🛍️ How to help local businesses recover

🌨️ Commission To Review Storm Preparedness

Mayor O’Connell has issued an executive order to establish a commission to review the city’s preparation and response to Winter Storm Fern. The commission will be able to hold hearings and use an auditor, and has six months to return its findings. [NewsChannel 5]

• Metro Council has called a special meeting to review natural disaster communications and identify areas for improvement. The meeting is on Tuesday, Feb. 10, and is open to the public. [WKRN]
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $11 million in aid for Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. [Tennessee Lookout]
• “An ice storm will bring a Southern city to its knees,” writes local author Margaret Renkl in an essay for The New York Times. [The New York Times]
• As of 3:30 p.m. on Monday, there were just over 24,000 power outages in Nashville. [NES]

🏠 Immigrant Families Afraid To Leave Cold Homes

Many Nashville immigrant families who lost power have been afraid to seek out warming shelters due to worries over immigration enforcement and the possibility of theft. The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition has delivered 5,000 hot meals to immigrant homes since Jan. 25. “I’ve been realizing that the only thing that can help right now is going to be community,” said a volunteer. “It’s not going to be the law.” [Tennessee Lookout]

• On Friday, 30 clergy gathered outside Nashville’s Department of Homeland Security field office in a vigil honoring nine people whose deaths have been connected to immigration enforcement this year. [Tennessee Lookout]

🎰 Online Sports Betting in Nashville

The Super Bowl is this weekend! But before you create that parlay on a gambling app, you might want to know a little more about how online sports betting works here in Tennessee. On today’s City Cast Nashville podcast, we’re talking about how gambling on sports is impacting our community, for better or for worse. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🏛️ Gov. Lee Pushes To Double Vouchers

In his final State of the State Address Monday night, Gov. Bill Lee proposed a 100% increase in private school vouchers as part of a $57.9 billion budget that would also include $40 million for charter school initiatives. Additional expenditures include hiring more state troopers, updating the state’s computer system, and adding $25 million to the state’s nuclear fund. [Tennessee Lookout]