The weather today (okay, the entire weekend) is pretty gross and you’re gonna struggle to stay dry. Waves of rain will push through from the southwest and the greatest storm potential will be toward the evening hours. [NashSevereWx]
Can we please stop calling these people influencers? Middle Tennessee social media personality Ryan Upchurch has been ordered by a federal jury in Nashville to pay nearly $20 million to the family of Kiely Rodni after being found liable for defamation. [The Tennessean]
Kentucky’s Howdy Doody governor is claiming this as some kind of big win. As if nearly everyone currently working for this company in Tennessee isn’t going to continue working for them in Kentucky. You should see the weirdo press release the Kentucky goober sent out hyping it up. The new location isn’t even 60 miles away from the old one. [News Channel 5]
This Memorial Day, communities and neighborhoods across Middle Tennessee will pause to honor our fallen men and women of the armed forces. At the heart of the weekend is honoring military members who died for our country. [WKRN]
A student injured in the deadly shooting at Antioch High School is suing the company behind the school’s AI-powered gun detection system, claiming the technology failed to detect the shooter’s weapon despite being marketed as a tool that could stop violence before shots were fired. The lawsuit, filed May 1 in Davidson County Circuit Court, was brought by Antonyous Henin, who was wounded during the Jan. 22, 2025, shooting inside the school cafeteria. One student, Josselin Corea Escalante, was killed in the attack. [WZTV]
The First Amendment still exists and you better effing use it before you lose it. Don’t have to like what anyone says, even if it’s trash, but you better step up to defend it. It’s un-American to sit on the sidelines. Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The 61-year-old retired police officer spent 37 days behind bars before authorities dropped the felony charge against him in October. [Associated Press]
Tennessee students are among the top performers in the country for post-pandemic academic recovery, showing significant gains in math and reading levels. The annual Education Scorecard measures student growth in those subjects by combining state assessment data of about 35 million students with national data to show academic recovery trends through the 2024-25 school year. The report covers grades three through eight and is a collaborative effort between scholars at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth. [WPLN]
Five years after its completion, West End Tower, also known as Zeppos Tower, is just now emerging with a clear purpose. Even so, Vanderbilt’s most recognizable landmark remains a mystery to much of the campus community, defined by its mishmash of uses, unusual design features and student inaccessibility. [Vanderbilt Hustler]
In the Age of AI, Is College Worth It? As Tennessee rapidly expands AI and tech training programs, one student wonders whether a four-year degree is still worth the cost. [Nashville SUNN]
Fisk University President Agenia Clark announced a $900 million plan to remake the historically Black university’s North Nashville campus, complete with a 100,000-square-foot data and technology center. Details remain limited as the 160-year-old university, once home to civil rights luminaries like John Lewis and Ida B. Wells, embarks on the project, dubbed Quantum Leap. [Nashville Banner]
Are we still pretending that the state legislature is anything other than a waking nightmare? Tennessee’s Republican House speaker is punishing Democrats for participating in a chaotic end to the special session lawmakers used to redraw congressional maps to bolster a GOP candidate in the midterm election. House Speaker Cameron Sexton sent a letter Tuesday to House Minority Leader Karen Camper notifying her that Democratic Caucus members will be removed from all standing committees and subcommittees except in cases where their membership is required by House rules. [Tennessee Tribune]
Nashville claims Publix helped fuel the oversupply and diversion of prescription opioids and that this increased costs for first responders, hospitals, law enforcement and homelessness and mental health services. In the lawsuit, the city shared data showing that Tennessee has the third highest levels of prescriptions for opioids in the U.S. In 2016, Tennessee saw 1,631 overdose deaths. [WSMV]
Since the state legislature passed the new congressional maps on May 7, the final day of the three-day special session, four lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts challenging various aspects of that effort. The three cases in federal court have since been reassigned to the same judge, William Campbell, and will be heard by the same three-judge panel. The state has also moved to consolidate at least two of the cases. [Nashville Banner]
Because nothing says staying on top of things and being forward thinking more than… waiting an entire year to do something extremely commonplace. Gurl (we mean gurl in a mean girls way here), come on, get it together. Mayor Freddie O’Connell is nominating two people to succeed a couple of Nashville heavy-hitters whose terms expired more than a year ago. [Nashville Business Journal]
Okay, here’s a wild headline, just read it: Eli Lilly accuses church bishops, businessmen of fraud in Trulicity drug rebate scheme. Right??? Crazy. And sure, it’s always the people you most expect and they’re probably terrible. But also, who can be mad at a scam to get prescription medications for cheaper from a company minting billions per year? What do y’all have goin on over at the Church of God in Christ? Goodness gracious. [CNBC]
Look, we don’t like kid things because we don’t have the patience, but this is probably gonna be terrific and you should go. How to Train Your Dragon in Concert from the Nashville Symphony Orchestra runs through Sunday. We wouldn’t send you to things we wouldn’t check out. [VMC & Nashville Symphony]
