If and when Metro Nashville Police officers see people in public not wearing a face covering or a mask they will react and approach them.
But they will only hand those people a printed advisory explaining the Metro Public Health Department’s new order fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
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As of Friday night, members of the Metro Nashville Board of Health did not say specifically why they voted in favor of mandating face coverings or face masks in public to combat COVID-19.
Board members did not answer The Tennessee Star’s emailed questions about the matter before Friday’s stated deadline.
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Monday Mayor John Cooper announced Nashville entered Phase Three of a four-phased plan to reopen the city after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States.
This, despite Nashville officials saying they have tallied higher numbers of the virus.
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The group of protestors who have overtaken Nashville’s Legislative Plaza and demand that government officials defund the police alleged this week that one man there sexually assaulted two of them.
Left-wing activist Justin Jones posted Facebook videos this week in which he and other protestors said they escorted an unidentified man off the premises. Jones and others alleged that the man assaulted two women. Some protestors said they supported the idea of the victims filing police reports. The victims ultimately chose not to do that, according to Jones’ videos.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Thursday that the city will enter the third of its four announced phases of reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States.
Cooper announced this at a press conference.
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Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson will retire in likely six months’ time.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced this at a press conference Thursday — a conference that Anderson did not attend.
This, as The Tennessee Star reported, after left-wing activists and Metro Council members pushed for either Anderson to resign or for Cooper to fire him.
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Officials at Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy have scheduled commencement ceremonies for June 25, although they won’t disclose their specific plans for that event as the city is still in Phase Two of its COVID-19 recovery plans.
One of Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s sons, McGavock, is among the school’s 2020 graduates.
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Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of downtown Nashville Saturday night and taunted law enforcement as officers assembled in unison along the sidewalks on Lower Broadway.
Officers held riot shields to guard their faces.
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Nashville is not ready to move on to Phase Three of its planned four-phased reopening after COVID-19 because of what’s happening in Southeast Davidson County.
Mayor John Cooper announced this at a press conference this week.
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The people in Nashville who either attended or marched at any of the recent rallies honoring George Floyd are at risk of catching COVID-19, according to Meharry Medical College President James Hildreth.
Hildreth said this at a press conference Thursday. Nashville Mayor John Cooper stood nearby as Hildreth said this. Two weeks ago, Cooper attended a George Floyd rally at Legislative Plaza and, in so doing, seemed to violate his own restrictions on how many people may gather in one place.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Friday afternoon that state officials will not entertain any criminal behavior at a demonstration scheduled for 5 p.m. today at Legislative Plaza.
Organizers have scheduled the event, which they call “Free Capitol Hill” at 5 p.m. Central today. In a Facebook flyer organizers do not address the venue as “Legislative Plaza.” Instead they refer to the landmark as the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (Formerly Legislative Plaza).”
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Metro Nashville city leaders have released a plan for re-opening schools this fall with protocols and guidelines in place to protect students, staff, and families from the potential spread of COVID-19 while in schools.
This, according to a press release that Metro Nashville Public Schools put out Tuesday.
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A spokesman for Nashville Mayor John Cooper said Tuesday that the federal CARES Act gives city officials plenty of room to spend COVID-19 relief money on laptops for public school students in Davidson County.
“The U.S. Treasury Department’s guidance on the CARES Act funds specifically provides for ‘expenses to facilitate distance learning, including technological improvements, in connection with school closings to enable compliance with COVID-19 precautions,’” said Cooper spokesman Chris Song, in an email to The Tennessee Star Tuesday.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Monday that the city police will soon have body-worn cameras and car cameras after city officials negotiated a far more favorable agreement with vendors than they previously had.
City officials previously said that Nashville taxpayers would have to pay $40 million in the first year for these type of cameras. They also said that the District Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office would hire more than 200 new full-time employees to accommodate this new technology.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper held a public prayer vigil before Tuesday’s Metro Council meeting on the front lawn of the Metro Courthouse — public to the extent that fewer than 25 people could attend. Cooper limited the gathering to fewer than 25 people because of COVID-19 for, according to an emailed press release, security and social distancing reasons. But former Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain wondered Tuesday why Cooper limited the number of participants at that particular event — but he didn’t impose similar requirements this past Saturday at the George Floyd rally at Legislative Plaza. As reported, several thousand protestors descended upon Nashville’s Legislative Plaza Saturday on behalf of Floyd. Many carried signs demanding that government either defund or abolish the police. “The day before he sent out a tweet in celebration of LGBT month, and the next day he participates in a prayer rally. I’m always a believer in prayer. I believe that prayer can change lives and nations and cities,” Swain told The Tennessee Star Tuesday. “Once Cooper had decided to have that mass demonstration on Saturday I wish he had seen the importance of prayer at that event. Maybe it wouldn’t have turned so violent by…
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In late April Nashville Mayor John Cooper discussed a four-phased plan to reopen the city’s economy following the COVID-19 pandemic and told anxious business owners to remain patient because, as he said, safety was paramount.
“Every Nashvillian feels an urge to return to business as normal. Many livelihoods depend on it,” Cooper said at a press conference.
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U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi said Monday that Nashville Mayor John Cooper and other Democrat mayors nationwide are too timid to protect people from rioters.
Sethi said this in a press release on his Facebook page.
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One speaker at Saturday’s Nashville rally honoring George Floyd spoke openly about overthrowing oppressors.
Another presenter discussed relocating black Americans to a separate land of their own — at white people’s expense.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper attended that rally. On his Facebook page Saturday night, he described it as peaceful. But chaos later erupted downtown.
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Nashville Council member at Large Steve Glover didn’t want Mayor John Cooper to attend Saturday’s rally at Legislative Plaza for George Floyd, and neither did Council member at Large Sharon Hurt.
As reported, several thousand protestors descended upon Legislative Plaza Saturday. Many protestors carried signs demanding that government either defund or abolish the police. Cooper embraced the protestors, spoke at their rally and even thanked them for wearing COVID-19 masks. But later in the day, protesters resorted to violence and vandalized the Metro Courthouse and parts of Lower Broadway.
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Former Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain said she warned Mayor John Cooper to prepare for possible violence following Saturday’s protests downtown.
Cooper responded with a polite thank you — and, apparently, little else.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Several thousand protestors descended upon Nashville’s Legislative Plaza Saturday on behalf of George Floyd and many carried signs demanding that government either defund or abolish the police.
The crowd, composed of whites and blacks, chanted “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace” many times over.
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Nashville resident Paul Frey delivered a simple and direct message to Nashville Mayor John Cooper Saturday night, and Frey said it in only one word — resign.
Countless people took to Cooper’s Facebook page Saturday and scolded the mayor for allying himself with anti-police protestors earlier in the day. They also rebuked Cooper for not taking an aggressive enough stance against protestors later in the day when protestors resorted to violence — by trashing the Metro Courthouse and, later, parts of downtown Broadway.
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Nashville will move to the second of its four-phased plan on Monday to reopen the city’s economy after COVID-19 shut it down for two months.
Cooper announced this at a press conference Thursday.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee relied on erroneous information about COVID-19 and acted against the state and U.S. constitutions when he passed down executive orders that forced one Nashville businessman to close his bar.
This, according to the federal lawsuit that The Local Spot owner Geoffery Reid filed this week. The lawsuit names Lee and Nashville Mayor John Cooper, among others, as defendants.
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Nashville officials have received 400 complaints about businesses since the city entered Phase One of its planned reopening after COVID-19, Metro Public Health Director Michael Caldwell said at a press conference Monday.
“Most of these complaints are about employees not wearing facial coverings properly. We are following up with each one of these businesses. What we are finding out is that a lot of these businesses just didn’t really understand the rules. We will continue our education and observations this week, if we find that, after we have already communicated with a business, that they continue to not be in compliance then we will start fining,” Caldwell said.
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Any Nashville business owners who don’t obey the city’s new COVID-19 guidelines risk losing their permits to operate, Nashville Mayor John Cooper said at a press conference Monday.
Cooper, preaching safety first, said the community must respond to business owners who flagrantly violate the rules.
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Nashville business owners who are gearing up to reopen Monday better comply with all of Mayor John Cooper’s safety rules for COVID-19, or else police might pay them a visit.
As The Tennessee Star reported Friday, after days in quarantine, Nashville will move to Phase One of Cooper’s plan to reopen the city’s economy, at least partially, this coming Monday.
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After 53 days in quarantine, Nashville will move to Phase One of Mayor John Cooper’s plan to reopen the city’s economy, at least partially, this coming Monday.
Cooper wasted no time announcing this while opening a press conference Thursday.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper might not tweak his four-phased plan to reopen the city’s economy, even if it means bar owners on Lower Broadway have to wait a lot longer to reopen their businesses.
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Staff for Nashville Mayor John Cooper would not say why he wore a COVID-19 face mask Tuesday that had an image of the Kurdistan flag on it.
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Mayor John Cooper extended Davidson County’s safer at home order until at least May 8.
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Nashville officials will not, as many people had hoped, move to Phase One of their roadmap for reopening the city after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper wants to raise property taxes by as much as 32 percent, and he said the recent tornadoes and the COVID-19 pandemic give him no other choice.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper on Thursday issued a four-phased plan to reopen Nashville’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic grounded it to a halt, and he said the first phase could start within a few weeks.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s staff on Wednesday did not address the likely unintended consequences of raising property taxes by 20 percent to make up for the COVID-19 pandemic diminishing the city’s finances.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper said at a press conference Tuesday that he and other city officials will introduce their own plan to reopen the city’s economy after it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced during his virtual State of the Metro address Tuesday that he plans to “sharply increase” the city’s property tax rate.
Cooper said the Nashville Finance Department predicts that revenue from sales taxes and other activities will be down between $200 and $300 million because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Because of the unusual circumstances, Cooper didn’t have a budget proposal to discuss but said the budget ordinance he plans to present to the Metro Council in April will “sharply” increase the city’s property tax rate. Cooper said the final rate will still be lower than other cities throughout Tennessee.
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Democrats in the Tennessee Senate asked Gov. Bill Lee to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order Monday to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
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Tennessee had 371 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s website Saturday evening.
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Health officials in Nashville reported Tennessee’s first coronavirus death Friday evening.
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Tennessee had 228 confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Friday evening, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s website, although Friday’s news brought cause for some optimism, at least in Davidson County.
Davidson County continued to have the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, 101, according to the TDH website. This, even though Alex Jahangir, who chairs that county’s Metro Coronavirus Task Force, said the number was higher at a press conference Friday morning.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said during a Friday press conference that churches that continue to hold services are putting people’s lives at risk.
“Churches that continue to meet and gather with elderly and putting groups of people in the same setting, quite frankly, they’re risking people’s lives,” Lee said during an update on the COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. “There are ways to worship and there are ways to serve without congregating people, and I’m urging and challenging churches to do just that.”
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Nashville Democratic Mayor John Cooper hinted Monday that city officials will help businesses in the city that have either had to shut down or limit capacity because of the Coronavirus emergency, per city orders.
Will city officials offer tax relief?
Metro officials say a maze of government rules complicate matters.
On Sunday members of the Metropolitan Board of Health of Nashville and Davidson County declared a public health emergency that forced business owners to either close their doors or limit capacity, according to the city’s website.
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Nashville Democratic Mayor John Cooper’s senior advisor for Transportation and Infrastructure appeared before a group of community members Thursday to gather their input about the region’s transportation needs.
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On Thursday the Beacon Center of Tennessee filed a motion to intervene in Nashville Democratic Mayor John Cooper’s lawsuit to strike down Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).
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People are reportedly waiting for Nashville Democratic Mayor John Cooper and the Nashville Soccer Club to announce the latest on a solution on the soccer stadium at the Fairgrounds.
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Members of the Nashville Public School System are scheduled to discuss a legal challenge to Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s Educational Savings Accounts Thursday morning.
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Forbes.com, which caters to millions of readers worldwide, has just reported on and explained Nashville’s financial woes. In a recently-published article, Tennessee-based businessman Tim Pagliara wrote about state Comptroller Justin Wilson’s displeasure with Metro Nashville’s finances and the threat of the city potentially falling into a receivership. “Back in October, a month after taking office, Mayor (John) Cooper talked to The Wall Street Journal about his mandate to pull the city’s economy back from the brink by (among other things) curbing financial incentives and relocation deals to corporations. After the prior administration had awarded $167,000,000 in economic incentives in exchange for 13,000 new jobs and $1.2 billion in capital investments, the city could not balance the budget without selling assets like the Nashville Thermal Plant. Which, IMHO, is like selling your living room furniture to pay your electric bill. Tennessee has a unique set of checks and balances. State law mandates a balanced budget,” Pagliara wrote. “In preparing this piece, I looked at recent articles about the increased flight of people and companies from NYC. Some surveys show that over 30 percent of the New Yorkers are considering moving out of state because of the high cost of living, complexity of life, and…
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper released the final report from the Metro Immigration Task Force Friday that analyzed current Metro department practices and provided recommendations for future immigration policies for the city.
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Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy and Carmichael were joined on the newsmaker line by the original all-star panelist and founder of the New American Populist, Jeff Webb.
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