Good morning, Nashville. As much as we’d love a snow day, we’re pretty glad we’re not part of the 500,000 folks in Tennessee and Kentucky who are stuck without power for the next few days. NES is lending a few of their workers out to Kentucky to try and get things back up and running a little more quickly, but we can imagine that it probably still sucks. So far, this week’s ice storm is being blamed for three deaths. Our hearts go out to all the folks affected.

• Whoops! Ron Littlefield, Mayor of the ‘Noog, had to call up Volkswagen and apologize for using their logo on his campaign literature without permission. By the way, the mayor is on Twitter now so head over there and give him a hearty welcome (we only wish our mayor was that cool)!
• Money would be good. If the economic stimulus plan goes through, Tennessee would be getting upwards of $1 billion. Though we’re sort of surprised that $600M of that would go to TDOT, the $350M set aside for schools seems like a good idea to us.
• Bits & pieces. A Tennessee judge denied a death row inmate’s attempt to delay his execution which is scheduled for next week … Oh, good–Duke University scientists found high levels of arsenic and radioactive radium in the sludge they’re trying to scoop up in Kingston … The Tennessee House Ethics Committee has decided to throw out the sexual harassment charges against Speaker Kent Williams brought by Rep. Susan Lynn.

Photo by  jimbenttree.