Good morning, Nashville, and happy Donut Day! Things got pretty tense at last night’s Metro Council meeting, where council members interrogated Metro Schools officials about their plan to lay off 600 custodians and 24 office workers in addition to doling out significant pay cuts to bus drivers. The plan, which will save MNPS an estimated $5.1 million per year, has been ill-received from the beginning and the Metro Council has made it clear many times that they don’t approve of the changes. Several council members went as far as asking each school board member if they’d consider not outsourcing the custodial work if the council were able to budget another $6 million for them; all but one of the MNPS officials said ‘no.’

• Open for business. The Wildhorse Saloon and the General Jackson Showboat are both reopening this weekend, just in time for CMApocalypse, which descends upon our fair city next Thursday. The General Jackson itself was fine, but the administrative and box offices were wiped out in the flood.
• Antioch still upset about Tent City. Antioch residents held a three-hour town meeting last night to vent about the temporary Tent City site that popped up last week and became home to nearly 40 homeless folks displaced by the flood. Businessman Lee Beaman, who donated the land for the encampment, apologized to the attendees and promised he had no idea it was a codes violation.
• Bits & pieces. Metro dedicated their latest piece of public art yesterday at the Public Square, which involves a “massive and indestructible crank“ (pictures please!) … The state is cracking down on seatbelt use this weekend, so be sure you buckle up–not that you don’t do that anyway, right? … An East Nashville man arrived home to find that some burglars had broken in and heated up all his frozen pizzas … What’s this we hear about a Cupcake bus?? … Shred-It will be shredding soggy documents for flood victims at Metro Center tomorrow … The bad news is that Swett’s won’t be returning to the Farmer’s Market. The good news (for your Nashvillest, at least) is that they’re coming to Green Hills! … GM seems to be turning things around faster than they planned, and this could be good news for the idled Spring Hill plant.

Photo by midlakemarion.