• A video floating around the interwebs, originating on the Hip Hermitage Facebook page, shows a really nasty roach infestation in a MNPS middle school. WSMV reports that “[s]omeone reportedly sprayed the bathroom door with chocolate milk, which is what caused the roaches to spread.” Moral of the story: Don’t spray your chocolate milk anywhere because that’s just gross.
• Speaking of MNPS, a recent audit found that 140 teachers in Metro Nashville Public Schools needed to renew their teaching licenses.
• The National Transportation Safety Administration released their report on the Chattanooga school bus crash that happened late last year and it’s about as sad as you’d expect it to be.
• Local restaurant hero Khalil Arnold predicts that the Nashville restaurant bubble is gonna pop. And PS: Arnold’s is thinking about serving up beer along with their transcendently delicious deliciousness, so Khalil, holla at us whenever we can just go ahead and move in.
• Our neighbors in Sevier County are slowly bouncing back after the fires that swept through the area in December. Insurance claims add up to more than $849 million, and lawmakers are trying hard to secure some tax relief for victims.
• Mayor Megan Barry found herself on the phone with our very own PEOTUS this week.
• Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center has had a rough go of it, with two bomb threats and subsequent evacuations in just the last week. These threats were part of a larger number of threats against Jewish centers across the country that the FBI is currently investigating. Thankfully none of them have turned out to be anything but hoaxes.
• Lots to unpack around Gov. Haslam’s proposed plan to fund transportation projects, but here’s the gist:  A 7-cent tax increase on gasoline, $5 increase in car registration fees, $100 yearly fee for electric vehicles, and a 3% charge on car rentals would go towards funding an enormous amount of mass transit improvements in the coming years. Localities can vote on sales tax surcharges separately to fund transit projects. We’d also pull down an extra $18 million in federal dollars by enacting stricter open container laws for vehicles. There’s lots more to it, but maybe we’ll save that for its own post.
• Opryland is hoping to step up their game and compete with the younger, fancier Music City Center by adding an indoor-outdoor water park.
• UT’s band director would like everyone to cool it with the inauguration criticism: He says it’s about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students, and also UT has played in every inauguration since 1953.

Photo by Eva Wood.