Men and women in Davidson County wanted on warrants for nonviolent crimes, including failure to appear in court, will be given a special opportunity toward a second chance during Nashville Safe Surrender 2023.

The city’s justice system, in partnership with community leaders, is preparing for the two-day Safe Surrender event to be held from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, 2021 Herman Street.

Nonviolent persons who are ready to accept responsibility can come to the church on one of the two days to receive favorable consideration for surrendering, and may be able to go home the same day. They will be able to speak with an attorney and appear before a judge, either from the Criminal or General Sessions Courts, at the church. There are no religious requirements.

Juvenile Court staff will also be available at the church to help persons address outstanding child support issues. Additionally, the Metro Action Commission will be on hand to take applications for utility payment assistance. Operation Stand Down Tennessee will be present to help veterans connect to needed services.

This one-time initiative for 2023 is the product of weeks of planning that will ultimately turn the church into courtrooms and offices for attorneys and clerks.

A number of community volunteers will be on hand both days. Persons surrendering will be processed using an on-site Sheriff’s Mobile Booking Unit before appearing in one of the makeshift courtrooms.

Nashville hosted a two-day Safe Surrender event at Galilee Church in December 2022, which saw a total of 56 persons receive special consideration to begin resolving their outstanding criminal charges. Those 56 persons were named in a total of 76 outstanding warrants. Nearly all were able to go home the same day.

Four TN markets make Realtor.com top 2024 list

With some affordability relief in sight next year as sale prices and mortgage rates start a slow, yet welcome decline, Realtor.com has identified the local housing markets across the U.S. that are primed and ready for growth in its 2024 Top Housing Markets forecast.

These markets are poised to see the strongest combined increase in home sales and listing prices in the coming year.

Mainly located in Southern California, the Northeast and the Midwest, this year’s top 10, in rank order, are Toledo, Ohio, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California, Rochester, New York, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California, Bakersfield, California, Springfield, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts-Connecticut, Grand Rapids-Kentwood, Michigan, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California.

Four Tennessee markets were in the top 100, with Knoxville coming in at 49, followed by Chattanooga at 59, Memphis at 89 and Nashville at 92.

Most of this year’s Top Markets offer relative affordability compared to the national median home price – especially in the Midwest and Northeast. In California, where five of the top 10 metro areas are located, markets are forecast to rebound from a tough 2023 even as sales levels remain historically low.

Across the nation’s largest 100 metropolitan areas, sales price growth is expected to outpace the national average in 2024.

Median sales prices in the 100 largest metros are expected to rise by an average of 1.2%, compared to a 1.7% decline nationwide. Home sales in the 100 biggest markets will decline an estimated 2.2%, while nationwide, sales will remain relatively stable (+0.1%).

Lifepoint, Ascension again partner for systems

Lifepoint Health and Ascension Saint Thomas have formed a joint venture to expand access to high quality care and services in Northern Middle Tennessee.

As part of the joint venture, the organizations will jointly own Highpoint Health System, a regional health system owned by Lifepoint Health that includes Sumner Regional Medical Center and Sumner Station in Gallatin, Trousdale Medical Center in Hartsville, Riverview Regional Medical Center in Carthage and more than 15 affiliated clinics and sites of care.

This partnership brings together the organizations’ clinical excellence, best practices and talented caregivers to collaborate in new ways that improve access to clinical programs and specialty care for patients and communities.

This new collaboration is the second joint venture partnership for the two health systems, as Lifepoint Health and Ascension Saint Thomas also jointly own Ascension Saint Thomas Rehabilitation Hospital in Nashville.

The hospitals and sites of care included in the joint venture will be co-branded with Ascension Saint Thomas and will be majority-owned and operated by Lifepoint Health. Each hospital’s current leadership team remains in place and no significant changes are anticipated for employees. Moving forward, the Highpoint hospitals will adopt the names of Highpoint Health Sumner, Highpoint Health Trousdale and Highpoint Health Riverview.

Outpatient, telemedicine groups form Peregrine

Integrative Life Network, LLC and Integrative Health Centers, Inc. announced they have merged to create a new, unified mental and behavioral health care company called Peregrine Health, Inc.

ILN is a network of residential, partial-hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programs in four states providing high-acuity treatment options for a range of mental and behavioral health disorders. IHC is a nationwide telemedicine platform that connects clinics, hospitals, and health systems in underserved communities with specialized mental and behavioral health providers.

By joining together as Peregrine, the combined organization will create a national platform that supports individuals navigating mental and behavioral health disorders through a coordinated continuum of telehealth, outpatient and residential services.

Alongside the merger and creation of Peregrine is the successful completion of a $7M Series A fundraising round led by BIP Ventures. Other contributors include Martin Ventures, Chapman Capital and FCA Venture Partners, who previously held ownership in the ILN and IHC entities. These funds will be used to invest in the operations of ILN and IHC, and to support the integration of the two businesses to advance Peregrine’s vision.

With the merger complete, Peregrine leadership will begin a multiyear plan to integrate the businesses and strengthen its coordinated continuum of care. For more information, contact [email protected].

Hall of Fame, ETSU gain Grammy Museum grants

The Grammy Museum Grant Program announced $200,000 in grants will be awarded to 14 recipients in the United States to help facilitate a range of research on a variety of subjects, as well as support a number of archiving and preservation programs.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and East Tennessee State University are the Tennessee institutions receiving parts of the overall grant.

Funded by the Recording Academy, the Grammy Museum Grant Program provides funding annually to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the recorded sound heritage of the Americas for future generations, in addition to research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition.

The CMHoF received $20,000 and will assess, catalog, rehouse, and make accessible a collection of approximately 8,160 radio transcription discs containing historically significant recordings. Select recordings from the collection will then be prioritized for digitization in the second phase of the project, based on preservation needs. The collection features interviews and performances with a variety of country music artists.

The Archives of Appalachia at ETSU also received a $20,000 grant, and will clean and digitize 246 recordings from the Folk Festival of the Smokies in Cosby, Tennessee (1967-1999) and the Grayson County Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention in Independence, Virginia (1968-1979). These recordings contain unique performances that highlight old-time and traditional Appalachian music.

More information about the program can be found at www.grammymuseum.org.

Phillips, VUMC release decarbonization results

Health technology company Royal Philips and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have announced initial results of a research collaboration to decarbonize the health system’s radiology department.

The project, which was initially announced in May 2023, shows that sustainable initiatives can be both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. The assessment indicated that circular business models, such as upgrades, can reduce total cost of ownership of an MR system by up to 23% and carbon emissions by 17%, and for CT, refurbished systems and equipment upgrades can contribute to reducing costs of ownership by up to 10% and 8% respectively, and reducing carbon emissions by 6% and 4% respectively.

Philips and Vanderbilt assessed 13 diagnostic imaging devices including MR, CT, ultrasound and X-ray, which account for an estimated 12,000 patient scans per month and found that, over a period of 10 years, they emit the CO2 equivalent of approximately 1,000 gas cars driven for one year.

In addition, the energy use of scanners accounted for more than half of the total emissions released from diagnostic radiology. Other generators of carbon emissions within the department included the use of medical disposables, PACS (picture archiving and communication system) and linen production and laundry.

MTSU faculty land $2M NSF scholarship grant

A group of Middle Tennessee State University faculty, under the leadership of chemistry professor Andrienne Friedli, recently launched a last-dollar scholarship program to fund and support undergraduate and graduate biochemistry and chemistry students in need.

“The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with proven effective supporting activities, including faculty and peer mentoring, research experiences, professional development courses, graduate school and employment preparation and participation in discipline-specific conferences,” Friedli says.

Friedli collaborated with faculty Charles Chusuei, Scott Handy, Katy Hosbein, Justin Miller, Kevin Bicker, Ngee Chong, Keying Ding, Mengliang Zhang and Eric Oslund, grant evaluator, to land and manage the six-year, $1.97 million grant.

Ten qualifying master’s students will each receive up to $20,000 per year and 15 junior or senior undergraduates will each be awarded an estimated $7,000 per year to assist their educational pursuits in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.