about knoxville

For Knoxville hospitals 2006 was a year of record in several ways.

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center delivered a record 3,043 babies last year, including 66 sets of twins, eight sets of triplets and a set of quadruplets. More than 15,000 babies have been delivered at the hospital since 2006.

The University of Tennessee Medical Center saw a record number of patients - about 55,000 - in its emergency department, including a record 3,712 in its level I trauma center.

In his 2006 State of the State address, Gov. Phil Bredesen called education "our fundamental priority."

In 2005, Bredesen pushed through the Legislature an expanded pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds, and this year he is proposing to expand the voluntary program to serve more students.

The governor also hopes to create this year a competitive residential high school for math and science at the University of Tennessee Space Institute in Tullahoma.

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox CountyGR6. It is also the principal city of the "Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area" which is included in the "Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area". As of the 2005 census estimates, Knoxville had a total population of 180,130, with a metro population of 655,400.