• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a new executive order Thursday that requires Tennesseans to remain home until at least April 14, following several weeks of only strongly urging compliance. A separate directive to the state’s police forces said that fines and arrest should be a last resort.
• The governor signed bills that reduce the penalties for groups submitting errors on collected voter registrations, a move celebrated by voting rights activists that saw the recently passed law as an assault on ballot access.
• Oprah has pledged $10 million to coronavirus relief efforts, including those in Tennessee where she attended college at Tennessee State University and began her career with the local CBS station.
• It has been one month since deadly tornadoes ripped through parts of Nashville, with communities grappling with the work to rebuild in the middle of the current public health crisis.
• Small business owners are frustrated with the mayor’s proposed property tax increase, coming in the middle of an economic crisis. Property values have gone up in the past decade, leading to higher taxes before the increase comes to pass.
• WSMV interviewed a doctor to describe what happens to a COVID-19 patient’s lungs and why it can become deadly.
• Many residents are still struggling complete necessary work on their damaged or destroyed homes and are doing whatever they can to make things work.
• Nashville’s hospitality industry is down more than 60 percent from February in a time when warmer weather would have been great for business, leading to mass layoffs of hotel and restaurant staff.
• The Metro Public Defender has filed a motion for the courts to release all “vulnerable and low-risk” prisoners from the city’s jails to avoid the catastrophe of the virus spreading quickly for those incarcerated. Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall says he expects the virus to arrive at his facilities soon.
• The Music City Center is applying the same effort it would use to put on a massive trade show as it readies to become a temporary hospital planned by the US Army Corps of Engineers to handle COVID-19 patients. Cases of the disease requiring hospitalization are expected to peak around the middle of April.
• The Tennessean is trying to fill the gaping hole left by no sports on the field, in the arena or on television in Middle Tennessee with a handful of stories worth a quick read.
• The Nashville Scene has a story about a nurse now recovering from COVID-19 about her experience with the virus and the fears she has about a major hospital bill arriving in her mailbox soon.
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center has set up a website called ‘Gratitunes’ where you can request a song for the nurses, doctors and staff of the hospital treating coronavirus patients. The music is streamed to those folks on the front-lines of the pandemic.
• The valets at VUMC have been given a new task: taking patient temperature as they enter the hospital as part of the COVID-19 screening process. Valet service remains suspended at the hospital.
• VUMC is also accepting hand-sewn masks while stressing they still have an adequate supply of disposable masks. The link has instructions for how to create your own.
• Crazy Gnome Brewery was badly damaged by last month’s tornadoes and lost as much as 85 percent of its equipment, but still hopes to be operating again by the end of June. They are the fourth brewery currently operating in East Nashville.
• While live performances with audiences are out of the question, many of Music City’s venues still have online streaming of popular acts to tide us over.
• Buying or selling a home right now is more difficult, but real estate agents are offering services like “drive-up closings” to try and ease the burden of the purchase process. Many of the documents can be signed and submitted electronically.
• Jobs4TN, the portal used for folks seeking unemployment benefits, has buckled under the workload of tens of thousands losing their jobs in the last few weeks in Tennessee. The state says they are working to add capacity to the website.
• This is Holy Week for many of the Christian faith, and local pastors and churchgoers alike are approaching it differently this year with many sermons moved online.

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