The Knoxville News-Sentinel from Knoxville, Tennessee • A1

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2021 KNOXNEWS.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Volume 95 No. 73 Home delivery pricing inside Subscribe 844-900-7097 $2.50 Weather High Low Rain. Forecast, 2A Group of Republican senators seeks bipartisan COVID-19 relief deal. 12A Abortion court fight continues Tennessee increasingly at forefront of the battle to overturn Roe v. Wade.

4A Triple-double from Key lifts Lady Vols to victory vs. Florida SPORTS, 1B XEJDHH-10030r The United Soccer League is coming to Knoxville in 2022, but the club take shape without input from you. The new team will be part of the Unit- ed Soccer League Two, an ad- vanced-skills developmental league mainly for elite high school and college- aged players who are on a professional track. Some of all MLS SuperDraft picks since 2010 have League Two experience. The is led by a group of local owners who see soccer as a way to bring the community together.

In an overlooking Market Square, the owners sat spaced apart around square tables last week to share their plans ex- clusively with Knox News. There is no club name. No logo. No club colors, no jersey pattern. No brand.

All of that is being researched and culti- vated, and the group is adamant that it be complete without fan input. The logo (or crest) will eventually be created by Matthew Wolf, who has de- signed dozens of professional soccer lo- gos. want this whole process that we build with group leader Drew McKenna told Knox News. not about us spinning something up for ourselves, about doing some- thing organically through Knoxville that people can be a part The club has no home yet, but the group has spoken with University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd about playing at his proposed Smokies Stadium downtown. Talks are underway about whether the city and county will build the stadium as the centerpiece of a massive See SOCCER, Page 6A EXCLUSIVE United Soccer League coming to city Owners say new club will be tightly tied to fan base Tyler Whetstone Knoxville News Sentinel USA TODAY NETWORK TENNESSEE There was good news last week on the vaccine front.

Moderna, a biomed- ical company that developed one of the two authorized COVID-19 vac- cines, said its version was against new strains emerging from the United Kingdom and South Africa. The company also announced that while its vaccine was slightly less ef- fective against the South African strain, a booster shot has been devel- oped to compensate. The booster would be administered in addition to the other two shots required for immu- nity. While a good thing, it might leave you wondering why the Moderna vaccine is more against one mutant strain and not a one. You might also be wondering how Moderna was able to produce a re- sponse to a mutant strain so quickly.

To answer that we need to talk about how mRNA vaccines work, what makes them than other vac- cines and how they prevent illness. How does the immune system work? When a disease infects you, it usu- ally triggers your immune system. This happens in two waves. The innate immune system respon- ds It reacts to damage signals and foreign proteins or chemical signa- tures in your body. Damage signals are parts of cells, like internal proteins or bits of cell membrane, that should never be around loose.

sort of like cells noticing that other cells nearby are bleeding or broken. When these sensors are tripped, your cells release their own signals to the rest of the body, calling for immune cells and increasing blood to the area. This process is called and is why infected areas are sore and swollen. The im- mune cells rush in to clear the infec- tion. Immune cells kill infectious agents with home-grown antimicrobi- als and by eating invaders.

Non-im- Experts detail how inoculation stops virus booster shot works against new strain Vincent Gabrielle Knoxville News Sentinel USA TODAY NETWORK TENNESSEE See VACCINE, Page 8A Prior to 2012, Joe Armstrong would almost feel embarrassed when people came to visit him in Knoxville. It for any particular quality the city was known for but, rather, what the city was missing: a Black radio station. was a he told Knox News. It was a void Armstrong was unique- ly to leaning on experience from his college days working sales for the original WJBE. The call sign stood for Brown Enter- according to Knox News ar- chives, as the Godfather of Soul owned BLACK HISTORY MONTH An old photo of a WJBE concert hangs at WJBE in Five Point in Knoxville.

PHOTOS BY CALVIN SENTINEL Black-owned WJBE stays true to James community vision Radio station promotes the unity in community Ryan Wilusz Knoxville News Sentinel USA TODAY NETWORK TENNESSEE Program Director Gene Thomas speaks into the microphone in his booth at WJBE in Five Point in Knoxville.See WJBE, Page 7A.