Hospital Authority Could Run Deficit Again

Nashville General Hospital could run a deficit again next year, if it doesn’t get all of the 11-and-a-half million dollars it requested from the state. At the Hospital Authority’s budget meeting last night, General’s CEO Reginald Coopwood said it will get at least 4-million in essential access payments. The state appropriated and extra 25-million dollars […]

Tennessee is the only state whose cancer registry has never been certified. The cancer registry tracks who is diagnosed, the type of cancer, the treatment, and the outcome. A state must collect 90 percent of estimated cancer cases to be certified. Tennessee is at 86 percent, an improvement from last year, but still off the […]

Metro Social Services is getting a 3-percent cut in next year’s budget. The department handles services ranging from nutrition advice for seniors to the Homelessness Commission. A 2004 audit of the department determined that it should cut its 200-person staff to 35 and start to outsource services. Director Gerri Robinson says the contracting out of […]

This is Richard Onderka’s white Chevy truck running on bio-diesel. [Truck Noise] Onderka drove to Nashville yesterday to advocate alternative fuels. Last week he opened a bio-diesel service station in Coffee County. Diesel vehicles will run on bio-diesel without a converter. Onderka, who came to America from Germany in 1989, has spent the last 6 […]

Brad Hopkins announced his retirement from the NFL today after 13 years with the Tennessee Titans. The Titans released the former left tackle on March 1. Hopkins says he considered playing elsewhere, but didn’t want to adjust to another team or uproot his family. Hopkins displayed a range of emotions today saying his highest achievement […]

Metro Council continues to hold budget meetings this week, in advance of the June 30th deadline to pass a budget. Mayor Bill Purcell’s 1-point-5-billion dollar budget includes a new revenue source, which has been question by several council members. Metro Finance director David Manning says the city is going to sell 18-and-a-half million dollars worth […]

Two-hundred janitors, secretaries and maintenance staff at Meharry Medical College have worked for more than a year without a contract. (Today/yesterday) a group of concerned Metro Council members tried to intervene. They met with Meharry President John Maupin before he leaves his post at the end of the month. The conversation with Maupin became personal […]

Former governor Winfield Dunn is lending his name and support to republican Jim Bryson’s run for governor. Bryson, a state senator from Franklin, named Dunn as his campaign’s state-wide chairman today.  Originally a dentist, Dunn had never won a race until his long-shot win for the office of governor in 1970. Dunn says he was […]

An 18-year old lawsuit over school funding and teacher pay was dismissed last week. The suit was brought by small schools in Tennessee who argued the state’s way of paying for education was unfair and left them under funded. Numerous settlements over the years led to increased teacher pay, and the Basic Education Plan, or […]

Governor Phil Bredesen signed the Cover Tennessee legislation into law today, paving the way for health insurance coverage for children and the uninsured across the state. From the offices of Plumgood Foods in Nashville, an online grocery store, Bredesen said companies like Plumgood stand to benefit from the legislation’s small business plan. For businesses with […]