The Metro Nashville Police Department is finalizing a state grant request for at least $3.375 million to help fund school resource officers in the 45 Nashville public middle and high schools that have full time SRO positions in the 2023-24 school year.

The new state grant program allows for law enforcement agencies to apply for a $75,000 grant for each public school that will be staffed with a full-time SRO in the upcoming school year.

In Nashville’s case, the MNPD’s 60 SROs will be staffing 45 middle and high schools (the comprehensive high schools, due to their size, are staffed with two SROs each). The MNPD continues to be in contact with the state to ensure that the department will receive the maximum grant dollars for which it qualifies in regard to the school year that begins in August.

The MNPD will be continuing its School Safety Initiative, begun during the 2022-23 school year, relative to elementary schools. Volunteer officers on overtime (presently not eligible for grant funding), joined by precinct-based officers and Investigative Services Bureau personnel, will be keeping an eye on a number of elementary school campuses.

Moreover, as an additional measure, precinct commanders have directed their on-duty personnel to provide an extra patrol presence around elementary schools. The MNPD’s goal is to ultimately have full time SROs in elementary schools (more than 70 personnel) as additional officer positions are added and those persons are hired and trained.

CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events) training for some 8,500 Metro Nashville Public Schools staff, conducted by two dozen MNPD instructors, is set to take place over a three-day period in early August.

TN Oncology building Nashville cancer center

Tennessee Oncology, one of the largest oncology practices in the country, announced it is constructing a new flagship cancer care center in downtown Nashville.

The state-of-the-art center, which will encompass 200,000 square feet, represents a significant investment of more than $120 million toward advancing cancer care and research throughout Tennessee.

The medical facility and office building will be located at 322 22nd Avenue North between Centennial Medical Center and Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown. The building will house medical oncology, infusion, imaging, pharmacy and other related clinical services. The building, which includes three levels of parking below ground and five main floors above ground, will also house the corporate headquarters of Tennessee Oncology’s affiliated management company, OneOncology.

Nashville-based Gresham Smith is providing engineering and design services. The Nashville office of Turner Construction is the general contractor. Financing for the project is being provided by Truist Bank.

TSU adds graduate agribusiness program

Tennessee State University’s College of Agriculture will welcome the first students in a new Master of Science in Agribusiness and Leadership degree program in Fall 2023.

The new program will allow students pursuing a master’s degree in agricultural business or agricultural leadership, education and communications (ALEC) to take a program of study more specific to their needs and interests. TSU will offer this new degree both in person and online, with and without the thesis option.

“The new MS degree will broaden the scope of graduate degree offerings in the College and meet the tremendous market demand and student interest,” says Chandra Reddy, dean of TSU’s College of Agriculture.

According to Reddy, agribusiness is a popular undergraduate major at TSU and many other institutions, and the new program will align graduates with their career choices, which will benefit students in finding better employment opportunities.

MyTN adds mental health, addiction services

Tennesseans now have access to mental health and addiction services at their fingertips through the MyTN app. The latest version of the state of Tennessee’s app includes a new section for mental health and addiction resources featuring the top services from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

MyTN app users can easily click to call or text the Statewide Crisis Line and the Tennessee REDLINE. The app also has information on connecting to treatment services for people who are uninsured including the Behavioral Health Safety Net and addiction treatment Continuum of Care.

The MyTN app has been downloaded more than 117,000 times and has more than 14,000 active monthly users. MyTN is available for download on iOS and Android devices.

Dalton first tenant in Neuhoff District

Dalton, an international award-winning brand and communications agency operating in Atlanta, Jacksonville and Nashville, announced it is moving its East Nashville office to New City Properties’ Neuhoff District in Germantown.

Continued business growth, driven by added clients and revenue at the agency, along with the opportunity to be one of the first to participate in this compelling project, led to the decision to relocate.

A former meatpacking plant, Neuhoff has been a part of Nashville’s historic fabric for more than 100 years. In the five decades since the Neuhoff Packing Company closed, the abandoned site has been home to the Nashville Jazz Workshop, the Nashville Cultural Arts Project and a personal studio for singer and songwriter John Prine.

The mixed-use residential, retail and office project will eventually total more than 914,000 square feet along the Cumberland River and is being headed by Irwin, who previously led the development of Ponce City Market, a 2.1 million square foot former Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution facility, in Atlanta.

Better Than Booze wins at World Spirits

Nashville-based social beverage company, Better Than Booze, took home the award for Best In Class for Hemp Infused Ready to Drink for its Rosemary Infused Grapefruit Paloma at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

The coveted award is presented by The Tasting Alliance Competition, the oldest and largest competition of its kind, providing recognition for standout beverages in the U.S. and international markets as well as with consumers.

Better Than Booze, which launched a line of three flavor-forward THC and CBD derived mocktails eight months ago, not only received this illustrious award but was also nominated for the Best In Class Ready to Drink award and received a double gold medal for their Grapefruit Paloma, an award received when all members of the judging panel rate a beverage gold.

This recognition only further solidifies Better Than Booze as a breakout brand of the year in the rapidly growing hemp beverage industry.

In addition to their latest achievements, Better Than Booze has secured capital of over $2 million this year to continue their brand growth and expansion. The investment will aid in their new flavor development, distribution and product advancement as they expand to New York and Minnesota this summer and release a new flavor mocktail in the fall.

Better Than Booze also plans to release a new line of mocktails.

Mersen opens new Columbia facility

Mersen, a global expert in electrical power and advanced materials, opened its new manufacturing facility last week, located at 795 Santa Fe Pike in Columbia. The Maury County facility is the global manufacturer’s 10th U.S. location.

Mersen has invested $70 million in the Tennessee facility and plans to invest more over the next several years, including $25-30 million this year, and has hired nearly 100 employees from the region, with plans to hire 50 more in the next 12 months.

This location will focus on the manufacturing of extruded graphite, insulation felt and isostatic graphite that will be used for green technology products used in solar panels, semiconductors and electric vehicles.

The Mersen team renovated the industrial site that was once home to Union Carbide and Graftech Advanced Graphite. The plant will have the capacity to produce 4,000 tons of extruded graphite, 120 tons of insulation felt and 2,000 tons of isostatic graphite per year.

BluWave: PE hiring down 9.5% in Q2

For the first time since tracking began in 2018, the BluWave PE Industry Insights Report shows human capital activity by private equity firms declined year-over-year – down 9.5% in Q2 2023 – signaling a new stage in PE’s adaptation to today’s economic environment and reduced deal flow.

“Though valuations and economic uncertainty have made new acquisitions a challenge, PE firms have adapted by focusing on finding opportunities to increase portfolio company value,” BluWave founder and CEO Sean Mooney says.

“With belts tightening, we are still seeing strong hiring activity, but more targeted investments in such talent, and a growing focus on AI and tech.”

The report, which leverages BluWave’s proprietary project data to summarize key trends acted on by the PE industry from Q1 2019 to Q2 2023, reveals a 48% drop in demand for senior advisers in due diligence, largely attributed to massive reductions in deal flow.

Among the hottest trends in PE is surging demand for business intelligence, analytics and artificial intelligence resources, which grew from being unranked to BluWave’s No. 4 Value Creation category, cracking the top 10 for the first time since Q2 2020.

Musical rhythms help kids’ process language

Musical rhythms can help children with speech and language processing difficulties in finding their voice by improving their capacity to repeat sentences they just heard, according to a study led by a Western Sydney University researcher and co-written by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The study was conducted at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center in France with 15 French speaking children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and 18 typically developing French speaking children without language processing difficulties between the ages of 5 and 13 years.

The children listened to music with regular and irregular rhythms for 30 seconds before being asked to repeat back sets of six sentences as accurately as they could.

Study authors found that the children – including those with language problems – were better at repeating the sentences out loud after they heard the regular musical rhythms, as compared to irregular musical rhythms.