Gov. Bill Lee will deliver his fifth State of the State address to the General Assembly and fellow Tennesseans Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. CST.

The joint session will take place in the House Chamber of the Tennessee State Capitol.

“Tennessee is leading the nation, and I look forward to sharing my budget and legislative priorities for the upcoming year that will ensure we remain a standard-bearer for opportunity, security and freedom,” Lee says. “I believe our state’s best days are ahead, and together with the General Assembly, we will continue working to make life better for all Tennesseans.”

The address can be found on Lee’s Facebook and YouTube channels and will be aired statewide.

89 TN counties show lower unemployment

Nearly every county in Tennessee ended 2022 with lower unemployment rates, December data released by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development reveals.

Eighty-nine of the state’s 95 counties reported rates that decreased in December. Three counties experienced steady unemployment during the month, while unemployment increased in the remaining three counties.

Williamson County led the state with the lowest unemployment rate. At 2.1%, the county’s rate dropped 0.4% from the revised November rate.

Cheatham, Moore, and Wilson counties had the next lowest rate in the state at 2.2%. In Cheatham and Moore counties, the December rate dropped 0.3% when compared to the previous month. Wilson County’s rate was down 0.4%.

Bledsoe County’s rate was the highest in the state, but at 5.3%, unemployment in the county did drop by 0.1% in December.

Clinton group plans Vanderbilt events

The Clinton Global Initiative University released details Monday about its annual meeting at Vanderbilt University from March 3-5.

Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton announced that they will be joined in Nashville by aspiring leaders and global experts in business, public service and social impact. It will be the initiative’s 15th annual meeting, and its first in-person gathering since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting will include participants ranging from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to Allyson Felix, a five-time Olympic track and field runner and co-founder of Saysh.

Some of the others include: Melissa Diamond, founder of A Global Voice for Autism; Pashtana Dorani, executive director of LEARN Afghanistan; Sasha Fisher, co-founder and executive director of Spark MicroGrants; Larissa May, founder and executive Director of #HalfTheStory; Ai-jen Poo, president of National Domestic Workers Alliance; Belinda ‘Otukolo Saltiban, associate vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion at Vanderbilt; and Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First.

Between working sessions with the Clinton Foundation’s network of leaders, experts and initiative alumni, there will be new “Commitments to Action” announced to address a pressing global challenge with measurable programs.

Since former President Bill Clinton founded the initiative in 2007, it has included more than 11,800 university students from more than 160 countries, all 50 states and 1,800 institutions of higher education.

Downtown civil rights walking tour launched

United Street Tours, a Nashville-based touring company showcasing the hidden history of the area, announced the launch of the Civil Rights Tour of Nashville.

After a 20-month pause in operations during the pandemic, the Black woman-owned small business is restarting local history tours designed to educate, inform and inspire racial awareness.

The first Civil Rights Tour of Nashville will kick-start Black History Month Saturday, Feb. 4. Highlighting the personal stories of local heroes, attendees will learn about a civil rights leader who trained students in nonviolent resistance, a lawyer who later represented those students fiercely in court, and a college student who demanded change directly from the mayor himself.

Tour walkers will visit the location of Nashville’s first sit-in and learn the rules student protesters followed during the movement.

The Civil Rights Tour of Nashville takes customers on a 90-minute experience highlighting the history of the Civil Rights Movement and how it has shaped current-day America.

The walking tours take place Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., departing from the Nashville Visitor Center at 501 Broadway. Private walking and bus tours are also available to schedule in advance.

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Nashville ranks No. 2 for Airbnb potential

Incfile, a leader in online business formation and startup services, released a new report which analyzed 100 of the most populated cities in the United States and ranked them based on which were the best for an Airbnb investment.

The report measures multiple factors, including the average price, occupancy rates, cost of living, median home price, best cities to visit and average monthly revenue. To view the complete list and methodology, please visit incfile.com.

Incfile’s top U.S. cities for Airbnb investment include: 1. Greensboro, North Carolina; 2. Nashville; 3. New Orleans; 4. Birmingham; 5. Buffalo; 6. Memphis; 7. Pittsburgh

NMAAM’s Hip Hop photo exhibit opens

The National Museum of African American Music is joining in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop through its yearlong exhibit, This is Hip Hop, which opened Jan. 19.

NMAAM’S Features Gallery will exhibit iconic captures of hip-hop’s origins and cultural impact through the lenses of four legendary artists. During the celebration, the museum curated and spotlighted the history and development of hip-hop and the genre’s most iconic performers.

NMAAM’s This is Hip Hop exhibit showcases the work of four notable documentarians, representing the U.S.’s four major regions (Midwest, West, East, and South). Hip-hop enthusiasts will experience some of the most memorable moments and iconic performances in hip-hop history through each photographer’s unique experience.

Visitors will witness the extraordinary photography of Chicago-native Raymond Boyd (Midwest), whose in-depth interpretations were created specially for the This Is Hip Hop display; Traci Bartlow (West Coast), whose 90s Bay Area hip-hop photos were featured in Oakland Museums; Andre Leroy Davis (East Coast), an artist renowned for his must-see illustrations that satirize and comment on current events and culture; and the South’s very own Shannon McCullum, a self-taught photographer from Atlanta with more than 25 years of experience in the music industry.

These documentarians have been featured in record labels, museums, and national music and culture magazines like Source Magazine.

The museum’s mission to amplify the music and culture of America’s roots continues to be the home “Where Legends Live Forever.” Learn more at www.nmaam.org.

Nashville dental group acquired by Gen4

Gen4 Dental Partners announced the acquisition of Nashville Aesthetic Dentistry, a premier cosmetic dental clinic in suburban Nashville founded and led by internationally known cosmetic dentist Dennis J. Wells, DDS.

An icon in cosmetic dentistry, Dr. Wells revolutionized the industry when he developed DURAthin and Micro-thin veneers, which are no-prep, no-drill dental veneers that preserve more of the natural teeth.

A graduate of Harding University and the University of Tennessee Dental School, he was accredited by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) in 1994 and has since served as an examiner for the AACD accreditation process. He is also the founder of the Nashville Center for Aesthetic Dentistry, founding president of the Tennessee Chapter of the AACD, and an instructor for countless dentists through seminars and hands-on programs.

The new partnership brings world-class smile design expertise into the Gen4 Dental Partners family while maintaining the local brand identity of Nashville Aesthetic Dentistry, located in Brentwood. The clinic also offers oral surgery, dental implants and reconstructive dentistry by Dr. Daniel Weese, a noted prosthodontist in his own right.

Founded in April 2021, Gen4 Dental Partners currently has more than 80 locations in 11 states and more than 150 dentist partners.

Study: Heart failure risk higher in rural areas

Heart failure risk is 19% higher for adults living in rural areas of the U.S., as compared to urban areas, and 34% higher for Black men living in rural areas, according to a large, observational study supported by the National Institutes of Health and Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers.

The study, one of the first to look at the link between first-time cases of heart failure and patients living in rural areas, was published in JAMA Cardiology.

“The study demonstrates the relationship between rurality and the occurrence of heart failure and is the first to do so in a predominantly low-income population of Black and white adults residing in the southeastern U.S.,” says Loren Lipworth, professor of Medicine and associate director of the Division of Epidemiology, who coled the study for VUMC along with Deepak Gupta, associate professor of medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Translational and Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Researchers from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which is part of the NIH, and VUMC analyzed data from The Southern Community Cohort Study, comparing rates of new onset heart failure among rural and urban residents in 12 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia).

The population, which included 27,115 adults without heart failure at enrollment, was followed for about 13 years. Nearly 20% of participants lived in rural areas and roughly 69% were Black adults recruited from community health centers that care for medically underserved populations.

At the end of the study period, the researchers found that rurality was associated with an increased risk of heart failure among both women and Black men, even after adjustment for other cardiovascular risk factors and socioeconomic status.