Want to see state e-mails? That'll be $3,200 for each day you want to see

If the state can just get the Tennessee Center for Policy Research to request enough day's e-mails, it could maybe plug that $400 million hole in the state budget without laying off any workers.

Rivals.com: $30M in annual revenue and just 'one jackass' hired

Rivals.com, the college sports site based in Brentwood, is going gangbusters. Chief Shannon Terry told a group last week that he's hired about 90 people but only "one jackass," blogger and chapter president Milt Capps reports on his Venture Nashville blog. Lordy, that new media sure is different -- we folks in "old media" know that the percentage of jackasses would be much higher in one of our newsrooms. :)

Sharing a funny, for no real reason

From the BBC's sketch comedy That Mitchell and Webb Look:

Vanderbilt, Union students ranked among nation's top 100 student journos

Two students at Tennessee schools, Vanderbilt's Glenna DeRoy and Union University's Brittany Howerton, made UWire's list of the top 100. Vanderbilt student media adviser Chris Carroll says DeRoy "possesses an uncommon mix of intelligence, ability, initiative and reliability." Union communications arts professor Michael Chute says Howerton, who covered the deadly tornadoes that struck the campus in February, "exemplified the very best of journalism in that she put her own struggles aside and worked tirelessly to inform a nation clamoring for information about the storm and its effects."

We've got a new address, everyone -- please update your bookmarks

Our SPJ chapter Web site has a new URL as of right now is http://www.spjchapters.org/nashville. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it's something we had to do for some technical reasons. The old URL, www.spj.org/nashville will refer people to the new address for a little while longer, so that gives everyone some time to update their bookmarks.

Scene's Woods is finalist for national honor

The Nashville Scene's Jeff Woods is a finalist for the new public service category in the 2008 AltWeekly Awards. The prize "recognizes the impact that stories and series done by member publications have had on their communities." He'll compete in a group with the Fort Worth Weekly, the Jackson Free Press, and the Weekly Alibi.

Scene Editor Liz Garrigan lauded Woods' work as "kicking tail":

In fact, I named the package of pieces "Mayor Bubba Smackdown," and we argued to the judges that the Nashville Scene provided a public service to Nashvillians by reporting and editorializing over several months' time that Bob Clement was far from the best choice to run this $1.8 billion major American city. An independent panel of judges apparently agrees, though the best we can hope for is probably third place as these types of journalism awards typically go to papers discovering that corporations are poisoning poor people, not to grumpy, unshaven wretches singularly obsessed with picking on political hacks desperately in search of power.

MTSU's McDonald wins Drue Smith Scholarship

Raye S. McDonald, who will be a junior this coming year at Middle Tennessee State University, has won the 2008 Drue Smith Scholarship, which is funded by the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and administered for us by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Raye is majoring in broadcast journalism with a minor in Spanish, and plans to be a sports broadcaster. She is involved in MTTV, the campus television station. Congratulations!

Sumner businesswoman sues for access to records

Not much warmth felt from the Sumner County Airport Authority: Art McClellan, the authority’s attorney, called Moore “a crazy woman,” labeled each of her attorneys an “idiot” and said her complaint has no merit.

Plaudits for 'Unsafe to Fly'

The recent story on WTVF-Channel 5 by our chapter board member Phil Williams titled "Unsafe to Fly?" -- about faulty wiring on airplanes -- has been singled out for commendation by the SPJ "News Gems" blog.

Governor's office says e-mails aren't public

From The Scene's Matt Pulle:

Faced with new scrutiny of the infamous Bredesen Bunker, your Tennessee governor's office is making the unlikely claim that emails transmitted on public computers and with state addresses are not necessarily public record, a mind-boggling stance that contradicts years of accepted practice here and throughout the country.

Garrigan to step down as 'Scene' chief

She's going to be editorial director at Magellan Media. "... After 12 years at one place—as political writer, news editor, associate editor, then editor—it’s time for this root-bound journalist to repot herself," she writes on the Pith in the Wind blog.