Judge Rules Nashville Soccer Stadium Vote Violated Open Meetings Act, Requires Revote

A Chancery Court judge ruled that Metro Nashville’s contract to build the Major League Soccer stadium on The Fairgrounds Nashville is invalid because the meeting approving it violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, WSMV reported.

The Sports Authority gave only 48 hours’ notice before holding a special meeting to sign off on the $192 million contract with M.A. Mortenson Co./Messer Construction Co. on November 1, 2018.

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Tennessean Admits Big Mistake After Running Ad That Generates Withering Criticism

A Tennessee newspaper said Sunday it is investigating what its editor called a “horrific” full-page advertisement from a religious group that predicts a terrorist attack in Nashville next month.

The paid advertisement that appeared in Sunday’s editions of The Tennessean from the group Future For America claims Donald Trump “is the final president of the USA” and features a photo of Trump and Pope Francis. It begins by claiming that a nuclear device would be detonated in Nashville and that the attack would be carried out by unspecific interests of “Islam.”

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Nashville’s Community Oversight Board Wants to Help Select Police Chief Steve Anderson’s Replacement

  Members of Nashville’s Metro Community Oversight Board plan to help city officials find Nashville’s next police chief. “Following Mayor John Cooper’s announcement today of Chief Steve Anderson’s decision to retire as Chief of Police, the Community Oversight Board (COB) looks forward to being involved in the selection process of the city’s next Chief of Police,” COB members said in a press release this week. “The voice of the community must be reflected early and often during the national search and selection process, and the needs and values of the people of Nashville should be heavily considered and heard. The Community Oversight Board welcomes the invitation to be a member of the selection committee and is ready to continue the work that has been mandated by the Nashville community.” As The Tennessee Star reported this week, 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 reported, after left-wing activists and Metro Council members pushed for either Anderson to resign or for Cooper to fire him. Time after time, reporters at Thursday’s press conference asked Cooper if he asked Anderson to retire. Cooper did not seem…

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Gov. Lee Announces ‘Strong Mask Movement’ to Make Wearing Face Masks ‘Fun’

Gov. Bill Lee announced a new “TN Strong Mask Movement” Thursday with the goal of making face masks more “fun.”

According to a press release from the governor’s office, the Economic Recovery Group developed the new program along with more than 30 “flagship brands” across the state, including Amazon, Bridgestone, Bristol Motor Speedway, Graceland, Jack Daniel’s, several professional sports teams and universities, and many others.

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Nashville Boutique Venues Owner Dan Cook Talks About the Unequal Application of the Law and Hope for Phase Three

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. –  host Leahy welcomed the owner of Nashville Boutique Venues Dan Cook to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, Cook explained how his business comes into play with the mayor allowing Phase Three to open next Monday. He described the phase openings as an unequal application of the law by way of the equations of “capacity” being used by the Metro government.

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Nashville Beer Board Punishes Four Bars Downtown for Allegedly Not Complying with COVID-19 Guidelines

Members of the Metro Nashville Beer Permit Board penalized four bars downtown this week after they said staff at those establishments, including Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock N Roll Steakhouse, ignored city guidelines as businesses re-open after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moxy Nashville Downtown, Broadway Brewhouse, and Nudie’s Honky Tonk were the other three bars.

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Mayor Cooper Reinforces Police Chokehold Ban, Duty to Intervene

Mayor John Cooper said this week that he has asked the Metro Nashville Police Department to strengthen its policies to “explicitly prohibit the use of chokeholds and to further clarify officers’ duty to intervene.”

However, as the statement from Cooper’s office notes, chokeholds are already prohibited under Tennessee law in most circumstances. Additionally, since the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) doesn’t train officers on the technique, chokeholds are “not allowed per Nashville police policy and have not been allowed for decades,” said the statement.

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Nashville Mayor John Cooper Announces Police Chief Steve Anderson’s Retirement

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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Author of ‘George Washington, Entrepreneur’ John Berlau Talks About Washington as an Innovator

Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report Early Edition 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. –  host Leahy welcomed American economist and the Director at the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute John Berlau to the newsmakers line.

During the first hour, Berlau joined the show to discuss his new book entitled George Washington, Entrepreneur, and how his innovative spirit contributed to America. He also touched upon Washington’s relationship to slavery and how near the end of his life had led the way by freeing all of his slaves.

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Leahy and Roberts Discuss Nashville Mayor Cooper’s Continued Hold on Nashville Small Businesses

Live from Music Row Tuesday 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 was joined in studio by state Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield).

During the second hour, Leahy and Roberts questioned the motives of Mayor John Cooper who continues to hold Nashville small businesses hostage.

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State Senator Kerry Roberts: ‘We’re Not Going to Fix This World Until People Come to Know Jesus Christ’

Live from Music Row Tuesday 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 was joined in studio by Tennessee state Senator Kerry Roberts.

During the third hour, Leahy and Roberts talked about how Mayor Cooper made it difficult for the Republican National Convention to come to Nashville even though it would have helped many suffering businesses. Roberts added that in order to fix this world people need to know Jesus.

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Fourteen Nashville Businesses Cited for Not Complying with Health Orders

Health officials in Tennessee have cited 14 Nashville businesses including a restaurant owned by singer Kid Rock for not complying with coronavirus public health orders.

Metro Public Health Department Director Michael Caldwell visited Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse on Saturday after receiving a complaint, news outlets reported, citing a statement from the health department. Caldwell issued a citation “for serving people that were seated at the bar and for not observing proper social distancing inside the establishment.”

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Nashville Labor Union Group Wants John Cooper to Spend Remaining COVID-19 Money on Their Personal Priorities

A coalition of Nashville’s community organizations and labor unions want Nashville Mayor John Cooper to spend possibly as much as $100 million in remaining COVID-19 relief money on projects that cater to “a moral and racial equity lens.”

Members of the organization, Stand Up Nashville, announced this in an email to followers this weekend.

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Commentary: It Is Time to Break Up Nashville

The most charitable thing anyone can say about Nashville right now is that the city is a dumpster fire.  It isn’t just a small dumpster fire. It is a stinking, raging fire that is going to get out of hand if nothing is done about it.

Part of Nashville’s problems are not its own doing. No one could control the tornado that struck Nashville in March and no one could see, at least initially, what would happen with the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Law Enforcement Officers Prevent Protesters from Occupying Legislative Plaza for Second Night

Law enforcement officers were able to prevent demonstrators from camping out in Legislative Plaza for a second night Saturday.

Gov. Bill Lee failed to enforce state law Friday night and allowed left-wing protesters to occupy the plaza throughout the night and into Saturday morning, The Tennessee Star reported. More than 100 protesters claimed Friday that they had taken control of Nashville’s Legislative Plaza and refused to leave until speaking with Lee.

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Nashville Boutique Venues Owner Dan Cook Discusses Governor Lee’s Executive Order 38

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. – host Leahy welcomed the owner of Nashville Boutique Venues Dan Cook to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, Cook weighed in on phase two opening stall in Davidson County, which is putting his business in serious jeopardy along with 20,00 private industry professionals. He noted that Governor Lee’s Executive Order 38 may come into play making the case for a faster opening.

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Marriott to Lay off Almost 3,000 Employees

  Marriott Hotel Service, Inc. announced it is laying off almost 3,000 workers as a result of the coronavirus, according to The Nashville Business Journal. As a whole, Nashville has been one of the hardest-hit metro areas in the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Music City had the “steepest drop in consumer spending of any major metropolitan area” due to COVID-19. Consumer spending in Nashville dropped 46 percent, The Tennessee Star reported. Across the country, hotels have been greatly affected by the coronavirus. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), as of June 10 sixty percent of American hotel rooms are empty. Also, since mid-February hotels in America have lost over $33 billion in revenue. The AHLA reported that Tennessee has lost almost 73,000 hotel industry jobs. Here is a list of Marriotts affected by layoffs, compiled by The Business Journal: Company: Marriott Hotel Services Inc. dba The Inn at Opryland Sector: Hospitality Affected workers: 107 County: Davidson Address: 2401 Music Valley Drive, Nashville Effective date: March 21 Layoff type: Temporary — “This layoff was initially intended to be temporary. The company now states, ‘It is reasonably foreseeable that these temporary actions may extend beyond…

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Liberal Group Calls on Nashville Police Chief to Resign, More Council Members Support Move

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee called on Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson to resign in a statement released Wednesday.

“Over the last ten days, tens of thousands of Nashvillians have stood together in peaceful protests to express their outrage over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. These powerful protests highlight the outrage over the enduring and deep-rooted problem of racist policing and structural racism in the United States,” the group said in its statement.

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#FreeTN Rallies Sunday for Freedom From Nashville’s Shutdown and No Further Shutdowns

#FreeTN has scheduled a rally for Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at Nashville’s Historic Courthouse/City Hall calling for freedom from the remnants of Nashville’s COVID-19 shutdown and demanding that the city never shut down again.

The day also marks the annual celebration of the official adoption of the “Stars and Stripes” American flag by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.

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John Cooper’s Staff Defends Spending COVID-19 Relief Money on Laptops for Public School Students

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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Increased COVID-19 Testing in Nashville Results in More Confirmed Cases, but Percentage Positive Remains at Nine Percent

Davidson County has had an increase in COVID-19 cases as a result of increased testing.

This, according to Metro Public Health Department spokesman Brian Todd.

“I checked with our epidemiologist and was told we have seen a steady increase in testing in Davidson County since mid-April,” Todd told The Tennessee Star in an email Monday.

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Bill Hagerty Says He Stands with Law Enforcement Officers

U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty said Monday that he will continue to support law enforcement officials and their full funding.

This, after Minneapolis officials pledged to dismantle their police department.

“Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every single day to keep our communities safe. They are the only thing standing between anarchy and law and order,” Hagerty said in a press release on his campaign’s website.

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Nashville Police Will Soon Have Body Cameras

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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Analysis: The Connection Between the George Floyd Protest, the Nashville Budget, and ‘Killer Bill’

There have been a number and variety of both high-profile and lesser-publicized events in Nashville that at first glance are seemingly unrelated – but are actually connected by way of the groups that have been involved with them.

The first and most notable event took place on Saturday, May 30, when the Music City’s protests over the death of George Floyd on May 25 turned into a violent riot.

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Nashville Boutique Venues Owner Dan Cook Gives an Update on the Phase Three Opening in Nashville

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. –  host Leahy welcomed Nashville Boutique Venue Owner Dan Cook to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, Cook told Leahy about where his business stood in Nashville’s unfair phase openings. He noted that Broadway, which has larger capacities, would be allowed to open up in phase three but private events would still suffer.

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Nashville Group Compares Abolishing Police to Integration and Abolishing Slavery

Members of the grassroots coalition that wrote, petitioned, and campaigned for Nashvillians to create the Metro Community Oversight Board this week compared the idea of defunding police to some of history’s greatest civil rights accomplishments.

And members of this group, Community Oversight Nashville, also pushed socialism and communism as the best way forward for blacks.

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Democrat Mayor John Cooper: Nashville Has No Money Available to Host Republican National Convention

Nashville Mayor John Cooper says the city has no money to host the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Nashville during his COVID-19 news conference Thursday.

The issue of hosting the RNC came up earlier this week when the host state of North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper expressed public safety concerns about holding such a large-scale event during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, reported The Washington Times.

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Tennessee House Passes Resolution Inviting RNC to Host Convention in Nashville

The Tennessee House passed a resolution Thursday inviting the Republican National Committee to host its August convention in Nashville.

The resolution was passed after President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that he would be pulling the convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, whose Democratic governor refused to guarantee a full-scale convention amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Suspect Arrested During Nashville Riots Says He ‘Did Not Do What They Said,’ Lives Now in Tennessee, Not Texas

Nashville Police listed three of the 28 people they arrested during last Saturday’s riots as living out-of-state.

Pierceson Harris, 27, of Arlington, Texas was, according to police records, one of those three people. Police charged him with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to the Nashville Police Department’s website.

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NASCAR Ready for Long-Term Commitment in Nashville

Here’s what NASCAR hopes is the honky tonk truth — that a Nashville reboot is good enough this time to make the sport a tough ticket in the heart of one of the entertainment hot spots of the south.

The first step? Convincing its star drivers the trip to Nashville Superspeedway in 2021 is the spark of a motorsports rebirth in the area and not just another lazy ride on an intermediate concrete track.

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Crom Carmichael Discusses How the Metro Budget’s Discussion on Police Department Defunding

Live from Music Row Wednesday 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. –  host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.

During the second hour of the show, Carmichael discussed how the Metro Budget Council hearing was orchestrated to prevent legitimate citizens to voice their concerns over the 32 percent tax increase.

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Metro Council Member-at-Large Steve Glover Upset That People Who Opposed Tax Increase Blocked from Speaking

Live from Music Row Wednesday 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. –  host Leahy welcomed Metro Nashville’s City Council Member-at-Large Steve Glover to the newsmakers line.

At the top of the third hour, Glover called in after an overnight session in Metro Nashville’s City Council chambers regarding the 32 property tax increase coordinated by Mayor John Cooper. He was clearly upset and felt that the people of Nashville got robbed and informed that he will be putting forth another budget proposal by Friday.

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Brian Wilson: Did Mayor Cooper Cut a Deal with Black Lives Matter to Reduce Police Protection During Riots in Return for Support of 32 Percent Property Tax Increase?

Brian Wilson, the host of 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News, speculated whether Nashville Mayor John Cooper arranged a quid pro quo with Black Lives Matter to reduce police protection in exchange for support of Nashville’s 32 percent property tax increase that took place during Tuesday’s hearing in the city council chambers.

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GOP Considering Nashville for August Convention, Trump Pulls from North Carolina

Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Tuesday afternoon that GOP leaders are considering Nashville as an alternative site for August’s Republican National Convention just hours before President Donald Trump announced that he will be pulling the convention from North Carolina.

Lee’s office told WTVF that officials with the Republican National Committee will be visiting Nashville Thursday to tour the city.

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