Good morning, Nashville. Just when we thought things with the convention center couldn’t get any more dramatic, News Channel 5 uncovered another contract that blew the budget out of the water. A consultant hired to help out with the hotel portion of the project was originally capped at $104,500, but then MDHA removed the cap six months later  and placed a new $500,000 cap on it last week. The total price tag for the consultant was $315,000, which is about three times more than the original budget.

• Metro councilman Sam Coleman is filing his own non-discrimination ordinance to compete with the controversial one sponsored by Councilwoman Megan Barry. Councilman Coleman’s bill would ban discrimination based on anything other than job performance, though Metro’s lawyers say that the vague language wouldn’t actually protect anyone.
• The Tennessean finds that folks are still coming to Tennessee on vacation, but they’re not staying in hotels nearly as much as they used to. This is probably some bad news for the hotel tax, which is supposed to be paying for our shiny new convention center.
• Bits & pieces. Metro Schools fully expect some outbreaks of the swine flu … Just in time for school to start, some hooligans covered the Schwab Elementary School playground with graffiti … The Music City Star commuter train had a bit of a bomb scare yesterday.

Photo by Neuski.

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