Much Talk About Killers
🚔 Death Row inmate captures headlines · Upzoning in the Nations · Jones vs. the American Gestapo · Saving Main Street · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. Lots of local media outlets can't stop talking about Byron Black... Will the Nations get upzoned... Justin Jones tries to stop the American Gestapo... And Jerod reviews a book about how small businesses faired during Covid.
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📰 Why Death Row Captures Headlines This morning, the state of Tennessee executed convicted murderer Bryon Black. You’ve probably been inundated with news coverage of this man’s petitions to get off death row, but do you know the details of what he actually did?
In 1988, Black was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her two young daughters. The details of the triple homicide are gruesome and devastating. Experts testified that while one of the deaths was instantaneous, the other two were not. “Bullet holes and blood stains on the bed indicated that she was lying in bed when shot and had moved from the bed to the floor after being shot,” reads a court opinion. “There were bloody finger marks down the rail running from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed.”
So, why all the aggressive coverage of this man’s attempts to dodge his sentencing with so little detail about his crime? At least Catherine Sweeney, a writer for Nashville Public Radio’s daily newsletter, The NashVillager, was willing to address this question directly. “I was confronted with a pretty blunt question the other day,” she wrote in yesterday’s newsletter. “‘Why do journalists write these bleeding-heart stories about convicted murderers who are being executed?’”
In a nutshell, Sweeney explained that you “can’t undo killing someone,” and it’s her job as a journalist to be a watchdog, checking in on how well the government is doing its job. Executions are "the ultimate exercise of state power," she argued.
🏛️ Will Council Support Upzoning The Nations? It’s going to be an upzoning showdown during public hearing at tonight’s council meeting.
– District 20 Councilmember Rollin Horton is moving forward with his proposed legislation to rezone the Nations.
– The bills would apply to 330 acres of land encompassing over 2,600 properties to encourage increased density in West Nashville.
What we’re likely to hear
– A lot about the lack of community outreach and the absence of proper water and infrastructure studies.
– During last week’s Planning Commission meeting, Horton garnered support from the Nation’s Small Business Committee and Neighborhood Association, Walk Bike Nashville enthusiasts, developers, and other stakeholders, but received pushback from a number of residents.
Tonight will likely be more of the same. The question remains: why rush it?
🚨 Stop American Gestapo Act That’s the name of a bill filed by State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville), and the council will be voting on a resolution in support of the legislation during tonight’s meeting.
– Though the General Assembly is not in session, Metro is going to weigh in on whether to create a Class C misdemeanor for law enforcement officers who wear “a mask, face covering, or personal disguise while interacting with the public” on duty.
– There are exemptions for health and safety reasons, as well as SWAT teams, but the legislation clearly targets immigration enforcement officers.
– “Plain clothed federal agents have concealed their identities while conducting immigration raids in the United States,” reads the council resolution.
It also proposes that this punishment is meant to help prevent impostors from posing as law enforcement officers.
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DEVELOPMENT
- Robert's Western World buys neighbor on Broadway Jack's Bar-B-Que for $15M (Tennessean)
- Developers eye 18-story East Bank hotel near Oracle campus (NBJ)
- Dolly Parton, Ashley McBryde open downtown bars (NBJ)
- Dog Haus Biergarten plans two locations (Post)
✹ REVIEW: GARY RIVLIN'S SAVING MAIN STREET
From 9/11 to the Great Recession, epoch-defining events often provide a windfall for America’s largest publishing houses. Yet, five years after 2020, the highbrow pandemic book wave has yet to materialize. Instead, COVID became the fodder for self-published books and conservative polemics beyond a handful of novelists and literary essayists who couldn’t pass up on the dramatic potential.
Much of the pandemic lit deficit likely stems from cocksure establishment media types too proud to issue a mea culpa for their support of grocery wipedowns and one-way aisles. But some legacy journalists like Gary Rivlin still demonstrate an unwavering belief in clear-eyed assessment, which elevates his latest book, Saving Main Street: Small Business in the Time of COVID-19 into a must read even for those who don’t care to revisit the madness.
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THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week 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
🪕 50 Shades of Hay @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
🪕 Low Ground @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $5, Info
🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ Eastside Bowl, 8p, $10, Info
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).