BLOUNTVILLE - An Airport Authority took over today as the new governing structure for Tri-Cities Regional Airport, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Board members were appointed for the authority and new by-laws were adopted.
Jim Rector, former mayor of Bristol, Va., was named the authority's chairman to take over in 2013.
The authority took the place of TCRA's commission governing structure that had served the airport since the 1930s.
TCRA's owners - area cities and counties - will retain their ability to appoint authority members under the new structure.
But the authority will assume the airport's debt and have eminent domain power.
For more, see Saturday's Times-News.