• PSA: If you’re going through downtown today, road closure have started for this weekend’s Music City Grand Prix.
• If you’re wondering what the Indy Car drivers will see when they race around downtown this weekend, there’s a YouTube video for you.
• Vaccinations are on the rise in the state as the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus spreads faster than the initial strain did last year. The state continues to lag behind others in the country.
• Metro buildings will require face coverings beginning today to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The director of Metro Nashville Pubic Schools has made the same recommendation ahead of tonight’s school board meeting despite threats from leaders in the Tennessee legislature.
• Nashville is launching a new “Refer to Win” program to have friends and neighbors encourage each other to get the COVID-19 vaccine, with sports tickets, zoomemberships and other perks available in a drawing.
• Tennessee’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have surged more than 600 percent, with more than 90 percent of those patients being un-vaccinated. The Memphis area is already above their winter levels.
• The delta variant of COVID-19 has many in the hospitality industry concerned of a repeat of 2020’s catastrophic losses.
• City Winery downtown and the 5 Spot in East Nashville announced Wednesday that they will begin requiring proof of vaccination to attend shows at their venues.
• A record 25 people attempted to bring a weapon on board their flight at Nashville International Airport in the first month that Tennessee’s permit-less carry law took effect. Offenders face a fine of up to $10,000.
• Tennessee State University is forgiving all outstanding balances for returning students this fall.
• Three people were shot at a Smile Direct Club facility on Antioch Pike before police killed the alleged gunman on a nearby road. Investigators have not released a motive in the shooting.
• The sudden cancellation of the Garth Brooks concert last weekend led to one concert goer having a $311 charge from Uber, a full $100 more than originally quoted to the passenger.
• A whistleblower working for an Antioch call center provided enough evidence to help federal authorities win a $160 million settlement from a diabetes supply company that defrauded patients and Medicare. For his part, Greg Goodman will receive $28 million.
• Developer Tony Giarratana has released plans to add 706 apartments to the Nashville Yards development in two towers at a cost of $315 million. The builders are slated to open in the spring of 2023 and 2024.
• A Nashville judge has vacated the murder conviction of a man accuse of killing a sex worker in 2000 after the current District Attorney disavowed the conviction and indicted a different man in the murder. Paul Garrett spent 10 years behind bars despite DNA evidence implicating another suspect.
• Abortion rights activists say that protests in front of the Planned Parenthood in Nashville are increasing, with clinic escorts using umbrellas to maintain patient privacy.
• Eastside Bowl will open in October of this year at the site of a former K-Mart and current parking lot for a whole lot of Amazon vans. We’re excited that the restaurant will be serving recipes from the former Family Wash.
• Get well soon, Bob!
• A proposed 24-acre Nashville park along Cumberland River could have very negative effects for an estimated 150-200 homeless people living on the property in camps. The Wharf Park is still in its early phases.
• The Metro Council will consider two new ordinances that advocates say will make historic building preservation easier by reducing cost.

Photo by Breann Neal. Want to see your photo featured here?