Good morning, Nashville. We had a late night hanging out in our “safe place” as tornado warnings for Davison and Williamson county and thunderstorms with 70-80mph winds rolled through in the wee hours of the morning. A possible tornado was reported in Dickson, although no tornadoes have been confirmed in the Middle Tennessee area and it seems we escaped with just tree damage and power outages. Birmingham, AL wasnt so lucky, with two confirmed deaths from last night’s storms. Possible tornadoes have also been reported in several Arkansas counties. We’d like to give a big thanks to Twitter for keeping us informed and even amused during last night’s storms.
- Dollyland. Since we last checked in, Dolly Parton and Gaylord Opryland have announced plans to bring the US of A’s first water-and-snow-themed amusement park to Nashville. And everyone rejoiced! $50 million will go into Phase 1 of the park, scheduled to open in 2014 across Briley Pkwy from the Opryland hotel & resort (here’s a map). More here, here and here.
- BREAKING NEWZ. Senator Rand Paul is currently, as of this writing and not four days ago like the other news we are writing about, being detained by the Nashville airport TSA for refusing a full body patdown after setting off a full body scanner.
- Building it up. More building permits for Opry Mills have been issued, including Tommy Hilfiger, Aeropostale, Build-a-Bear, Vera Bradley, IT’SUGAR, Journey’s, Off Broadway Shoes, Gap, Bose, Panda Express, Pyramid’s Cafe, Ann Taylor Factory Store and Lego. The mall is still scheduled to reopen on March 29.
- Bits & pieces. A SUV crashed through the front of a South Nashville laundromat at 5am, and the driver took off on foot … Dave Ramsey has purchased a strip mall in Spring Hill for $1.8 million (cash, we presume) … East Nashville consignment boutique Old Made Good has had several unfortunate brushes with crime this month … Two teens behind a recent rash of car break-ins at LP Field have been caught … A new black bear hunting season is part of wildlife officials’ black bear management plan in Middle Tennessee … Brentwoodians do not enjoy the new electronic billboard at Old Hickory and Franklin Road, placed just 12 feet outside of the Brentwood city limits … This year’s Restaurant Week was a success … Dan McGuiness on Demonbreun is getting a remodel … If you trust Complex Magazine, Tootsies is one of the 25 best nightclubs of all time … Speaking of nightclubs, an 11-year-old child was shot inside one on Jefferson Street this weekend.
Photo by Peppysis.