It's official: Gov. Lee signs bill cutting Nashville council in half just months before election
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Thursday, March 09, 2023
Change Your Partners
Stayhome Ann Mind-Your-Own-Business Peace-At-Any-Price was dancing with Anit-Imperialist New Left Pacifist; now she is dancing with America First Nationalist.
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Tuesday, March 07, 2023
Monday, March 06, 2023
201 Guns Stolen from Vehicles so far in 2023 in Nashville. Prevent your weapon from being used in a crime. Properly secure it.
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| This is not securing a gun in your vehicle. |
At the rate we are going, by the time the year ends, we will have had over 1200 guns stolen from vehicles, probably more. I don't have the data, but I think more guns are stolen from cars in good weather than bad.
If a kid takes a gun to school and shoots classmates or his teacher, the gun was probably a stolen gun, stolen from a law-abiding citizen. If a 7-11 clerk and maybe a customer are shot by a thug in a robbery attempt, the gun used was probably a stolen gun, stolen from the car of a law-abiding citizens.
So, what it is to be done. First of all, law-abiding citizens need to stop arming thugs. Don't leave your gun in your car. I think we need to do more than attempt to persuade law-abiding gun owners to be responsible gun owners, however. We need a law making it a crime to not probably secure a gun. If one is going to have a gun in their car, I think there should be a requirement that the gun be secured in a gun safe, and the gun safe securely attached to the vehicle.
Preventing Thefts of Firearms From Vehicles | Project ChildSafe from NSSF on Vimeo.
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New Titans lease has a 'first-class' clause that leads to a $1.829B city obligation. Metro not "off the hook."
But a new lease agreement with the team for a new estimated $2.1 billion stadium, set to open in 2026, would also include a similar “first-class” requirement. The final documents were released publicly Wednesday before they are scheduled to receive a first reading at Tuesday’s Metro Nashville Council meeting.
The documents also define a 130-acre sales tax capture zone around the stadium, which is set to receive a record $1.26 billion in public funding for construction but will also receive ongoing tax funds that will both pay for Nashville Sports Authority bonds on construction but also will be used to pay to keep the new stadium in “first-class” condition.
The city must “maintain the Stadium as a safe, clean, attractive, and first-class facility reasonably comparable to the Comparable NFL Facilities (with due consideration given to the remaining term of this Lease (and to the remaining term of the lease of any Comparable NFL Facility, to the extent applicable) and to any unique market conditions (such as climate, surrounding landscape, local laws and regulations and any requirement to serve as the home venue for other professional, collegiate or amateur sports teams)) and in a manner that is consistent with requirements imposed by the NFL and Applicable Law.”
In the Titans’ first lease in Nashville, similar improvements were required to be paid the Metro Nashville government while the new lease has those payments coming from a tax fund, which is projected to collect $2.9 billion over the 30-year lease term, and backstopped by the Titans.
East Bank Stadium Committee Chair Bob Mendes noted that, during the stadium negotiation process, both the Titans and Metro Nashville Mayor’s Office claimed the Titans would pay for future stadium improvements and repairs and the new deal would take Metro “off the hook,” but that isn’t true.
“It is also important to mention that the spin job from May through October – the claim that the Titans will pay for future stadium improvements – is still largely viewed as true still today even though the administration and the team pivoted months ago to the 'backstop' talking point,” Mendes wrote. “The bottom line is that the stadium deal will rely on hundreds of millions of dollars of public tax dollars for future stadium improvements, with those public funds being administered by the team.”
The lease notes SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, will not be considered a comparable facility.
Instead, comparable facility is defined as a “premier, first-class, multipurpose sports stadiums incorporating, at the time of initial construction or material renovation, technological innovations, environmental sustainability considerations, and other best practices in design, construction, and ultimate operations, in which NFL teams regularly play their games and that are of comparable size and age, adjusted to reflect any material renovations, as the Stadium.”
The city also was required to draw a 130-acre zone adjacent to the stadium that will have 50% of its local and state sales taxes captured and put into the $2.9 billion fund.
That zone was drawn between Interstate 24 and the Cumberland River with Sylvan Street and Korean Veterans Boulevard as borders on one side and James Robertson Parkway and North 1st Street as borders on the other side. Current property owners in that zone include Howerton Associates, the Metro Sports Authority, 200 Main Partners, Pinnacle Woodland Street, 7-Eleven, Continental Inns, Crafco, Parkway Associates and TLC Properties.
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Sunday, March 05, 2023
How Tennessee Students Perform on the ACT Compared to the Nation
Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square Feb 16, 2023 - Roughly 1.3 million graduating high school students in 2022 - 36% of the total - sat down for the ACT exam. The ACT (formerly the American College Testing Program) assesses college readiness in English, math, science, and reading. Many colleges base admittance on a student's ACT test results.
In recent years, an alarming trend has emerged, as ACT scores have steadily declined. According to ACT, Inc., the national average composite score decreased from 20.3 in 2021 to 19.8 in 2022 - the lowest average since 1991.
In a blog on the ACT website, CEO Janet Godwin noted that only 22% of the students who took the test met all four ACT benchmarks, or the levels at which the organization deems students stand a greater chance of success in higher education. Meanwhile, 42% did not achieve any of the benchmarks.
While ACT scores have declined nationwide in recent years, there is considerable variation in average ACT scores from state to state. In Tennessee, the average composite ACT score in 2022 was 18.6 out of a possible 36, the eighth lowest among states.
Of the four test components that go into the overall composite score, students in Tennessee scored best in the reading section, with an average score of 19.0. Meanwhile, the test category with the lowest average score in the state was English, at 18.0 points out of 36.
All data in this story is from Scholaroo, a global scholarship database.
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Tennessee bill would prevent government spending on abortions
By Jon Styf, The Center Square, Mar 3, 2023 - A bill to prevent local governments from spending taxpayer funds on abortions or travel out of state to get abortions passed a Tennessee Senate committee this week and will soon head to the full Senate.
The bill comes after Tennessee’s law banning abortions went into effect following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Last year, the Metro Nashville council proposed a $500,000 grant to assist women getting an abortion outside of Tennessee but then amended the bill to make it a grant to Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.
Tennessee Conservative News reported the plan was changed after “concerns from the Metro Department of Law that it would threaten Title X funding.”
Senate Bill 600 was recommended for passage by a 7-2 vote along party lines of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senate Sponsor Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, said the Tennessee Constitution allows the state to have authority over local governments as long as it does not violate a right guaranteed in the state’s constitution.
Hensley said the punishment for using those funds would be an audit finding for improper use of funds. “It is just improper usage of taxpayer funds to transport a pregnant woman across state lines for an abortion,” Hensley said.
Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, asked a series of questions on whether this would impact funding for county hospitals that perform life-saving abortions or nonprofits that assist in abortions for those who are a victim of rape.
Hensley said that the rule applies to local governments, not hospitals.
“Abortion is illegal in this state,” Hensley said. “So, if they are doing something illegal, they should not be using taxpayer funds.”
Lamar asked Hensley if he believed hospitals should perform life-saving abortions.
“I believe hospitals should do what they can do to save lives,” Hensley responded.
A companion bill, House Bill 90, is scheduled to be heard Wednesday by the House Cities & Counties Subcommittee.
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