{"id":5469,"date":"2026-09-01T15:53:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/?p=5469"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:53:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:53:38","slug":"tennessee-gov-bill-lee-moves-to-rename-nashville-airport-after-dolly-parton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/?p=5469","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Moves to Rename Nashville Airport After Dolly Parton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is backing an effort to rename Nashville International Airport in honor of Dolly Parton, creating what supporters hope will become a permanent tribute to the country music legend following her death at age 80 on August 25.<\/p>\n<p>Lee and Nashville International Airport announced their intention to pursue the name change on August 28. In his statement, Lee described Parton as Tennessee\u2019s \u201cfavorite daughter\u201d and said the airport, where the state welcomes visitors from around the world, would be a fitting place to celebrate her music, generosity, faith and kindness. Airport Authority President and CEO Doug Kreulen also publicly supported the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Public support has grown rapidly. A Change.org campaign launched in January 2025 surged after Parton\u2019s death, surpassing 150,000 signatures within days and continuing to climb. Nashville Mayor Freddie O\u2019Connell, a Democrat, has also endorsed the idea, giving the proposal notable bipartisan support alongside Republican Gov. Lee.<br \/>\n<span class=\"ellipsis\" id=\"ellipsis-1058674996\">...<\/span><span class=\"rmwp-button-wrap\" id=\"rmwp-button-wrap-1058674996\" style=\"display: none;\"><button name=\"read more\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"rmwpButtonAction( '1058674996', 'READ MORE', 'READ LESS' )\">READ MORE<\/button><\/span><div class=\"rmwp-toggle \" id=\"rmwp-toggle-1058674996\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\nThere is, however, an important procedural obstacle. The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority\u2019s existing naming policy says an individual generally must have been deceased for at least two years before receiving such an honor. The policy also references contributions to aviation in Tennessee. Officials are expected to consider both the policy and Lee\u2019s proposal at the Airport Authority\u2019s September 17 meeting. Any eventual name change would also require coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Parton died after a brief battle with cancer that had not previously been publicly disclosed. Her career stretched across music, film, business and philanthropy, while her Imagination Library became one of the world\u2019s largest early-childhood book-gifting programs.<\/p>\n<p>For now, travelers will continue flying through Nashville International Airport under its existing name. But with support from the governor, airport leadership, Nashville\u2019s mayor and more than 150,000 petition signers, the effort to create a Dolly Parton International Airport has moved from an online campaign to an official decision-making process.    <\/div><div class='rmwp-toggle-end'><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is backing an effort to rename Nashville International Airport in honor of Dolly Parton, creating what supporters hope will become a permanent tribute to the country music legend following her death at age 80 on August 25. Lee and Nashville International Airport announced their intention to pursue the name change on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5471,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions\/5471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ternalnews.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}