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Who are the Tennessee plant explosion victims? 16 people presumed dead in factory explosion

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Who are the Tennessee plant explosion victims? 16 people presumed dead in factory explosion


A small Tennessee county is in mourning after an explosion at an ammunition processing plant last week is believed to have killed everyone who was inside.

The blast Friday was reported at Accurate Energetic Systems near McEwen, Tennessee, at around 7:45 a.m., leaving behind only scattered debris. Officials reported a day after the explosion that there were no survivors, adding that 16 people who were in the privately owned facility were unaccounted for.

A candlelight vigil was held Sunday outside the Humphreys County Courthouse to mourn the 16 presumed victims of the blast. Crowds of people could be seen paying their respects with lit candles.

On Monday, a list of the victims was released: Jason Adams, Erick Anderson, Billy Baker, Adam Boatman, Christopher Clark, Mindy Clifton, James Cook, Reyna Gillahan, LaTeisha Mays, Jeremy Moore, Melinda Rainey, Melissa Stanford, Trenton Stewart, Rachel Woodall, Steven Wright and Donald Yowell.

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As the cause of the blast remains under investigation, more is coming to light about the victims.

Trenton Stewart

Trenton Stewart.via Facebook

Stewart, 25, is missing and presumed dead as a result of the Friday morning explosion.

His fiancée, Katy Stover, described him as the best man she has ever met.

“I don’t know what I can even say to make anyone understand the man he was,” Stover wrote in a Facebook post. “He made me laugh until I couldn’t breathe, and he was truly my best friend, my soulmate, and my person.”

According to Stewart’s Facebook page, he was a pastor at a church in Waverly, Tennessee. In a post, he said that his goal as a pastor “isn’t to have the biggest crowd, or to be the most perfect person, but to show the love of Christ in whatever way possible.”

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The last livestream from one of his sermons was posted on Oct. 5.

LaTeisha Mays

LaTeisha Mays.
LaTeisha Mays.via WSMV

Mays, 26, is unaccounted for, her family told NBC affiliate WSMV. She worked for Accurate Energetic Systems for eight months.

Her family described her as “the glue to our family.”

Steven Wright

Steven Wright.
Steven Wright.via Facebook

Wright’s wife, Melinda, is mourning her husband.

“How could I have known that 24 hours ago I would have watched those taillights disappear for the last time!” she posted to her Facebook account the day after the explosion.

The couple shared two boys.

Rachel Woodall

Rachel Woodall.
Rachel Woodall.via Facebook

Woodall was a production operator at Accurate Energetic Systems, according to her Facebook profile.

Her boyfriend, Nathan Birchard, remembered her as his angel.

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“You brought color into my world that was otherwise dark and grey,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “You made me a better man and always made me wanna strive to be better. We had dreams and a future that we was planning just to be taken away in a instant.”

Birchard said Woodall “touched so many lives.”

“You never would’ve realized the impact you have made on those around you,” he wrote.

Christopher Clark

Christopher Clark.
Christopher Clark.Family photo

Clark’s sister, Peggy Wood, said he was known as “Buck.”

“He never met a stranger and was loved by everyone,” Wood told NBC News. “He is greatly missed by his family. This is a loss we will never get over.”

Clark was the youngest of all his siblings, his sister said.

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“There was 9 years between us,” she said. “We were the ‘babies’ out of nine.”

Melissa Stanford

Melissa Stanford.
Melissa Stanford.via Facebook

Stanford was a mother, daughter, sister and aunt, according to her niece, Brittany Kirouac.

Kirouac said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spoke to families of the victims on the day of the blast and told them “there was a zero percent chance of survival.”

“Keep our family in your prayers, send good vibes, whatever you do,” Kirouac wrote in a Facebook post.

Jeremy Moore

Jeremy Moore.
Jeremy Moore.via Facebook

On Friday, Moore’s mother, Ava Hinson, asked for prayers for her son after hearing there had been an explosion at his workplace.

She described her son, who lived near her, as “sweet as sugar.”

“I call him ‘my little boy’ and he would tell you that he was my little boy and he was about 6′ 7″ and weighs about 300 pounds,” Hinson told NBC News on Saturday.

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Moore had been working in the munitions industry for almost 19 years, his father, Gary Moore, said. On the day of the blast, he dropped his daughter off at his mother’s house and went to work as he normally would.

“At 7:45 a.m., the day turned very abnormal, and here we are,” Gary Moore said.

Hinson went to visit her son’s house after hearing about the blast, hopeful that she would find him.

“And it hit me, just a few minutes ago, that he won’t be back,” Hinson said.

Moore would have turned 38 on Oct. 20.

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Jason Adams

Jason Adams.
Jason Adams.via Facebook

Adams and his wife, Valerie, just celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary, she said in a Facebook post.

“How am I suppose to live without my soulmate, love of my life and my best friend,” she wrote.

Billy Baker

Billy Baker.
Billy Baker.via Facebook

Baker’s cousin, Emily Tate, announced his death on Facebook the day after the blast.

“Billy always seemed big and sturdy — larger than life,” Tate wrote. “He always had a smile and a hug for me, his ‘little cuz.’”

Tate asked for prayers for his wife, sons and grandchildren.

Mindy Clifton

Mindy Clifton.
Mindy Clifton.via Facebook

A friend of Clifton’s remembered her as “a big personality wrapped around a caring heart,” while another said she took him under her wing at the start of his career in the corrections industry.

“When we last spoke, I told you ‘I Love you’ and your response was…’I love you too brother,’ so i have absolutely no regrets,” JayVion Mcvadian wrote.

Reyna Gillahan

Reyna Gillahan.
Reyna Gillahan.via Facebook

Gillahan’s daughter, Rosalina, said her mother’s dream was to pay off her home.

“She was a beautiful soul — loving, strong, and always thinking of others before herself,” Rosalina Gillahan wrote in a Facebook post.

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Donald Yowell

Donald Yowell.
Donald Yowell.via Facebook

A friend of Yowell’s said, “his love, his laughter, and his hugs were all larger than life.”

Ashlee Oliver asked for prayers for his family and loved ones, and advised everyone to live life the way he did.

“And in honor of Don… be kind, forgive easily, and love well,” Oliver wrote in a Facebook post. “All things he did perfectly.”

Melinda Rainey

Rainey was passionate about WWE, according to her nephew’s wife, Kimberly Thomas-Thorn.

“She was one of the sweetest, kindest people I’ve met,” she wrote. “I’m going to miss her talking about WWE wrestling and aggravating Josh about TN vs BAMA.”



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Medical expert speaks on measles impact in Middle Tennessee

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Medical expert speaks on measles impact in Middle Tennessee


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Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker and his aide, who were convicted on federal corruption charges

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Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker and his aide, who were convicted on federal corruption charges


President Donald Trump pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who were convicted on federal corruption charges.

Casada, a Republican, was sentenced in September to 36 months in prison after being convicted on 17 charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cothren, the aide, received a shorter sentence.

Casada confirmed the pardon on Thursday in a statement to NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville, saying: “Yes the president called me today and granted me a full pardon. I am grateful of his trust and his full confidence in my innocence through this whole ordeal.”

In a statement, a White House official confirmed Trump’s decision to pardon Casada and Cothren and blamed the Biden administration for over-prosecuting the two men.

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“The Biden Department of Justice significantly over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue involving constituent mailers — which were billed at competitive prices, never received a complaint from legislators, and resulted in a net profit loss of less than $5,000. The Biden DOJ responded with an armed raid, perp walk, and suggested sentences exceeding 10 years — penalties normally reserved for multimillion-dollar fraudsters,” the official told NBC News.

The investigation of both men began during Trump’s first term — and the raids of their homes — were conducted in January 2021, while Trump was still in office. The judge who oversaw the case and handed down Casada and Cothren’s sentences was appointed by Trump in his first term.

The charges against Casada and Cothren centered on a consulting firm they founded with another lawmaker, called Phoenix Solutions. Prosecutors alleged that the former House speaker and his aide used the company to illegally funnel money to themselves for campaign and taxpayer-funded work, including by organizing a $52,000 mailer program for Tennessee lawmakers.

Prosecutors said they used a false name — Matthew Phoenix — to run the company.

Several years before Casada was charged, he served as House speaker in Tennessee, but resigned in 2019 after a no-confidence vote by his fellow lawmakers. The vote came in the wake of another scandal involving Casada and Cothren, where the two were accused of exchanging sexually explicit text messages about women. Casada apologized for the texts and said that they were “not the person I am.”

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The president this term has also pardoned several other former politicians, including former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former Tennessee GOP state Sen. Brian Kelsey and former GOP Las Vegas City Councilmember Michele Fiore. He also commuted former GOP Rep. George Santos’ prison sentence.



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2026 Tennessee baseball schedule

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2026 Tennessee baseball schedule


Feb. 13 (Fri) 4:30 PM ET Nicholls State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 14 (Sat) 4 PM ET Nicholls State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 15 (Sun) 1 PM ET Nicholls State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 17 (Tue) 4 PM ET UNC Asheville Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 20 (Fri) 4:30 PM ET Kent State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 21 (Sat) 4 PM ET Kent State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 22 (Sun) 1 PM ET Kent State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 24 (Tue) 4 PM ET Bellarmine Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) Feb. 27 (Fri) 4 PM ET UCLA Arlington, Texas (Globe Life Field) Feb. 28 (Sat) 12 PM ET Arizona State Arlington, Texas (Globe Life Field) March 1 (Sun) 11:30 AM ET Virginia Tech Arlington, Texas (Globe Life Field) March 3 (Tue) 4 PM ET ETSU Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 4 (Wed) 4 PM ET Oakland Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 6 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET Wright State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 7 (Sat) 6 PM ET Wright State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 8 (Sun) 1 PM ET Wright State Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 10 (Tue) 6 PM ET Tennessee Tech Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 13 (Fri) 6 PM ET Georgia Athens, Ga.  March 14 (Sat) 2 PM ET Georgia Athens, Ga.  March 15 (Sun) 1 PM ET Georgia Athens, Ga.  March 17 (Tue) 6 PM ET Eastern Kentucky Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 20 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET Missouri Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 21 (Sat) 6 PM ET Missouri Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 22 (Sun) 1 PM ET Missouri Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 24 (Tue) 6 PM ET USC Upstate Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) March 27 (Fri) TBD Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn.  March 28 (Sat) TBD Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn.  March 29 (Sun) TBD Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn.  March 31 (Tue) 6 PM ET Austin Peay Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 3 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET LSU Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 4 (Sat) 6 PM ET LSU Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 5 (Sun) 1 PM ET LSU Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 7 (Tue) 6 PM ET Northern Kentucky Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 10 (Fri) TBD Mississippi State Starkville, Miss.  April 11 (Sat) TBD Mississippi State Starkville, Miss.  April 12 (Sun) TBD Mississippi State Starkville, Miss.  April 14 (Tue) 6 PM ET UNC Asheville Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 17 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET Ole Miss Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 18 (Sat) 6 PM ET Ole Miss Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 19 (Sun) 1 PM ET Ole Miss Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 21 (Tue) 6 PM ET Lipscomb Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 23 (Thu) TBD Alabama Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 24 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET Alabama Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 25 (Sat) 1 PM ET Alabama Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) April 28 (Tue) 6 PM ET West Georgia Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) May 1 (Fri) TBD Kentucky Lexington, Ky.  May 2 (Sat) TBD Kentucky Lexington, Ky.  May 3 (Sun) TBD Kentucky Lexington, Ky.  May 5 (Tue) 6 PM ET Presbyterian Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) May 8 (Fri) 6:30 PM ET Texas Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) May 9 (Sat) 6 PM ET Texas Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) May 10 (Sun) 1 PM ET Texas Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) May 12 (Tue) 5 PM ET Belmont Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium) May 14 (Thu) TBD Oklahoma Oklahoma City, Okla. (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark) May 15 (Fri) TBD Oklahoma Oklahoma City, Okla. (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark) May 16 (Sat) TBD Oklahoma Oklahoma City, Okla. (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark) May 19 (Tue) TBD SEC Tournament Hoover, Ala. (Hoover Met Stadium)



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