Good morning, Nashville. The proposed Music City Center is coming up for a final vote at tonight’s Metro Council meeting, though most folks are saying that it’s pretty much a done deal. Considering the city has already bought up all the land and pumped nearly a half-million dollars into public relations (at least), they’re probably right– even if opponents do end up showering Metro with a hefty pile of last-minute petitions. If the project is approved, construction could start as early as this summer.

• Frist lands in Haiti. Former senator Bill Frist took off to Haiti on a medical mission yesterday to lend his skills as a heart and lung doctor to the disaster relief effort, accompanied by supplies donated by Centennial Medical Center. Like everyone else, he’s on Twitter now so you can keep up with his travels as he tweets and Twitpics and blogs his way around Haiti.
• The volunteer city. Nashville was one of ten cities nationwide to win a two-year $200,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to lay down an infrastructure to boost volunteerism around the city.
• Other Haiti-related news out of Tennessee: Trevecca students are raising money for junior Elija Brice, a basketball player, to go back to Haiti to see if he can locate his family … A Franklin family that was in the middle of trying to adopt a Haitian orphan was able to locate the child and bring her home … The Memphis Children’s Hospital is sending a team into the aftermath to help kids who were injured in the quake.
• Bits & pieces. Green Hills traffic has gotten so out-of-control that state officials are launching a study on how to fix it … Unlike everyone else in the midst of a recession, the Nashville Zoo had its best year ever attendance-wise … But speaking of the recession, Tennessee births were way down in 2009 for which experts also blame the economy … State Rep. Glen Casada wants to pass a super-speeding law that would tack on an extra $200 fine for drivers who really, really speed.

Photo by fallingwater123.