• Activists blocked several streets during rush hour Monday as part of “The Poor People’s Campaign,” an act meant to revive similar protests during the 1950s and 60s lead by Martin Luther King, Jr. City buses and traffic were re-routed around the protestors.
• Metro Council member Robert Swope told the body Tuesday that he had been cited for allegedly soliciting a prostitute 20 years ago in Hamilton County near Chattanooga, a fact that he said was expected to be an issue as he seeks a committee seat for Tennessee Republican Party Executive Committee. His opponent for that seat is said to have unearthed the charge, which does not appear in court records.
• The Nashville Rescue Mission is asking for donations of bottled water to help the city’s homeless with the early heatwave in Middle Tennessee. The mission’s staff distribute the water around town and encourage folks to get indoors.
• Two metro council members are proposing a restructuring of the city employee’s pension plan to fund the promised three-percent raises that were left out of the budget from the mayor’s office, which dismissed the plan as not actually doing what the sponsors intend for it to do. The council will likely propose various amendments to the final budget.
• Nashville will continue to require emissions testing for automobiles through at least 2022 after the state legislature ended the requirement. Tennessee’s air quality has improved according the EPA.
• Transit remains a hot topic for mayoral candidates following the demise of the “Let’s Move Nashville” referendum earlier in the month, but none seem eager to propose another large scale plan anytime soon. Of the top candidates, only Mayor David Briley had supported the referendum.
• Director of Metro Nashville Public Schools Dr. Shawn Joseph is at the center of yet another controversy, this time involving an explicit rap song from Too Short he played during a meeting of district principals. We’re pretty sure that’s a first.
• The dragon at Fannie Mae Dees Park in the Hillsboro-West End area will re-open to the public Sunday, May 20 with a parade and ceremony after neighbors and the community raised the funds to repair the landmark. It was originally built in the 1980s and has been under construction for the past two years.
• Certain (somehow unnamed?) downtown bars are planning to charge performers that play in their venue during next month’s CMA Fest, rather than the more common “the band is paid in tips from a pickle jar” arrangement. Performers say they are being taken advantage of during a profitable week for the bars.
• While we’re still bummed that the Nashville Predators are out of the playoffs, team management says that it was common for players to say they wanted the same group to return next year for another try. There are a handful of players that will need new contracts for that to happen.
• In likely a first for the organization and a rare move by a sports team in general, the Nashville Predators have endorsed David Briley in the May 24 election. The team President and CEO Sean Henry appeared alongside team mascot Gnash in a short video urging people to vote, even if it wasn’t for Briley.
• The massive Fifth+Broadway development downtown will not open with a new concept from the creator of Acme Feed & Seed and The Southern Steak & Oyster. The restaurateur said Monday that the market is over-saturated.
• A new 112-room boutique hotel is slated for the Gulch in the parking lot directly across from Kayne Prime, next to the downtown rail yard. The developer says the building will also house a gastropub, a restaurant, a wine cellar and spaces for art and music.
• PSA: Early voting for the May 24 elections for mayor and District 1 council member ends this Saturday. As of Wednesday, a little under 12,000 folks had voted.

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