Good morning, Nashville. It was a rough weekend for East Tennessee after some Department of Energy contractors accidentally poisoned 30,000 fish in Oak Ridge. On top of that, news surfaced of floodwaters causing some of the spilled Kingston coal ash to wash back into the Tennessee River and turn it a nasty shade of grey. Kingston residents may finally be getting some much-needed attention from Congress, though; US Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson paid the town a visit yesterday to hear from the folks whose lives have been drastically affected by last December’s disaster. Her thoughts? “This is a bit more serious than we anticipated … I feel like the reports we’ve gotten have been incomplete.” We can’t say we’re surprised.
- How badly do we need jobs? Morgan County commissioner Nick Bishop nixed his own proposal to bring the last of the Gitmo terrorism suspects to a state prison in Petro, Tennessee for the sake of creating jobs. In related news, after six people have escaped from Tennessee’s state prisons this year, officials are thinking that the old barbed wire fence idea might not be enough.
- Our state overfloweth. Apparently the 40,000-person estimate for CMApocalypse was low–We’re now hearing upwards of 52,000 per day, plus the 80,000 people trekking into Tennessee for Bonnaroo. That said, our state is going to be pretty full next weekend.
- Bits & pieces. “Warm, muggy Monday.” Not the words we wanted to hear! … The heirs to the Rocky Top fortune (yes, the song) are all upset because A&E used part of the anthem in a true-crime show … We’re trying not to think about how we’re the only people in Nashville who didn’t see Coldplay last night and this isn’t helping … A 7-year old kid is working around the clock to keep Nashville’s homeless cool this summer … UT football tickets go on sale today!
A year ago on Nashvillest: We learned all about the bell towers on the Bicentennial Mall (one of the coolest things in Nashville), got our first of many morning chuckles from our favorite weatherman Mr. Tim, and got all excited for another installment of the 48-hour Film Festival.
Photo by victorjames615.
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