Knox County, Tennessee

The Knox County Commission unanimously passed Ordinance O-26-10-104, tying future pay increases for commissioners and Board of Education members to the state-certified cost-of-living formula used for other county officials, rather than automatically matching raises given to county employees. The change follows backlash after a 6% employee raise in June also boosted commissioner and school board pay, funded in part by $4 million reallocated from the Knox County Schools budget amid the elimination of 57 teaching and 27 administrative positions. The Board of Education had urged the Commission to repeal the raise; it did not, but passed the new restriction instead. Newly elected Mayor Betsy Henderson said the ordinance stops officials from granting themselves raises.

Early in-person voting opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, giving residents 13 days to cast ballots before the Nov. 3 general election—beyond the nine days required by state law. Voters can cast ballots at any of four sites—St. Peter and Paul School, GRPS University, Ottawa Hills High School, and New Hope Baptist Church—rather than being limited to a home precinct, as on Election Day. The city is also offering live wait-time tracking online. City Clerk Joel Hondorp said absentee voting remains the most popular early option, and voters can bring absentee ballots to any early voting site or their precinct to run through the tabulator in person. The early voting window closes the Sunday before Election Day.

A Knox County, Tennessee commissioner is seeking a public hearing on whether Alex Moody, a member of the Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals, should be removed from his post after he was cited for misdemeanor simple assault. The citation stems from an incident in which Moody allegedly struck a protester outside a private event hosted by the conservative political group Heritage Hubs.

Commissioner Brandon Huckaby, who represents District 3, filed a resolution requesting the hearing under county code, which allows removal of a BZA member "for cause upon written charges and after a public hearing." The proposed hearing would examine evidence such as incident reports, video footage, and witness accounts, and would give Moody an opportunity to respond. Huckaby emphasized the hearing would focus solely on Moody's alleged conduct, not his attendance at the event or his political views, stating that a citation or news report alone is not proof of wrongdoing and that due process must be followed before any formal action is taken.

Judith "Judy" G. Bainbridge, the longtime Furman University English professor widely regarded as Greenville, South Carolina's foremost historian, died Sept. 17, 2026, two weeks short of her 90th birthday. A service is planned for Oct. 17 at the Garden Room at Furman Chapel.

Bainbridge joined Furman in 1976 after teaching in Charlotte, later retiring in 2007 but continuing to write. For 22 years she authored a biweekly history column for The Greenville News, producing more than 500 installments between 1999 and 2022, and wrote seven books, including "Greenville's Heritage" and "A Short History of Greenville." Her work frequently linked the city's past to present-day issues, from a 2019 column on the 1918 Spanish flu republished during the COVID-19 pandemic to reporting on the historically Black New Washington Heights neighborhood. Colleagues and former students, including South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Letitia Verdin, credited Bainbridge with shaping careers and correcting long-held myths about Greenville's founding figures and institutions. Mayor Knox White opened a Sept. 28 City Council meeting with a moment of silence in her honor.

A 65-year-old Rockland, Maine man, Michael Robinson, pleaded guilty Thursday to two misdemeanor charges for using his snow plow to inundate peaceful political demonstrators with ice, snow, and gravel during a Feb. 21, 2026 protest against the Trump administration. Under a plea deal, a felony charge of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanor driving-to-endanger charge were dismissed. Robinson faces a $600 fine if he completes a two-year deferred disposition, including mental health and anger management evaluations, a weapons ban, and 100 hours of community service; violating terms could bring up to a year in jail.

Several victims gave impact statements, describing injuries and fear of being targeted again, and urged the judge to reject the deal, calling it a politically motivated act of intimidation. Prosecutors said they were not confident they could prove the felony charge. Robinson had been free on bail since his arrest.

Greenville County and four of its cities — Greenville, Simpsonville, Mauldin and Travelers Rest — have placed 1 percent sales tax referendums on the November ballot, and local leaders are now campaigning to convince voters to approve them. At a forum hosted by The Post and Courier, County Council member Curt McGahhey, Greenville Mayor Knox White, and OneSpartanburg CEO Allen Smith discussed the effort, which follows voters' 2024 rejection of a county road-repair tax.

The new county tax, framed as a transportation measure rather than a capital projects tax, would raise about $1 billion, mostly for road and bridge repairs, with smaller shares for green space and transit. Greenville's city tax, enabled by a new state law, would raise roughly $500 million for infrastructure and property tax relief. Officials acknowledged the challenge of asking voters to approve five separate taxes simultaneously, and since local governments cannot campaign directly for ballot measures, private groups are organizing advocacy efforts ahead of November.