By Ashley Benkarski MURFREESBORO, TN — No one should have to grieve the death of someone they love alone, especially when it’s a parent that’s lost a child. Last year, support group Mothers Over Murder (MOM) expanded their services to the Rutherford County area, providing a much-needed system of support for loved ones taken too soon by violence. The new chapter has had three meetings since its inception last August. They meet on the first Thursday of every month at United Methodist on Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The Nashville chapter meets on the fourth Sunday of every month. MOM is…
Author: Ashley Benkarski
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN–Tennesseans affected by last December’s tornadoes have one week to apply for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) before the deadline expires Feb. 12. According to FEMA’s website, “Homeowners and renters in Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Gibson, Montgomery, Stewart and Sumner counties with uninsured losses from the storms may be eligible for financial assistance for temporary lodging, basic home repairs, personal property losses and other uninsured disaster-related expenses.” The agency can also help with transportation, medical, dental, and funeral assistance. FEMA has been working with its state counterpart, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), to…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Nichelle Nichols, the legendary Communications Officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, was born Dec. 28, 1932 in Robbins, Illinois. She passed away July 30, 2022. Nichols would have been 91 this year. Nichols led a full life, pursuing her passions of singing, dancing, and acting, all the while inspiring countless others to live boldly and authentically. A talented dancer and songstress, she began her entertainment career singing with Duke Ellington and his band. But it was her breakout role as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek: The Original Series that quite literally changed the world. Back in…
By Ashley Benkarski A 91-year-old grandmother will find herself without a home after her new landlord refused to renew her lease that expires mere days after Christmas. It’s a story of greed that parallels the heartlessness of the Dickensian antagonist Ebenezer Scrooge. Only, for Frances Esenbock and her grandson Josh, the story is real. News Channel 5’s Alexandra Koehn broke the story back in late November, just days after Thanksgiving, when the grandmother and her grandson discovered a note hung from their doorknob notifying them the management would not be renewing their lease. Before the public outrage over Esenbock’s ousting,…
By Ashley Benkarski As 2023 draws to a close and with the holiday season upon us, let’s take some time to reflect on the gains Americans have made with efforts of unionization over the last year. Workers have made significant progress in their demands, from the auto industry to the entertainment industry, through the power of collective action coming in the form of historic wage and contract increases, better working conditions, and solidified rights. And while much of the news has focused on these industries, it shouldn’t go unnoticed that renters are now joining together in a historic movement to…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Gideon’s Army has been on the ground in North Nashville, deploying violence interrupters in parts of the city saturated by poverty and violent activity. But that’s not all they’ve done. They’ve also been doing crucial work within schools, such as Pearl Cohn Magnet High School, where they implemented restorative anti-violence programs in 2016 and were on the ground after the devastating 2020 tornado and subsequent Covid-19 pandemic, helping residents with shelter, food, and other necessities. Gideon’s Army founder and CEO Rasheedat Fetuga is proud of what the group has accomplished. Born out of heartbreak…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Nonprofits FiftyForward and Creative Girls Rock® have joined together to launch a public fundraising campaign in support of a new resource hub for North Nashville’s Bordeaux community, the Bordeaux Collaborative. The public announcement and an unveiling of the artist rendition of the building will take place at FiftyForward Bordeaux on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 10 am. Former Senator Brenda Gilmore and Jamie Isabel, campaign co-chairs, will offer remarks. The Mayor’s Office, Councilwoman Kyonzte Toombs and others are also expected to attend. According to the press release the idea took root in 2019 after the…
By Ashley Benkarski For years, Senator Marsha Blackburn has been making decisions that affect Tennesseans at every level, but that may soon change. Two other women, Representative Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville and Marquita Bradshaw, D-Memphis, are stepping up to the challenge of running against Blackburn in what many are calling a longshot campaign to flip a deeply red Senate seat blue. But what Tennesseans must ask themselves is this: What has Marsha Blackburn done for you? Has she made the state safer? More affordable? Or has she played into party politics and listened to corporate lobbies? Blackburn has played her middle-class,…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Please join us once again in celebrating the delightful, classy Pauline Marable Hall, turning 104 on Sunday, October 15. Once The Tribune’s Centenarian of the Year, Hall has spent the last 80 years in Tennessee, having moved here from Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1937 to attend Meharry Medical College. Her bio states she graduated in 1942 with a certification in anesthesia and continued her education, earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tennessee A&I (now TSU) and an M.S.N. in Psychiatric Health from Vanderbilt University, where she was a doctoral candidate in Higher Education and…
By Ashley Benkarski SHELBYVILLE, TN — Shelbyville’s City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution recommended by the city’s Safe and Affordable Housing Committee and organizers with the Bedford County Listening Project (BCLP) seeking accountability from landlords receiving public funds. Back in late August, the BCLP released their report Defending Our Homes: Addressing the Housing Human Rights Crisis in Rural Middle Tennessee and displayed a public art installation documenting the experiences of renters in their own words, taped to the backs of folding chairs. Although about 170 Shelbyville renters spoke to the BCLP, only one was willing to be named…