Another Manic Monday
💸 Metro faces cuts · Pesticide blowback · Weekend storms · Nashville's first white man · Offender of the week · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Well, the rain storms appear to have passed, but upon us now, is what looks like a brewing market storm—something I am not at all capable of speaking on with any authority, so I won’t try. You probably have other newsletters for that kind of thing.
But I did read something I found interesting, from the New York Times of all places, headlined “Gulf Coast Shrimpers See Hope in Trump’s Tariffs.” It’s a short read worth your time.
Onward.
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💸 Monitoring Metro Cuts During Friday’s media roundtable, Mayor O’Connell expressed disappointment while outlining a new round of federal funding cuts. According to the mayor, the Nashville Strong Babies Program’s budget has been reduced by half and an HIV program has been cut. “When we're able to demonstrate the success of return on public investment, I'm just left wondering what sense it makes to cut funds to programs like that,” said O’Connell.
The new administration’s actions remain a thorn in the mayor’s side. “What we've quantified is basically the entire range of federal grants within General Government and Metro schools, and they do run into the hundreds of millions of dollars,” explained O’Connell. “Program by program, we're keeping a close and careful eye on them because it is absolutely going to impact service delivery and cause...a tremendous amount of uncertainty about our budget process.”
Unsurprisingly, Mayor O’Connell spoke out against the current administration’s actions during the People’s Town Hall with Senator Elizabeth Warren at Pearl Cohn High School on Saturday. According to the Lookout, around 1,500 people attended the rally, which was part of a nation-wide demonstration orchestrated by the Democratic party.
🐞 Pest Bill Bites Back Opposition to a pesticide bill making its way through the Tennessee General Assembly seems to be amping up as the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear more testimony tomorrow. If passed, the legislation would protect pesticide manufacturers and sellers against certain failure-to-warn liability lawsuits related to the labeling of a product.
An X post from Tennessee Environmental and Agricultural Lawyer Dustin Kittle made some ripples over the weekend. “ATTENTION: CHEMICAL COMPANIES ARE COMING FOR YOUR POLITICIANS —Across this country right now, including in the State of Tennessee where I reside, the Bayer-Monsantos and others are lobbying our State Legislatures for Legal Immunity,” reads the post, which includes a video with over 11,000 views.
Last week, the Tennessee Senate passed the bill, but the House had to delay a committee vote due to the volume of people wishing to testify on the legislation. Multiple state legislatures have been weighing in on the same type of bill, and, much like the current conundrum facing Tennessee lawmakers, Republicans across the country are getting heartburn over the legislation.
Read more about what the bill does here.
⛈️ Stormy Saturday & Soggy Sunday Over 1,200 people are still without power in Davidson County as Middle Tennessee recovers from the storms that blew through over the weekend. Flooding has caused school closures and delays across the Midstate, and though only one tornado has been confirmed during Saturday’s storms, torrential rain and straight-line winds wreaked havoc on Acklen Park and West End. The Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed ten weather-related deaths over the last week.
Speaking of high water lines, when addressing how flooding on the East Bank may affect Nashville’s development plans near the new stadium, Metro Water Services Director Scott Potter said that the new stormwater management system may mean cleaner water for the Cumberland River during Friday's media roundtable. “If you look at a bird's eye view of the East Bank right now, it's mostly concrete and asphalt,” said Potter. “So, as that gets redeveloped—each parcel and each development—they're being very intentional about capturing runoff and treating it before it gets back to the river.” That said, the director explained the actual risk of flooding in that area will remain the same.
DEVELOPMENT
- ✈️ BNA sees launch of Avelo flights to Boston, Charlotte, Rochester (Post)
- Midnight Oil plans second location in Donelson (NBJ)
- Midtown site once housing DeSano and eyed for tower now for sale (Post)
- Former Wendy's space on Charlotte to accommodate 51st Deli (Post)
- Second Avenue sliver of land sells for $1.5M (Post)
✹ DEMONBREUN'S CAVE AND NASHVILLE'S FIRST WHITE MAN
Long before Broadway became renowned for its abundance of wined-up white girls and country music fueled chaos, before even the first twang of an acoustic guitar graced the shores of the Cumberland, was a time when there was not a single white man in the area. Then Jacques-Timothée Boucher Sieur de Montbrun showed up and there was one... This is the story of Nashville’s first white man; a French fur trapper who lived in a cave, traded and fought with the Natives, and dined with Marquis de Lafayette and Andrew Jackson.
Jacques-Timothée Boucher Sieur de Montbrun, or Timothy Demonbreun for short, was a French-Canadian fur trader born in 1731. He served valiantly in the French Army in Canada during the French-Indian War. After France was beaten at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, he packed his bags and moved south into the English colonies that would later become the United States. In 1766 while hunting in a region along the Cumberland called the “French Lick,” he noticed large numbers of Buffalo and Deer and decided to make French Lick his home (“French Lick” was the first name given to the area we now call Nashville.)
✹ REPEAT OFFENDER OF THE WEEK
George Andrew Chaney, 37, was behind the wheel of a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee on April 4 when he crashed into a taxicab at high speed in downtown Nashville. The collision killed two visiting passengers, Kirk and Kathy Granfors of Jacksonville, Florida. Chaney has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2006. (More Info)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🪕 Westwinders @ Dee's Lounge, 9p, $10, Info
🎸 The Seven Wonders - A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac @ City Winery, 7:30p, $25+, Info
🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info
+ modern take on classic country, bluegrass & hillbilly Jazz
🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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