Hi there, Nashville. This is Thursday.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 87 and a low of 59.

🗣️ You hear from us most mornings. Now we want to hear from you: What should Axios Nashville do more of? Take our quick survey.

Today’s newsletter is 1,020 words — a 4-minute read.

Sheriff Daron Hall, who's served as Nashville's publicly elected jailer for 24 years, is retiring from his post, he confirmed to Axios.

• His last day will be Oct. 19.

Why it matters: Hall carries significant political clout and leads one of the local government's largest departments.

Driving the news: Hall, who's 62, just won reelection to a four-year term in August. He's leaving for a private sector job his office describes as a "rare opportunity."

What he's saying: "I have come to realize there will always be new challenges to address, and there may never be a perfect time to step away. But I am 62 years old and have spent over half my life at the DCSO," Hall said. "The time has come for me to seize a new opportunity and begin the next chapter of my life."

The big picture: Hall won praise for investing in mental health initiatives, offering jail inmates services instead of locking them up and throwing away the key.

• Hall likes to say he supports "arresting problems, not people." The country artist Jelly Roll, who served time in the jail, thanked Hall at his Opry induction earlier this year.
• In 2024, Hall worked to increase voter participation in Nashville jails.

Zoom out: The Sheriff's Office also provides a vital community service by handling brush pickup in Davidson County.

Yes, but: Hall was at the center of criticism when his office participated in the 287(g) program, cooperating with federal authorities to screen inmates' citizenship status.

• Because of the program, some people were put on the path to deportation for minor infractions. Hall ended the 287(g) program locally in 2012.

Flashback: Elected to the job in 2002, Hall has worked in the Sheriff's Office for 35 years.

Zoom out: Hall's political clout made him a highly sought endorsement for Nashville candidates.

What's next: Metro Council will fill the vacancy in the coming weeks. A key name to watch is Ruby Joyner, who is one of the top officials in the Sheriff's Office.

Share this story

Christa Pike was "angry and confused" after waking up in a hospital six days after Tennessee attempted to execute her, her attorneys said yesterday.

What they're saying: Attorney Randy Spivey told reporters that Pike's team initially believed she was "brain dead" on Monday night and that she would soon be taken off life support.

• Instead, she awoke and started talking on Tuesday in a development that shocked her lawyers and doctors.
• "I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning," Spivey said. "What we do know is that Christa has a long road to recovery."

Catch up quick: Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. She survived after the state administered two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital last week.

Zoom in: Pike could not move her arms or swallow as of yesterday, Spivey said. He added that she had pneumonia, a blood clot in one arm and severe swelling in both arms and hands.

• Pike was aware of the execution attempt after she woke up, Spivey said. She asked where she was and what had happened, in addition to asking questions about her legal team and Slemmer's family.
• But her lawyers acknowledged "cognitive confusion."
• "Neither we nor Christa have even begun to process what this means for her mental health," Spivey said.

Share this story

A federal judge this week dismissed DC Blox's lawsuit seeking to strike down Metro's moratorium on data centers.

Why it matters: DC Blox wants to build a data center next to the Nashville Zoo, but the city's moratorium pumped the brakes on the project.

Catch up quick: When DC Blox's plans for the data center came to light earlier this year, public uproar ensued. Metro Council passed new regulations and a moratorium on new data centers. In response, DC Blox sued in August.

• DC Blox argued the city was treating it unfairly since another data center project advanced in recent months.

Yes, but: Judge Eli Richardson was not persuaded by DC Blox's arguments.

• He did leave the door open for DC Blox to refile on some of the claims.

What he's saying: "[DC Blox] may believe, and is entitled to believe and contend, that it received a raw deal from (or was sandbagged by), the imposition of the Moratorium after it purchased the Property," Richardson said in a memo accompanying his order.

• "However, a raw deal or sandbagging — real or imagined, without more — does not a federal lawsuit make."

DNA from the world's oldest known living land animal could hold clues about the scientific underpinnings of a long and healthy life, and researchers at Vanderbilt Health are on the case.

The key to this mystery is Jonathan, a giant tortoise believed to be 194 years old who lives on a tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Zoom in: Vanderbilt Health scientists helped sequence DNA from inside Jonathan's cheek. They found signs that some of the controls on how his cells produce energy were unusually orderly. Energy production can become less reliable as organisms age.

• In a new study, they suggest it could be possible to protect cell energy production and help people live a long and healthy life.

Reality check: It will take a long time to determine if that is possible.

• Stephen Clark, a neuro-oncologist and former Vanderbilt University faculty member who led the study into Jonathan's DNA, leads a Nashville-based nonprofit that hopes to fund more longevity research.

Share this story

Our picks:

Nate's song of the day is "Going Down Slow" by Muddy Waters, his dad's favorite artist.

🎁 Adam has already started ordering Christmas presents.

This newsletter was edited by Jen Burkett.