The American Bar Association Health Law Section has ranked Stites & Harbison, PLLC sixth in its eighth annual Regional Law Firm Recognition List for the South region for 2020.

The firm improved its ranking by one spot from the previous year’s listing, now having been honored seven consecutive times to the Top 10 list. Stites & Harbison’s Health Care Practice Group draws on the firm’s many years of experience to assist professionals, providers and suppliers in all aspects of the expanding health care industry.

The regional Top 10 listing is based on the numbers of members in the ABA Health Law Section in 2020.

The regions include the South, Southeast and DC, Midwest, Northeast and West.

Entertainment space set for 12th & Porter site

Nightscape, an event and entertainment space that will use built-in 360-degree 3D projection mapping and other sensory elements including surround sound, customizable lighting, unique scents and more to envelop guests in real or imaginary worlds and environments, is set to move into the former 12th & Porter site in downtown Nashville.

Nightscape will offer ticketed public events that will be announced via an online calendar.

All private events in the space will be facilitated by a partnership between Nightscape and local events company, Infinity Hospitality.

Nightscape is expected to open this fall at 114 12th Avenue North in the Gulch. Information: www.explorenightscape.com or on Instagram @explorenightscape.

Farmstead expansion includes Nashville

Online grocery Farmstead is partnering with DoorDash and planning one-hour deliveries in Nashville this year.

Farmstead’s business has grown significantly while hitting per-order profitability milestones, the company reports, doubling San Francisco Bay-area delivery radius, expanded from its home base in Northern California to Charlotte and will launching in Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Miami and 13 other cities in 2021.

VUMC seeks adults for COVID study

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is actively enrolling volunteers in an ongoing clinical treatment study for adults with COVID-19.

Vanderbilt is one of over 100 sites nationwide conducting this “ACTIV-2” research, which includes multiple phases and evaluations of promising investigational drugs for treating early COVID-19.

Led locally by David Haas, M.D., professor of medicine and principal investigator for the study at Vanderbilt, the ACTIV-2 trial is studying the safety and efficacy of medications to treat adults with COVID-19 and who are not hospitalized.

Researchers are also studying how quickly treatment changes the amount of virus in the upper airway, which may be important in reducing or halting transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 illness.

ACTIV-2 is a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled adaptive study that allows promising investigational drugs to be added and removed over the course of the study. The study is designed to efficiently test various new drugs, alone or in combination, within the same clinical trial.

To qualify for ACTIV-2, volunteers must still have at least one symptom of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath or other symptoms), have first tested positive for COVID-19 as an outpatient within seven days, and had symptoms start no more than seven days ago. Vanderbilt is committed to enrolling individuals in under-represented communities that have been most impacted by COVID-19. Those interested in enrolling may contact Vanderbilt at (615) 936-8594.

GM adds $2.3B battery cell plant in Spring Hill

Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of LG Energy Solution and General Motors, will invest more than $2.3 billion to build a battery cell manufacturing plant, its second in the U.S., in Spring Hill.

The company will build the new plant on land leased from GM.

The new battery cell plant will create 1,300 new jobs. Construction on the approximately 2.8 million-square-foot facility will begin immediately, and the plant is scheduled to open in late 2023.

Once operational, the facility will supply battery cells to GM’s Spring Hill assembly plant.

The state-of-the-art Spring Hill plant will use the most advanced and efficient battery cell manufacturing processes. The plant will be extremely flexible and able to adapt to ongoing advances in technology and materials.

GM’s proprietary Ultium battery technology is at the heart of the company’s strategy to compete for nearly every EV customer in the marketplace, whether they are looking for affordable transportation, luxury vehicles, work trucks, commercial trucks or high-performance machines.

Legion to nominate slate of Genesco directors

Nashville’s Genesco Inc. has confirmed that Legion Partners Asset Management, LLC has provided notice of its intent to nominate a controlling slate of seven individuals to stand for election to the Genesco board of directors at the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders.

The board and nominating and governance committee will review the proposed Legion nominees and present the board’s recommendation regarding director nominees in the company’s definitive proxy materials, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and mailed to all shareholders eligible to vote at the annual meeting.

The date of the meeting has not yet been announced, and Genesco shareholders are not required to take action at this time.

In response to Legion’s nominations, Genesco issued the following statement:

“While we disagree with many of Legion’s assertions and are surprised that they are seeking to replace a majority of Genesco’s eight-member Board after not responding to our repeated requests for their input and ideas or sharing their proposed candidates in advance, we value all feedback from shareholders and will continue to seek to have a constructive dialogue with Legion like we would with any shareholder.

“We will review the letter from Legion, along with their proposed director candidates, and respond in due course. Genesco’s Board and recently appointed management team are committed to acting in the best interests of all shareholders and executing on our plans to drive meaningful growth and shareholder value creation.’’

Pharos Capital announces acquisition

Pharos Capital Group, LLC, a private equity firm based in Dallas and Nashville, says its post-acute care provider platform, Charter Health Care Group, has acquired The Providence Hospice, Inc. and The Providence Home Health Services, Inc., based in Texas.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Pharos Capital Group has invested in 54 companies and currently has over $1.2 billion of private equity assets under management as of Dec. 31.

Premier joins AI-powered platform

Nashville’s Premier Parking is partnering with Metropolis, an AI-powered autonomous commerce platform.

Metropolis’ proprietary computer vision technology and mobile platform will be deployed across Premier’s portfolio, which consists of more than 100,000 parking spaces across 500 locations in 40 cities, by the end of the year.

Premier operates, manages and supports a wide range of industries using its unrivaled customer service, innovative solutions and technology-focused approach to bring great benefits to its partners.

Metropolis will help to consolidate Premier’s existing technology systems and streamline operations while providing a seamless online-to-offline parking experience for customers. Over time, customers will gain access to mobility integrations, transparent pricing, frictionless entry and exit, and checkout-free payment all through the Metropolis mobile app.

Launching in Nashville, Premier’s flagship market, the partnership will expand to additional markets based on urban density and demand for innovation in parking. This includes Austin, Houston, Dallas and Detroit in the immediate months.

Hall of Fame offers new online exhibits

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has unveiled new, free-to-access online exhibitions:

• Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter

• Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City.

These multimedia exhibits are the first designed exclusively for the museum’s website.

“As a national history museum and global cultural institution, we are charged to consistently expand access to the museum’s collection and the interpretive work of our curators and historians, while advancing the documentation and preservation of American musical history,” museum CEO Kyle Young says.

“These online exhibitions, made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, enabled the museum to create this novel exhibit platform. With it, we are not only able to reshare the story of the artists and musicians who helped to broaden Nashville’s reputation as a true Music City, but also to tell a new story, that of the clothiers who created unmistakable designs that are now synonymous with country music.”

Information: www.CountryMusicHallofFame.org

Integrity Solutions on top sales training list

Nashville-based Integrity Solutions has again been named one of the best sales training companies by the top training clearinghouse and media outlet, Training Industry.

Integrity Solutions has been named to Training Industry’s 2021 list of Top Sales Training and Enablement companies for the fourth consecutive year.

The list evaluates firms based on the breadth and quality of their programs and services, industry innovation and impact, strength of clients and geographic reach, and other important considerations.

This latest honor now ranks Integrity Solutions as one of just seven companies to have made both Training Industry’s top sales training list and the Top 20 list for Selling Power magazine in each of the past four years.

Last year Selling Power named Integrity Solutions to its prestigious list for the fifth consecutive year.