• Davidson County homeowners should be receiving their property assessments by mail in the next few days (Spoiler: It’s probably about 37% higher than the last round, unless you’re in East Nashville lol). You can check out our post on what to make of it, and then check your own record online.
• But it was not just homeowners with increasing tax bills. Downtown property owners are feeling the pinch of prosperity as well.
• Columbia, Tennessee welcomed home 15 year-old Elizabeth Thomas on Friday. Her alleged kidnapper and former school teacher, Tad Cummings was arrested and is facing state and federal charges after a former Nashville/Brentwood resident contacted authorities in a remote California town where the pair were hiding.
• An MTSU student is the victim of “extreme” identity theft, where the perpetrator obtained a driver’s license with her photo on it, but with the victim’s identifying information.
• The Nashville Predators went to the broom closet Thursday night and swept the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in four games. Some fans got a little bit excited outside Bridgestone Arena and flipped a car over, as you do. Whoops! Next up is a series with the St. Louis Blues.
• Also in sports, the NFL released the schedules for next season, with the Titans opening the season at home  versus the Oakland-before-becoming-Las-Vegas Raiders on September 10. At the rate 2017 is going, it’ll be here before we know it.
• Warmer temperatures may be great for outdoor activities, but beware of some uninvited guests: mosquitoes. A Memphis-area resident has the dubious distinction of being the first confirmed human case of West Nile virus this year.
• A Memphis lawyer said that his wealthy client must be innocent because women are ‘good’ at lying during his closing arguments at a rape trail. The comment drew the immediate condemnation of civic leaders, as well as from any decent person with a pulse who heard about it.
• Disabled veterans will receive a tax break as part of negotiations on Governor Haslam’s transportation bill. If passed, the bill would increase the gas tax to fund road work and allow cities, such as Nashville, to hold referendums on new taxes to pay for public transit.
• Twenty three adoptable dogs arrived in Nashville on Friday from Georgia. A reported 435 animals were rescued in the operation from a single property. Visit the Nashville Humane Association to help give these furry friends a new home.

Photo by Viv Lynch.