Backers of the proposed Museum of African American Music Art & Culture at the north end of Bicentennial Mall have refocused their efforts to focus only on the music element. Joey Garrison reports the $47.5 million project is still scheduled to open in late 2013 and has brought on board some heavy-hitter board members, including AT&T Tennessee President Gregg Morton and Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis partner Waverly Crenshaw.

Pictured here is an updated concept for the building. Here's the new website and a previous rendering from a different angle.

The General Assembly has passed a bill that would lower the fee AT&T has to pay rural carriers when transfering long-distance call to their networks. AT&T Tennessee boss Gregg Morton tells WPLN that any future subsidies should go to newer technologies.

“Why are you continuing to subsidize a service that a number of people really don’t want anymore? We need to look at modernizing the regulatory framework here and look at how we can start talking about maybe subsidizing broadband.”