Tag: Nashville

Bridgestone Suing Tennessee over Tax Credits

Peter D'Abrosca

In an effort to collect on tax credits it says it is owed, Bridgestone Americas, one of the world’s largest tire companies whose American headquarters is located in Nashville, is suing the state of Tennessee. 

“Bridgestone has filed a complaint in Tennessee Chancery Court regarding corporate tax credits accrued in 2017 and 2018,” Bridgestone Americas Communications Director Sara Cooper confirmed to The Tennessee Star. “The complaint was filed as a procedural protection of the company’s interest while the Tennessee Department of Revenue completes its review of these credits. Bridgestone cannot comment further on on-going legal matters.”

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Metro Nashville Police Ready to Enforce New Alcohol Ban on Party Buses as New Bill Allowing Alcohol Is Considered

Morgan Nicole Veysey

The Nashville Metro announced earlier this week that the alcohol ban on party buses will take effect beginning December 1. In a news release, Metro said that the ordinance prohibited “the possession/consumption of open containers of alcohol, including beer, in unenclosed entertainment transportation vehicles” and that there would be Metro police officers monitoring vehicles throughout the first night. 

Metro added that if there was a violation of the new ordinance, that the vehicle would be issued a civil citation and receive a $50 fine. According to Metro, there were six officers and a sergeant that patrolled the area of entertainment transportation pickup and drop-off locations to “remind businesses and their patrons of the new ordinance and to seek voluntary compliance.”

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Tennessee Officials Can Penalize Nashville Schools for Not Complying with New Law on Transgender Athletes, Legislator Says

Chris Butler

Metro Nashville School Board members won’t update their policy on transgender athletes to comply with a new Tennessee law, but a state legislator says state government officials could penalize the school district for disobeying. State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Howenwald) helped get the original bill through the Tennessee General Assembly.

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Second Meeting on Outdoor Homelessness in Nashville Results in No Plan

Morgan Nicole Veysey

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The second Nashville Metro meeting held by Jim Schulman resulted in no plan to tackle the outdoor homelessness situation in the city. The Tennessee Star covered the first meeting from the previous night, where citizens gathered to discuss their ideas on how to address the city’s homelessness issues. 

Similar to the first meeting, over a hundred citizens attended, but this time with the expectation for there to be an outline of a plan that the community could agree on. 

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Metro Nashville Health Department Apologizes for Calling Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict an Injustice

Chris Butler

Metro Nashville Health Department (MPHD) staff on Wednesday apologized for Director of Health Equity Stephanie Kang calling the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial an injustice. Last week, Kang in an email to MPHD employees, described Rittenhouse as “a young white man who shot and killed two people and wounded one other.”

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World-Renowned Producer Fred Mollin Releases ‘It’s Great to be a Kid’

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee –  Fred Mollin is an award-winning American and Canadian record producer, musician, film and TV composer, music director, music supervisor, and songwriter whose discography spans 35 years. He has produced records for Jimmy Webb, Johnny Mathis, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lamont Dozier, and America, and has composed music for Beverly Hills, 90210, Friday the 13th (movies and television), Forever Knight, Hard Copy, and many more. Mollin rose to prominence early in his career by co-producing (with Matthew McCauley) Dan Hill’s international hit record, “Sometimes When We Touch”, in 1977.

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Former Nashville Mayoral Candidate Carol Swain, Other Black Panelists, Describe Their Unexpected Path to Conservative Politics at Event in Franklin

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN — Quisha King, a former regional engagement coordinator for Black Voices for Trump, said she was once liberal, but the writings of conservative black economists Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams helped steer her on a different path. King said she her community had no prior access to Sowell or Williams.

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Music Spotlight: Hemp and Denim

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Hemp Meadows and Denim Skye are lifelong musicians who have been married for 35 years. Denim sang in a church choir and school musicals in her hometown of Washington, DC. She got her first guitar when she was 13. She played in local bands. A division of Filmways Corporation recruited Denim to LA to form a psychedelic folk trio. After her foray, Denim gave up music for a while and became a graphic artist where she worked for the iconic magazine Tiger Beat.

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Tennessee Department of Transportation Might Convert Certain HOV Lanes in Nashville into Toll Lanes

Chris Butler

Vanderbilt University staff on Friday published a press release that announced they’d partnered with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to study whether to convert certain High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes into High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.

But by Monday the Vanderbilt press release had vanished. A source told The Tennessee Star on that Vanderbilt’s communications staff posted the press release in error. The press release appeared online before Vanderbilt officials had signed off on it.

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Nashville Pastor Tackles Man Who Allegedly Pulled a Gun During Church Service

Chris Butler

The quick actions of a Nashville pastor and several of his parishioners saved a church from violence Sunday afternoon, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).

MNPD officials said in a press release that Dezire Baganda, 26, was sitting at the front of the Nashville Light Mission Pentecostal Church when he pulled out a gun and walked up to the altar where the pastor was praying with several members.

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Music Spotlight: Kolby Cooper

Bethany Bowman
Musician Kolby Cooper smiling

Kolby Cooper is among the best songwriters I have ever interviewed. I wanted to find out how this 22-year-old got so talented so quickly.

Cooper got interested in country music as a child while riding around in a cattle truck with his dad. They would listen to artists like Waylon Jennings, Chris LeDoux, and Randy Rogers. He picked up a guitar at around age ten. When he learned to play he began writing as well. He was 12 years old when he wrote his first s

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Nashville Chamber of Commerce Could Push to Restructure the City’s Public Schools

Chris Butler

Members of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce said they are displeased with the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS), so much so the schools might require a dramatic restructuring — at least at the school board level. Axios reported this week that chamber members might prefer to do away with electing school board members. Instead, local government officials could appoint them.

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Metro Nashville School System Employees Complain COVID-19 Precautions Have Created Unreasonable Working Conditions

Chris Butler

Certain Metro Nashville Public School employees have come forward with a petition to say that COVID-19 safety precautions and staffing shortages have burdened them and created more difficult working conditions. On their Facebook page, MNEA officials complained of inconsistent contact tracing, bus drivers making double and triple routes without additional pay, and support staff covering classes for $2 an hour.

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Latest Report on National and Local Housing Markets Show Home Values and Rent Both Up

Kaitlin Housler

According to the latest report by Zillow, annual growth in national home values set another record high of 18.4% in September and rent growth remains very fast. Zillow, an American online real estate marketplace company, reported that in Nashville, the average home is around $365,573 – up 20.9% from last year and up 2.4% from August. Monthly rent prices are also skyrocketing this year. In Nashville, monthly rent prices are up 15.4% from last year at an average of $1,773.

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Steve Wariner Releases ‘Feels Like Christmas’ Today

Bethany Bowman

Nashville, Tennessee – Multi-Grammy®, CMA, and ACM Award-winning performer Steve Wariner has released a new Christmas album, Feels Like Christmas Time, today, October 15. The album features newly imagined arrangements of Christmas classics including “Silent Night,” “The First Noel” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” as well as six original holiday tunes, all written by Wariner.

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The Daily Wire Hosts, Including Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens, Hold Sold-Out Event at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium

Chris Butler

NASHVILLE — A packed crowd turned out Tuesday night for The Daily Wire’s‘Backstage Live’ event at the Ryman Auditorium. The Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro joined Candace Owens, Jeremy Boreing, Michael Knowles, Matt Walsh, and Andrew Klavan as they discussed U.S. President Joe Biden and an assortment of other current news topics.

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Nashville Community Oversight Board to Propose New Policy on How Police Officers Handle People Resisting Arrest

Chris Butler

Members of Nashville’s Community Oversight Board (COB) have scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday where they plan to call upon Metro Nashville Police (MNPD) to document all uses of “soft empty-hand control” techniques.

This, according to Wednesday’s COB meeting agenda.

The MNPD manual defines “soft empty-hand control” as using physical strength to control people who resist arrest. The manual goes on to say that these techniques include pain compliance pressure points, controlled takedowns, joint manipulation, or simply grabbing a subject.

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For the Third Time, Nashville Man Convicted of Being a Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm

Chris Butler

A federal jury this week convicted a Nashville man on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and this is not this man’s first experience with this. That man, Davian M. Greenlee, is 40-years-old, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee published Thursday.

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Music Spotlight: The Woods

Bethany Bowman

Nashville, Tennessee – The Woods comprised of Raquel Cole, Dan O’Rourke, Leland Rooney are all incredible musicians, songwriters, and singers in their own right – and when they come together the sound is truly magical – think Little Big Town meets Midland. After hearing them play together at the Analog Room in the Hutton Hotel, I wanted to find out how this eclectic and diverse trio discovered each other.

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Nashville Police Report Kidnapping, Carjackings, and Shooting in Recent Days

Chris Butler

Officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) have been plenty busy the past few days, due to several high-profile crimes, including a suspect who allegedly forced himself into another man’s car and kidnapped the man. “Around 4 a.m. a 28-year-old victim was stopped at a red light on Haywood Lane near I-24 when he said the suspect entered the passenger side. The suspect held the victim and driver of the car at knifepoint,” MNPD officials said in a press release.

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Full Body-Worn and In-Car Camera Deployment Now Complete Across Metro Nashville Police

Chris Butler

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake announced last week that full body-worn and in-car camera deployment across the entire MNPD is now complete. “After project completion at all eight precincts in mid-July, training and camera distribution continued to officers in all other remaining police department components,” according to a press release that the MNPD published.

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This Fall and Winter, Redistricting Will Occupy Minds of Tennessee Politicians and Activists on the State and Local Levels

Bradley Vasoli
Tennessee State Capitol at night in winter

After the finalization of the U.S. Census every ten years, state and local governments set about redrawing their lawmakers’ and school directors’ district lines.

Throughout this fall and winter, legislators across the state will toil over this process sure to directly impact many of their futures. Although political considerations inevitably loom large in redistricting, the proceedings are theoretically intended to make districts as compact and contiguous as possible—i.e. to ensure that they don’t look like irregular puzzle pieces.

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Alleged Drug Dealer Sends Complaint Against Four Nashville Police Detectives to Community Oversight Board

Chris Butler

Members of the Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board (COB) this week considered a complaint that an alleged drug dealer filed against four Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) detectives. The complainant, a female, alleged improper search and seizure. She also said the four detectives threatened her with eviction if she did not consent to the search.

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Rumors Suggest Nashville Christmas Day Bomber Might Have Originally Targeted Hermitage Hotel

Chris Butler

Members of the Special Bombing Review Commission on Tuesday discussed rumors that the man accused of setting off a bomb on Second Avenue North on Christmas morning last year originally might have targeted Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel. That man, Anthony Quinn Warner, died in an explosion that authorities accused him of setting off last year on Second Avenue around 6:30 a.m. on December 25. The explosion also damaged at least 41 businesses and collapsed one building.

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Metro Nashville Council Member Allegedly Trying to Change Zoning of a Property Against Owners’ Wishes

Chris Butler

Metro Nashville Council Member Dave Rosenberg is allegedly trying to change the zoning of a property to hurt the property owners, with whom he allegedly has stark political differences. One of the property owners, Nashville businessman Crom Carmichael, said the property involves an abandoned rock quarry on McCrory Lane. Carmichael said he and Nashville investor Townes Duncan have owned the property for roughly 15 years.

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