Monthly Archives: December, 2011
Happy Holidays from Nashvillest!
Good morning, Nashville. Like lots of you, we’re spending the next few days running around the country visiting all the folks we like and love. As such, our posts will be a little sporadic between now and the New Year. We hope you guys have a wonderful holiday, and safe travels! Speaking of travels, we’ll leave you with this video of yesterday’s flashmob at the Nashville International Airport.
Good morning, Nashville. Like lots of you, we’re spending the next few days running around the country visiting all the folks we like and love. As such, our posts will be a little sporadic between now and the New Year. We hope you guys have a wonderful holiday, and safe travels! Speaking of travels, we’ll [...]
Happy Hour: Holiday Silliness Is The Best Kind Of Silliness
- So a bunch of airline employees and police officers staged a Christmas flashmob in BNA’s Terminal C today! And if you caught this on video during your travels, you are basically obligated to send it to us. And apparently there will be more of these. [WTVF]
- And the Off Broadway Shoes at Opry Mills received a permit to rebuild, which might be a sign that the entire mall is preparing to eventually reopen. [Tennessean]
- And that is the only news you need to know today, really! The end.
Photo by hikenandhistory.
So a bunch of airline employees and police officers staged a Christmas flashmob in BNA’s Terminal C today! And if you caught this on video during your travels, you are basically obligated to send it to us. And apparently there will be more of these. [WTVF] And the Off Broadway Shoes at Opry Mills received [...]
Bright & Early: To White Christmas Or Not To White Christmas Edition
Good morning, Nashville. With just three shopping days left until Christmas, National Weather Service has already begun cranking out their all-caps weather alerts about that snow we might be getting on Christmas day. Currently, they say we could get anywhere from 1-4 inches of snow, which would be Nashville’s first measurable Christmas snowfall in 17 years. But on the other hand, our friends at Nashville WX are aiming to stamp out our sledding hopes early because some of their models predict we won’t get anything but rain.
- Population growth. According to the latest census data, Tennessee’s population has grown more than 11% since 2000 and now contains 6.3 million of us. This makes us the 17th biggest state in the country.
- She’s a survivor. Rudrani Devi, the Nashvillian who was wounded in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, has made nearly a full recovery over the last two years and plans to run a marathon. She was shot in the leg, but managed to be among the four people who made it out alive.
- Bits & pieces. If you’re in town for New Year’s, they’ll be doing that guitar drop thing again this year … According to the TVA, peak energy demand was at 8am on December 14th … The Metro Council approved free parking for folks with hybrids … Speaking of parking, Garth fans were none too pleased by Central Parking’s decision to more than double their rates for concertgoers … The Metro Council scrapped a bill that would have revoked the agreement between Metro and Belmont University for the use of Rose Park … State troopers will be setting up more than 100 DUI checkpoints over the holidays.
Photo by Grey Street Girl.
Good morning, Nashville. With just three shopping days left until Christmas, National Weather Service has already begun cranking out their all-caps weather alerts about that snow we might be getting on Christmas day. Currently, they say we could get anywhere from 1-4 inches of snow, which would be Nashville’s first measurable Christmas snowfall in 17 [...]
Bright & Early: Our Darkest Hour Edition
Good morning, Nashville. As we pointed out yesterday, today is the longest and darkest day of the year, which is sort of depressing! It’s also cloudy outside which means our entire city likely missed out on the rare winter solstice lunar eclipse last night, so thank goodness for the internet. At any rate, the good news is that our days only get longer from here and we can hopefully put an end to this whole getting-dark-at-3:30 business.
- More DUI devices. Starting in January some first-time DUI offenders will be required to have a breathalyzer device installed in their vehicle that requires them to pass the test before they can fire up the ignition. Though these things are already used for repeat offenders, a new law will require them for folks whose BAC was .15 at the time of arrest or folks who were transporting minors.
- Meanwhile in Hawkins County… Police encountered four aggressive monkeys while trying to bust up a meth lab. But thankfully they were able to shut down the lab, arrest the dude (who was appropriately nicknamed “Monkey Man”) and turn the monkeys over to his wife.
- Bits & pieces. Winter weather means more potholes for TDOT to fix … Not sure about a white Christmas, but we may be looking at a slushy one … Hillbilly heroin bust in Murfreesboro … Tennessee and 17 other states are suing most major credit card companies over swipe fees … Belmont’s President Bob Fisher sat down to answer six pages of questions from the Tennessean …
Photo by Just Katety.
Good morning, Nashville. As we pointed out yesterday, today is the longest and darkest day of the year, which is sort of depressing! It’s also cloudy outside which means our entire city likely missed out on the rare winter solstice lunar eclipse last night, so thank goodness for the internet. At any rate, the good [...]
Happy Hour: The Darkest Of Dark
- Tomorrow is the darkest day of the year! It’s also the darkest day in 372 years, because there is a full moon eclipse happening at 2:41 am during the Winter Solstice for the first time since 1638. So after tomorrow, we can all relax because the worst of our daylight deprivation is behind us. [Gizmodo]
- Meanwhile in Rutherford County, a guy tried to run over three sheriff’s deputies with a tractor while they were chasing him down for driving recklessly on the aforementioned tractor, which was stolen. [WZTV]
- Toys for Tots is still in serious need of donations! [WKRN]
- An audit of the state’s low-income weatherization program found that many of the funds have been misdirected and abused. The program was intended to provide free weatherization for the homes of low-income families to hopefully save them some money on heating and air conditioning through better insulation. [City Paper]
- Amazon.com finalized their deal to move two distribution facilities to the Chattanooga area which will create 1,400 new jobs over the next few years. [WTVF]
Photo by niseag03.
Tomorrow is the darkest day of the year! It’s also the darkest day in 372 years, because there is a full moon eclipse happening at 2:41 am during the Winter Solstice for the first time since 1638. So after tomorrow, we can all relax because the worst of our daylight deprivation is behind us. [Gizmodo] [...]
Bright & Early: Banner Year Edition
Good morning, Nashville. With 2010 coming to a close (!!!), it’s that time of year when all of our local news outlets start getting all retrospective on us. City Paper is the first to take a crack at summarizing one of the strangest years in Nashville’s history, highlighting that minor flooding incident (duh!), drama at the fairgrounds, our boring governor’s race, the ongoing Murfreesboro mosque debacle, our fancy new convention center and of course Randy Moss. We just can’t believe they left out the Giant Bellevue Beaver! The nerve.
- ‘Tis the season for flash mobs. For some reason, everyone decided to have flash mobs this weekend! Nashville staged a three-minute freeze in the Rivergate Mall while the Memphis Symphony Chorus sort of one-upped us with a Christmas singalong in the library.
- DUI numbers skewed. The number of DUI arrests in 2010 is drastically lower than in 2009, and the Metro Police Department is blaming the flood. Because so many officers were called off of DUI duty during the months of May and June to deal with flood-related stuff, far fewer folks were busted for driving under the influence. The number of traffic fatalities did not increase, however.
- Bits & pieces. If you’re headed to the post office today, build in some extra time as it’s the busiest mail day of the year … The Tennessee Tower is back open today after being closed for most of last week due to flooding … The Sommet CEO was busted for domestic assault over the weekend … There are some bridges in Wayne County leaking mercury, which does not sound very good … Kroger is recalling pet food in 19 states including Tennessee.
Photo by Vic James Photography.
Good morning, Nashville. With 2010 coming to a close (!!!), it’s that time of year when all of our local news outlets start getting all retrospective on us. City Paper is the first to take a crack at summarizing one of the strangest years in Nashville’s history, highlighting that minor flooding incident (duh!), drama at [...]
Happy Hour: Lights, Camera, Action
- Belmont’s discrimination debacle landed them front and center on the New York Times’ website today. [NYTimes]
- Vandy finally landed a new football coach today. Former Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin hopes to turn the team around after the two straight seasons of a 2-10 record. [Tennessean]
- Meanwhile in Murfreesboro, mosque opponents plan to keep on fighting the construction of the Murfreesboro Islamic Center. [WSMV]
- It’s estimated that about 1/3 of displaced flood victims are back in their homes in time for the holidays. [WSMV]
- As we come up on the second anniversary of the TVA ash spill in Kingston, the TVA still maintains that no negative health effects have been caused by the spill. Many folks in Kingston would beg to differ. [Tennessean]
- Nashville Public Library director Donna Nicely accepted a National Medal for Museum and Library Services form First Lady Michelle Obama today in Washington, DC. [Tennessean]
- Somehow when we read the headline “Vince Young Appears in Titans’ Locker Room,” we were hoping for a much more exciting, more supernatural story than this one. [WTVF]
- East Nashville staple Mad Donna’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but will stay open until they get their finances together. [Tennessean]
Photo by Paul Nicholson.
Belmont’s discrimination debacle landed them front and center on the New York Times’ website today. [NYTimes] Vandy finally landed a new football coach today. Former Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin hopes to turn the team around after the two straight seasons of a 2-10 record. [Tennessean] Meanwhile in Murfreesboro, mosque opponents plan to keep on [...]
Bright & Early: A Day Late And A Dollar Short Edition
Good morning, Nashville, and happy Friday. The flooded Tennessee Tower is causing some serious problems for thousands of folks waiting for unemployment checks. A sprinkler system inside the building burst earlier this week, flooding an electrical vault and causing a pretty big power outage. Tennessee Department of Labor officials say that about 40,000 checks are stuck inside the mailing machine and won’t go out until Monday. Because the Tennessee Tower houses some other state government offices, too, state officials are also having a tough time figuring out final revenue projections that usually come out around this time and are used to create next year’s spending plan.
- Happy holidays to us. Garth Brooks played his first two Bridgestone shows last night, and he only has seven more to go between now and Christmas. The series of flood benefits is supposed to raise millions of dollars for the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s flood relief fund and we couldn’t be more grateful. Thanks, Papa Garth!
- Movin’ on up. We’re getting a new police chief soon! As you may recall, former Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas ditched us for New Orleans shortly after the May flood (okay, so the job had been in the works for a while) and was succeeded by Interim Police Chief Steve Anderson. Now they’re hoping to select someone permanent from within the police force and Anderson is in the running.
- Bits & pieces. Those crazy kids at App State have taken to stealing very important leprechaun statues … A bank robber struck a Murfreesboro Road Suntrust wearing a cowboy hat … Asurion will be adding 500 new jobs in the Nashville area over the next five years … Vanderbilt still hasn’t found a new coach … The TVA was able to plug their gypsum leak yesterday in Kingston.
Photo by Andy Gasparini.
Good morning, Nashville, and happy Friday. The flooded Tennessee Tower is causing some serious problems for thousands of folks waiting for unemployment checks. A sprinkler system inside the building burst earlier this week, flooding an electrical vault and causing a pretty big power outage. Tennessee Department of Labor officials say that about 40,000 checks are [...]
Bright & Early: A Drop In The Bucket Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Tennessee schools will have to wait a little while longer to find out if their standardized testing results were up to par with No Child Left Behind standards. Though they would typically know by now, the state recently did a massive overhaul of testing and scoring procedures because they believed the tests weren’t accurately gauging students’ knowledge. As a result, test scores were much lower than usual and now education officials are trying to sort through disputes and appeals from schools who don’t think the scores are fair. And because they’re already several months late, they say, they don’t see a point in rushing the process since the stakes are so high. However, while students are usually offered the option to transfer schools if their school does is not in compliance with NCLB, that may not be the case this year as they’d be transferring schools halfway through the school year.
- No need to be alarmed. The Kingston TVA fossil plant has sprung a leak! Water was found to be leaking from a gypsum pond at the same plant that spilled 1.1 billion gallons of fly ash all over the town two years ago around this time, resulting in one of the largest ecological disasters in US history. TVA officials say this one is completely harmless though, and they’re fixing it!
- Would you like some crack with that? Police raided the El Pueblito Mexican restaurant in Smyrna this week after the business was found to be a cover for dealing cocaine. The owner was arrested and is currently out on bail.
- Bits & pieces. Former Belmont soccer coach Lisa Howe now says that a statement she emailed to a coworker was used without her knowledge in the school’s press release about her departure … At least a few Titans are apparently harboring some ill feelings towards Vince Young … So how ’bout that Preds game last night? … We didn’t get much ice, but some other parts of the state sure did.
Photo by hikenandhistory.
Good morning, Nashville. Tennessee schools will have to wait a little while longer to find out if their standardized testing results were up to par with No Child Left Behind standards. Though they would typically know by now, the state recently did a massive overhaul of testing and scoring procedures because they believed the tests [...]
Happy Hour: God Speed, Which Is 35 MPH
- Legendary Nashville radio DJ Gerry House signed off for the last time this morning and everyone was very sad, including us. [WSMV]
- With only a few weeks left in office, Governor Phil’s official portrait was unveiled today. He is apparently staring out a window with a pair of glasses in his hand, which sounds very pensive. We feel he should’ve at least been wearing the Green Vest of Comfort. [WTVF]
- The Tennessee Department of Labor assures us that there are no undocumented immigrants working at the Music City Center construction site, despite Rep. Mike Turner’s assertion that he saw workers there once that he suspects were illegal. [WZTV]
- If you were trying to catch a Delta flight out of Nashville this evening, you’re probably out of luck. [WSMV]
- The Tennessee Tower could be closed again tomorrow after a sprinkler system broke inside the building yesterday and necessitated the evacuation of about 1,000 workers. [WTVF]
- The TVA is jacking up our rates for the ninth time in the last 10 months. How many more rate hikes until we’ve paid off that pesky Kingston ash spill, we wonder? (Okay, it’s actually a fuel cost adjustment.) [Tennessean]
Photo by jodestick.
Legendary Nashville radio DJ Gerry House signed off for the last time this morning and everyone was very sad, including us. [WSMV] With only a few weeks left in office, Governor Phil’s official portrait was unveiled today. He is apparently staring out a window with a pair of glasses in his hand, which sounds very [...]
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