Gov. Bill Lee last week unveiled a sweeping list of public safety issues he wants lawmakers to address during an upcoming special session prompted by a shocking Nashville school shooting earlier this year that resulted in the deaths of three children and three adults.

The proclamation includes 18 different topics the Republican governor wants lawmakers to consider, such as mental health, gun storage and school safety policies. But notably, it allows lawmakers to discuss Lee’s proposal to limit dangerous people’s access to guns.

Earlier this year, the state Legislature refused to consider tightening the state’s relaxed gun laws in the days following a shooter opening fire at The Covenant School, a private elementary school in Nashville. Instead, legislative leaders hustled to adjourn and ignored the pleas from distraught families to enact meaningful change surrounding gun control

Despite the Legislature’s initial defiance, Lee promised he would convene a special session and stressed that lawmakers needed more time to listen and discuss his proposal.

Yet in the weeks since, Lee has remained mum on whether he has enough support for his bill that would keep guns away from people deemed likely to pose a threat to themselves or others. Lee has also maintained his proposal is not a so-called red flag law, which he has described as a “toxic political label meant to draw lines in the sand.”

GOP leaders and gun rights advocacy groups have encouraged Lee to abandon the special session, and others have publicly declared their resistance to supporting any sort of gun control measure.

On the other hand, parents of students at Covenant, gun control advocates and Democratic lawmakers have pushed for firearms restrictions in hopes of preventing another deadly tragedy. Both sides have bought numerous advertisements ahead of the special session, which kicks off Aug. 21.

State sees first lawsuit over redistricting

Tennessee is facing its first court challenge over a congressional redistricting map that carved up Democratic-leaning Nashville to help Republicans flip a seat in last year’s elections, a move that the plaintiffs say has unconstitutionally diluted the power of Black voters and other communities of color.

The lawsuit filed Aug. 9 in federal court in Nashville says the U.S. House maps and those for the state Senate amount to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering under the 14th and 15th amendments.

The plaintiffs include the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, the African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee, the Equity Alliance, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee and several Tennessee voters, including former state Sen. Brenda Gilmore.

By splintering Nashville into three Republican-majority districts that stretch into rural counties, Tennessee’s congressional maps sparked significant pushback and threats of litigation from Democrats after Republicans drew them up early last year.

With the new lines in play, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville declined to seek reelection, saying he couldn’t win any of the three new seats drawn to split the city during the once-a-decade redistricting process. The Republican advantage held true, as Rep. John Rose won reelection by about 33 percentage points, Rep. Mark Green won another term by 22 points and Rep. Andy Ogles won his first term by 13 points in the district vacated by Cooper.

The strategy shifted Tennessee to eight Republicans in the U.S. House, with just one Democrat left in Memphis Rep. Steve Cohen.

Mayor proposes naming facility for Strobel

Mayor John Cooper has announced plans to honor the legacy of the late humanitarian the Rev. Charles Strobel by naming the city’s first permanent supportive housing center after him.

Cooper, whose administration spearheaded the development of the new Permanent Housing Supportive Center at 600 Second Avenue North, said naming the 90-unit residential housing and support facility after Strobel is a fitting tribute to a man who made the city better by his example of love for those lost and forgotten.

Strobel, a Nashville native who died recently after a long illness, dedicated his life to uplifting and promoting the dignity of the city’s poor, unhoused and imprisoned. He was best known as the founder of Room In The Inn, which engages Nashville residents and congregations in providing shelter and services to the people experiencing homelessness.

VUMC facing federal probe over records

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is facing a federal civil rights investigation after turning the medical records of transgender patients over to Tennessee’s attorney general, hospital officials have confirmed.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ investigation comes just weeks after two patients sued VUMC for releasing their records to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti late last year.

“We have been contacted by and are working with the Office of Civil Rights,” spokesperson John Howser said in a statement late Thursday. “We have no further comment since this is an ongoing investigation.”

VUMC has come under fire for waiting months before telling patients in June that their medical information was shared late last year, acting only after the existence of the requests emerged as evidence in another court case.

The patients suing over the release of their information say VUMC should have removed personally identifying information before turning over the records because the hospital was aware of Tennessee authorities’ hostile attitude toward the rights of transgender people.

Skanska wins award for Community Foundation HQ

The Nashville-area office of construction and development firm Skanska USA has won a distinguished Award of Merit from Engineering News and Record in its Regional Best Projects Awards for the company’s 99% mass timber build of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s headquarters in Green Hills. The project was awarded in the Southeast region in ENR’s office, retail and mixed-use category.

The Community Foundation’s headquarters was only one of 15 projects across the Southeast to earn an Award of Merit from ENR.

The project is an 18,500-square-foot, two-story office building on a six-acre brownfield site. The project features cross-laminated timber as the basis of design. While most mass-timber projects use CLT for beams, columns and floors, Skanska used CLT on this project for the exterior walls, as well as roof panels, glulam beams and stairs.

Skanska’s project partners included Anecdote Architectural Experience as architect, Barge Cauthen & Associates as civil engineer and I.C. Thomasson Associates, Inc. as MEP engineer.

First Riverbend cohort earns degrees

History was made Aug. 8 as five offenders became the first cohort to earn college degrees at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

Graduating with their Associate of Science in Business Administration from Nashville State Community College, the group joins over 200 other men and women who have earned a college degree behind the walls of a Tennessee Department of Correction prison.

Through partnerships with over 10 colleges and universities, TDOC offers degree programs across the state that allow offenders the opportunity to earn associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“This is my favorite part of my job,” Rachel Riley-Coe, Assistant Commissioner of Rehabilitative Services, told the graduates. “I believe in the power of education. With education comes perseverance, with education comes strength, confidence, critical thinking, and dreams of what could be.”

Four of the graduates from RMSI will be furthering their education by continuing with Lipscomb University to complete their four-year degree.

TDOC operates an educational system approved by the Tennessee Department of Education and provides adult basic education, career and technical education and post-secondary education at each facility across the state.

D1 Training reports strong midyear growth

D1 Training, a leading fitness concept utilizing the five core tenets of athletic-based training to help people of all ages, from youth athletes to fitness-minded adults, announces impressive midyear growth with more than 30 signed franchise agreements and 10 openings year-to-date.

These aggressive development figures have contributed to D1 Training tripling its franchise footprint in less than five years, as it eyes its milestone 100th opening slated for late Q3. Building on this momentum, the brand has set forth an aggressive development goal to award over 100 territories in 2023, bringing D1’s total number of units in development to over 250.

Keys to success have been enhancements to franchisee support starting with presales, increased use of robust modules, improvements to operator training, streamlined communication, and the impact of the D1 Franchise Advisory Council.

Notably, multiunit growth has played a significant role in D1’s aggressive expansion. Earlier this year, the brand announced its largest deal to date with a 12-unit agreement spanning four states.

Alongside this expansion is strong performance, as D1 reported 7% same-store-sales growth for 2022 with numbers for 2023 trending in a similar fashion. Also fueling D1’s performance is a strategic investment from Princeton Equity Group that will continue to propel D1 as a national brand synonymous with high-caliber athletic performance and fitness.

iHeartMedia extends Bobby Bones’ contract

iHeartMedia announced it has renewed its relationship with CMA and ACM Award-winning radio personality Bobby Bones, host of the hit national Country radio program The Bobby Bones Show.

Bones will also continue to serve as vice president, creative Director of iHeartCountry.

Bones, who reaches nearly 10 million people monthly as host of The Bobby Bones Show and Country Top 30 with Bobby Bones, in addition to more than 7 million monthly downloads of his morning show podcast, will continue his current role as host of both radio programs.

Originating from iHeartRadio’s WSIX in Nashville, The Bobby Bones Show is nationally syndicated by Premiere Networks on 200 radio stations across the United States and Canada, in addition to airing on the iHeartRadio app. Country Top 30 with Bobby Bones is heard on nearly 240 stations in North America and the UK. Bones will also continue hosting his popular podcast BobbyCast.