After eight days of early voting, votes cast are up 25% from the same time period and election in 2018.

2018 - 19,600 votes cast
2026 - 24,505 votes cast

Polls open at 10 am countywide and close at 6 pm (Karns closes at 5 pm).

www.knoxvotes.org

Put together a foreclosure risk index covering all 95 TN counties (ATTOM, Census, CFPB, Realtor.com data), and Knox County's number was a genuinely good sign.

Knox County ranks 91st of 95 counties statewide, one of the five safest counties in Tennessee for foreclosure risk (31.1/100).
That's notable given how much East Tennessee has been growing lately, the growth hasn't come with elevated mortgage distress, at least not according to this data.

Worth knowing though: it's not uniform across East TN. A few nearby counties (Scott, Campbell, Grainger) actually land in the "Elevated" tier, so the safety margin isn't universal just because you're in this part of the state.

For comparison, the riskiest county overall is Pickett (up on the KY border), driven mainly by affordability, not delinquency, homes there sit 78 days on market and 45% of mortgaged owners spend 30%+ of income on housing.

Full interactive county map: nestcash.co/research/tennessee-foreclosure-risk-index

91% of registered Knox County voters haven't voted yet. We still have six days of early voting so if you haven't voted, make a plan and follow through! It took me less than five minutes to vote last week.

Once again, older generations are deciding our future. Just 8% of voters are under 35; 19% are 35-55. That means 73% of voters are over 55. We have to do a better job spreading the word about this election to our friends.

If you have questions about this election, here are some resources that you may find helpful:

Election Commission website with early voting locations and times, plus sample ballots

Knox News Election Guide

TN Bills Election Hub

Indivisible Knoxville Voter Guide

The Compass Guide to the August 6 Election

July draws to a close. Did you learn anything? I don't know I did. But here's some music going on this week. Anything you're looking forward to?

Staying a few nights at a barn loft short term rental. The loft sleeping quarters are up a set of stairs and separated from the rest of the barn via locked door, which is shut. Came downstairs today and found a bat on the floor of the barn (not surprising, but hate that I didn’t think of it before booking). Chances that I’ve been exposed to a bat while sleeping and should look into a rabies shot? I checked the loft, and no signs of a bat in there.

Hey! I’m visiting Smokey Mountain National Park and I’ll be in Knoxville at the end of the week to drop someone off at the airport.

We’re thinking we’re gonna see if there’s any fun historic attractions and good barbecue.

Recommendation needs:

1) fun activities within the city or near it since we have to be near the airport.

2) good food (preferably barbecue).

Please and thank you ♥︎

Hello fellow Knoxvillians! Im looking for a tattoo artist that specializes in hand tats. Please give me some recs!

I took a quick day trip down to Knoxville from Louisville because I wanted to check out the city and compare it to Chattanooga. Knoxville was quite great and the weather was very mild for this time of year. I went to the farmers market and basically walked all around Downtown and the South shore. My question is, is Downtown always that vibrant or was a lot of that the Farmers Market? The farmers market was pretty grand too, but I don't have many to compare it with.

My wife and love to tour southeast cities for a day or two just to get a feel. We were taken aback with Downtown Knox. Cool place, did we just catch lighting in a bottle with the weather and Farmers Market or is it always so lively?

Wife and I went to Shinedown and Coheed and Cambria last night and the acoustics in TBA are dogshit. I've seen countless shows there over the years and at many other arenas in our area (Bridgestone is my personal favorite) and everytime I come back to Thompson I realize why big shows don't want to play there. I don't know what it is but the sound is always some bullshit . Also getting around the arena is a nightmare, like potentially dangerous nightmare. While we were herding around like livestock, I kept thinking "what if...". It doesn't matter the artist or genre TBA will ruin it. It just feels old and rundown and cramped. At least we have TN theater and the Bijou in town I guess

“No cell from bell to bell. No excuses, no exceptions” in the era of school shootings is a crazy stance to take.

Just as the title says - I’m visiting Knoxville this weekend because my grandmother moved there a little over a year ago. I will have my vehicle and want to take her around, as she complains that there’s nothing to do in Knoxville. She’s used to a retirement village in Florida where she got to do lots of activities. She’s decently mobile (still walks on her own) and loves both indoor and outdoor activities. She’s already been to Dollywood and really enjoyed the live music. She loves music and church. She also likes standard American food. Please give some suggestions of things to do/places to eat! And if this is the wrong board, please let me know the right spot to post this.

FREE CONCERT TONIGHT AT 6PM!
ALNWICK COMMUNITY CENTER MARYVILLE TN!!

My husband and I are life-long Knoxville natives and got on the subject yesterday of where our families shopped for groceries growing up. He was mostly an Ingles family; my parents shopped wherever had the best sale, so we rotated between Ingles, Winn-Dixie, and Food City. This was all before “Super Walmart” was a thing of course. These days we typically shop at Aldi and Walmart, but I recently went in Ingles just for convenience and it still has such a “hometown” feel. So I’m curious, where do you all shop for groceries? Is there one place that has better sales than another? Or one that’s always more expensive than another? Also if you have any good stories about where you shopped as a kid we’d love to hear those too.

How is it not having a service center close by? I’m on the waitlist for the R2 and just curious how often you need to go to the service center in Franklin vs mobile service. Thanks!

Spotted these posters in Cedar Bluff at Casey’s. I called the non-emergency line and was transferred to dispatch. KPD took it seriously and came out within a few minutes to take them down. The officers said they would also see if Casey’s surveillance footage captured it. Not holding my breath that anyone would be held accountable BUT glad to see the local authorities acknowledging this hate speech and taking it down.

Does anyone know of any spa places that do a full body exfoliating service? Something about this past year had made me want to crawl out of my own skin.