Urban News

(NASHVILLE ) -- It could take as much as half a billion dollars to fix Nashville's flagging school infrastructure. That's the assessment of an outside consulting firm, as relayed by the Nashville Tennessean. Florida-based MGT of America says that the sum would be necessary to pay for new schools, supplies and other items, including buses, according to the Tennessean.

The report details the condition, capacity and library and cafeteria conditions at each of the Nashville public school district's 125 institutions. The information is printed in a volume that is more than 4 inches thick.

Auditors say it could take a decade to get all the necessary work done, even if the money becomes available.

Among the projects that the consultants put at the top of the priority list are:

-- Building a new elementary school in the Antioch neighborhood and expanding two existing middle schools. Additionally experts say the area is ripe for the addition of a magnet school. The price tag is nearly $74 million.

-- Replacing an overcrowded elementary school in Glencliff at a cost of more than $19 million.

-- Abandoning the proposed renovation of the Stokes Elementary School and concentrating on other construction in that area at a cost of more than $20 million.

The audit's recommendations are not set in stone but will provide fodder for debate at school board and City Council meetings.

(TORONTO) -- A high-level summit meeting has been held in Toronto in the wake of charges of racial profiling among area police departments. A former lieutenant-governor of the province of Ontario, Lincoln Alexander, was chairman of the conference. During the meetings he announced that he had secured the help of "all levels of police and government" to end racial bias among law enforcement.

The Toronto Star says Alexander was joined at the main session by Toronto's chief of police, Julian Fantino, and by the city's mayor, Mel Lastman.

Additionally, representatives of the RCMP attended, as well as national experts on race relations.

Among those that the publication calls "noticeably absent" was the head of the local police officers' union, Craig Bromell. He told media that he left the sessions early because he was not happy with some of the ideas that would be made public by Alexander.

(BOISE, Idaho) -- The chief administrative aide to the mayor of Boise, Idaho, has been put on a leave of absence by the Boise City Council while the council investigates a recent trip taken by him. Gary Lyman is Mayor Brent Coles' chief of staff. The Idaho Statesman says the council is investigating why Lyman, his boss and two other city employees recently flew to New York City to take in a Broadway show.

Coles and Lyman were accompanied to Manhattan by City Attorney Susan Mimura and one of her assistants.

The council also has called in the Ada County Prosecutor's Office to look into the trip and to check back as far as four years to see what other trips may have been taken by high-level city officials.

The Statesman said the Idaho Attorney General's Office may also get involved.

The rules in Boise say all travel by the mayor and bonuses to city employees must be approved in advance through committees of the City Council.

(HOUSTON) -- Prior to this past weekend's Houston Texans game at the city's Reliant Stadium, the owner of the team had an easier time getting to the stadium than other fans; he was given a police escort. This is not the first time that officers have given Bob McNair "the motorcycle treatment." But it is, according to the Houston Chronicle, the first time the practice has come under scrutiny.

It seems that even though the escort was set up by Constable Jack Abercia's office and involved off-duty policemen, using their own motorcycles, the motorcade made its way through city streets with lights flashing and sirens blaring ... as if they were responding to an emergency call.

In addition, the officers involved did not officially inform their bosses of their intentions to be involved in part-time "police work."

One official in Abercia's office tells the publication that although NcNair is an "important person and a nice guy ... we can't do these types of escorts for everyone."

Meanwhile, McNair's office says that since he is a high-profile businessman, he needs security. Asked if McNair had received any direct threats in the past, the answer was "not necessarily, but we need to be proactive" in the matter.