An all-new $5.6 billion mega campus in Stanton, Tennessee, called BlueOval City, will create approximately 6,000 new jobs and reimagine how vehicles and batteries are manufactured, according to a statement by Ford Motor Company on September 27, 2021.
Blue oval
A month later, October 2021, Gov. Bill Lee called a special session in which legislators approved a $900 million incentive package for Ford and created an 11-member board with broad powers including eminent domain to oversee the project.
Tn4all: A group quickly formed to try to prevent an urban-renewal-type exploitation of rural farmers, primarily Black families.
Now Ford says the opening won’t be in 2025, after all, but has been “retimed” for perhaps 2027, according to Chris Davis of News Channel 5 in Nashville. “Industry experts say, it’s not that electric vehicle sales are going down. They’re just growing way less quickly than the market anticipated. The uncertainty becomes if the growth rate will remain low or increase over time.”
Oops: If electric vehicle sales were sluggish during the Joe Biden administration, who thinks sales will increase under Donald Trump? Not sure how much of the state’s $900 million has been disbursed to Ford, but somebody in Nashville ought to check on it and perhaps “retime” its release.
Former state Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, leaves the U.S. Federal Building in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 27, 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo, TN Lookout)
But perhaps he can get a pardon
Former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and 21-months sentence for federal campaign finance violations. Problem is, Kelsey pleaded guilty.
The December 18, 2024, story by Sam Stockard in TN Lookout is here.
Victim killed in argument over a dog
Charme Allen
DA Charme Allen said prosecutors in the Major Crimes Unit obtained a conviction against a man who shot a roommate over an argument about a dog. The 35-year-old male was convicted of second-degree murder. Judge Hector Sanchez set the case for sentencing on February 21 where punishment could be 15 to 25 years in prison.
On December 23, 2023, KPD officers responded to a shooting at a residence on East Oldham Avenue. KPD Det. Tim Riddle learned that the victim and the shooter were both tenants at the same residence. That evening, the two were arguing over the shooter refusing to clean up after his dogs when he pulled a 9mm handgun and shot the victim in the chest three times. The shooter claimed that the victim punched him, but none of the witnesses to the shooting saw a punch and no evidence of injury corroborated this account.
“This is another tragic example of an argument escalating to violence,” said DA Allen. More information here.
