Good morning, Nashville. News Channel 5′s investigative team continues to dig up dirt on Davidson County Clerk John Arriola (whose last name, by the way, is one of our least favorite things to type in a news item each day), this time bringing to light the taxpayer-funded $33,000 Chevy Tahoe he drives instead of the more fuel-efficient vehicle provided to his office. They also found that while he said he uses it to visit all the county clerk offices, he’s actually only visited one of them in the last six months, and only once. Additionally, back when he requested the vehicle, he felt it was necessary to ask for 20-inch wheels, for safety. The good news is that the entire fiasco has made some members of the Metro Council realize that many city vehicles go unused and we could be saving an awful lot of money by simply reimbursing staff for mileage instead.
- Setting it in stone. State Rep. Julia Hurley made things kind of weird when she carved her initials into her wooden desk in the House chamber, admitting she “wasn’t thinking straight” at the time. Needless to say, she’ll be footing the bill to fix it.
- A real cluster. Nashville’s new plan for avoiding state takeover of failing schools is to group them all together into their own cluster. Under the new plan, schools that miss student performance goals for four or more years will be put into this cluster and have access to a more flexible calendar, nontraditional teachers and some extra resources.
- Bits & pieces. Kenny Britt pleaded not guilty to whatever charges were filed against him in New Jersey. Whatever, we’ve lost track … Metro Water Services is kicking off a series of public meetings about flood planning and prevention next Monday … Jamie Hollin says he certainly won’t be apologizing to the two councilmembers at whom he cursed during last week’s council meeting … Hallelujah, the airport renovation project is finished! Well, except for the part where they still have to reroute the roads to the parking garages … You might have noticed the giant Preds banner that now hangs from the batman building downtown, and it’s all for tonight’s Skate of the Union … The Tennessee Highway Patrol finally hunted down the woman they suspect is responsible for painting pentagrams and weird messages all over the State Capitol last month.
Photo by Eva Maria.
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