Good morning, Nashville. The Contributor street newspaper, with help from the ACLU, will be suing the City of Brentwood over an ordinance that keeps their vendors from selling newspapers on streets and sidewalks, allegedly depriving them of their right to free speech. Eight vendors have already been cited and fined for violating the ordinance, which the city says is a matter of safety. Though Brentwood has already amended this ordinance to allow vendors on sidewalks only, effective July 1, The Contributor is still concerned about the First Amendment violation and adverse effects on vendors’ livelihoods. The Contributor currently has about twice the distribution of any other homeless newspaper in the U.S. or Canada.

• Repeat offender. Titans badboy Kenny Britt continued his offseason adventures this week by turning himself into Metro Police for a couple of outstanding warrants regarding some false information he provided on a driver’s license application. Though he was booked into the Metro jail, he posted bail shortly thereafter. This brings the official count up to three arrests this year and seven encounters with the law since he came to the Titans in 2009.
• Oh, blast. Belmont University is building a giant new dorm near the corner of 15th and Bernard, but neighbors aren’t too fond of all the blasting that will be going on for the next few months. At 8am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm every day, construction crews will be setting off explosives that rock the surrounding neighborhoods. One ex-military neighbor said that the noise wasn’t bad, but likened the feeling to that of a hand grenade.
• Bits & pieces. An inmate in Hamblen County near Knoxville escaped from a minimum-security workhouse after leaving a note explaining that he needed to go fishing … Titans merchandise sales are already feeling the effects from the NFL lockout … We’re starting to get excited as we watch U2′s stage go up at Vanderbilt this week … A North Nashville robbery suspect left his wallet and ID at the scene of the crime. D’oh!

Photo by Tom C. Frundle.

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