Local News

The Portland Fall Festival will be held on Saturday, Oct. 23^rd from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be food and craft vendors, some local area farms will also be set up selling products, an thee will be free live music during the event on Market Street.  Parking will be available in the city lot off E. McGlothlin Street, First Baptist Church parking lot and other downtown Portland parking areas. For more information regarding the Portland Fall Festival contact the Portland Chamber of Commerce.

The Tennessee General Assembly will meet in a special session next week.  The special session to address COVID-19 restrictions is scheduled to start Wednesday, October 27th.  It’s expected to last into the first week of November.  Limiting the governor’s emergency power and regulating the authority of private businesses to implement mask or vaccine mandates are among the issues that may be addressed.

Meanwhile, there are more than eleven-hundred new coronavirus cases in Tennessee.  The Tennessee Department of Health says that brings the total since the outbreak began to more than one-million-267-thousand.  Nearly 90 additional COVID-19-related deaths were also reported, with that number standing at nearly 16 thousand.  There are more than 14-hundred COVID-19 hospitalizations in Tennessee.

Bad news for Robertson County leaf peepers. There’s a delay in peak fall foliage colors this year in Tennessee.  Forecasters say the delay is being caused by above average temperatures.  They say the vibrant fall colors in the Great Smoky Mountains are expected to start appearing at the end of this month and the beginning of next month.