Pooch returned to owners three days and three flights later after British Airways makes drastic mistake An American family’s pet dog got the surprise of a pooch’s lifetime when it was accidentally sent to Saudi Arabia rather than his owner’s home in Nashville, Tennessee. Five-year-old Bluebell had been adopted by her human family in London, England, but was relocating with them back to Nashville when British Airways made a rather drastic mistake and instead she was flown off to Saudi Arabia, local TV station WVLT8 reported ..read more

Musician, songwriter and producer who sang with his sister, Dusty, in the pop-folk trio the Springfields in the 1960s The musician, songwriter and producer Tom Springfield, who has died aged 88, became massively successful in the 1960s but hated being in the public eye. Best known as the elder brother of Dusty Springfield, the finest and most soulful female British singer to emerge during the decade, he joined her in the Springfields, a trio who enjoyed commercial success in Britain, the US and Australia from 1961 to 1963. When Dusty left to follow her solo career, Tom began working as a songw ..read more

The 44-year-old singer, who portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s latest film, was found unresponsive in her Nashville home The actor Shonka Dukureh, who recently made her big screen debut as Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s new film Elvis, had died at the age of 44. Dukureh was found dead on Thursday in a bedroom at her home in Nashville, which she shared with her two young children, the Metro Nashville Police Department said ..read more

Soon after the supreme court struck down abortion protection, pro-choice demonstrators took to the streets Massive protests swept across the US in response to the supreme court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion. Soon after the decision was released on Friday, reversing federal reproductive protections that have been in place for half a century, pro-choice demonstrators began gathering in major cities and smaller towns in a wide range of communities and regions ..read more

Party officials, prominent supporters, lawmakers and Trump took the stage at the ‘Road to Majority’ conference, but were vague on how they would ‘rescue America’ “It’s the time to take this country back,” proclaimed Senator Rick Scott. “I’m here to tell you the American people are going to give a complete butt kicking to the Democrats this November!” The audience of religious conservatives clapped and whooped. No one felt that the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee was making an empty boast. Going into the midterm elections, the party has opinion polls, economic worries a ..read more

Nashville public library patrons can now get limited-edition cards as part of ‘Freedom to Read’ campaign The Nashville public library has debuted new library cards celebrating banned books amid attempts to censor literature throughout the state. Patrons of the Nashville public library system can now get limited-edition bright yellow library cards that say: “I read banned books ..read more

The Judds and Ray Charles among inductees in Nashville a day after singer dies at 76 The Country Music Hall of Fame was set to induct The Judds on Sunday night, despite the death of Naomi Judd on Saturday. The hall said it would continue with the ceremony at the request of Judd’s family, but would do so with “heavy hearts and weighted minds”, according to its chief executive, Kyle Young ..read more

The oft-photographed country music institution, which has been in Nashville since 1947, will close in the spring The downtown Nashville, Tennessee, record store that was opened by Opry legend Ernest Tubb in 1947 and has been a landmark in country music for decades will close as the building is being put up for sale. The owners of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop said in a statement on Friday they were heartbroken that the store, which has been in its current location on Broadway since 1951, will close in the spring. The building and store is owned by the Honky Tonk Circus, LLC, and the David McCorm ..read more

Nine officers fired on man holding box cutter Landon Eastep, 37, estimated to have been shot 30 times The Nashville police chief has stripped an officer of policing authority after he fired the final two shots to end a fatal interstate highway standoff in which nine officers opened fire on a man holding a box cutter. During the encounter on Thursday, officers exhorted Landon Eastep to surrender while they kept their guns drawn. They fatally shot him when he pulled a shiny object from his pocket and pointed it as if ready to shoot. It was not a gun ..read more

Family ‘in shock’ as police department says Landon Eastep was agitated and carrying a box cutter on interstate highway At least nine police officers shot a man who was walking on an interstate highway in Nashville on Thursday, a use of deadly force that left the man’s family “in shock”. Landon Eastep, 37, was agitated and carrying a box cutter in his left hand, said Don Aaron, a Metropolitan Nashville police spokesman ..read more