Good morning, Nashville. The State of Tennessee is cracking down on its employees’ bad habits by charging them 50 bucks if they can’t quit smoking by October 1. The new mandate goes for all state employees and spouses who are covered under the state health insurance plan. And for those needing a little extra help stepping away from the cigs, they’ll be providing counseling, drugs (crack?), and nicotine gum. So after y’all smoke your way through the cartons of cigarettes you bought this week before the tax hike, it may be time to give quitting a try.

• The Tennessee Department of Transportation is shelling out $5.7 million (don’t worry, it’s not stimulus money) to replace some of the wetlands they’ve destroyed with all that pesky road construction. How does one go about replacing wetlands, you ask? We have no idea.
• A Bridgestone/Firestone shop seems to have gotten the worst of the damage from a tornado that tore down Murfreesboro Road in South Nashville yesterday. Store employees (including the guy whose truck the building collapsed on) were already cracking jokes about it, though, so we guess it could’ve been worse?
• Bits & pieces. The TVA rate cut we mentioned yesterday could save you around $4-9 per month … Metro is asking the Department of Justice for some grant money to hire more officers … TDOT will be shutting down parts of I-40 this weekend, so check the schedule before you plan your trip.

Photo by cgrantham.