In response to the Covenant School shooting and increasing gun violence, Metro Council Public Health & Safety Committee Chair Jeff Syracuse will lead a series of school safety and gun violence epidemic meetings to help strengthen the Nashville community and find solutions to reduce gun violence.

This meeting series will be broadcast and recorded by the Metro Nashville Network (MNN) and members of the public are encouraged to attend.

• Wednesday, June 14, 4 p.m.: Council Chambers, Historic Metro Courthouse. Special Metro Council Public Health & Safety Committee meeting co-hosted with Education Committee Chair Zulfat Suara focusing on school safety with Nashville Police Department, Nashville Public Schools and the Nashville Fire Department, plus gun safety legislation updates from State Representatives Bob Freeman and Caleb Hemmer

• Wednesday, June 21, 6 p.m.: Hillsboro High School Auditorium. Moderated panel discussion with Daniel Chapin, founder/president of The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, Moms Demand Action, and Shaundelle Brooks, co-founder/president of the Akilah Dasilva Foundation, plus pre-submitted questions from the public

• Wednesday, June 28, 4 p.m.: Council Chambers, Historic Metro Courthouse. Special Metro Council Public Health & Safety Committee meeting focusing on gun violence as a public health epidemic with the Metro Public Health Department, the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety, Metro’s Office of Family Safety and the Mental Health Cooperative

To facilitate discussions throughout this meeting series, members of the public are encouraged to submit questions or comments for any of the three meeting topics ahead of time. Questions or comments from the public for the June 14 meeting must be submitted no later than noon, Friday, June 9, and can be submitted through a form on the Metro Council Office site.

Clarksville schools file social media lawsuit

Clarksville-Montgomery County School System has filed a lawsuit against social media companies for the damages and growing mental health crisis among students.

The lawsuit seeks actionable accountability, tools and resources to address the lack of protections, monitors, controls and cooperation to protect children. Companies included in the lawsuit include Meta, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Google, WhatsApp and YouTube.

The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System is the seventh-largest school district in Tennessee with 43 schools and more than 38,000 students. Frantz Law Group in California, working with Lewis Thomason in Tennessee, filed the lawsuit on behalf of CMCSS.

“There are a litany of issues caused by children using social media without proper protections in place,” said attorney Chris McCarty of Lewis Thomason law firm. “These issues cause disruptions in schools, increased costs and safety concerns. The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System is taking a brave and proactive step to seek accountability and marked changes in the way social media giants interact with children.”

The school system is seeking accountability by social media companies for the lack of controls surrounding student access and appropriate content.

All TN counties below 5% unemployment

Statewide, Tennessee continued to experience near-record low unemployment in April, and county jobless rates for the month were just as impressive. The latest numbers for the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) show county unemployment decreased from Shelby to Sullivan counties during the month.

All 95 counties in Tennessee reported lower unemployment in April and each county had a rate below 5%.

Williamson County recorded the lowest statistic in the state and its April rate was the lowest the county has seen in the last 22 years. At 1.9%, unemployment in the county decreased by 0.5% when compared to March.

Moore County came in with the second-lowest rate in the state at 2%, a 0.3% drop from the previous month’s number.

Remarkably the rates in the 10 counties with the highest unemployment ranged from 4.6% to 3.6%.

Bledsoe County had the state’s highest rate. But, the new 4.6% was down 0.7% from March.

Meigs and Haywood counties had the next highest rates at 4.5% and 4%, both down a full percentage point when compared to the previous month. Every other county in the state had an unemployment rate below 4%.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 3.3%, down 0.1% from March’s rate. It is also just above Tennessee’s all-time lowest unemployment rate of 3.2%.

Across the country, seasonally adjusted unemployment also decreased in April, down 0.1% to 3.4%.

Scruggs’ banjo added to Hall of Fame collection

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum recently celebrated the donation of legendary musician, bluegrass pioneer and Country Music Hall of Fame member Earl Scruggs’s storied Gibson RB-Granada Mastertone banjo to the museum’s permanent collection.

Scruggs played the iconic banjo throughout his more than 60-year career, including in concerts, on TV soundstages and in the recording studio with Flatt & Scruggs and the Earl Scruggs Revue. The banjo can be heard on Scruggs’s famous composition “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” by Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys – showcasing his innovative three-finger picking style that would influence generations of musicians and expand the possibilities of the instrument across the world. The Gibson banjo remained Scruggs’s primary instrument until his passing in March 2012.

Vince Gill, Country Music Hall of Fame member and president of the museum’s board, opened the ceremony. He thanked the Scruggs family for their generosity and offered his perspectives on the banjo and its donation. “It’s so valuable to the history of music, and the history of Earl and his family,” he said.

The banjo is on display in the museum’s Precious Jewel core exhibition, alongside several other iconic instruments.

Redfin: Home seller concessions way up

Home sellers gave concessions to buyers in 42.9% of U.S. home sales during the three months ending April 30, up from 25.5% a year earlier, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s just shy of the 45.6% record-high hit in February.

The share of home sellers providing concessions – which include things like money toward repairs, closing costs and mortgage-rate buydowns – has inched down from February’s peak due to typical seasonality. Concessions become less common in the early spring because that’s when more buyers typically enter the market, increasing competition and giving sellers more power.

This spring’s smaller drop corresponds with less homebuyer competition, with 46% of offers written by Redfin agents facing a bidding war in April, down from 59% a year earlier.

Tampa saw a bigger year-over-year jump in seller concessions than any other metro Redfin analyzed. Sellers in Tampa gave concessions to buyers in 58% of home sales during the three months ending April 30, up from 12%.

The next-biggest increases were in Nashville (49%, up from 5.6%), Salt Lake City (46.8%, up from 12.3%), Seattle (45.7%, up from 11.7%) and Raleigh, North Carolina (64.6%, up from 31.2%).

The share of sellers giving out concessions rose over the last year in all metros Redfin analyzed.

Nashville Yards to include Goddard School

Southwest Value Partners, the owner and developer of Nashville Yards, announced an agreement to open The Goddard School, a nationally acclaimed early childhood education provider, at Nashville Yards.

The Goddard School of Nashville Yards, set to open in spring 2025, will enroll approximately 250 children from ages six weeks to 6 years old and add about 50 teaching jobs to the community.

Located adjacent to the new Pinnacle Tower, the 20,000-square-foot facility will span two levels and feature 15 classrooms, flexible indoor and outdoor play areas, state-of-the-art equipment and train-themed design elements in celebration of the site’s history as a rail yard.

The Goddard School of Nashville Yards will be owned and operated by Leisa Byars and her husband, Del McSpadden. The Brentwood-based couple own and operate four other Goddard School locations in Middle Tennessee.

The play-based learning experience offered at The Goddard School uses the most current, academically endorsed methods in early childhood education to teach skills children need to be successful in school and in life. Children can explore and discover music and art, learn how to communicate using sign language and secondary languages, and develop problem-solving skills through play.

The Goddard School serves more than 75,000 students from six weeks to 6 years old in more than 600 Goddard Schools in 37 states and Washington, D.C. The Goddard School of Nashville Yards will be the 11th Goddard School location in Tennessee.

LGI opens Autumnwood community in Dickson

LGI Homes, Inc. has announced the opening of a new community, Autumnwood, in Dickson, providing residents with new, move-in ready homes among serene surroundings.

At Autumnwood, LGI Homes offers five floor plans, ranging from 1,316 square feet with 3 bedrooms to 2,570 square feet with 5 bedrooms.

Every new home comes with the designer upgrades and finishes found in LGI Homes’ CompleteHome interior package. Granite countertops, energy-efficient Whirlpool® appliances, white wood cabinets with crown molding, recessed lighting and a Wi-Fi-enabled garage door opener are just a few of the upgrades that come included at no additional cost.

LGI Homes at Autumnwood is located near Highway 70 and Highway 385, providing residents with quick access to top employers and top area attractions. Nextdoor to the local elementary school is Buckner Park which features baseball fields, tennis courts, playgrounds, soccer fields, batting cages, a disc golf course, an aquatic facility, an arboretum, a wildlife area and much more.

Also, minutes from the community is Henslee Park, a newly renovated community park with a splash pad, dog park, playground and open green space.

New homes at Autumnwood are priced from the $330s. For additional information or to schedule a tour, interested homebuyers are encouraged to call (888) 973-4260 ext. 373 or visit LGIHomes.com/Autumnwood.