Good morning, Nashville. In light of all the hoopla surrounding the convention center these days, Mayor Dean is forming a new 9-member Convention Center Authority to handle the project since MDHA seems to be lacking a bit in the oversight department. Though the new board has been in the works for a while now, Metro finance director Richard Riebling admitted that News Channel 5’s investigative report did accelerate the process. If the project ever makes it through the Metro Council for approval, we’ll be looking at a groundbreaking in the spring.

• Parking rate increase. Because of the whole revenue shortage thing, Metro is looking at the possibility of raising parking rates for meters by as much as 50 cents. Ouch!
• Back at it. Congrats to the Murfreesboro Boys & Girls Club, which is reopening today for the first time since the tornado on March 28th. The building sustained some pretty serious damage during the storm, so staff and volunteers are excited to give the kiddos a chance to play again and show off the new renovations.
• Bits & pieces. Vanderbilt is starting its swine flu vaccine testing today … The TVA is putting an end to wet ash storage, such as the kind at the Kingston plant … LifeWay found that 1 in 8 people failed the background checks they’ve conducted on behalf of churches … A Tennessee state trooper is resigning after being accused of groping an 18-year old man while off-duty.

Photo by drarkane.