• The unions representing Metro Public School teachers and staff are asking for better working conditions to reduce burnout and stop the flow of folks leaving the profession.
• MNPS says they are short as many as 72 bus drivers, an increase of 25 since the school year started and causing widespread delays in getting kids to school and potential overcrowding on buses. Union reps for the drivers similarly say they deserve additional pay to retain drivers and offset the added pressure.
• Half of the city’s proposed capital budget will go towards schools and transportation, with the $568 million plan financed through 30-year bonds that remain at historic low interest rates. The plan must be approved by the Metro Council to go into effect.
• A woman was critically injured after being struck by a turning double-decker tour bus while crossing the street on Broadway, trapping her under the bus. One witness to the accident said the city should close the area to vehicle traffic.
• A group of students are working to prevent auto/pedestrian accidents along Dickerson Pike using pop-up pedestrian spaces that increase visibility and traffic flow at intersections.
• The Nashville Scene shares that there is a city Central Biosolids Facility and that it turn’s Nashville’s sewage into fertilizer called “Music City Gold.”
• Belmont University received a $10 million gift to the institution’s new medical school from a former CEO of HCA and his wife. The lobby for a new building will be named for the couple.
• A Nashville-based property management group is accused of elder abuse in the wake of Hurricane Ida that struck the Gulf Coast in August of this year, citing squalid living conditions for two weeks after the storm.
• Using data from Zillow, a group has produced the 10 most expensive zip codes in the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin (the regional media market). Belle Meade still tops the list.
• WeGo bus drivers and maintenance staff took home eight awards in an annual competition among the state’s transit agencies, including driving various sized vehicles through a timed race course with traffic cones outlining the route.
• Germantown Cafe is set to open in early November after 20 months closed since the March 2020 tornadoes ripped through the neighborhood, including lifting the roof off the restaurant and causing substantial structural damage.
• A North Nashville catering business owner says her storefront was burglarized three separate times in a four week span. The owner estimates she has lost $4,500 in stolen items and property damage.
• If you have ever wanted to hit a home run in a major minor league park, $50 per person in a group of ten or more can rent out batting practice for an hour in First Horizon Park. It would take more than an hour for some of us to even get the ball out of the infield.
• The Tennessee Titans (5-2) used a huge first half performance to bury the Kansas City Chiefs 27-3 Sunday (3-4) at Nissan Stadium. The team travels to Indianapolis to face the Colts (2-4) next Sunday.
• Nashville SC (11-4-16) dropped a 1-0 road game to Philadelphia Union (13-8-10) Saturday for only their fourth loss of the year. The teams road swing continues with a Wednesday match against FC Cincinnati (4-19-8).
• The loss dropped Nashville into third place in the Eastern Conference with three matches remaining, but they are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot.
• The Nashville Predators (2-4-0) are having a lukewarm start to the season with Thursday’s 3-1 loss at home to the New York Rangers (4-1-1), Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets (2-2-1) on the road and Sunday’s 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild (4-1-0) on the road. The team hosts the San Jose Sharks (4-1-0) tomorrow night.
• Music City Bowl tickets are now on sale if you don’t care which teams from the Big 10 and SEC get invited to play in what is usually a very cold game on December 30.
• Supporters of Tennessee State University are questioning how the state can vote to hand out $884 million in funding to a project for Ford Motor Company in West Tennessee while saying they don’t have the funds to repay $500 shorted to the institution over decades.
• For your amusement, the State of Tennessee has released a list of rejected vanity plates that “may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”
• A new report says that Nashville has a lot of progress in returning to pre-pandemic hotel occupancy rates, which were historically high in 2019. Driving through downtown on a sunny afternoon supports their data.
• Tennessee Lookout has a feature story on the fate of various independent music venues around town as developers have acquired many of them.

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