Courtney Johnston for Nashville26

05/02/2026

I hope this estimated $72 per year savings helps everyone with the thousands more they’re paying in property taxes the mayor imposed. I mean, don’t spend it all in one place.

Nashville's mayor wants to cut the city's grocery sales tax, saving families up to $72 a year. The proposal now heads to Metro Council for consideration.

05/02/2026

How to slap every Davidson County taxpayer in the face without actually slapping them in the face 101 - by The O’Connell Administration.

You can’t make this stuff up…..

Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell is actively considering an incentive deal to sweeten the pot for Starbucks' Tennessee corporate expansion. See link below ⬇️

📸 Alan Poizner, Alan Poizner-The Tennessean

04/18/2026

Sat. 4/18 8am NES Update:

Nashville Electric Service (NES) crews working in 16-hour shifts and through the night have restored power to 99.5 percent of customers who lost power after severe weather hit the region Thursday night. As of 8 a.m., about 245 customers are without power.

About 46,000 customers were left without power after Thursday’s storms with damaging winds. For customers who are able to receive power but still have an outage this morning because of the storm, we estimate all power will be restored by this evening. These smaller outages are the toughest to resolve because of the complex, time- and labor-intensive work it takes for restoration. We have resourceful lineworkers in the field tackling the challenging, last-to-restore outages that require extra persistence and creativity.

After Thursday’s storm, more than 600 lineworkers and 549 vegetation management team members were deployed in the field. Crews identified 30 broken poles and 106 downed lines across our service area. In addition, 120 customer relations representatives were in the NES and overflow call centers assisting our customers.

Potential for Saturday Storms
In anticipation of the storms predicted for this afternoon, NES has a full roster of crews and support staff on standby to ensure a rapid response to any potential outages. The utility is maintaining these resource levels to mitigate the impact of gusty winds that could bring down tree limbs and cause damage across Middle Tennessee. NES will be monitoring as the weather front moves through the region and will be on standby to provide immediate restoration efforts.

04/17/2026

NES Update 10am 4/17

Nashville Electric Service crews working around the clock made significant overnight progress, restoring power to more than 40,000 customers after a line of thunderstorms moved through Middle Tennessee Thursday evening. As of 8 a.m. fewer than 4,000 customers are without power. About 46,000 customers were left without power after storms with damaging winds hit the region.

Crews have identified 15 broken poles and 77 downed lines across our service area. Hundreds of lineworkers were deployed immediately after the storm rolled through the area last night.

This morning, we had 360 lineworkers working to restore power. Leveraging the contracts we entered into during Winter Storm Fern, we anticipate more than 500 linemen in the field by mid-day today. Additionally, we have more than a dozen assessment teams in the field, with more coming later this morning. NES also mobilized its supplemental customer service resources. Currently, we have 120 representatives taking calls. Wait times this morning have fluctuated between three and six minutes.

Based on the information we have now, we anticipate full restoration by midnight tonight. The estimated restoration time could vary, based on information gleaned from the assessments this morning.

04/17/2026

I just spoke with NES this am 4/17. It’s almost 9am. The last update from last night is the latest info and I’ll report that below. As soon as I get more info I will post. I do know that they are down to about 4000 outages and those outages are in smaller cluster which take longer. The largest outage is in Whispering Hills. The good news is it’s easier to work in the daylight so hopefully they get through it a bit faster. I know everyone is frustrated. I 100% get it. Once we get everyone restored I’ll be asking you all for some specific feedback to help me help NES improve.

From NES at 10:10pm 4/16/26

This evening brought heavy rain and high winds that impacted the Middle Tennessee. At the height of the storm, currently we have over 44,000 customers without power. Our team will be working as soon as conditions are safe to assess the damage and provide a global safe ETOR. As restoration progresses, we will work to provide more detailed information.

The safe ETOR reflects factors such as the number of damaged poles, downed wire, and the overall complexity of the damage. While our crews bring years of experience to this work, restoration timelines may extend beyond initial estimates due to weather conditions, unforeseen or initially hidden damage, and even traffic. As crews repair sections of the line, temporary power outages may be necessary to ensure safe work conditions and to restore service to nearby areas.

04/17/2026

From NES at 10:10pm 4/16/26

This evening brought heavy rain and high winds that impacted the Middle Tennessee. At the height of the storm, currently we have over 44,000 customers without power. Our team will be working as soon as conditions are safe to assess the damage and provide a global safe ETOR. As restoration progresses, we will work to provide more detailed information.

The safe ETOR reflects factors such as the number of damaged poles, downed wire, and the overall complexity of the damage. While our crews bring years of experience to this work, restoration timelines may extend beyond initial estimates due to weather conditions, unforeseen or initially hidden damage, and even traffic. As crews repair sections of the line, temporary power outages may be necessary to ensure safe work conditions and to restore service to nearby areas.

04/15/2026

Today is the first day of early voting in Davidson County! Several constitutional offices, judgeships and school board seats are being decided. This is a PRIMARY election. There are NO REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. These races are determined in the Democrat primary. So if you want your voice heard, you will need to ask for a Democrat ballot.

I have highlighted candidates in contested races that have my support.

04/09/2026

While Mayor Freddie was busy trying to get our water utility to waste $6,000,000… I was working with our state legislature to fix real problems for our residents and businesses suffering through this horrid appeal process. THANK YOU to State Representative William Lamberth for his partnership on this important matter!

The amendment I requested:
* Authorizes a duly appointed alternate member of a county board of equalization (board) to participate in hearings and deliberations of the board even when all regular members are present.
* Clarifies that such participation is authorized regardless of whether the alternate member is serving in place of an absent regular member.
* Authorizes a board to organize itself into two or more panels for the purpose of hearing appeals concurrently.
* Declares that such authorizations are intended to address extraordinary volumes of property assessment appeals and may be implemented by counties upon a finding of an unusual or significant increase in appeals by the county legislative body or the assessor of property.
* This provision is repealed on June 30, 2028.

REAL SOLUTIONS FOR REAL PROBLEMS

State lawmakers are looking to help home and business owners struggling with high property taxes by speeding up the appeals process.

04/09/2026

This MAYOR is “incredible disappointing”. He raises everyone’s taxes 27% and then scolds the council for not making Metro Water take a $6M hit so he can give people a $25 bill credit regardless of need? Special. Talk about tone deaf. People don’t want $25. They want potholes filled, safe neighborhoods, good schools, NOT double digit property tax increases, and not lip service.

04/08/2026

First of all, “every Nashvillian” was NOT getting $26. Not everyone in Nashville is a MWS customer - there are other water utilities that serve this county. And not every MWS customer was getting $25.51. Many were getting only $10.09. But it was costing the utility a whopping $6,000,000! So spare us your “I was just trying to help” speech when you plan to raise stormwater fees later this year on everyone…. The council understood that there is meaningful relief at Metro Action Commission (up to $2000) where $930k was allocated and at United Way where millions were donated and we made a fiscally responsible decision - not a politically motivated one.

Last Night: Metro Nashville Council voted down a refund to Metro Water Service customers proposed due to January ice storm struggles

New this morning: Mayor Freddie O’Connell weighs in saying he’s disappointed and MWS could have afforded this refund

FOX Nashville

04/08/2026

I appreciate my colleagues support in rethinking this costly across-the-board water bill credit from metro water proposed by the mayor. While I appreciate the spirit in which it was brought forth, as time passed and we learned more and it was clear this was not the prudent option. Only 18% of Metro Water customers were impacted by an increase in water bills. Because of the way utility revenues are regulated, credits had to be across the board making that cost to our utility a whopping $6,000,000. But customers were only receiving an either 10 or $25 credit - not helpful! Subsequently, we identified $930,000 we allocated to metro action commission where folks can access up to $2000 of relief. United Way also has funds to assist. We made the right decision tonight.