.
We hit the lazy river – which turns into a big wave river for certain time blocks during the day, the copperhead and rattle tail snake tube rides, the wave pool, and lots of slides at The Hive playground area. We passed the smaller kids’ play area with several waterslides and water features with a zero-entry pool. It looked like the kids were having a lot of fun with their parents.
One of the things we weren’t able to get to was the water obstacle course, kind of like the show Wipeout except most of the kids were able to stay on the course. It looked so fun!
For a list of all the rides, watercoasters, slides, and height and weight requirements, see the Soaky Mountain website.
Food at Soaky Mountain Waterpark
There are no shortage of food options at Soaky Mountain. Here’s a list of all eateries available at Soaky Mountain, which include a taco truck, frozen yogurt shop, and several snack bars serving nachos, pretzels, popcorn, hot dogs, novelty ice cream, cookies, fresh-squeezed lemonade, bottled water, Icees and fountain drinks. No alcohol is sold there.
Guests are allowed reentry with their daily ticket if they’d like to bring lunch and eat it outside the park. Outside food and drink are not allowed except for a sealed water bottle.
Cabanas
Cabana rentals start at $69.99 for a two-person rental and go up to $399.99 for a 20-person rental. These are private shelters around the park that include access to a server and a limited menu (food and beverages are extra).
I saw a lot of families utilizing these. They are great as a home base to relax, eat, rest, change diapers, etc. And you rent them by the day.
New Rides
In 2022, Soaky Mountain introduced The Edge, a first-of-its-kind water coaster that spans two football fields in length and rises 70 feet in the air. If you love thrill rides, this is it.
On our second visit to Soaky Mountain in 2023, my family road The Edge and oh my gosh, it was unreal. I screamed my head off because immediately you are sent into a stomach-churning drop, then launched into tubes with AquaLucent light rings, then another drop, then speed into more tubes with more lights.
The final, three-story drop sends you high up on a near-vertical launch on the Boomerango wall. I was terrified and wanted to do it all over again.
The park also added more than 1,000 seats plus new umbrellas around the park and the expansion of two decks. Even though the park was packed when we went, we had no issues finding seats when we wanted them.
Tips For Visiting Soaky Mountain
1. Get there early: While the park wasn’t packed when we went on a summer Tuesday, we had a lot fewer wait times earlier in the day for rides. They open at 11 am during the week, and 10 am on weekends. The second time we went was on a really hot summer Saturday in July, typically one of the busiest months of the year for the area, and got there early afternoon. We didn’t have to wait too long for anything, which was awesome.
2. Grab a locker: If you’re bringing in a towel, extra clothes, your wallet, etc., a locker (the smallest are $13 for the day), definitely get a locker.
3. You may not need water shoes: Several waterslides require no shoes so we just ended up putting our shoes in our locker and didn’t find the ground too hot. In some places, I’d definitely recommend wearing sandals or some kind of water shoes, but I didn’t find it necessary here.
4. Prepare to climb stairs: Our favorite mat waterslide ride and lots of the tube slides had a lot of stairs you needed to climb to get to the top of the slide. I don’t mind a good workout but if you need to stop and take a breather, do it. The mat tube ride had about 100 steps and we did it six times. My legs hurt the next day but it was worth it.
Soaky Mountain Tickets
A one-day ticket online for adults (over 42”) is $49.99 and tickets for kids under 42” are $41.99. Ages 2 and under are free. Season passes are $109.99 a person. If you go after 4 pm, tickets are $39.99.
If you stay at Wilderness at the Smokies resort across the street, you can purchase discounted tickets or even get them for free during some specials. A season pass also includes discounted rooms at Wilderness at the Smokies.
Parking is $14.75/car when bought online and $19.25/buses and RVs. If you’re paying at the gate, it costs around $20/car.
Hours vary so look at the Soaky Mountain Waterpark calendar to see updated hours before you go. They are open mid-May through August and with select dates in September weather permitting.
