NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- Nashville based Bridgestone Americas says it will begin sending its employees back to work on Monday.

In a press statement released Wednesday, the company says it hopes to have its tire manufacturing operations back in full production by early May.

Bridgestone says the move comes in repsponse to increased demand for tires by pandemic essential service providers.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- The state Department of Education is making another resource Tennessee parents can use to keep their pre-school children learning while they shelter at home.

The department has arranged for state residents to use the online learning tool ReadyRosie.

The company says its web based activities are appropriate for preschool aged children.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- Tennessee appears to be experiencing less racial disparity among COVID-19 patients than the nation as a whole.

The Centers for Disease Control says, to-date, about 33 percent of patients hospitalized in the U.S. for coronavirus are African American. That’s more than twice the proportion of black residents to the total population reported by the Census Bureau.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP/WMOT) — Executive compensation is the subject of a rare dust up between President Donald Trump and fellow Republican Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander.

Trump Wednesday called the $8 million annual salary paid to the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority “ridiculous.” The comment came as Trump spoke to reporters about possible new federal pandemic relief funding.

Alexander fired back via Twitter saying White House Staff were “spreading inaccurate information.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn's friendship in the early '60s created an unbreakable bond between the two country music trailblazers.

In a new memoir “Me and Patsy: Kicking Up Dust,” Lynn reveals the backstage stories of the two friends who leaned on each other through good times and bad.

Lynn says Cline was like her sister, teaching her how to shave her legs, lending her clothes and teaching her how to navigate the male-dominated music business.

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- Middle Tennessee’s economy took another big hit with the announcement this week that Nissan is furloughing all of its production staff in Smyrna and Decherd.

CNN Business quotes a Nissan North America spokesperson saying workers should seek unemployment benefits through at least the 27th of April. Nissan closed the plants in mid-March but kept workers on the payroll.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- A new survey suggests more than six out of ten Middle Tennessee nurses feel unprepared for the coronavirus health crisis.

The Nashville based Tennessee Nurses Associaiton says the poll was conducted by email in late March. A total of 471 responses was received. The Association acknowlede that the poll was not conducted scientifically.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- State Commissioner of Health Dr. Lisa Piercey says Tennessee plans to release more data about confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the next two week.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ten people have now died in a coronavirus outbreak at a Tennessee nursing home where more than 100 people tested positive. 

Sumner Regional Medical Center spokesman Kyle Brogdon confirmed the additional fatalities from the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing.

State health officials said more than 70 residents and more than 30 staffers tested positive at the facility, which was temporarily evacuated.

The state contracted out a deep cleaning of the facility and inspected it.