• Surprising no one, Nashville’s population is expected to hit an all-time high of 1.9 million in 2017. [Nashville Business Journal]
• On the bright side (for homeowners at least), we finished out 2016 with the highest home sales in a decade. [Tennessean]
• We hope you love that giant convention center we have downtown now because it is about to get even more giant, to the tune of $20 million. [Nashville Business Journal]
• Metro Council is considering a measure that would sharply curb the explosion of Airbnb all over Nashville by no longer issuing permits to non-owner-occupied short-term rentals. This won’t affect anyone who’s renting out space in their own homes that they live in, but takes aim at folks who buy up property exclusively to rent on places like Airbnb and VRBO. If you’re super curious, WPLN put together a neat map of these properties a while back. [Tennessean]
• Tennessee’s General Assembly convened yesterday, and it’s shaping up to be pretty interesting. [WSMV]
• The Ryman is teaming up with Blake Shelton to open a fancy new honky tonk on Broadway in 2018 and we are warning you that it is VERY RED. [Nashville Business Journal]
• People are planning to flock to Nashville in droves for the solar eclipse in August, and the State is jacking up campsite prices to drum up some extra cashflow. [WSMV]
• A few of our neighbors down in Columbia are trying real hard to keep a street named Negro Creek Road, for some reason. [Pith In The Wind]
• Metro Police are facing scrutiny by local activist group Gideon’s Army for racial disparities in traffic stops. At a Metro Council hearing on the subject this week, MNPD didn’t deny the data, but chalked it up to crime and traffic patterns across the city. [Nashville Scene]
• A new study shows that Nashville is lagging behind peer cities in growth of tech jobs. [Nashville Business Journal]
• Here’s one top 10 list we never aspired to be on: Airports with the most guns confiscated at TSA checkpoints. [WSMV]

Photo by Paul Nicholson.