After nine months of closure, Nashville’s Main Library reopened Monday.

The downtown library closed in June after a fire erupted in the adjoining parking garage. NPL had initially targeted an opening date one month later, but the closure was soon prolonged after improvements to the building’s fire safety systems were identified during cleanup.

The garage, which is operated by the Nashville Downtown Partnership, will remain closed. Instead, library patrons can park for 90 minutes at the McKendree Parking Center on 6th Avenue for a discounted rate of $4.

NPL Director Terri Luke said the library is working with Nashville Yards on 9th Avenue to reach a similar parking agreement.

Still, on reopening day, many patrons expressed their excitement.

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Data centers comprised about 10% of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s total power load in 2025.

And demand from data centers could double by 2030, according to TVA, the utility that covers nearly all of Tennessee and parts of six other states. That may impact the cost of electricity.

In response, a Tennessee lawmaker proposed a bill to protect rate-paying citizens from subsidizing data centers.

“We don`t want what`s happened in some other states where data centers have come in and rates have gone up $20 to $30 a month,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Ed Butler, R-Rickman.

But as WPLN’s Caroline Eggers reports, the bill could have an entirely different impact: It would allow data centers to produce their own power or buy from an independent company without needing approval from a state regulator.

“This bill would open the door to a massive influx of unregulated methane gas plants across the state,” said Trey Bussey, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

One example is already playing out in Memphis. Elon Musk’s data center called xAI has set up dozens of mini gas turbines, which research shows could significantly worsen regional air quality.

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Image Credits: Steve Helber/Associated Press, Steve Jones, Flight by Southwings for SELC., David Goldman/Associated Press (flaring oil and gas facility)

Last Friday at @wnxpnashville, Chuquimamani-Condori announced a new booklet and songs from Los Thuthanaka that will released April 3. They also played unreleased tracks on WNXP.

The booklet, “Waq’a,” is about the birth of the sun or the birth of the “mundo en policia” (policed world). Chuquimamani-Condori and brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton make up Los Thuthanaka and are Aymara, the indigenous people of the Andes. The story comes from old oral histories and traditional Aymara ceremonies. “I grew up hearing it and our version is an assemblage of every version we could find,” they said.

“It’s like a humming. And the song gets louder and louder and it generates heat and color and it generates so much heat that by accident the star is born,” said Chuquimamani-Condori.

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Photos: Noah Torralba

Thousands of people marched the streets of downtown Nashville, seemingly similar showings to the last protest in October.

Nearby in Ashland City, a town with about 5,600 residents, a much smaller crowd of dozens of people gathered on Saturday. Caroline Eggers went to Ashland City to talk to some of the demonstrators.

“Congress has laid down and quit, so what do you do? You come out here and you protest,” said Carl “Vip” Vipperman, who lives in Kingston Springs.

“Grocery prices and gas prices are affecting me. It’s affecting everyone,” said Mike Kobrick, who lives in Pleasant View near Ashland City. He attended the rally on Saturday partially to help encourage folks to help influence change by voting in the upcoming midterm elections.

Nancy Dorman, who has lived in Ashland City for the past three decades, is also concerned about military activity.

“It impacts the people who are least able to care for themselves all over the world,” Dorman said.

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Photos:: Caroline Eggers

About one in three Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear waste storage site today.

But as Caroline Eggers reports, that could soon change. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy requested proposals from states to host a consolidated, national site for nuclear waste from the power industry.

“This is a significant opportunity to generate billions of private dollars in Tennessee and create thousands of jobs statewide,” said state Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston.

Yager sponsored a resolution that pledges the state legislature to taking any action to ensure Tennessee is selected as the host location.

Tennessee is rapidly becoming a central figure in the nation’s next generation of nuclear development. The Tennessee Valley Authority is building a new reactor, while companies are setting up factories for uranium processing, nuclear waste recycling and the manufacture of portable nuclear generators.

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Photo Credits: 1 - Energy Fuels Inc, 2 - Tennessee Valley Authority