CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Hamilton County Schools and UTC have teamed to put equity into action! University School serves as a college pipeline for kids who might not have considered a four-year university education. It’s an inclusive example of what’s right with our schools.

Arielle Garcia-Hayes is the Principal University High.

She says, “University High is a program School through Hamilton County Schools. Under the Umbrella of the Workforce Development College Schools network. The program is 2 years, we accept uh Juniors and then they’ll go into their senior years.”

Dante Williams from the Howard School says, “It’s repairing me so when I go to college. It’ll feel easier and it won’t feel like it’s just a brand-new experience, and I just feel overwhelmed about it.”

Arielle Garcia-Hayes adds, “We represent 10 different high schools right now. We give them an opportunity at something non-traditional and allow them to finish their High School career while starting their Collegiate career.”

Laurn Mack from Tyner says, “I wanted more for myself. I wanted um another experience. I wanted to see like what else was out there; what else could I do.”

Arielle Garcia-Hayes chips in, ” It’s so important for students to begin   getting acclimated to college life, especially for the students that we serve. Over half of our population will be first college generation graduates. So, what we’re doing is we’re breaking those barriers, um and getting them the exposure that they need to explore. What they could foresee themselves doing, and what career that they could have.”

Brooklyn Wilkins from Howard says, “I wanted to get started on my career early. Um I didn’t want to spend all my life in school. So, I wanted to kind of get some of it done now, because I just didn’t really like the idea of being in school for a very long time after I just finished. I definitely still want to do college, but I just want to get some of that time knocked out.”

Arielle Garcia-Hayes says, “The dual enrollment Grant allows   us to uh give students access to college coursework. And what’s really exciting about University High is that, we are on UTC’s campus. And so they get UTC college credits. So that’s a major university that they can use those credits anywhere they want to go after they graduate from high school.”

Malik Childress from Brainerd says, ” It does take away that fear, because going into college, now have experience. Being on a college campus, I know what it’s like to be around older people, being in a college class how to take notes in a college class, talking to my professor, emailing my professor, and just good communication all around.”

Arielle Garcia-Hayes concludes, “College isn’t for everybody. We want to show them the possibilities that it can be for anybody. And that they deserve to be here just like anybody else. Um in the beginning they were so nervous about being on a college campus, but the students have really done an amazing job. Um acclimating themselves to the campus life. So, when they become freshmen one year when they go to a university it’s not going to be anything new. They’re going to understand where the bursar’s office is. They’re going to understand how college classes work. They deep dive into their syllabi so that they understand it they have to figure out what days are exam days, use scantrons and go pick up blue books. And these are all things that they’ve experienced here that won’t be something new for them especially since they don’t come from generations of college graduates.”

CHEROKEE, N.C. (AP) — Medical marijuana can now be legally purchased in North Carolina with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opening its long-planned dispensary this weekend on tribal land.

Hundreds of people, many with approved medical patient cards to purchase items, celebrated the historic opening of the Great Smoky Cannabis Co. on Saturday within the Eastern Band land known as the Qualla Boundary, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported. Saturday was April 20, which is also known as “420 Day,” or an annual day for the celebration of marijuana.

The ceremony marks the latest liberalization of marijuana rules by the tribe, which in 2021 decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana within its 89 square miles (231 square kilometers) of land in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The tribe also formed a medical marijuana system that included a tribe-created business to grow cannabis and sell it, reaping financial rewards for the tribal members and assisting those with medical conditions.

“This project will change the trajectory of their lives forever,” Forrest Parker, general manager for Qualla Enterprises, the tribal company that manages the dispensary, said during the opening ceremony. “It will be a conduit to generations of social, economic and spiritual growth, unlike anything that’s ever been witnessed.”

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The Eastern Band, with about 14,000 members, can pass rules permitting cannabis as a sovereign nation and federally recognized tribe.

Marijuana use remains illegal in the rest of North Carolina. Still, Republican U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd have raised concerns with federal and state law enforcement about whether drug laws will continue to be carried out in light of the dispensary. A statewide medical marijuana bill has been considered in recent years by the North Carolina General Assembly.

Adults at least 21 years of age with a tribe medical cannabis patient card or an out-of-state approved medical marijuana card can purchase items at Great Smoky Cannabis Co.

The scope of marijuana sales could become much greater. A majority of Eastern Band voters backed in a referendum last September the adult, recreational use of marijuana on tribal land. The question also asked whether voters supported the tribal council to develop legislation to regulate such a market.

The Charlotte Observer reported that an adult use ordinance could be finalized in June, citing council member Boyd Owle.

“Let’s get it right before we put it out there. But we’re on the right track,” Owle said after a council work session on the ordinance earlier this month.

The dispensary could generate over $200 million in gross sales revenues in its first year if limited to medical patients, compared with $385 million if the product is available to all adult users, according to figures from Qualla Enterprises released before last year’s adult-use referendum.

Saturday’s ceremony featured tribal translator Myrtle Driver Johnson purchasing the first medical marijuana in a transaction made in English and Cherokee. She said that she had named and translated the different strains of cannabis into Cherokee.

UPDATE: President Joe Biden has issued the following statement on Volkswagen workers’ vote to unionize the Volkswagen plant.

The statement reads:

“Congratulations to the workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on their historic vote for union representation with the United Auto Workers. I was proud to stand alongside auto workers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with auto workers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen. Across the country, union members have logged major wins and large raises, including auto workers, actors, port workers, Teamsters, writers, warehouse and health care workers, and more. Together, these union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again that the middle-class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers.

Six Republican governors wrote a letter attempting to influence workers’ votes by falsely claiming that a successful vote would jeopardize jobs in their states. Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: there is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose. In fact, the growing strength of unions over the last year has gone hand-in-hand with record small business and jobs growth alongside the longest stretch of low unemployment in more than 50 years. I will continue to stand with American workers and stand against Republican’s effort to weaken workers’ voice.”

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- In a historic vote, workers at the Volkswagen plant have voted to be represented by the United Auto Workers.

According to results tabulated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the vote was a landslide as 2,628 workers voted for the union and 985 voted against.

This is a margin of 72.7% for and 27.3% against in a turnout of roughly 83.5% of eligible workers, 4,326 according to the NLRB.

The NLRB says due to this result, Volkswagen must now begin bargaining in “good faith” in the UAW.

The UAW in a statement that, “Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are the first Southern autoworkers outside of the Big Three to win their union.”

They add that they look forward to getting to the bargaining table.

We are awaiting a statement from Volkswagen on the result of this election.