Gardening tips scheduled weekly at Nashville Zoo

By Andy Humbles • The Tennessean • February 17, 2009 The Davidson County Master Gardeners will hold sessions at 10 a.m. Saturdays in March and April at Nashville Zoo. The sessions are included with Zoo admission. Sessions will cover different topics and include a question-answer period. The topics are: March 7 — In the Beginning: Site Preparation (soil, weeds, hardscape, wildlife protection). March 14 — Hi Hoe, Hi Hoe: Basic Garden Equipment & Container Gardening. March 21 — From Garbage to Salad: Composting & Seed Starting. March 28 — Everybody Has a Plan: Planting Schedules, Companion Planting & Beneficial Instincts. April 4 — Maters, Taters & Beans: Vegetable Gardening in Spring, Summer & Fall. April 11 — Pre-organic Gardening: Heirloom Gardening. April 18 — Strange Bedfellows: Medicinal and Culinary Herbs. April 25 — What’s in Your Beds? Annuals & Perennials, Bulbs, Shrubs & Roses. Call 833-1534.

Gaylord Entertainment cuts 350 jobs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — USA TODAY Gaylord Entertainment Co. has cut 350 jobs, about half of them in Nashville, where the company is based. Employees were told Monday. The Tennessean reported the hotel company had signaled staff reductions were possible in a Feb. 10 conference call with CEO Colin Reed and analysts during which Reed said layoffs could be one of several measures Gaylord would use to save an estimated $35 million. Gaylord earned just $4.4 million in 2008 -- a 96 percent fall from the previous year -- despite opening a new hotel outside Washington.

Three Nashville TV stations go digital-only tonight

Fox 17, two sister stations shut analog at midnight By Naomi Snyder • THE TENNESSEAN • February 17, 2009 The Nashville area will get its first major test of the digital tv transition tonight if WZTV Fox 17 and two sister stations go ahead with plans to cut off their analog signals at 11:59 p.m. Other broadcasters have decided to wait to turn off their analog signals after Congress extended the mandatory deadline to June 12. The switch is expected to affect only analog TV sets that aren't hooked up to cable or satellite service and don't have a digital converter box. Despite more than a year of public informational programming about the digital switch, research firm The Nielsen Group estimated earlier this month that about 30,000 people in the Nashville area who depend on over-the-air signals are completely unprepared, or 3.5 percent of the media market. That means thousands could potentially lose top-rated TV shows such as American Idol, which airs Tuesday and Wednesday nights. At an event in Nashville on Monday, U.S. Rep Jim Cooper joked that residents who will lose the local Fox affiliate's signal will instantly become smarter. More coupons coming The federal government has run out of coupons meant to defray the cost of the digital converter boxes needed to receive digital signals on an analog TV set, although about $650 million in additional funding for the coupons was included in the economic stimulus bill passed by Congress on Friday. Whit Adamson, the president of the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, said he didn't know when those coupons would become available, but it could be weeks. If they don't want to wait for the discounts to become available, consumers can spend about $60 to buy a converter box. Fox 17's sister stations also planning to make the digital switch tonight are WUXP-MYTV30 and WNAB-58, which play shows such as Judge Judy, Seinfeld and Two and a Half Men. Executives for the parent company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, could not be reached Monday. Other stations that have already made the switch are WJFB in Lebanon, which plays Jewelry Television, and WHTN in Murfreesboro, the Christian Television Network. The FCC estimated Monday that 421 stations in the U.S. plan to terminate analog broadcast signals today. Altogether, about 36 percent of the nation's 1,800 full-power stations have switched or will switch off their analog signal by the end of today.

Airport neighbors want Harding Place extension to I-40 shifted

By CHRISTINA E. SANCHEZ • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • October 6, 2008 Louan Brown has long wondered when she might lose her 40-acre property near the airport for a proposed new highway connecting Harding Place to Interstate 40. "They have moved the road multiple times," said Brown, whose father bought the land she lives on in the 1940s. "They have tied us up for 15 years. As it stands now, the (Elm Hill Pike) interchange is right on my property." That interchange is one of five that would be part of the project to add five miles to Harding Place, which transportation planners say would ease traffic congestion and visitor confusion around Nashville International Airport and provide a shortcut between I-40 in Donelson and Interstate 24 near Antioch. Regional transportation planners first suggested the road about 25 years ago, to the concern of nearby residents. Their opposition has delayed the project, and at a meeting last week several of them implored planners to shift the road three-fourths of a mile toward the airport and away from them. Designs for the road keep changing; they may again. No work has started, and the state said Friday it couldn't provide a total cost estimate. Previous reports indicate about $10 million is available for the segment from Murfreesboro Pike to Couchville Pike. Joe Carpenter, assistant chief engineer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, said his department, along with Metro government, the airport authority and the Federal Aviation Administration, would listen to all concerns. "This is an extremely large and complex project for the state as far as projects go," Carpenter said. "Some residents had a desire to cancel the project altogether and put the money into existing infrastructure. We'll consider all the comments." 5 interchanges planned Along with the regional, federally authorized Nashville Metropolitan Planning Organization, state and local officials for years have debated about what roads and details should be included in the project. As it stands now, a new road would run from the Harding Place-Donelson Pike intersection south of the airport to I-40 near the Elm Hill Pike overpass. Donelson Pike through the airport property also would be relocated and straightened, to cut down on blind spots on curves for motorists headed in and out of the airport. The road is heavily traveled, including by out-of-towners unfamiliar with the area. Proposed designs call for five interchanges, including the new road's tie-in to I-40 and a major reworking of the current Donelson Pike/I-40 junction. TDOT says about 36,000 vehicles a day travel Donelson Pike at that interchange, which handles both through and airport-bound traffic. Some want road moved Metro Councilman Carl Burch, whose district includes the proposed extension area, said he believes the concept for the new road is a good one. But he wants the road moved. "We need that artery to get from Harding Place to Interstate 40," Burch said. "I think it will relieve a lot of traffic from Bell Road and Donelson Pike. It's a good project if the road is moved to the west." TDOT would have to consult with and get approval from the FAA to move the road 4,000 feet closer to the airport, as residents suggested at last week's meeting. Airport spokeswoman Emily Richard said airport officials are not involved in the decision-making process for the project. "Harding Place extension is not our project, and we are not pushing this," Richard said. "Our long-range plan calls for a fourth parallel runway, though there are no plans for it at this point." The FAA would be involved to make sure safety provisions are followed because the road, if moved west, would be close to that proposed runway, she said. Residents wary of road Meanwhile, Louan Brown and other residents wait for the road to be built or abandoned. Brown grew up on the property that fronts Elm Hill Pike south of I-40. Her parents taught her how to raise cattle and care for horses on the farm, where she now lives with her husband and two children. She has been going door to door with an aerial map of the project to alert residents that this project will come if they do not make their concerns heard. Brown's campaign, which includes a large sign in her front yard, has attracted attention from neighbors, some of whom did not know they could be living next to a major roadway. Paula Gowen, who has lived along Elm Hill Pike since 1986, drove up to Brown's home one day last week and asked, "Where's this road going to be?" Gowen shook her head at the thought of living sandwiched between I-40 and another major artery. "This is in my backyard," Gowen said. "That's depressing. I've got enough noise already." Brown said she is not giving up and will continue to speak out against the project. "I am not going away," said an emotional Brown, who grew teary over the prospect of losing her father's hard-earned land. "My entire life has been out here. I'm not stopping."