Tag: Nashville

Eva Romero Outlines Priorities in Bid for Tennessee House District 60

Kaitlin Housler
Eva Romero

Eva Romero, a Republican running for the Tennessee House of Representatives, outlined her background, policy priorities, and reasons for seeking office during an exclusive interview Thursday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.

Romero, who is running for Tennessee House District 60, said during Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show that the district she is running for includes Old Hickory, Hermitage, and Donelson, describing it as “lake to lake.” The district is currently represented by Democratic State Representative Shaundelle Brooks (D-Hermitage).

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The Boring Company’s Music City Loop Second Tunnel Machine Nears Launch

Kaitlin Housler
Music City Loop

The Boring Company said construction of its Music City Loop transit system continues to accelerate, with the project’s first tunnel boring machine actively excavating beneath Nashville and a second machine scheduled to begin tunneling later this month.

In the latest project update, released Monday on its website, The Boring Company reported that Prufrock-MB1 has been tunneling since April while undergoing continuous upgrades to improve speed and reliability.

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Huge Crowd from Across the USA Attends The Glock Store’s 6th Annual Nashville Open House

Michael Patrick Leahy
Glock Store Open House 2026

A huge crowd of more than eight hundred people from across the United States attended The Glock Store’s 6th Annual Open House in Nashville on Saturday. While the majority of the Second Amendment practitioners in attendance were Tennessee residents, a survey of the jam-packed parking lot and streets surrounding The Glock Store showed cars driven in from Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

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ICE Arrests Honduran National Following Release from Prison for 2022 Nashville Deadly Wrong-Way Crash

Kaitlin Housler
Kelvin Mejia-Romero

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested a Honduran national convicted in a 2022 deadly wrong-way crash that killed a Nashville musician following his recent release from state prison in West Tennessee, the agency announced Wednesday.

ICE said 37-year-old Kelvin Mejia-Romero was taken into custody April 20 after completing his prison sentence at the Northwest Correctional Complex near Memphis. He is expected to remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

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Drug Giant Sues Former Democrat Metro Council Member, Family Members over Alleged $200M Scheme

Zachery Schmidt
Jerry Maynard

Former Democratic Metro Council Member Jerry Maynard Jr. and other family members are being accused by Eli Lilly, a drug company, of attempting to steal more than $200 million.

Eli Lilly, which generated over $65 billion in profit last year, alleges that Jerry Maynard Jr., his father Jerry Maynard Sr., his sister Misha Maynard, and others allegedly tried to defraud the company by buying large quantities of a diabetes medication called Trulicity and fraudulently selling it.

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Phillips, Leahy Say Nashville ‘Needs Its Own Spencer Pratt’ Ahead of 2027 Mayoral Race

Kaitlin Housler
Spencer Pratt

Tea Party Nation Founder Judson Phillips and The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy argued that Nashville could become fertile ground for an “insurgent” political campaign modeled after the AI-driven strategy used by Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt.

Speaking during Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Phillips praised Pratt’s unconventional campaign style, saying, “Pratt’s campaign, anybody who’s thinking about running as a Republican, particularly if you’re running for a significant office, you need to emulate Spencer Pratt’s campaign.”

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Pappert Sounds Alarm over ‘Social Worker’ Style Security Patrols in Downtown Nashville

Kaitlin Housler
MPL and Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, is raising concerns about Nashville’s decision to allow the newly formed “people first” security company Civicity to patrol downtown streets, questioning whether the organization’s emphasis on de-escalation and social worker-style intervention signals a move away from traditional policing in the city’s growing entertainment district.

Pappert, during an appearance Monday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, discussed the recent launch of Civicity, a security division founded in March by Block by Block and SMS Holdings, which has reportedly taken over downtown patrol responsibilities following the expiration of a previous contract with Soleran.

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‘People First’ Security Division of Block by Block Founded Two Months Ago Starts Patrolling Downtown Nashville

Tom Pappert
Civicity patrol

Civicity, a new security company founded in March by the Kentucky-based Block by Block, reportedly joined law enforcement patrolling downtown Nashville over the weekend, amid the suspension of the city’s last private security partner over allegations its security guards posed as uniformed police, whose five-year contract just expired. 

Originally reported in April to be the new choice of the Central Business Improvement District (CBID), which collects a portion of revenue from downtown businesses and directs them to the nonprofit District Management Corporation (DMC), which in turn is operated by the Nashville Downtown Partnership (NDP), Civicity has reportedly already been contracted to provide services for the remainder of the year.

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FBI, TDOS Confirm Investigations After Police Receive over 10 Alleged Swatting Calls for Nashville Area High Schools

Tom Pappert
person on phone

State and federal investigations have been confirmed after at least nine schools in Metro Nashville and the surrounding area were reportedly targeted with alleged swatting attempts, resulting in lockdowns or lockouts as local police verified there were no threats. 

Threats were called in on Monday to at least nine schools in Nashville, Jackson, Franklin, Smyrna, La Vergne, Murfreesboro, and Clarksville, according to WSMV 4, while WKRN reported that the same school targeted in La Vergne was swatted a second time on Tuesday.

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Nashville Mayor Dismisses Property Tax Hikes as ‘Cost of Doing Business’ in City with Rising Property Values

Tom Pappert
Mayor Freddie O'Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Thursday described the triple digit percentage property tax increases experienced by business owners as “a cost of doing business” associated with the rise in the value of properties in the city.

With popular businesses hit with tax hikes as high as 356 percent, and some already announcing closures, O’Connell on Thursday cited the recent increases to Nashville property prices, and suggested most Nashvillians would trade the higher taxes for higher property values.

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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell to Run for Reelection

Kaitlin Housler
Freddie O Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell confirmed this week to multiple outlets that he will seek reelection in 2027 to “strengthen the foundation” of his administration’s policies.

O’Connell, elected in 2023, said his decision to run again is driven largely by the long-term nature of several major initiatives already underway, including his signature “Choose How You Move” transportation plan, redevelopment of the East Bank, and investments in “affordable housing.”

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Nashville Mayor Confirms No Property Tax Relief After Unveiling ‘Legacy Business Program’ Offering Grants to Some City Businesses

Tom Pappert
Freddie O'Connell

Metro Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell reportedly confirmed there is no property tax relief included in his budget, which will instead include a “Legacy Business program” that will offer grants to some Nashville businesses.

O’Connell reportedly confirmed his stance on Friday to Fox 17, who reported the mayor, “is not proposing property tax cuts in his budget proposal because it would not line up with the property assessment timeline.”

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Nashville to Host Largest Fourth of July Celebration for America’s 250th

Kaitlin Housler
fireworks show

Nashville is preparing to host its largest Independence Day celebration ever as part of the nationwide America 250 commemoration marking the United States’ 250th anniversary.

Organizers announced that the annual “Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th” event will expand into a two-day festival on July 3 and 4, featuring more stages, more performances, and the biggest fireworks and drone show in Music City’s history.

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Waymo ‘Committed to Improving Road Safety’ After Videos Show Company’s Driverless Vehicles Impede Nashville Traffic

Tom Pappert
Wrong Way Waymo

A spokesman for the autonomous taxi company Waymo on Saturday reportedly confirmed on Saturday that at least one of the company’s vehicles “got stuck” in Nashville traffic following their full deployment last month.

After at least two such incidents were purportedly recorded and posted social media, a Waymo spokesman told Fox 17 that safety was the company’s primary concern. 

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Nashville High School Allowed 80 Students to Leave Class for Muslim Prayers, 10 Teachers to Create ‘Food-Free Zone’ During Ramadan

Tom Pappert
Muslim Prayer Room

A Tuesday report released by the Nashville Banner described a series of actions taken at John Overton High School to accommodate students during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which the observant do not eat or drink during daylight hours.

According to The Banner, the school marked the Muslim holy month by allowing more than 80 students to leave class to attend prayers for 15 minutes daily, creating a program where 10 teachers agreed to keep food out of their classrooms as students fasted during the day, changing the lighting in at least one classroom, and holding its “second annual iftar,” which is traditionally when Muslims break their fast at sunset.

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Knoxville Reports Zero Murders in First Three Months of 2026 Amid Falling Crime Rates in Tennessee, Nationwide

Tom Pappert
Knoxville Police Department

The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) on Thursday shared that zero murders were reported during the first three months of 2026, a record previously set in 1988, as crime rates fall across Tennessee and the United States under the Trump administration. 

Explaining the city typically sees five murders between January and March, the police department announced on Thursday, “From January 1 through March 31, 2026, there were no murders in Knoxville, down from four at the same time in 2025.”

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ICE Seeks Office Space in Nashville, Knoxville After Big Beautiful Bill Leads to 12,000 New Hires

Tom Pappert
ICE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 20 submitted a Request for Information (RFI), expressing the agency’s interest in leasing office space in Nashville and Knoxville, as well as more than 40 other U.S. states and territories.

A spokesman for ICE confirmed on Friday that the new space is necessary due to the massive increase in funding assigned to the agency in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, which led to a 120 percent increase in ICE’s workforce. 

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Embattled NES CEO Admits ‘More Aggressive Tree Trimming Approach’ Generally ‘Very Effective in Mitigating Damage’

Tom Pappert
NES CEO

Nashville Electric Service (NES) CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin acknowledged during the first meeting of the 2026 Winter Storm Response Commission created by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell that “aggressive” vegetation management and tree trimming typically helps mitigate damage from wind, and said that the municipally owned power company plans to step up its efforts after Winter Storm Fern. 

Broyles-Aplin began her remarks to the commission by acknowledging the company, “did not meet the expectations of our customers,” particularly in terms of “service and communications,” before repeating the company’s four pillar plan to examine its response to the storm, which left thousands of customers without power for over a week. 

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NES Confirms Annual Pay for Embattled CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin Now over $650,000

Tom Pappert
Teresa Broyles-Aplin

Nashville Electric Service (NES) compensates CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin more than $650,000 annually for her services at the municipally-owned utility, a spokesman for NES confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Monday.

The company confirmed the compensation in an unsigned response to a Friday inquiry from The Star, which sought to confirm Friday reporting by WSMV-4 that Broyles-Aplin is paid $654,870.15 for her work at the company. 

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Nashville Mayor Says Storm Commission Has ‘No Formal Authority’ When Asked About Apparent Conflict of Interest by Former Gov. Phil Bredesen

Tom Pappert
Mayor Freddie O'Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Tuesday announced the members of his 2026 Winter Storm Response Commission, which will deliver its final report by February 2027, and tapped former Governor Phil Bredesen to chair its efforts.

Despite Bredesen founding a green energy company that does business with NES after leaving office, O’Connell told The Tennessee Star on Thursday that the former governor did not have a conflict of interest, because his commission had no authority. 

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center Now Sponsors Every Major Sports Team in Nashville amid Layoffs, Transgender Controversies

Tom Pappert
Nissan Stadium

It was reported last Thursday that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) will become the new medical partners for the Tennessee Titans, making VUMC an official medical sponsor, partner, or affiliate for all three of Nashville’s major sports teams. 

Ascension Saint Thomas is reportedly planning to end its 25-year partnership with the Titans this year, and VUMC will instead meet the medical needs of the professional football team. It is unclear when the team plans to announce the deal with VUMC, but Ascension’s partnership with the Titans reported to expire on March 1. 

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Petition by Cheatham County Residents Alleges ‘Frequent Outages’ Under NES, Seeks Move to CEMC

Tom Pappert
NES workers

A petition launched on Sunday calls on Cheatham County and the Tennessee Public Service Commission to transition the small number of residents who purchase electricity from Nashville Electric Service (NES) to Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation (CEMC) in the wake of Winter Storm Fern.

The petition requests Cheatham County conduct a feasibility study for the potential switch, citing “persistent power outages occurring on a monthly and at times weekly basis, including during normal, non-severe weather conditions.”

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EXCLUSIVE: NES Board Chair Walks Back Support of Embattled CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin amid Winter Storm Fern Scrutiny

Tom Pappert

Nashville Electric Service (NES) Board Chair Anne Davis told The Tennessee Star on Monday that the continued employment of NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin will depend on the findings of an independent audit of the company’s performance during Winter Storm Fern. 

“Based on NES’ performance during the ice storm, it is clear that many improvements need to be made to prepare for future disasters,” Davis told The Star.

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Embattled NES CEO Claims ‘Not a Fair Question’ When Asked to Grade Performance in Winter Storm Fern

Tom Pappert
Teresa Broyles-Aplin

Amid calls for the embattled Nashville Electric Service (NES) CEO to resign or be fired by the municipally owned company’s board, the top NES executive on Friday defended her leadership during Winter Storm Fern, but declared it was “not a fair question” when asked to grade her performance. 

CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin appeared to signal to the Nashville Business Journal, in remarks published Friday, that she would fight to remain at her job despite U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) calling for her to resign, House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) pledging action from the General Assembly, and a bipartisan resolution in the Metro Council calling for the NES board to fire her. 

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Metro Nashville Council Files Resolution Urging NES to Fire CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin

Tom Pappert
Emily Benedict, Courtney Johnston

Two members of the Metro Nashville Council on Wednesday submitted a resolution calling for the Nashville Electric Service (NES) board to fire the company’s top executive, Teresa Broyles-Aplin, as she faces criticism for the municipally owned utility’s response to Winter Storm Fern. 

Councilmembers Emily Benedict (District 7) and Courtney Johnston (District 26) in their resolution called for the NES board “to terminate” Broyles-Aplin’s employment immediately, stating that she failed to adequately prepare for the storm or communicate during the outage. 

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