Latest news with #Brannon
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Tellico Plains families fighting to regain full access to historic cemetery
TELLICO PLAINS, Tenn. (WATE) — Several families in Tellico Plains have had to go to court to keep a cemetery gate from being locked. The historic cemetery borders the Cherokee National Forest in Monroe County. There are a lot of people buried at the Holly Springs DeHart Cemetery, which is about a 20-minute drive south of Tellico Plains. Folks who have family at the cemetery are upset that they were denied access for a while. Teresa Crowder, Shirley Woods, and Brittany Brannon have been visiting the Holly Springs DeHart Cemetery for years. Each has relatives at the historic graveyard. 'I have been coming since I was a little girl. I remember staying out here for hours with my grandparents,' said Brannon. 'My parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents. Aunts, uncles, cousins, you name it, they are here,' Woods added. New hotel could be coming to Morristown, city council considers height restrictions There are several hundred headstones at the cemetery, some of the oldest dating back to the Prock family, who first settled in Monroe County nearly 200 years ago. Recently, a fence was put up by Richard Rogers at the cemetery entrance. Rogers bought property next to the graveyard and built a garage. To get to his RV, Rogers uses the cemetery entrance. But, he attached a sign to the fence restricting visiting hours to one Sunday a week for just four hours. He's also blocked the only exit to the cemetery. 'This is a historical cemetery. It should never ever be closed, never. My great-grandparents, I have one set here, another set here. My daddy is over here, he's got seven brothers and sisters buried right down there,' said Rita Burnette. 'We do spend a lot of time here. Family means everything,' said Brannon. For a few days last week, the fence was locked and no one could enter. 'A judge signed off on where he can't close it again. But he still has the exit coming down from the cemetery blocked with logs,' said Brannon. Locals, tourists recall major Gatlinburg crash that injured seven The logs blocking the exit have been a big inconvenience for more than a year. On Memorial Day, dozens of families came to visit their loved ones. 'I've been here and they would be all the way up this hill, coming in from the main road all the way down through here. The cars would be lined up. We cannot go the exit out of here,' said Woods. 'We have to turn around, and it's very hard to turn around.' 'It's caused me a lot of stress. It's caused everybody stress. My mom is 81 years old, I'm not going to have her walk from the road,' said Teresa Crowder. Marine veteran Richard Rogers greeted us warmly as we asked him about the gate he put up and the logs that block the cemetery exit. 'Well, I've been getting shot at by a couple of neighbors and harassed. But that's all I'm going to say because right now it is litigation,' Rogers. He claimed that he was being harassed and shot at by neighbors. He specifically said that a man named Don Lee was harassing him. 'He came up and criminally trespassed on my property again,' Rogers said. 'It's been repeated.' 'Don't hire him' Customers out thousands after contractor leaves jobs unfinished Lee refuted Rogers' claim, saying that it was not true and the claim was because he was taking Rogers to court. 'Because I'm taking him to court over this road, and he's sore about that,' said Lee. Families want to see the gate and logs removed permanently to enable them full access to the cemetery every day of the week. Families who filed the lawsuit against Rogers told us they'll be back in court in two months, fighting to have the gate and logs removed. Gates around cemeteries serve several purposes, including defining boundaries, deterring trespassing and vandalism, and maintaining the sanctity of the grounds. But for years, there had never been a gate at the Holly Springs DeHart Cemetery, and families say they don't see a purpose for one. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Drive's Brannon earns national honor
— The Greenville Drive are proud to announce that catcher and first baseman Brooks Brannon has been named the Minor League Baseball High-A Player of the Week, following a dominant offensive performance that highlighted his all-around impact at the plate. Brannon posted a remarkable .524 batting average (11-for-21) over the week, collecting 9 runs scored, 8 RBIs, and 22 total bases. His extra-base output included 3 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 home runs, resulting in an impressive 1.048 slugging percentage and a 1.572 OPS. Brannon did not draw a walk or get hit by a pitch, but he also limited his strikeouts to just three in 21 plate appearances, underscoring his disciplined approach and ability to make consistent contact. Against Jersey Shore, Brannon appeared in five of the six games and played a pivotal role in several key moments in the series. He opened the series with a multi-hit game, including a two-run single that set the tone for the Drive's offensive momentum. He followed that with a pair of towering home run in Friday night's matchup and capped off the weekend with a team-high eight runs batted in; driving in at least one run in each of the first four games he appeared in. Brannon's production was instrumental in helping Greenville secure multiple victories during the homestand. Brannon, a 2022, 9th Round draft selection by the Boston Red Sox, continues to make significant strides in his development, showcasing both offensive maturity and positional versatility. This recognition marks a key milestone in his 2025 campaign and further solidifies his standing as a promising young talent in the Red Sox minor league system. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Making Sure Wingman Drones Don't Hit Their Crewed Companions Still A Challenge Marines Say
Ensuring future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones can fly in close proximity to friendly crewed aircraft without colliding with each other remains a major challenge, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. This is just one of many basic operational problems facing the Marines, as well as the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy, when it comes to how future CCAs will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated, let alone employed tactically. The Marines have taken on a particularly important role in working to address these issues. Col. Derek Brannon, director of the Marine Corps' Cunningham Group, discussed his service's work related to CCAs during a talk earlier today at the annual Modern Day Marine exposition, at which TWZ was in attendance. The Cunningham Group sits within the office of the Deputy Commandant for Aviation and is in charge of plotting out the overarching future vision for Marine Corps aviation. 'Let's get this thing out there. Let's start integrating. Let's then start working to [sic] warfighting functions of our CCA, and move forward,' Brannon said, describing his service's current focus. 'It's an exceptional piece of capability.' Right now, the Marines are using a small group of Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie drones to experiment with crewed-uncrewed teaming concepts as part of what the service has dubbed the Penetrating Affordable Autonomous Collaborative Killer-Portfolio (PAACK-P). One particular known area of focus for the Marines has centered on using those drones as electronic warfare platforms in conjunction with F-35s. U.S. Air Force F-35A and F-16C fighters have participated in PAACK-P flight tests staged out of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. At the same time, 'we still have a lot to learn to simply get to this thing airborne, flying, and executing next to an F-35, and not hitting each other,' he added. 'I know there's a lot of work out there, but that's important to make sure that we become lethal.' Brannon's comments here reflect core challenges the Air Force has also been openly working to address, as well. Last year, the Air Force announced that its X-62A test jet running on an artificial intelligence (AI) 'brain' had successfully engaged in a mock dogfight with a crewed F-16, a real and significant breakthrough for autonomous air combat. The X-62A is a highly specialized two-seat F-16D that continues to be modified to support expanding work on advanced autonomy and other next-generation capabilities. However, it subsequently emerged that the two aircraft in the Air Force's simulated dogfight were directly exchanging data the entire time. This highlighted important situational awareness limitations for autonomous platforms at present when it comes to other friendly aircraft, let alone a non-cooperative hostile threat, as you can read more about in detail here. The commercial and military aviation sectors have been developing and fielding increasingly more capable automated 'sense and avoid' systems for decades now, with those developments now increasingly filtering into work on new and existing uncrewed aircraft. The Marine Corps itself is currently working to integrate a Detect and Avoid System (DAAS) onto its MQ-9 Reaper drones. At the same time, these developments are largely centered on flight operations in controlled airspace rather than the far more dynamic operations CCAs will be called upon to conduct. Shield AI is one company now working to more directly address core autonomous piloting questions, including with an eye toward U.S. military CCA efforts. In an interview last year, Brandon Tseng, Shield AI's co-founder, president, and chief growth officer, told TWZ: 'I tell people that self-driving technology for aircraft enables mission execution, with no remote pilot, no communications, and no GPS. It enables the concept of teaming or swarming where these aircraft can execute the commander's intent. They can execute a mission, working together dynamically, reading and reacting to each other, to the battlefield, to the adversarial threats, and to civilians on the ground.' … 'The other value proposition I think of is the system – the fleet of aircraft always gets better. You always have the best AI pilot on an aircraft at any given time. We win 99.9% of engagements with our fighter jet AI pilot, and that's the worst that it will ever be, which is superhuman. So when you talk about fleet learning, that will be on every single aircraft, you will always have the best quadcopter pilot, you'll always have the best V-BAT pilot, you'll always have the best CCA pilot, you name it. It'll be dominant. You don't want the second best AI pilot or the third best, because it truly matters that you're winning these engagements at incredibly high rates.' Col. Brannon's comments today are something of a reality check for where these fundamental development efforts are currently and the challenges that need to be addressed to make larger CCA concepts a reality. If crewed aircraft just flying together with CCAs in a test environment is still an issue, then that says something about meeting more complex demands even during routine peacetime operations. Overall, the general vision for CCAs across the U.S. military involves employin very large numbers of them to help increase overall combat capacity in a more affordable manner. The goal is also for drones in this category to be able to provide that 'affordable mass' without significantly increased personnel or logistics demands. All of this, in turn, opens avenues to new tactics, techniques, and procedures that, by extension, create new dilemmas for adversaries. Col. Brannon laid out a scenario involving Marine forces flying 'an entire assault package into a hot LZ [landing zone] or in a contested environment, controlling CCA, managing the capabilities that are airborne, and not having to rely with [sic; on] manned TACAIR [tactical aviation; fighters].' This also points to more independent CCA operations, which will demand greater autonomous also made clear that he sees CCAs, whether they belong to the Marines or other services, as a critical component of future operations, saying 'we just don't have the capacity to support' them with crewed TACAIR alone. In addition, the comments today from the Cunningham Group underscore the leading role the Marines look to be taking in the development of concepts of operations and tactics, techniques, and procedures for employing CCAs across the U.S. military. 'We are also leading the way with incorporating Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) with the F-35 by pushing research and development efforts towards this front,' the Marine Corps declared in its most recent Aviation Plan, released in February. Navy Rear Adm. Michael 'Buzz' Donnelly, Director of the Air Warfare Division (N98) within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, also highlighted this at the Navy League's annual Sea Air Space symposium earlier this month. 'The United States Navy is in a tri-service memorandum of agreement and understanding with our sister services, the U.S. Air Force, as well as the Marine Corps, and we are developing that capability together. Each of us are focused on a different aspect of that,' Donnelly said at the time. 'The Air Force is leading and very forward leaning in the development of the actual air vehicle and the autonomy that goes in those for execution of mission. Marine Corps is working closely to develop manned-unmanned teaming between platforms such as the F-35, the F-35B being the baseline for their aviation capability right now. And the United States Navy is working based on our pathway of unmanned into the fleet with MQ-25.' 'As we work together for the United States Navy, I will tell you that we are definitely in the follow of those three services,' he added. When it comes to what a future Marine CCA fleet might actually look like going forward, that is still very much an open question. It is also directly tied to the service's still-evolving plans for a new drone to more directly supplement or supplant its MQ-9s as part of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System Expeditionary program, or MUX. 'Variations of MUX MALE Next may be a TACAIR CCA with a certain set of attributes, followed by a smaller Group 3 size [drone], but be able to take what a MUX MALE Next was intended to do, but fill gaps with capabilities that continue to improve, especially in our smaller unmanned systems,' Col. Brannon said. The Marine Corps' original vision for the MUX concept, outlined in the late 2010s, consisted of multiple advanced drone types capable of performing airborne early warning, air reconnaissance, electronic warfare, communications relay, offensive air support, scout and aerial escort, and cargo carrying missions, as you can read more about here. The Marines subsequently scaled back their near-term uncrewed aviation plans significantly and acquired the MQ-9 as the initial MUX platform. There has been discussion about operationalizing the XQ-58A to meet Marine Corps needs based on experience gained through PAACK-P. 'The XQ-58A Valkyrie test flights and the data collected inform future requirements for the Marine Corps in a rapidly evolving security environment, while successfully fueling joint innovation and experimentation opportunities. Future test flights inform Marine Corps XQ-58A Valkyrie requirements for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Aerial System Expeditionary (MUX) Tactical Aircraft (TACAIR),' the Marine Corps has told TWZ in the past. 'The XQ-58A Valkyrie is an experimental aircraft that provides the Marine Corps with a testbed platform for developing technologies and new concepts in support of the Marine Air Ground Task Force, such as autonomous flight and unmanned teaming with crewed aircraft.' The Marines could also look to leverage airframes emerging from the Air Force's CCA program. General Atomics and Anduril are currently developing what are now designated the YQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively, as part of Increment 1 of the Air Force's CCA effort. The service is planning to evaluate additional designs in a second increment, which is expected to have significantly different core requirements. Further iterative development phases may follow. As noted, the Navy has already said it is very much following the Air Force and Marines on the CCA front, including in the development of potential airframes. In the meantime, the Marines look set to continue laying the groundwork for how it, as well as the Air Force and Navy, will actually employ CCAs, including reducing the risk of them colliding with their crewed companions. Contact the author: joe@
Miami Herald
10-04-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Will car insurance rise in Florida? Should you buy one? What Trump tariffs may do
Florida car owners already pay some of the highest insurance premiums in the nation. Last year's storms threatened to push prices even higher. Now experts are warning that President Donald Trump's tariffs could make the situation far worse. In 2024, Floridians paid an average of almost $3,200 annually for car insurance, according to Insurify, a price comparison site. Without tariffs, average yearly premiums were slated to rise to almost $3,500. With a tranche of tariffs targeting steel and aluminum, foreign cars and car parts, Floridians could be paying an average of almost $4,000 per year in 2026 — an increase of almost 25%, said Matt Brannon, a St. Petersburg-based analyst for Insurify. Multiple factors determine one's insurance rate — some personal, some macroeconomic. Insurers most heavily weight personal driving history, Brannon said. But almost as important is the cost of repairs, which is where the Trump administration's tariffs come in. In February, the Trump administration renewed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Almost two-thirds of any given car is made from those two materials, which could raise costs to produce cars and car parts, driving up prices, Brannon said. Last week, a tariff on imported cars went into effect. About half of the cars Americans purchase are manufactured in foreign countries, according to the White House. But what will impact insurance rates the most, Brannon said, is the 25% tariffs on key car parts, such as engines, transmissions and electrical components, set to begin in May. While car owners foot the bill for a new vehicle, insurance often pays for repairs and new parts — and insurers will readily pass those prices on to consumers, Brannon said. About three-quarters of the materials in U.S. vehicles come from other countries, according to the White House. The Trump administration's Wednesday announcement of a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for most other nations does not appear to halt the levies on cars and car parts. Why is car insurance so expensive in Florida? Three risk factors inflate car insurance rates in Florida, Brannon said. Premiums are expected to be the third-highest in the country by 2026. The first risk factor is hurricanes. An estimated 90,000 claims landed on insurers' desks from hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton last year, costing companies as much as $5 billion, Brannon said. Florida also has high rates of litigation and insurance fraud, he said. 'When you have insurers forced to cover those sorts of losses, they often turn around and raise premiums on their consumers,' Brannon said. Car insurance rates have risen precipitously in recent years after they dipped during the early years of the pandemic. The car insurance industry corrected course as Americans went back to work and repopulated the roads. Average rates increased by 23% between 2022 and 2023, according to Insurify. This year was supposed to mark a reprieve from the outsized rate increases of recent years, Brannon said. Tariffs have diminished that possibility. But analysts are also watching carefully for a change in course from the Trump administration that could ease premium increases, Brannon said. Stock market indexes have cratered and then rebounded rapidly in the last week amid uncertainty about whether officials will retract their most devastating tariffs or create new exemptions, as has been done for goods from Canada and Mexico. Should I hold off on buying a new car? While all car owners will feel the effect of insurance rate hikes, those looking for a new or used car could face extra challenges. Tariffs on full cars, now in effect, could increase prices by as much as $2,000 to $6,000 for new cars, Brannon said. Almost half of U.S. car sales could be impacted, according to S&P Global, which tracks the auto industry. Those price increases could drive demand for used cars, raising costs in that sector as well, Brannon said. Auto sales have surged in recent weeks ahead of the tariff threat, according to the New York Times. And automakers are already beginning to reduce imports due to the tariffs. What about gas? If there's one silver lining of a global stock market fallout, it's that the price of oil has plummeted to a four-year low amid recession fears. The Trump administration has said it wants to keep the price of energy low, carving out tariff exemptions for crude oil and liquid natural gas coming from other nations. Florida has seen a slow increase in gas prices that mostly has to do with refinery maintenance and seasonal variation, according to AAA. Florida's average price is currently almost $3.20 per gallon for regular fuel. But if the price of oil stays low, consumers could soon see some relief at the pump, said Patrick De Haan, lead analyst at GasBuddy, a price tracking service. A crash in the stock market, plus an increase in prices elsewhere, could leave Americans with less money to spend on plane tickets and road trips, reducing demand for gas, De Haan said. In the short term, that means gas will be cheaper. But in the long term, refineries will slow down production, he said. When consumer demand bounces back, there could be an uptick in prices.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How 'Mayor Mary,' one of America's longest-serving mayors, is already set for another term
There will be no elections for Madison the City in this cycle, despite the mayor and all of the board of alderman being up for re-election. Incumbent Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, Republican, is running unopposed for what will be her 12th consecutive term. Hawkins Butler is the second longest-serving female mayor in the nation and began her first term as Madison Mayor in 1981. "We will not be holding any elections, this Tuesday or later in the year. There is no need. Everyone is running unopposed," Hawkins Butler told the Clarion Ledger. "Our city attorney is going through proper procedures to make sure we are doing everything correctly." Chelsea Brannon, the city attorney for Madison said the city does not need to have elections this year. "We have very specific statues that we fall under," Brannon said. There are two different processes that come into effect, she said. With a primary, the party executive committee reviews the process, and if there are multiple candidates, then there must be a primary election, according to Mississippi Code 23-15-309. "In our instance, we only had one party nominee in each individual race that was scheduled to be held this year," Brannon said. "So, the party executive committee deemed those people qualified and dispensed with the primary." There is a separate statute (Mississippi Code 23-15-361) that deals with the general election that follows the same process. If there is just one candidate in each office, the municipal election commission meets, reviews qualifications and makes sure all of the candidates are current on campaign finance regulations. "If everyone qualifies, they can make the same findings and dispense with the general election, deeming those individuals elected," Brannon said. "If even just one election were to have a contested race, everyone would have to be on the ballot, but that is not the case." Gulf of Mexico: $12M-plus Iuka, MS, inland port upgrade will help waterway traffic get to Gulf of Mexico Banking and finance: $3.2 billion Mississippi bank merger is approved for completion. Get the details Therefore, the City of Madison will have the same elected officials it has had the last four years. In 2024, Hawkins Butler was diagnosed with breast cancer, a diagnosis, she told the Clarion Ledger in November 2024, that will not stop her from running for another term. Known as Mayor Mary, she is credited with turning a small city with little or no identity into what it is today, one of the most desirable cities in which to live in the state. Back in the 1980s, the city's budget was only a few hundred thousand dollars. It's now more than $30 million. City Clerk Nathan Hanson confirmed that all incumbent Board of Aldermen will also run unopposed and will be confirmed for another term. They are all Republicans: Sandra Strain, Alderman at Large Tawanna Tatum, Alderman, Ward 1 Pat Peeler, Alderman, Ward 2 Janie Jarvis, Alderman, Ward 3 Paul Trankersley, Alderman, Ward 4 Mike Hudgins, Alderman, Ward 5 Guy Bowering, Alderman, Ward 6 Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@ or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Hawkins Butler set for Madison re-election April 1, no votes needed
