By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Tanya Acker, one-third of the bench on the Emmy-nominated series “Hot Bench” recently released “Make Your Case: Finding Your Win in Civil Court” in which she gives tips and insights into the litigation process. “People tend to romanticize the legal process and think it’s easier, but they can also be intimidated by it and not understand why certain things happen,” she said. The book isn’t an exhaustive explanation of the law but rather a guide of the many twists and turns that occur during a court battle, Acker said, noting litigation takes time, money…
Author: Ashley Benkarski
By Ashley Benkarski PULASKI, TN — Janice Tucker is running as a write-in candidate for alderman, the first African American woman to vie for the city’s position. After attending city council meetings regularly for the last year and a half, she said she noticed a lack of representation of African American women on the Board and decided she could do something about it. “It’s more about what’s not going on,” she said of the Board’s actions. There aren’t many African Americans on the town’s boards and administrative positions, she said, and many decisions and activities are geared toward the white…
By Ashley Benkarski Don’t skip getting the flu vaccine this year. With America still suffering and struggling through the coronavirus pandemic, the seasonal flu is looming on the horizon. Dr. Andrea Willis, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s chief medical officer and a former pediatrician, said getting the flu vaccine is vital this year due to COVID-19. While deaths due to the novel coronavirus have more than surpassed those of the seasonal flu, it should be noted that the latter is capable of causing serious harm of its own. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the flu hospitalizes more…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Not approved, but not denied. That’s the story one local man said happened when he applied for a home equity loan with a Regions Bank in the Nashville area despite having a near-perfect credit score, a six-figure income with a stable work history, no credit card debt, no car loans, no mortgages and a long history of business with the institution. The situation went as expected until the underwriting process, when Dr. Jasper Brewster was asked to provide additional documentation for approval. Every time he provided proof the underwriter requested, Brewster said, he’d be…
By Ashley Benkarski with Viola Leak NASHVILLE, TN — This year hasn’t been kind to those who love celebrations. While many have skipped festivities altogether, one family has pulled together to give Hazel Burley a day she’ll never forget. It’s already a special occasion as Burley, whose birthday is Oct. 3, will be 100 years old. And while her loved ones are no strangers to going above and beyond for her, they wanted to make sure she could celebrate her special day safely with family and friends by throwing a socially-distanced “parade” in her honor starting at at the intersection…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — The Nashville Black Police Association and Integrity Dental teamed up to provide about 1,560 boxes of food to needy residents at Lee A.M.E. Chapel on Dr. D.B. Todd, Jr. Blvd. last Saturday, with all boxes given out an hour before the event was set to end. Many Nashvillians were already struggling when tornadoes tore through the city in early March. Two weeks later the novel coronavirus pandemic reached the state and the capital city soon became a hotspot for transmission; deaths climbed, businesses closed, unemployment benefits lagged behind and many who were barely making…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — WPLN released the second season of its Nashville-focused podcast, “The Promise,” Monday, Aug. 31. Following the thread of racial inequities in housing featured in season one, host Meribah Knight digs deeper into the disparities in education to unearth an uncomfortable truth, especially for well-meaning white families who, despite their liberal leanings, aren’t sending their kids to diverse schools. So many in public housing, such as the first season’s locus of the James Cayce Homes, are kids, Knight said, and that led her to ask: What’s going on with the children? She spent about a…
By Ashley Benkarski MURFREESBORO, TN — Terrell “Tee” Ray had been celebrating his 30th birthday with family and friends, ending the night at his girlfriend’s apartment at 2850 Middle Tennessee Boulevard in Murfreesboro. By all accounts the night of Aug. 2 last year should have ended on a happy note, but the early hours of the morning instead brought heartache. Terrell had been standing outside his girlfriend’s place at the Villager Apartments near Middle Tennessee State University, his car, a Mustang, parked nearby. For reasons still unknown, shots rang out and Terrell was lying on the pavement. The killer(s) took…
By Ashley Benkarski MURFREESBORO, TN — Arikah Nash is a local entrepreneur with a bubbly personality, a love for performance and a passion for mental and physical health. Add in a love for water, mermaids and fantastic acts of aerial entertainment and you have her brainchild, Mercademy, a three-month program at Murfreesboro’s Beyond Aquatics that encourages patrons to gain confidence in their swimming skills while providing a fun and unique experience that allows them to live out the dream of being a mermaid. Participants get to put on mermaid tails and are taught to swim just like their underwater friends,…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare many inequities and injustices, but it’s also exacerbated the technological shift throughout multiple industries that could leave many–especially small businesses– behind. Pivot Technology School, a Nashville-based facility that serves the global community, is offering the tools needed to overcome the obstacles of the “new normal” in the workplace. “The workplace as we know it will change dramatically, and with it, the skills companies will require potential candidates to have,” the school stated. “Black Americans are already at a disadvantage economically and in business. In the age of COVID-19,…