• The Parks Department joined the Convention and Visitors Bureau in another round of apologies for the removal of 10 ornamental cherry blossom trees from Riverfront Park to make way for a large stage for the NFL Draft. We also learned the city employs only one horticulturist. ?
• The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency is now running radio and television ads for Kirkpatrick Park Apartments, the first round of mixed income housing from the Envision Cayce project.
• The Nashville Community Oversight Board has selected a Fisk University alumnus and civil rights attorney William Weeden as its top pick to be the COB’s first executive director. Metro will now extend a formal job offer.
• A man allegedly selling fake parking tickets in downtown Nashville told officers he was also selling the drywall pieces in his pocket as fake cocaine. He was also charged with resisting arrest.
• Speaking of the NFL Draft, the organizers have put out a call for 1,500 unpaid volunteers to help put on the event from April 25 – 27. Volunteers working three or more shifts might even win merchandise.
• A multi-week closure of the downtown train station for the NFL Draft will also force some commuters to walk a bit further to catch the Music City Star. That’s to say nothing of the traffic impact. ?
• Hundreds of Metro Nashville Public School teachers and parents staged a protest Wednesday morning demanding the school system be fully funded for the upcoming academic year.
• R&B group TLC will perform at this year’s Nashville Pride Festival in June, the organizers announced Wednesday.
• The Nashville Predators (45-29-6) beat the Buffalo Sabres (31-39-10) 3-2 on the road Saturday night to pull closer in their division race. The Preds host the Vancouver Canucks (35-35-10) tonight and will close out the regular season with the Chicago Blackhawks (35-33-12) Saturday night at home.
• Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will step down in August after leading the institution for more than a decade the university announced Tuesday. Zeppos cited an ongoing health concern as his reason for the move.
• Also retiring is Belmont University men’s basketball coach Rick Byrd, weeks after winning the school’s first ever NCAA tournament game. He had lead the program for 33 years. ?
• There are now mobile hot tubs cruising around downtown Nashville. What even.

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