• Nashville will mark a decade since the 2010 floods this weekend, a disaster that killed 21 and damaged billions of dollars worth of public and private property.
• A report from News Channel 5 says the state tracks ‘suspected’ COVID-19 deaths but does not make those numbers public. As of Wednesday, there had been 195 confirmed deaths in Tennessee.
• The Tennessean has a recap of the latest on the COVID-19 public health crisis, including the current trend of new cases and projections on when certain businesses will be allowed to reopen.
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center will begin requiring all patients, visitors and staff to wear a cloth mask while in the clinical and public areas.
• Pandemic protesters returned to the state capital to demand the state “reopen,” though their numbers were less than in the previous week.
• Mayor John Cooper’s proposed budget will include a 32 percent increase in Metro’s property tax rate as well as deep cuts to planned spending and replenishing the city’s reserve fund.
• It’s not just the city that is facing down a budget crunch, with state legislators expected to return in June to deal with a dramatic drop in tax revenue collections.
• A new Metro ordinance will require landlords to give at least 90 days notice of a rent increase for those tenants on a month-to-month agreement.
• If you need a haircut, you can start going to salons in 89 of the state’s counties (Davidson is not among them) next Wednesday. The rest of us will continue contemplating when to be bold enough to bust out the clippers.
• The Metro Nashville Public School Board has rejected five new charter school applications, citing concerns over the fiscal impact and how the applicants fared during their evaluations. The applicants can appeal to the school board again within 30 days with amended applications.
• Not included in the immediate reopening schedule are tattoo parlors, which irks some parlor owners as they say their business is kept as sterile as some medical facilities.
• As various state and local guidelines allow some businesses to open, Nashville’s tourism sector is still facing an uncertain future. There has been no timetable set for reopening the city’s music venues or downtown attractions.
• Tennessee’s hospitals lost an estimated $1 billion dollars in one month into a ban on elective procedures. Many have been forced to begin layoffs in spite of an increase in demand for healthcare services.
• Nashville’s craft brewing scene was declared “essential” early on, and most have made significant changes to their business model in order to survive. There is some hope that curbside pickup and beer delivery will continue after the pandemic is over.
• More and more Tennesseans are out of work, and the headaches with dealing with the online verification system in order to receive unemployment benefits have persisted. About 400,000 Tennesseans have filed for unemployment in the last five weeks.
• The Nashville Humane Association says that the city is experiencing a “doggy boom,” with many folks fostering a furry friend during the pandemic.

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