Cocke County News

Jan. 26, 1938 - June 28, 2009 Betty Evelyn Limburg, 71, of Crossville, passed away June 28, 2009.

The United Way of Cocke County distributed its remaining funds to eight organizations on Thursday.

A Cocke County couple entered guilty pleas on Monday in an alleged child abuse case which prosecutors describe as an incident of corporal punishment taken too far.

Summer's sun shows its strength above our hometown pushing temperatures to the 90s now, as many colorful red and yellow tents popped up for July 4th fireworks sales.

U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer has "dismissed with prejudice" all claims against Cocke County Mayor Iliff McMahan and the Cocke County government that were part of a civil lawsuit brought by a former reporter for The Newport Plain Talk newspaper.

Officers with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Cocke County Sheriff's Department, and Newport Police Department conducted two more searches on Wednesday for any clues to missing teenager Megan Maxwell's whereabouts.

Cocke County has received a $166,971 grant to support a Prevent Use and Abuse Program for juveniles in the county.

Federal authorities have announced the indictment of 23 East Tennesseans on charges of racketeering involving stolen cars.

A Newport junkyard known first as H-1 Auto and later as A Automotive is suspected by authorities to be part of a stolen car chop-shop ring in Cocke County, which was targeted in a federal indictment this week.

Cocke County Mayor Iliff McMahan, Jr. has just beenofficially notified that Cocke County has received full funding for safetyimprovements to a 1.1-mile section of Waterville Road in the Hartford communityby the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

East Tennessee authorities are calling a new auto theft bust -- one of the most prolific chop-shop operations EVER busted in this region.

Cocke County Men Indicted for Racketeering Criminal Enterprise Involved Chop Shops, Motor Vehicle Thefts, Insurance Fraud, and Drug Trafficking GREENEVILLE, TN - On June 9, 2009, a federal grand jury in Greeneville indicted sixteen men and seven women for charges including conducting a racketeering enterprise, racketeering conspiracy, operation of ...

Thomas Grant Williams, a 33-year-old professional car thief, is the co-leader of the Hawk Organization, federal authorities allege.

A federal grand jury in Greeneville indicted sixteen men and seven women for charges including conducting a racketeering enterprise, operation of a chop shop, altering identification of stolen vehicles and conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana.

Nearly two dozen people were charged with taking part in a violent mob-style organized crime ring in Cocke County that was protected by crooked cops for most of the past decade, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Twenty-three people have been indicted in by a grand jury in Greeneville on federal racketeering charges in connection with an alleged chop shop and drug ring in Cocke County, according to a release from U.S. Attorney James R. Dedrick.

The FBI and other agencies have arrested at least 23 people in Cocke County for allegedly running a mob-style operation that trafficked in stolen cars and cocaine, according to court records unsealed today in federal court in Greeneville.

After entering a "best interest" plea to a vehicular homicide charge on Monday, a Newport man was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Cocke County Mayor Iliff McMahan, Jr. has just been officially notified that Cocke County, in partnership with the City of Newport, has received a Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency .

The Newport Plain Talk is once again presenting its annual Bible Verse Search, beginning in today's edition, announcing Betty McMillan, The Newport Plain Talk advertising manager.