Good morning, Nashville. If you’re coming in late in the game, you may not remember all the talk about creating a “second downtown” in the Bells Bend area, which is currently a rural space in West Nashville. The proposed May Town Center, touted as “a town, within a park, within a city,” (creepy Utopian-looking video can found here) has stirred up a whole lot of controversy among the folks who want to preserve the rural landscape of Bells Bend. Enter Sen. Douglas Henry (D-Nashville), who filed a bill yesterday that would change the zoning to thwart the entire development and protect the land from any kind of urbanization. And it seems it’s a popular bill, with 92% of Bells Bend residents in favor.

• Hostage situation developing. We’re hearing some news from WKRN’s Nashville Is Talking that Nashville School of the Arts is on lockdown due to a hostage situation nearby. Keep an eye out for details on that.
• But here’s a happy story! A couple of Vanderbilt students are planning to rebuild a run-down playground at one of the poorest schools in the Metro school system. If it tugs at your heartstrings, send a couple of bucks their way.
• Bits & pieces. Our hearts go out to the family of the Murfreesboro guardsman who was killed in Iraq on Monday … Thanks to the new convention center, the Greyhound bus station is looking for a new home and (surprise!) no one wants them … The undocumented immigrant woman who was chained to the hospital bed while she gave birth is suing … Here’s something you don’t see every day: students complaining that their school’s discipline is too lax.

Photo by Chad Lunn.