Good morning, Nashville. Over the past few months, we’ve been following the story of three VA hospitals, including one in Murfreesboro, that may have infected dozens of veterans with HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C through the use of contaminated medical equipment. VA officials are slated to testify at a congressional hearing in DC in hopes of finding out who was responsible for the mistake. As many as 10,000 veterans have been advised to get tested for the diseases and 6 ended up testing positive for HIV, 16 for Hepatitis B, and 34 for Hepatitis C. Though some folks are saying that the veterans likely had the diseases before the contamination, Congress isn’t quite convinced.
- Save our schools. The school board is starting to get a little nervous about test scores coming back next month, which will determine whether the school system meets No Child Left Behind guidelines. If they don’t measure up to the federal benchmarks, the Tennessee Department of Education will be taking some pretty drastic measures to restructure. Again.
- Who needs the internet? In the wake of CMApocalypse, there is this: “Perhaps more disturbing to the country music industry is the news that 42 percent of those ardent fans who do not have home Internet access have no desire to remedy the situation.” (h/t @miiacom)
- Bits & pieces. The CMA Music Festival did just fine this year thanks to the locals taking a sudden interest in country music … We’re pretty impressed with the kids at Hendersonville High School for launching an internet campaign to save their teacher, Mr. Fuqua … There was a giant world peace demonstration in Centennial Park yesterday involving Cindy Sheehan which we somehow missed … It may storm today, or it may not.
A year ago on Nashvillest: We poked fun at some Metro Council members who took a dip in the Cumberland to prove that it’s really not that nasty, tried to fend off the first of several state coups of our school system, took a trip to the Nashville Farmer’s Market, and wondered how Titans wide receiver Brandon Jones managed to accidentally bring a gun to the airport.
Photo by Zebra Mike.