Monthly Archives: December, 2011

• A protest on Capitol Hill got a little rowdy today, leading to the arrest of seven protesters who tried to disrupt a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The individuals were there on behalf of workers’ unions to protest some “union-busting” legislation moving through the Senate. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey later issued a statement dismissing the protesters as “nomadic bands of professional agitators on spring break,” and added, “We talk through our differences here. Tennessee is not Wisconsin.” [WKRN]
• Metro’s new nondiscrimination ordinance is scheduled to come to a final vote tonight, but the bill’s sponsors are expected to defer it because some of their ‘yea’ votes are out of town for Spring Break. [City Paper]
• Tennessee, meet your new and improved driver’s license. These newfangled licenses contain some added security measures to combat fraud and will be rolling out across the state over the next 4-6 months. Old licenses will still be valid until their expiration date. [WTVF]
• The TVA is actually reducing fuel charges in April, which will save residential customers an average of $2 per month. Since gas is certainly not getting any cheaper, they attribute it to a change in accounting. [WTVF]
• Following yesterday’s State of the State address, Governor Haslam announced that a new $40 million fund is in place to open more charter schools across the state and support existing ones. They’ll be using about $15 million in federal Race to the Top funding and more than $20 million in private donations. [Tennessean]
• Belle Meade residents have largely poo-pooed the current proposal to put a drive-thru Chick-fil-a at the corner of Harding and Woodlawn. According to recent surveys, they are concerned with traffic problems that might be caused by the current plan and they also just don’t want anymore fast food. [City Paper]

Photo by Bryan Quigley.

A protest on Capitol Hill got a little rowdy today, leading to the arrest of seven protesters who tried to disrupt a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The individuals were there on behalf of workers’ unions to protest some “union-busting” legislation moving through the Senate. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey later issued a statement dismissing the protesters [...]

• Nearly 1,200 teachers and more than 16,000 students were absent from Metro Schools on this fine day which would have been the first day of Spring Break had students not missed just about all of January due to snow and ice. [WSMV]
• Governor Haslam is giving his State of the State address in the House chambers as we write this. We should have a better idea about what’s up with the budget situation by tomorrow morning. [WTVF]
• Franklin is creating some new videos and educational opportunities for their residents to learn about recycling since it was recently discovered through a survey that no one knows what to put in their recycling bins out there. To be fair, they’ve only had a curbside recycling option since July. [WSMV]
• The final vote on Metro’s nondiscrimination ordinance, which requires all of Metro’s contractors to have nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity, happens tomorrow night. Nike issued a letter of support to Metro Councilman Mike Jameson this morning. [WSMV]
• Mayor Dean issued a statement from Japan today. [In Session]
• Speaking of, several local nonprofits have launched initiatives to help Japan get back on their feet. [WSMV]

Photo by Joel Williams.

Nearly 1,200 teachers and more than 16,000 students were absent from Metro Schools on this fine day which would have been the first day of Spring Break had students not missed just about all of January due to snow and ice. [WSMV] Governor Haslam is giving his State of the State address in the House [...]

Good morning, Nashville. As we sit here shivering at our keyboard, we’re basically just wondering whose idea it was to throw snowflakes at us after we thought it was spring. But we digress. We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of the Nashville Flood and Mayor Dean’s flood team is getting ready to study some options for keeping our city safer during (heaven forbid!) another similar disaster. They’ve kicked around a series of possibilities including retractable flood walls, higher levees, spongy athletic fields and some sort of beefed-up protections around the water plant, but they’ll have to weigh each option against what Metro can afford even with the Army Corps of Engineers potentially footing 65% of the bill.

• Nashville State is looking at the possibility of doing away with its federal loan program because too many students aren’t able to pay up, which means the school risks losing its Pell Grants and work-study funding.
• A judge denied the request of plaintiffs in the Murfreesboro Mosque case to view 31,000 emails exchanged between the county mayor, planning director and assistant planning directors, saying the request was too broad. The plaintiffs believe these emails will reveal shady closed-door dealings that resulted in the passage of the mosque’s building permit.
• Bits & pieces. Someone stole dozens of bronze gravesite vases from the Mount Olivet Cemetery … One Metro teacher is getting a little creative by incorporating Twitter discussions into his classroom … The Titans are scoping out Cam Newton as a potential new quarterback.

Photo by Eva Maria.

Good morning, Nashville. As we sit here shivering at our keyboard, we’re basically just wondering whose idea it was to throw snowflakes at us after we thought it was spring. But we digress. We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of the Nashville Flood and Mayor Dean’s flood team is getting ready to study some [...]