Mayor Jumps for Cover
🔥 Freddie stacks the deck in the wake of Fern · In 2025, Nashville arrested 2,477 criminal offenders who were here illegally · Governor Lee's final SoS address · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. We're still monitoring the situation... Mayor O'Connell stacks the deck by appointing his own commission to review Nashville's preparation and response to Winter Storm Fern... Davidson County ranks highest for undocumented arrests... Overview of Governor Lee's final State of the State... And much more!
Things That Never Happen But Should Join us Thursday, February 19th for an evening with Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist. This is the third installment of the Pamphleteer's new monthly event series. Paying Bard-level subscribers receive free access to this and future events. (Buy Tickets)
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Day Nine: Mayor O’Connell puts a commission between himself and NES to deflect criticism
From Davis Hunt
⚡️ Power Levels As of this writing, the NES power outage map shows 18,180 customers without power. That’s 7,710 fewer customers than yesterday. MNPS opened back up today, and there will be a council meeting tonight.
The NES chart showing when the utility expects full power restoration broken down by zip code has been updated. The estimated date range for some areas extends to February 9th.
🫥 Mayor Jumps for Cover To get ahead of the humanitarian and public relations disaster that has been this ice storm, the mayor issued an executive order yesterday creating a commission to review preparation and response to the storm. There will be nine commission members, all appointed by the mayor.
This group will include one council member, the vice mayor Angie Henderson, and seven “community leaders or individuals with expertise in utility infrastructure, emergency response, crisis communications, human services, government operations, or other relevant areas.”
We don’t need to get creative to point out that the mayor, the city’s chief executive, stands to gain a lot from a commission investigating where storm preparation and response went wrong.
As I’ve repeatedly pointed out, the mayor himself didn’t take this storm seriously until four or five days in, content up to that point to issue boilerplate statements and information while it was self-evident to every bipedal person in town that the city was underprepared and moving slow.
NES’s service area extends outside of Davidson County, so maybe the state will step in with their own investigation.
✹ THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPEN BUT SHOULD
Welcome to America in 2026. You're sitting at the End of History. Nothing will ever happen again.
The steady march toward the impossible vision of a borderless world governed by rooms full of perfectly rational leaders incapable of committing evil in thought word or deed continues apace.
Will anything–can anything happen–that shakes us from our stupor? Is "Nothing Ever Happens" the law of the land? What should happen that hasn't happened?
Join us Thursday, February 19th as we sit down with Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, to discuss whether anything will ever happen again and more. (Buy Ticket)
This event is for the benefit of The Pamphleteer and free for paying, Bard-level subscribers.
🚨 Davidson County accounted for more than 20 percent of undocumented criminal arrests in the state. In accordance with state law, district attorneys across Tennessee released a 2025 Immigration Report showing those who were arrested and found to be unlawfully present in the United States. The report outlines 21,648 offenses involving 11,344 individuals, with traffic violations, driving without a license, and DUI as the most common charges.
The report also noted 41 homicides attributed to this group, including 8 first-degree murder charges, 19 unclassified homicides, 4 second-degree murder charges, and 10 vehicular homicides. There were also 11 child rape offenses, 40 aggravated kidnapping charges, and 112 child abuse offenses. (TN 2025 Immigration Report)
📜 Governor Lee delivers final State of the State Address: “Tennessee: The Original Frontier.” Last night, the governor opened by acknowledging the deadly winter storm and honoring first responders before reflecting on seven years of bipartisan accomplishments ranging from education and public safety to economic growth and fiscal discipline.
He laid out priorities for the year ahead, emphasizing expanded school choice, sustained crime reduction—especially in Memphis—rural health care reform, and workforce development. He closed by positioning Tennessee as a national leader in economic opportunity, nuclear energy, and emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing, urging lawmakers to keep pushing toward the state’s “next frontier.”
Lee’s budget proposals include $155 million to double the amount of Education Freedom Scholarships for his school choice initiative, an additional $25 million for the nuclear fund, and $80 million in grants to sustain momentum in Memphis by permanently assigning 100 Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers to Shelby County. (Watch the TN State of the State)
HEADLINES
- 💰 Senator Marsha Blackburn set a new campaign fundraising record as she gears up to run for Tennessee governor. Blackburn has raised $5.5 million from over 33,000 contributors since entering the race five months ago. (Axios)
- 🏒 Nashville Predators’ General Manager Barry Trotz is retiring after three seasons. The 63-year-old will stay with the team as an adviser after a successor is found. (NHL)
- 🗑 Your trash day may be different. Nashville’s new four-day trash collection schedule is officially in effect. The launch of the new schedule was slightly delayed due to Winter Storm Fern. (Look up your new trash pickup schedule)
DEVELOPMENT
- The Grilled Cheeserie returns to East Nashville (NBJ)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Sudan Archives @ The Basement East, 8p, $35.50, Info
🪕 Analog Bluegrass featuring Jason Carter Band @ Analog at Hutton Hotel, 7p, $15, Info
🪕 Troubadour Blue @ Station Inn, 8p, Info
🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ Eastside Bowl, 8p, $10, Info
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik, and Camelia Brennan.