Good morning, Nashville. Although our water situation here has been bad (Williamson folks, you’re off the hook), at least we’re not Montgomery County. Because their sewage treatment plant has been out of commission since the flood, every time they flush a toilet, the untreated waste goes straight into the Cumberland. We would like to also point out that there are lots of folks downstream from Montgomery County including Clarksville, Ashland City, and well… us. As far as the water situation here is concerned, city leaders have created this fancy graphic to tell us how much water we should be conserving, and we can also expect to catch our first glimpse inside the actual plant after Mayor Dean and the media tour it later today.
- Help for low-income Tennesseans. Starting today, low-income families and individuals might qualify for some emergency cash assistance and food stamps through the Department of Human Services. The only catch is that all applications must be filed within the next 7 days. If you or someone you know is in need, head over to your local DHS office this week.
- Free counseling available. On a somewhat related note, the Family & Children’s Services office is offering free walk-in counseling this week for flood victims.
- Slow and steady. As of Wednesday, 60 of the city’s normal 147 buses were in operation and they’re adding more every day. The buses are still running on a Saturday schedule and are still free until they’re completely back in service. For more details about which routes are running, check out MTA’s press release.
- Some famous people pitch in. At least one half of the country duo Big & Rich, Big Kenny, was out at Antioch Middle School yesterday with Mayor Dean handing out water. In fairness, John Rich is giving out this song for free to raise awareness but we haven’t yet listened to it because that would require signing up for his mailing list. Meanwhile, about 70 Titans and Titans staffers spent yesterday gutting houses in West Nashville.
- Bits & pieces. Jerry Seinfeld is here to save the day … A bill that would’ve mandated English-only driver’s license exams died in the House yesterday … Watch out for the killer lettuce … The Coleman Community Center is running out of food to distribute to flood victims … We can’t really comprehend this story, but we think the Sounds lost to Will Ferrell pretending to be a Venezuelan pitcher or something. Thank goodness for Youtube! … Tennessee’s sales tax revenue collections actually increased for the first time in two years.
Photo by Jon Erickson.