🥫 What’s next for SNAP in Nashville?

🥫 Nashville’s Food Crisis

Even though the federal government shutdown’s end may be in sight, the withholding of SNAP benefits has resulted in an unprecedented food crisis that is taking its toll on Nashvillians. On today’s City Cast Nashville podcast, we’re talking with the Tennessee Justice Center about what’s next for SNAP, and how we can help our food-insecure neighbors. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🗑️ Landfill Receives Numerous Violations

Middle Point Landfill, where most of Nashville’s trash goes, has received seven violations this year citing poor maintenance, air and water pollution, and inadequate litter control. Nashville’s waste department will consider alternatives to the landfill next year. [WPLN]

• Senator Heidi Campbell also plans to reintroduce the Tennessee Waste to Jobs Act to expand our recycling infrastructure. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🏫 School Voucher Analysis

An assessment of the 241 schools registered in Tennessee’s school voucher program reveals numerous inconsistencies with testing, including one Old Hickory Christian school where the founder told parents, “Even though they require us to do standardized testing, that doesn’t mean we have to care.” [Nashville Banner]

• Education advocates have voiced concern about the voucher program’s lack of transparency. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

📚 ‘Age-Appropriateness Review’ of Library Books

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett has ordered an “immediate age-appropriateness review” of public libraries’ juvenile collections in several counties, including Rutherford, Wilson, and Bedford. The Rutherford County Library System has had to close several libraries as a result. “It feels like an attack on public libraries at large,” said one employee. [Nashville Scene]