Articles by Travis Loller

Tennessee Valley Authority to Pay $28M to Coal Ash Victims

The nation’s largest public utility has agreed to pay $27.8 million to settle claims from Tennessee property owners who suffered damages from a huge spill of toxin-laden coal ash sludge. The 2008 spill happened when a containment dike burst at …

Judge Orders Tennessee to Honor 3 Out-of-State Gay Marriages

A federal judge ordered the state of Tennessee on Friday to recognize the marriages of three same-sex couples while their lawsuit against the state works its way through the court system. U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger issued the preliminary injunction …

Medical Bills Pile Up for Tennessee Meningitis Victim

More than a year after a routine steroid injection turned into a painful fungal infection that nearly killed her, Marjorie Norwood is still suffering physically and emotionally. She also carries a huge stress: the hospital that houses the clinic where …

Tennessee’s Heavy Rains Tested Lessons from 2010 Flood

Unusually heavy summer rainfalls in Tennessee have given the agencies involved in flood control and emergency management a chance to show that they have learned to cooperate after the disastrous missteps of 2010. That’s the year heavy flooding of the …

Suits Against Army Corps Over Nashville Floods Dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed a pair of lawsuits claiming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for flood damage in 2010 to the Grand Ole Opry, Gibson Guitar and other Nashville-area businesses. The companies claimed corps officials acted …

Tennessee Plant Owners Failed to Protect Against Explosive: Panel

A federal panel says a company knew of the explosive danger of dust throughout its Tennessee plant but didn’t do enough to prevent three separate blasts that killed five people last year. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board released a final …

Factory Dust Explosions Killing Workers While Safety Rules Lag

Each year, people are killed and maimed by explosions of finely powdered wood, metal or chemicals at factories around the country. Safety experts have studied the threat posed by dust at industrial sites for nearly a decade, yet tighter regulations …

Poor Forecasting of Tennessee Flood Blamed on Bad Data

River forecasters for the National Weather Service underestimated the flood level that a major river would reach during Nashville’s fatal May floods because they relied on inaccurate data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the service said in a …

Poor Forecasting of Tennessee Flood Blamed on Bad Data

River forecasters for the National Weather Service underestimated the flood level that a major river would reach during Nashville’s fatal May floods because they relied on inaccurate data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the service concluded in a …

Authorities Say Tennessee Mosque Fire Was Arson

Federal investigators said Friday that a suspicious fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a future mosque in the southern state of Tennessee was arson and offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The future …