NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne)  --  Nashville has launched an incentives campaign hoping to get more Metro residents vaccinated against COVID-19.

As of Firday morning, 42 percent of Nashvillians have been fully vaccinated against the virus. Roughly 48 percent have had at least injection.

Mayor John Cooper yesterday announced a program he’s calling “Shots on Goal.” The plan offers up to $100 worth of services, merchandise and entertainment in exchange for getting inoculated at any one of several pop up vaccine clinics this weekend.

(Mike Osborne)  --  Gov. Bill Lee fired off a letter to Washington D.C. on Thursday, requesting Senate hearings concerning what he calls “the current border crisis.”

The governor also wants those hearings to “address the Biden Administration’s failure to provide notice and transparency in their movements of unaccompanied migrant children into states.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Releases of leaked letters and secret recordings from within the Southern Baptist Convention are intensifying as critics seek to show top leaders were slow to address sexual abuse and worried more about its reputation and donations than about victims.

A former executive of the denomination’s ethics agency has posted audio clips he clandestinely recorded in internal meetings.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A longtime Tennessee judge who drew backlash from Republican lawmakers for ordering an expansion of absentee voting during the COVID-19 pandemic won’t seek reelection next year.

This week, Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle informed members of the Nashville Bar Association that this will be her last term after 27 years in office. She also noted that she made the decision last year, before Republican lawmakers tried, but failed, to remove her from office.

(Mike Osborne)  --  Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn and top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci traded barbs on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Carrie Underwood has extended her record as the most decorated artist in the history of the CMT Music Awards — thanks to her song “Hallelujah.”

The music video for the singer’s hit, a collaboration with John Legend, was named video of the year at Wednesday’s show.

Though Underwood owned part of the night, other female stars — some outside of country music — took over the awards show. Grammy-winning R&B star H.E.R. and fellow guitar slayer Chris Stapleton had the night’s best performance.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Law enforcement officials have announced that a former Tennessee governor’s administration helped fund a contract murder of a key federal witness decades ago while embroiled in the state’s largest political scandal.

Investigators in Hamilton County have been chipping away the 42-year-old cold case of Samuel Pettyjohn since they renewed their investigation in 2015.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne)  --  One of the most prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention has apparently broken ties with the Nashville based denomination.

Russell Moore recently resigned as the SBC’s chief ethicist. A recent news report sheds light on why he may have chosen to do so.

Last week Religion News Service published a scathing letter Moore wrote last year concerning the SBC’s governing body, the Executive Committee.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Will Chappell)  --  The Nashville Metro Public Health Department this week introduced a new program designed to alert narcotics users of surges in overdoses in the city.

The system was designed to send text messages to enrolled subscribers when there is a spike in the number of overdoses in Metro.

Warnings from the system will alert users and their friends and family members to heightened overdose risk in the community. It could also be used to warn of bad batches of drugs.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Singer Shemekia Copeland and guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram are among this year's the top winners at the Blues Music Awards.

Veteran musicians Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop also won multiple awards for their album “100 Years of Blues.”

Sunday’s awards show was held online due to pandemic precautions.

Winners were chosen by members of The Blues Foundation, based in Memphis, Tennessee. The awards have been held for 42 years.