Millions of people will watch Monday as day turns into night during the 2024 total solar eclipse. It will be the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044, NASA reports.

Although many will want to view this celestial event, eye safety should be a priority, said Stephen Kim, M.D., chief of the retina division at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.

In Tennessee, only the northwest corner of the state will witness a total eclipse. The remainder of the state, including Nashville, will see a partial eclipse.

“Solar retinopathy, damage to the retina caused by extreme and prolonged light exposure, is a real risk, and many individuals remain completely unaware of the risks of gazing directly at the sun,” Kim says.

Looking directly at the sun can seriously damage your eyes, the American Academy of Ophthalmology warns. Staring at the sun for even a short time without wearing the right eye protection can damage your retina permanently and can even cause blindness.

Ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, or homemade filters are not safe for looking at the sun.

Special-purpose solar filters are the only safe way to look directly at the sun, whether during an eclipse or not, the AAO reports. These solar filters are used in “eclipse glasses” or in hand-held solar viewers and must meet a very specific worldwide standard known as ISO 12312-2.

Nashville’s PMC acquires Bird Dog Parking

Parking Management Company, a national parking services provider, has acquired Chattanooga-based Bird Dog Parking and will incorporate Bird Dog’s 33 locations in Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri into its national portfolio.

Bird Dog Parking is co-owned by Mitch Patel and Brook Weresuk. Patel, founder and CEO of Vision Hospitality Group, will continue his leadership of the hotel ownership and management group. PMC will serve as a preferred parking provider for Vision Hospitality Group, which currently oversees 40-plus hotels throughout the country, with 15 more under construction.

Safety grants available for child care programs

ChildcareTennessee, a Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee statewide initiative, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Human Services, is offering Safety Supplemental Grants to enhance safety and security in licensed child care programs across Tennessee.

Safety Supplemental Grants allow child care providers to apply for up to $4,000 to purchase safety and security items and services.

Through the Safety Supplemental Grant, child care programs can apply for bullet-resistant film for windows and doors, security cameras and systems and other items. Providers can also apply to hire consultants to assess the security needs of child care programs, as well as intruder training for staff and building safety assessments.

A report from the Tennessee Department of Health released ahead of a special legislative session late last summer found that as of 2021, firearms are the leading cause of death of children under 17 in Tennessee. That is 36% higher than the national average.

The addition of Safety Supplemental Grants means a total of at least $8,000 is available to child care providers to enhance the quality and safety of their programs. To access the grant, licensed child care providers must first apply for a Support and Enhancement Grant.

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Lawmakers split on how, why of giving biz tax help

Republicans in the Tennessee House and Senate both plan to offer businesses new tax help worth upward of $1 billion.

But beyond broad strokes, they disagree about how much to award and what the public should know about companies that would get refunds and what, if anything, they should do to protect the state from being sued for its current franchise-tax law and losing more money than the proposed tax relief.

Overhauling the franchise tax has been one of Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s priorities for months. According to GOP legislative leaders, a law firm representing a large group of businesses contacted the state last fall to question the legality of Tennessee’s 90-year-old franchise tax and demanded a refund.

So far, the GOP-controlled Senate has passed something similar to the governor’s proposal, including $1.56 billion in one-time refunds for potentially 100,000 businesses and $393 million in annual tax breaks for a total of $1.95 billion.

Senate Republicans agreed with Lee that the big tax help offers the most protection against what they argue would be a more costly court defeat. They say the attorney general agrees.

House Republicans have been less convinced. They presented a version last week that included the ongoing tax break. But it also limits the tax refunds to $800 million; requires public disclosure of which businesses get refunds and the amounts; and reduces refund amounts for companies if they already receive certain tax credits.

Realtor.com: Renting best in Nashville, other metros

Elevated mortgage interest rates, still-high home prices and falling rents have made it more affordable to rent than buy in all of the top 50 U.S. metros, the Realtor.com Rental Report reveals.

In February, the mortgage payment on a starter home in the largest metros cost $1,027 (+60.1%) more than the monthly rent in those markets, on average. At the same time last year, 45 metros favored renting.

The Nashville market, including Murfreesboro and Franklin, ranked seventh among the top 10 metros with the largest rent versus buy savings, with $1,366 monthly rent savings (86% difference).

“With rents continuing to fall and the cost of buying a home remaining high, exacerbated by the rise in mortgage rates in the later half of 2023, renting a home is now a more cost-effective option in all major U.S. markets,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “The financial scales have tipped monthly costs in favor of renting over buying, but it does not bring the benefit of housing wealth gains over time that owning does and movers should consider their long-term housing plans and personal situation as they make this decision.”

Survey: Nursing students in dark about jobs

HealthStream, a leading health care technology platform for workforce solutions, has published a new survey of more 5,100 nursing & clinical students who have completed a clinical rotation in 2023 that queried them about their experiences working in a health care organization as a student, their future professional careers and what they valued the most from their clinical rotations.

Some of the key discoveries of HealthStream’s survey of nursing students who completed a clinical rotation in 2023 included:

• 91% reported their clinical rotation increased their confidence.

• 75% reported that they were not recruited by the health care organization where they completed a rotation.

• 74% did not have their first job lined up post-graduation at the time of their rotation

• 62% said they would be highly likely to accept a position from the organization where they completed their rotation – if it were offered to them.

The No. 1 reason why nursing students said they’d accept a job offer was that they observed that “the staff enjoyed their working environment.”

There were nearly 3.2 million registered nurses on the job in 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Employment is expected to grow faster-than-average through 2032, translating into about 193,100 openings annually, on average.

Old National, CapStar complete merger

Old National Bancorp has announced the closing of its previously-announced merger with Nashville-based CapStar Financial Holdings, Inc., the holding company for CapStar Bank, as of April 1.

“This partnership is an incredible cultural fit and a natural extension of our growth strategy that allows us to introduce our client- and community-centered approach to banking to several strong, vibrant Southeastern communities,” says Old National chairman and CEO Jim Ryan. “We are excited to have reached this important milestone and to officially welcome CapStar clients and team members to the Old National family.”

After closing of the merger, Old National has approximately $52 billion of assets and $29 billion of assets under management (on a pro forma basis using Dec. 31, 2023 data), making it among the top 30 banking companies headquartered in the U.S.

CapStar Bank will operate as a division of Old National Bank before the banking centers and systems conversions, which is anticipated to occur in the third quarter of 2024.

Gray Television to feature new Arena League games

Gray Television Inc. has announced a multiyear agreement with the Arena Football League to bring Saturday arena football games over-the-air to local audiences in at least 34 markets across the United States.

The first AFL games on Gray’s television stations will air Saturday, April 27 and continue for the ten-week 2024 AFL season.

Gray’s local broadcast AFL games primarily focus on in-state teams matched to Gray’s local television station markets. Gray owns WSMV Channel 4 in the Nashville market and will feature Nashville Kats games.

Other Arena teams with in-state games on Gray stations include the Georgia Force, Minnesota Myth, Louisiana Voodoo, West Texas Hawks, Salina Liberty, Southwest Kansas Storm, Wichita Regulators and Rapid City Marshals. In addition, many Gray stations in markets that are not currently affiliated with the AFL will air one or more Saturday “Game of the Week” broadcasts of the AFL.

Small biz environmental program awarded

A Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation program that helps small businesses understand and comply with environmental regulations has been named the best in the nation by the National Small Business Environmental Assistance Program.

The national organization’s Excellence Award was announced last month at a ceremony in Chattanooga. The award recognizes exemplary performance in compliance assistance, sustainability, advocacy, and collaboration at the national level.

The state’s Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (SBEAP) helps Tennessee small businesses with environmental regulations. SBEAP staff recognize that small businesses are experts in their fields, but likely not proficient in understanding sometimes complex regulations.

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