Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
🥐 The Butcher, the Baker, the Cottage Law Maker · Emergency powers · Runaway jury · Offender of the week · This week in streaming · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
With all the talk of tariffs, we’ve got a timely piece from Kaitlyn McDonald today about state regulations holding back local businesses. There is a ton of pent-up ability both in Tennessee and elsewhere that is not able to fully realize itself due to onerous regulations. The state’s cottage food laws are one such example.
Onward.
How Tennessee's Cottage Food Laws suppress small businesses
Nikki Plows founded her bakery, Petals & Plows, in Centerville as a way to raise funds for a new car. Starting out with a borrowed grain mill, a gifted sourdough starter, and a random bag of rustic wheat berries, she began fulfilling porch pickup orders and deliveries to church friends and neighbors. The money for a new car soon materialized. The plan for a thriving business did not.
Most of the food vendors you find at large farmer’s markets have invested in commercial kitchens and licensing, both for the flexibility to handle future growth, and for the credibility it brings. Some rent space at shared-use kitchens, while others must pass health inspections and follow rules set out by the FDA in commercial kitchens they own. However, not every small BBQ sauce or canned goods vendor can make such a hefty investment so early.
These home-based businesses follow a separate set of rules in order to sell with impunity. Tennessee’s Cottage Food Laws are concerned with stipulating what and how cottage food producers can sell, with the intention of protecting the public from digestive misadventures, or worse. But well-meaning laws can sometimes come with unintended consequences.
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🚨 Lee Holds His Nose On Emergency Powers Bill Last week, the governor allowed a bill that clarifies limitations on executive branch emergency powers to pass without his signature. The legislation specifies that any action the governor takes during a declared emergency—issuing executive orders, proclamations, rules (which have the full force and effect of law), and amending or rescinding state laws—cannot violate the Constitution of Tennessee. Previously, Tennessee’s Code only detailed that such emergency actions could not infringe upon 1st Amendment rights to gather religiously and 2nd Amendment rights.
“I am letting SB 27 / HB 324 become law without my signature,” Governor Lee wrote in a letter to Lt. Governor Randy McNally. “This decision reflects my deep concern about bills that adversely impact the State’s ability to protect the 7 million Tennesseans we serve.”
Though the governor agreed that the legislation “merely repeats well-established legal principles” such as upholding the US and Tennessee Constitutions, the letter reads like a rap on the knuckles: “My intent in returning this bill without my signature is to caution strongly against legislation that would compromise Tennessee’s disaster response capabilities.”
Given that the governor can rescind certain laws during a state of emergency, it seems fitting that the legislation also added a provision that prevents the executive branch from suspending laws that restrict the governor from suspending certain laws—your brain teaser for the day.
⚖️ Nashville’s Runaway Jury This morning, the Banner published an article exposing how Davidson County’s most recent grand jury let the defendants in three first-degree murder cases off the hook. In fact, the group heard 654 different cases and threw out 47 of them. The Banner provided a shocking comparison: “From January 2021 to December 2024, Davidson County grand juries chose not to indict an average of three cases per quarter for every 607 heard.”
“If these were very low-level shoplifting kind of things, I could understand that,” Nashville attorney David Raybin told the publication. “They may have imposed a much higher standard on the police department and the prosecutors than are required. There’s no other explanation for this. If you put these two things together, I think that there’s some sort of anti-police bias or something going on here that you do not normally see.”
🎡 Fair Board Still Waiting On Metro Despite chatter that opponents to Nashville’s racetrack are hatching a plan to prohibit racing at the Fairgrounds, the movement threatening to disrupt Music City’s 120+ year auto racing legacy doesn’t seem to be bleeding over into the fair board’s discussions about the speedway…yet.
“We're now at, officially, year two since we agreed on the contract, or a situation around the racetrack,” said Metro Fair Board Chair Jasper Hendricks when speaking about their aging agreement with Bristol Motor Speedway during yesterday’s meeting. Originally, Bristol planned the help make improvements to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and bring NASCAR back to Music City. Despite the board’s decision, the city hasn’t made a move. “Has there been any discussions up there, any discussions being had?” Hendricks asked Fairgrounds Executive Director Laura Womack, who was not aware of any new conversations.
DEVELOPMENT
- ✈️ Spirit Airlines to connect BNA to Savannah (Post)
- Sean Brock's new Sho Pizza Bar opens soon in East Nashville (Tennessean)
- Downtown Greyhound bus station site listed for sale (NBJ)
- East Nashville commercial property sells for $1.37M (Post)
- Pie Town site eyed for hotel building (Post)
✹ REPEAT OFFENDER OF THE WEEK
MNPD arrested Jacque Adams, 32, on Monday in connection with a shooting in January, which ended with a 71-year-old man being shot in the face. It’s not believed that the man was the intended target. The incident took place at the Mapco on Linbar Drive, a hot spot for shootouts. From late February to mid-March, there were four shootings in four weeks at the gas station cum shooting range. Adams is currently being held on a $220,000 bond.
Unsurprisingly, Adams has a criminal history preceding the January shooting. From Houston to Las Vegas to Memphis, Adams has been charged repeatedly with crimes related to human trafficking. In fact, he was the poster child for Texas’ lax dealings with those accused of trafficking crimes. Adams would reportedly tattoo “King Jacque” on the necks of his victims before forcing them to work as prostitutes. In April of 2021, he was wanted on four charges in Harris County and indicted on six more while out on bond. He is the latest transplant of notice to arrive in Nashville.
✹ THIS WEEK IN STREAMING (April 9th)
Spartan (VOD Rental) David Mamet’s first-daughter-gone-wild political thriller didn’t make much of a box-office dent in 2004. Regardless Kilmer’s turn as a rogue secret service agent dedicated to rescuing her from Saudi sex traffickers offers serious John Wayne in The Searchers vibes that proved the former Batman should have been as big of a stalwart action hero as that other bro from Top Gun.
Val (Prime) Kilmer amassed thousands of hours of self-shot footage on every format from 8mm to digital video over forty years. This 2021 documentary sculpts the largely misunderstood actor’s eclectic life while examining the lines consummate professionalism and artistic obsession. No obituary could come close.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (VOD Rental) In addition to kickstarting Robert Downey, Jr.’s comeback, this 2005 Hollywood-set neo-noir buddy comedy features Kilmer’s best role–a glib yet refined private dick who proved the ultimate delivery mechanism for writer/director Shane Black’s trademark dialogue. On top of that, it’s the best Christmas move to ever grace the silver screen.
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown 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
🎸 Sqwerv @ The East Room, 8p, $13.36, Info
+ indie jam band
🪕 The Sentimental Gentlemen @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
🎸 The Woods Wednesdays @ The Basement, 9p, $12.85, Info
🎸 Megan Moroney @ The Pinnacle, 8p, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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