• A protest on Capitol Hill got a little rowdy today, leading to the arrest of seven protesters who tried to disrupt a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The individuals were there on behalf of workers’ unions to protest some “union-busting” legislation moving through the Senate. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey later issued a statement dismissing the protesters as “nomadic bands of professional agitators on spring break,” and added, “We talk through our differences here. Tennessee is not Wisconsin.” [WKRN]
• Metro’s new nondiscrimination ordinance is scheduled to come to a final vote tonight, but the bill’s sponsors are expected to defer it because some of their ‘yea’ votes are out of town for Spring Break. [City Paper]
• Tennessee, meet your new and improved driver’s license. These newfangled licenses contain some added security measures to combat fraud and will be rolling out across the state over the next 4-6 months. Old licenses will still be valid until their expiration date. [WTVF]
• The TVA is actually reducing fuel charges in April, which will save residential customers an average of $2 per month. Since gas is certainly not getting any cheaper, they attribute it to a change in accounting. [WTVF]
• Following yesterday’s State of the State address, Governor Haslam announced that a new $40 million fund is in place to open more charter schools across the state and support existing ones. They’ll be using about $15 million in federal Race to the Top funding and more than $20 million in private donations. [Tennessean]
• Belle Meade residents have largely poo-pooed the current proposal to put a drive-thru Chick-fil-a at the corner of Harding and Woodlawn. According to recent surveys, they are concerned with traffic problems that might be caused by the current plan and they also just don’t want anymore fast food. [City Paper]

Photo by Bryan Quigley.