Metro Schools Moves Up Start Date to August 1st

Tuesday night Nashville’s Board of Education passed on the school district’s first choice for a balanced calendar but did approve a start date of August 1st next year. That will give students a week-long break from class in the fall and an extended spring break, while still getting out for summer by May 24th.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is inspecting its dams closest to the epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake on the eastern seaboard. Engineers are performing visual checks of TVA’s coal ash storage sites as well.

A fallen Fort Campbell soldier will be posthumously honored with the Silver Star this week, at the headquarters of the 101st Airborne’s 4th Brigade Combat Team.

A slight majority of teachers and parents of students surveyed by Metro Nashville Public Schools say they’d like to switch to a balanced academic calendar. That would extend the school year and build in longer breaks in fall and spring, while trimming a few weeks from summer vacation.

Country music icons Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks are being honored for their songwriting abilities, not just star power.

Vanderbilt librarians are sorting through memorabilia from Senator Lamar Alexander’s early political life. The university announced today it will house the former governor’s papers prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate.

There are more than 250,000 motor and sail boats in the state required to post registration numbers – that string of numbers on the bow starting with the letters “TN.” They act like a license plate for boats, and the state agency responsible for enforcing boating safety is now experimenting with a mail campaign to get more of those boats on the water and more money to the state.

The microchips that power everything from supercomputers to smart phones are made of the same material – silicon. But a Vanderbilt professor says diamonds may turn out to be a processor’s best friend. Electrical engineer Jim Davidson figures using manmade diamonds could make more powerful and more efficient microchips.

The state wants to change the way judges assign lawyers to indigent clients. That proposal is raising concerns that local courts will lose some independence.

Governor Bill Haslam has asked state department heads to prepare budgets that cut 30 percent from current spending. A letter went out yesterday from Finance Commissioner Mark Emkes to all departments and state agencies using federal funds.