Meet “Dr.” Higdon Ventriloquists need a dummy to mouth their words, puppet masters need marionettes to dance on the strings, and in The Wizard of Oz, the man behind the curtain needed a fearsome figurehead to invoke fear and wonder. Similarly, in many cases politicians and elected officials a…

Quiet, bucolic Blount County may soon become a popular destination for “drug treatment tourism,” due to the impending opening of a opioid dispensary in the City of Maryville. Worse, the operators of the drug clinic are key allies of Maryville’s new “progressive” City…