Standing in front of the Knoxville school she used to teach at, Rep. Gloria Johnson announced she is running for U.S. Senate.
“I’m 6’3″. I’m not afraid to stand up to anyone when it comes to doing what’s right for Tennessee — especially Marsha Blackburn."
Judge Donna Scott Davenport, who oversees Rutherford Co.’s juvenile court system, will no longer teach at
@MTSU
. She's come under national scrutiny for oversight of a system that'd been illegally arresting & detaining children for years.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center will become the 1st hospital system in the region to require COVID vaccination of employees, starting with those in leadership roles.
Tennessee children were illegally jailed. Now members of Congress are asking for an investigation.
Another followup to WPLN News and
@ProPublica
's report on Rutherford County's juvenile justice system from
@meribah
and
@bykenarmstrong
:
Three Democratic lawmakers —
@brotherjones_
,
@Justinjpearson
and
@VoteGloriaJ
— have been removed from their committee assignments. WPLN's
@BlaiseGainey
reports this comes after they took part in gun control protests on the Tennessee House floor last week.
Nashville's streets are about to get a lot more colorful. WPLN's
@MariannaBac
reports the city will be painting its first permanent rainbow crosswalk. It will cover the East Nashville intersection home to the Lipstick Lounge, the city’s only lesbian bar.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper has announced that the city will be suing the state over a new law that slashes the size of Metro Council. WPLN's
@BlaiseGainey
reports the suit alleges that the law's requirements violate several parts of the TN Constitution.
Rutherford County’s embattled juvenile court judge will not seek reelection, a county spokesperson announced Tuesday. Judge Donna Scott Davenport has been the subject of an ongoing investigation by WPLN News'
@Meribah
Knight and
@propublica
.
It's been about a month since five children were separated from their parents following a traffic stop in rural Tennessee. But in closed juvenile court proceedings today, the court decided that the kids would not be going home with their parents.
Congratulations to
@flakebarmer
, who received his Edward R. Murrow Award in New York City! It’s
@WPLN
’s first national Murrow, and we couldn’t be prouder.
The mayors of Nashville, Shelby County, Knoxville and Chattanooga are calling on the state capitol to pass a bill. WPLN's
@PaigePfleger
reports it would impose penalties on gun owners who leave firearms in cars irresponsibly.
Disappointed, but not surprised. That’s how some musicians are reacting to Morgan Wallen’s appearance this weekend at the Grand Ole Opry. The move raises questions about its dedication to anti-racism given Wallen was caught using a racial slur last year.
Run by 3 men for whom weather is a passion but not a full-time job,
@NashSevereWx
has been sharing tweet-sized weather updates for more than a decade. More from
@SinerSays
:
In 2016, three police officers went to a Murfreesboro elementary school and arrested four Black girls — for watching some boys fight, and not stopping them.
Read the full investigation from
@wpln
’s
@meribah
and
@propublica
’s
@bykenarmstrong
’s here:
Well, tell your friends: John Prine broke (a piece of) the internet tonight. Thank you to everyone who tuned in and overwhelmed us. The full
#JohnPrineWake
is online and ready to share, along with the guestbook:
After 18 years, WPLN's senior health care reporter
@flakebarmer
is leaving Nashville Public Radio. Listen to his farewell during
@ThisIsNashville
at noon.
Not one, but two health care leaders in Nashville have been named to the Biden administration’s equity task force to oversee the COVID response. One is the leader of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, based in Nashville.
WPLN News is troubled by the extra scrutiny that our reporter has faced when accessing spaces designated for press, especially as he is the only non-white member of the capitol press corps. We appreciate the attention Speakers McNally and Sexton are already giving to this matter.
For the second time since last Thursday, I've had issues moving around the Cordell Hull Building. Last week, I had to "check in" & show ID, despite having my
@WPLN
badge & the badge that
#tnleg
gives to members of the press corps.
Today, a sergeant-at-arms told me I wasn't 1/
Franklin Alderman Gabrielle Hanson has resigned before the board could vote on whether to censure her. Her time as an alderman was marked by controversy — involving Covenant, the city’s LGBTQ community, a Juneteenth festival, and later white supremacists.
Dr. Katherine Koonce was the head of Covenant School, where she and five others were victims of a shooting Monday. Anna Caudill spoke to
@ThisIsNashville
about Koonce, who she knew for over two decades as a fellow educator, mentor and, most of all, friend.
“That’s my taxpayer dollars going to bomb those kids,” a pro-Palestinian activist told U.S. Congressman Andy Ogles.
“You know what?” Ogles said. “I think we should kill them all if that makes you feel better.”
It was a cold winter night in 1985 when Father Charles Strobel invited the unhoused people sleeping in the church parking lot inside his parish. One of Nashville’s most well-known shelters — Room in the Inn — grew from this.
Strobel has died at 80.
Hi all, our stream is overwhelmed, in case you can't hear
#JohnPrineWake
online or on our app. We're working to fix it, and the audio will be available afterward.
WPLN’s and ProPublica’s joint investigation of the juvenile justice system in Rutherford County is a finalist for the
@PulitzerPrizes
' feature writing category. Congratulations to WPLN's
@Meribah
Knight and her co-reporter,
@propublica
's
@bykenarmstrong
.
The state’s Planned Parenthood chapter announced it secured a $7 million grant, bringing Title X funding back to Tennessee. Title X helps states provide affordable reproductive health services, like cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and birth control.
Judge Donna Scott Davenport oversees Rutherford Co.'s juvenile justice system which has a staggering history of jailing children. She said kids must face consequences, which rarely seem to apply to her or other adults in charge.
@meribah
@propublica
Freddie O’Connell is officially moving up from councilmember to the head of Nashville’s Metro government. Voters chose the progressive candidate, O’Connell, as the city’s new mayor in a runoff election today.
BREAKING: After decades of protests, the Tennessee Historical Commission has voted to relocate a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state capitol.
Nashville Public Radio’s
#ThePromise
: Season 2 has won a
@PeabodyAwards
, which represents the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and streaming media in 2020.
Watch as former NBC News anchor and Nashville native
@JSeigenthaler
presents the award.
The Metro Nashville Police Department and the Nashville Fire Department are at the scene of a shooting at Covenant School in Green Hills this morning. MNPD tells WPLN that the shooter is dead.
There’s a lot we don’t know yet about the explosion that shattered windows, damaged buildings and rattled the city awake on Christmas morning, but here's what we do know:
Three Democratic lawmakers —
@brotherjones_
,
@Justinjpearson
and
@VoteGloriaJ
— have been removed from their committee assignments. WPLN's
@BlaiseGainey
reports this comes after they took part in gun control protests on the Tennessee House floor last week.
Find out why so many cadets — especially women and POC — never finished their training in WPLN's series “Rethinking the Police Academy.” Part 1 airs Wednesday on Morning Edition or find it at .
📝: WPLN’s
@samanthaellimax
&
@apmreports
. Edited by
@chassisk
The U.S. Department of Education has put eight states on notice that their rules conflict with federal policy meant to offer a safe, in-person learning environment, as COVID cases grow among school-age children — up ~14,200 cases in Tennessee in 14 days.
Nashville Public Radio has named
@jasonmoontn
as the Program Director of its new music discovery radio station which launches later this fall on 91.1 FM.
About 100 advocates with the gun control group
@MomsDemand
marched to the state capitol today. WPLN’s
@PaigePfleger
reports they’re protesting a bill that would lower the age to carry a gun without a permit.
The radio wake for John Prine is online, in full. Our website may still be slow from the huge demand, but it'll be there! Please check back and tell a friend — like, sometime tomorrow.
Supermajority is a new 4-part series from NPR’s Embedded. Host
@meribah
Knight has been following three conservative moms in Tennessee over the course of a year as they learn to navigate their Republican-controlled state legislature. Launching June 20.
Families living in the 37208 zip code making less than $40,000 a year can start applying in October to take part in the pilot program. More from
@PaigePfleger
:
We are proud to share that senior reporter Meribah Knight and her partners have received the prestigious George Polk Award for her podcast "The Kids Of Rutherford County."
The mural features the likeness of prominent Black Nashvillians, like politician Thelma Harper, activist Kwame Lillard, criminal court clerk Howard Gentry and many more.
Listen NOW to “The Kids of Rutherford County”: For over a decade, one Tennessee county arrested and illegally jailed hundreds of children. A new
@serial
and
@nytimes
series in partnership with
@propublica
and WPLN reveals how this came to be and the adults responsible.
A juvenile detention center in Rutherford County that for years illegally jailed children will now be overseen by a five-member board rather than the county’s juvenile court judge.
This is a followup from
@meribah
for WPLN and
@propublica
.
NEW: Nashville voters will get to decide on a transportation referendum on Nov. 5.
The plan will seek dedicated funding for transit, sidewalks and other infrastructure — with specifics to be spelled out in the coming weeks.
#breaking
Heavy rain in Waverly consumed everything the Liu family had ever owned & spared none of it — not their house, not their restaurant, not even their daughter’s toys. More from
@julianahyekim
:
Of the more than 1,300 entries,
#ThePromise
: Season 2 is one of 30 winners chosen by unanimous vote of 19 jurors. Listen to this preview of the award-winning podcast, and you can catch up now here (or wherever you get your podcasts):
The Change Up, a series at
@AcmeNashville
, is trying to diversify what live music looks like on
#LowerBroadway
, which hasn't historically been an inviting place for the city’s Black musicians, especially not hip-hop, rap or R&B artists.
Tennessee Three member Justin J. Pearson was sworn back in after his expulsion from the statehouse for a gun control protest on the House floor. He's officially a representative again on the first day of Tennessee's special session on "public safety."
After a
@ProPublica
/
@WPLN
investigation, Tennessee lawmakers called for closer scrutiny of juvenile facilities: “Any juvenile detention facility administrator who openly defies state detention rules,” they wrote, should “soon find themselves out of a job.”
We're so honored by this mention
@nytimes
: "... my indispensable local NPR affiliate, WPLN, which offers the most readable form of local news in town despite being a radio outlet."
12:30 p.m. UPDATE: Six people, including three students, are dead following a shooting at Covenant School in Green Hills today.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center says the victims were transported to the hospital, and all were pronounced dead after arrival.
The Metro Nashville Police Department and the Nashville Fire Department are at the scene of a shooting at Covenant School in Green Hills this morning. MNPD tells WPLN that the shooter is dead.
Metro Councilmember Olivia Hill made history last night as the first openly transgender Tennessean to be sworn into office. WPLN's
@MariannaBac
reports the Hermitage Hotel’s ballroom was packed as
@Oliviafornash
took to the stage with her supporters.
Native American-owned Neon Moon is a forthcoming coffee shop and marketplace that aims to make supporting the I in BIPOC as easy as buying a cup of coffee. WPLN's
@MariannaBac
spoke with
@NeonMoonNash
founder Gowa about the project.
Tennessee’s newest lawmaker was sworn in Thursday. Democratic Rep.
@Justinjpearson
is filling a vacancy left in House District 86 in Memphis. But WPLN's
@BlaiseGainey
reports people were more focused on what Pearson was wearing.
“Justin Jones has been elected to the vacancy of Tennessee House 52 pursuant to the state law and the rules governing the Metropolitan Council,” Vice Mayor Jim Shulman announced at today's specially called meeting, as cheers erupted in the gallery.
“It feels like they’re telling us that they don’t see us as actual humans. They just see us as these scary monsters... But we are just kids.” -- Adam, trans middle school student
For the 1st time, English language classes for
@MetroSchools
families were offered online. The response was so good that it’s transforming how the district offers the classes going forward.
At Nashville's "Loving Rising" concert, artists called on LGBTQ people and allies to leverage influence by voting — via
@RightByHerRoots
&
@MariannaBac
In the eyes of the law, Nashville finally made an honest effort to racially integrate its schools after 43 years of courtroom battles. But in truth, the matter was far from settled.
#ThePromise
Hear the full episode:
Nashville Mayor John Cooper will unveil the city’s priorities for the next budget during the annual State of Metro. WPLN’s
@ambriehlc
says the mayor may have a hopeful tone, but that’s not how all Nashville residents are feeling.
Nashville officials are calling the weekend’s drive-thru mass vaccination event a success after putting 10,000 doses in the arms of local residents. WPLN's
@damonmtll_
talks to 6 of them:
Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill banning drag shows in public spaces, a measure that will likely force drag shows underground in Tennessee. WPLN's
@MariannaBac
reports Lee signed the measure this afternoon, just hours after the measure passed in the Senate.
After 32 years total in office, Democratic U.S.
@repjimcooper
will not seek re-election to Congress following the redistricting process.
"Republicans could not beat me at the polls, so they have chosen to wreck the Nashville district," Cooper tells WPLN.