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Start your weekday mornings with us! We’ll give you a dose of local news, analysis, history lessons, important conversations and more from the WPLN News, Nashville Public Radio.
Start your weekday mornings with us! We’ll give you a dose of local news, analysis, history lessons, important conversations and more from the WPLN News, Nashville Public Radio.
Who do you believe will steer you straight on matters of health, safety and the environment?
Did anyone in Middle Tennessee stand up to slavery?
What do we know about the site of Friday morning’s explosion?
How can we reduce the number of Tennesseans who take their own lives?
How do we remember?
What happened in last night’s special primary election?
Can our current lucky streak last?
Why are there so few female CEOs in the banking world?
How did Tennessee get to be a national leader in book banning?
Who wouldn’t want to work a stressful job where lives are on the line, but you don’t get to have a life of your own?
Which Midstate organizations are dedicated to making sure you understand your First Amendment rights?
How is Fisk University preserving the history of a Jim Crow-era educational program for Black students?
Can Music City and the Volunteer State cooperate again?
What power does the FCC have over broadcast content?
Can Tennessee labs handle all the evidence and autopsies in a growing region?
How did one of Nashville’s early political leaders respond when the financial rug was pulled out from under massive numbers of Tennesseans?
Are “law and order” domestic deployments what National Guard members signed up for?
When is the government allowed to stifle speech in this country?
Why are they called honky tonks, anyway?
Where will we put all the housing Nashville needs?
How does a community respond as a group when a divisive person dies?
Have Metro Parks shifted toward more of a focus on conservation and nature?
Will Charlie Kirk’s death change the tone of First Amendment discussions?
What do we lose when our neighbors leave?
Have you heard about the giant, cutting-edge, underground science facility that was planned for Middle Tennessee?
Why do people tend to balk at life-saving advances?
Why does the latest campaign announcement bring back memories of pandemic face-offs?
What is harm reduction?
Was Sam Houston the most temperamental early Tennessee leader?
Is Tennessee’s electric grid up to the task of keeping us powered?
When is the National Guard the right choice for enforcing law and order?
What made Wilma Rudolph’s Olympic wins so extraordinary?
Are the lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina a sign of what’s to come in East Tennessee post-Helene?
Why did Cracker Barrel try to change its logo?
How did unions play a role in fighting racism?
How did steam-powered paddleboats help make Nashville a logistics hub?
Does winning matter in Middle Tennessee?
Who was Fisk University’s namesake?
Are journalists really that bad at math?
How did an historic ceasefire in the Middle East impact Nashville?
How independent should a university be?
Who was Febb Burn?
Why it’s worth asking about the family of icons, including Dolly.
Who do you call if there’s a raccoon in your chimney?
Why is production at Tennessee’s massive new Ford plant being delayed again?
Have you heard about Smoky Row?
Why do we consider churches a protected space from law enforcement?
Why didn’t the Emancipation Proclamation apply to our state?
What’s being dumped into our water?
Why was Bristol the site of a huge MLB game?
Why is the National Guard relocating from Nashville to Smyrna?
Could Pete Hegseth really get on next year’s ballot for Tennessee governor?
What are Nashvillians throwing away these days?
How does the classic Nashville Sound live on 9000+ miles from Music Row?
How is Tenncare different from other state’s Medicaid programs?
Is there a reason we’ve never built transit tunnels in this city before?
Was Rosie the Riveter modeled on a Nashville aircraft builder?
How have we evolved on what is and isn’t allowed in the criminal justice system?
Should we dam the Duck River?
Why did UT drop out of a scholarship program for Chinese students?
Will you step up for WPLN News?
Was Nashville the first metropolis built on this land?
How does funding complicate Fisk and TSU’s attempts to forge new ground in HBCU athletics?
What made Opryland different from other theme parks?
What does the Navy have to do with a landlocked state like Tennessee?
What does it mean when a tire plant closes?
How has it become easier for student athletes to switch schools in Tennessee?
Is the divide between church and state shifting?
How does paid parking play a role in controlling car traffic in a growing city?
Who gets to say what counts as clean water in Tennessee?
How did a founder of Tennessee make history as the first U.S. Senator expelled from office?
What’s next for Glen Casada?
How are Tennessee’s strawberries doing?
How do national retailers change the face of Tennessee communities?
How many official state flowers does Tennessee need?
What made Opryland Nashville’s top tourist attraction?
When did a Tennessee governor put his foot down?
How did a series of stripes change shopping?
What’s the best way to cover a news event?
Are there really that many Scots among us?
When has it been hotter in Tennessee history?
What drew ancient Tennesseans to a hill near Manchester every Summer Solstice?
Would there even be a Metro Nashville if there wasn’t a 40-member Metro Council?
How is political pressure on equity and inclusion affecting celebrations of the Midstate’s diversity?
How do congressional threats to NPR threaten stations like WPLN?
So why is this day considered unlucky, anyway?
How does the Southern Baptist Convention plan to attack a decade-old Supreme Court ruling?
Why did it take multiple attempts and a court case to make Hendersonville a city?
What is going on at Core Civic?
How did a Nashville train wreck change trains around the country?
How do you move from one stage to another?
How did the Ryman become the Mother Church of Country Music?
Is it really legal to have a pet zebra in Tennessee?
How did the Tennessee River end up with so much microplastic?
Why is Nashville one of America’s least unionized cities?
What does a delicious summer treat have to do with helping Nashville’s poor?
Did a law meant to protect Tennesseans from bad loans make the problem worse?
Why is there so little to remind us of the way Native nations were displaced via Tennessee routes?
Who gets to be the public face of faithful people?
Where are you heading this weekend?
Who in Tennessee is trapped in the crossfire when our nation switches up how it deals with other countries?
How safe are Tennessee’s bridges?
What happens when a state preempts a city?
Why are religious prayers allowed at Tennessee’s public school graduations?
What did monkeys and carousel horses have to do with shopping in Nashville?
How does Tennessee’s mental health compare to the rest of America?
Why is the Nashville area a natural fit for the distribution business?
How about that earthquake?
Do Tennessee farms raise more beef or poultry?
What’s happening with the many prominent trials in Tennessee?
How far have we come since the Nashville Ladies Bicycle Club?
How can art respond to conflict, danger, and triumph?
How did an executive order have a massive effect on our area nearly a century ago?
Is history repeating itself?
How do we feel about the place we call home?
Why is control of a public broadcasting stalwart headed to the courts?
Are Tennessee’s prisons hotbeds for crime?
Why isn’t Nashville a train hub today?
How did a Fort Campbell soldier get caught selling secrets to China?
Will Tennessee ever embrace renewable energy?
When is our city’s birthday?
Who will help the refugees who come to Nashville now?
Will Williamson ever be allowed to change its county seal?
What’s the deal with THC and THCA?
Did a legislative token of honor go too far?
Who are the immigrants moving to Tennessee?
Can execution be humane?
What can be learned from recent political scandals in our state?
Did the notorious horse thief get scared straight?
What happens to public health in a funding pinch?
How are Tennessee activists becoming more vocal with their support for immigrants?
Who gets accepted in the country music landscape, and who doesn’t?
Will Tennessee’s first female senator run for governor?
What can we learn from a 1990s trade war over bananas?
How does someone become the top piano tuner in Nashville? And why would they want to?
How does WPLN News handle a weather emergency?
What can a new oral history project tell us about Nashville’s most unique neighborhood?
How did a native tree bring an industry to Shelbyville?
How do you listen to WPLN?
Why does Nashville need Nashville General Hospital?
Why do we all love Pat Summitt?
What has changed and what hasn’t?
What did Frank and Jesse James have to do with Nashville?
Is Tennessee backing away from the long-standing trend of expanding educational access to kids who live here?
Who makes the lesson plans for Tennessee’s classrooms?
Did the fight over Middle Point Landfill just get more complicated?
Who makes sure the songwriter gets paid when you stream your favorite song?
What happens when we end inclusive initiatives?
How is Nashville getting started on implementing the transit plan?
Can AI help keep a native language from becoming extinct?
What are Tennessee’s State Natural Areas and why do they matter?
How did a federal law lead to the creation of Nashville’s Black neighborhoods?
Who counts as a kid in Tennessee?
When should we worry about technology?
Why does shorthand matter?
How do you honor a life dedicated to furthering human rights?
What can you do on Protect Public Media Day?
Is religious thinking changing in Tennessee?
What’s the history of trade wars in U.S. foreign policy?
How did a major health care institution begin with two nuns and a mansion?
Who counts as an American?
Why is a Tennessee Congressman trying to extend presidential term limits?
What does a craving for a bologna sandwich have to do with a prison escape?
What happened when Sevier and Jackson met to duel?
Why are Tennessee legislators submitting bills that violate existing Supreme Court precedent?
How does our radio station work for our community?
Where, exactly, is Tennessee’s southernmost border supposed to be?
Could the sporting event come to Music City?
What does a book ban really do?
How is the trash situation in Rutherford County like a messy breakup?
How did the Nashville Student Movement lead the way for Civil Rights action?
How is Gov. Bill Lee dividing up state spending in his proposed budget?
Have you heard of “coffin nails” before?
How do we react when a disaster strikes?
What’s natural and what’s human-made in Tennessee’s aquatic landscape?
How does one small campus tell the story of higher education in Nashville?
What can we learn from a 1917 law targeting immigration?
What should you expect when you’re expecting a trade war?
Who was Dr. J.S. Anderson?
What did the future assassin do in Middle Tennessee?
How does hate spread, and how does it dissipate?
Where were the first seeing eye dogs trained?
What do Name, Image and Likeness rules have to do with rushing the court?
What does Nashville have to do with the music that gamers love?
Why do we remember Ted Bundy’s name but not the names of his victims?
We have the latest about Tuesday’s shooting.
Will Tennessee’s legislature clamp down even further on abortion access this year?
What does a court case tell us about the intersection of religion and the law?
What does Martin Luther King Jr. Day mean to you?
What’s at stake when we decide how to allocate money after floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters?
Why do civil service protections still matter?
What is the state doing – and not doing – to provide assistance to those in need?
Why does a government that’s all in on responding to opioid overdose shy away from dealing with gun-related child death rates?
Why is being the Volunteer State kind of complicated sometimes?
Why does a little bit of snow shut Nashville down?
Do new safety measures under consideration for Nashville go far enough?
What are your Titans game day superstitions?
How much can one woman accomplish in her lifetime?
How do we remember President Jimmy Carter?
How do the current fights over Tennessee State University echo the politics that put Fisk at financial risk 150 years ago?
What happened in Shelbyville in 1869?
What were our favorite NashVillager essays of 2024?
What are your tree stories?
Fact or fiction?
What makes our lawmakers tick?
Can we still appreciate the simple things around us?
What would you do to ensure your parents make it to heaven?
Did you send a postcard from summer camp?
How much can you learn from a single week of WPLN stories?
What makes a political scandal criminal?
What’s up with those lights in the sky?
What happened to the Nashville Christmas parade?
Which approach on nuclear fuel will win the latest race at Oak Ridge?
What can the Battle of Nashville still teach us?
December 13, 2024: Fort Negley
How does the Corporation for Public Broadcasting make a difference?
Who cleans up the pollution after industrial sites shut down?
Who is bolstering the human rights of Tennesseans today?
How will tweaks to traffic signals improve Nashville’s transit system?
Is Tennessee’s response to HIV going backwards?
What did the end of prohibition actually mean in Tennessee?
Who was Elihu Embree?
Where can we see neon in Nashville, and how does it connect us to the past?
Do school districts run afoul of the First Amendment when they pull books by the hundreds out of libraries?
What audio are we thankful for?
How much of a hero was the Boy Hero of the Confederacy, really?
How do changes to the Opryland Hotel tell the Nashville story?
What do we lose when we let fear dictate the conversation around immigration?
Are we nearing a turning point for funding public schools in Tennessee?
Is Wilson County’s controversial Global Vision Church really about to leave its big, white tent?
How did a massive tobacco settlement change Tennessee?
Which of Nashville’s historic sites are at risk from development or disrepair?
Do Tennessee leaders remember their own role in damaging the state HBCU’s finances?
What’s going on with big business in our state?
Why does Elon Musk’s Memphis AI facility need so much power, anyway?
How does Metro make its money?
Why did Nashville ever let the East Bank get so industrial, anyway?
What does it really mean to serve your country?
Will earmarking gambling money for schools help Gov. Lee push his second universal school voucher plan through Tennessee’s legislature?
How did the referendums fare?
How are things feeling post-Election Day?
Have you cast your ballot yet?
Who was Tennessee’s “Napoleon of the stump”?
What was the dawn of Nashville’s electric age like?
What exactly is a special census?
How does our newsroom do what it does?
When did the internet come to be, and who was responsible for it?
When was our city’s first medical school established?
What do Middle Tennesseans need to know ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5?
What built the company town?
What’s the best bike ride in Nashville?
What signs of our past still float down the Cumberland?
Every voice counts. Every story matters.
What's the latest on transit?
How is WPLN News planning on covering the upcoming election?
What would it feel like to pull Gs in an X-15?
What will a new protocol mean for capital punishment in our state?
Did a viral moment on national television alter Nashville’s trajectory?
Why did the latest Nobel Prize announcements give Vanderbilt University reason to celebrate?
Where can you go to get help when you need it?
Why do Tennessee legislators keep considering efforts to declare federal laws null and void?
Where can you hear the music in Music City?
What did a war hero really want to be known for?
What can the country singers of the past teach us about today’s music scene?
Is Nashville’s criminal court docket headed for a major snarl?
Why is this Nashville university looking for a toehold in Florida and New York?
How do states help each other when disaster strikes?
How did a one-term governor transform Tennessee?
What happens when we’re faced with complicated public figures and their flaws?
How did schools become such a focus for Tennessee legislators?
What purpose does Nashville’s Parthenon serve?
How did we close a hole in the ozone layer?
How did a dispute among farmers threaten and terrify Midstate communities?
Why didn’t the pandemic produce a modern-day figure like Typhoid Mary?
Can baseball and historic preservation be good neighbors?
Why should (or shouldn’t) a manifesto become public?
Why are bankers upset with Tennessee legislators?
Why are MTSU students upset about this year’s Constitution Day speaker?
Will unions make more gains in Midstate auto factories?
How does a dead mall transform into a new kind of neighborhood center?
Is the state trying to suppress voting in Tennessee?
How can we pay tribute to former WPLN journalists?
Will Nashville’s civil rights bombing cases ever be solved?
Who gets to say how Nashville grows and develops?
How can the next Tennessee Performing Arts Center improve on the one we’ve got now?
How is the 101st Airborne writing the next chapter of the U.S. Army?
What does the transit referendum mean for Middle Tennessee?
What’s the bottom line for college sports in Tennessee?
Why are fewer people applying to med school in our state?
What does Tennessee State do with its downtown campus?
When will we be honest about what monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest are honoring?
Is waiting for a nuclear power renaissance really the best bet for Tennessee’s electric grid?
What’s the difference between a charter, a magnet, and a neighborhood school in Nashville?
How does a focus on teaching STEM translate to imaginative learning experiences?
How separate are church and state in our state?
What reforms could help those interacting with Tennessee’s court system?
How do Nashvillians without homes decide where to get out of the heat?
Why has Tennessee never had a female governor?
How did the Highlander School impact the push for landmark social changes in America?
Will moving a controversial church end the lawsuits in Wilson County?
How can we connect with some of the women who have shaped this city?
Why are HIV and syphilis on the rise among teens in one Tennessee city?
Who killed Pauline Pusser?
What does a proposed name change say about the complexity of Nashville’s Native history?
Who is at risk on Nashville’s construction sites?
Will we ever build enough hotel rooms to handle the demands of Nashville tourists?
Is Generative AI a boon or a burden for education?
How does jury duty work in Tennessee?
Who is actually showing up for Tennessee elections?
Why are police and fire departments running summer camps for kids and teens?
Who’s spending on Tennessee elections?
Can the Bordeaux neighborhood fend off the latest landfill proposal?
Is it really accurate to say Middle Tennessee astronaut Butch Wilmore is “stuck” on the International Space Station?
Has Tennessee become the new epicenter for the global race to build the fastest computer?
Who is looking into whether campaign finance laws were broken in two Middle Tennessee communities?
Why was Tennessee once the prime example of how the United States should (or shouldn’t) handle a major issue?
Who was Cordell Hull?
Is a rotating roster of “Star-Spangled Banner” singers a great way to start sports games ... or a liability?
What did Tennessee leaders leave out of their RNC speeches?
Is Nashville becoming a destination for attention-seeking hate groups?
Why isn’t South Nashville the southernmost part of Nashville?
What does Fort Campbell mean for life in Clarksville?
Just how bad is life in Tennessee’s prisons?
What’s changed about the places where military veterans are buried in Tennessee?
Why has this state been a key player in the cultured pearl industry?
What native species need protection in Tennessee?
How is the 14th amendment invoked in Tennessee?
What will be the legacy of the Black woman who broke new ground in the MNPD?
When will construction get underway on the Oracle campus?
Why are more kids in Tennessee dying of abuse and neglect?
Why do wine and liquor sales vary from place to place in Tennessee?
How will you celebrate this 4th of July?
How do Nashvillians beat the heat in the summer?
Why do we sanitize history for kids?
Is a major Midstate hospital chain done downsizing yet?
How did Nashville end up with four pro sports teams, and could more be coming to Middle Tennessee?
What did Tennessee’s abortion ban actually change?
Who’s running the show at Tennessee’s public colleges and universities?
How are the courts responding as Tennessee’s Attorney General challenges federal rules?
A new 4-part series by Meribah Knight
How did Juneteenth become a holiday in Tennessee?
How many ways did a Tennessee sheriff use his control of the county jail to line his own pockets?
Which Nashvillians have what it takes to represent the U.S. at the Paris Olympics?
How does the annual national meeting of Southern Baptists affect Tennessee’s political landscape?
Will this be the year the Vols win the national title?
Does the state have a say in what Nashville does with transportation in the city?
Who is behind the KKK fliers that keep showing up in Midstate neighborhoods?
What do astronauts do when things go wrong?
When do political fights get so ugly that officials have to say enough’s enough?
Who has the final say over court cases in Tennessee?
Have you ever seen a goat eating grass on a Nashville greenway?
How are the thrill of watersports balanced by safe boating practices on Nashville-area lakes?
What is the connection between Nashville and some of America’s most important voices in understanding diseases?
Why are America’s two auto racing styles treated differently in Nashville?
What, exactly, is happening with Metro Arts?
How much do Middle Tennesseans really have in common?
Where did Memorial Day come from, and why does the governor issue obscure holiday declarations on so many other summer days?
How should we acknowledge that this land belonged to the Cherokee first?
How is Nashville’s city government stepping in to help TSU give students a place to live?
What hurdles are in the way of new hospitals in Tennessee?
Why did a small plane crash in Williamson County?
What kinds of pollution are threatening Tennessee’s natural environment?
Is the state heading toward the race and equity equivalent of the Scopes Monkey Trial?
What’s next for one of Nashville’s signature green spaces?
How are national organizations recognizing the strongest reporting coming out of our community?
What story do church membership numbers really tell?
How does Middle Tennessee pull together after major weather events?
How do parallels from earlier generations fall short when shedding light on current campus protests?
How did a Nashvillian end up taking over a Central American nation?
Diverging opinions about public, private and charter schools
How would Mayor O’Connell’s transit proposal affect bike infrastructure in Nashville?
Where can a big act go to prepare for a major concert tour?
What’s the biggest Nashville industry you may have never heard of?
How are Tennessee labor organizers making waves nationwide?
Why does the sales tax vary so much in Tennessee?
Should we have seen the return of baseball to Tennessee State coming?
How did a Nashville man make airflight history?
How did Governor Lee’s signature measures fail in a legislature controlled by his own party?
What are we doing to keep the connections to Nashville’s civil rights past alive?
What's up with the city's new street lamps?
What should we do with our household trash?
What’s the history behind the Live Nation antitrust allegations?
What’s next for Nashville’s East Bank?
Does a new Tennessee law close all the loopholes that were exposed by the death of Belmont student Jillian Ludwig?
Are twisters becoming more common in Middle Tennessee?
What does the sinking of the Titanic have to do with Tennessee?
How is one Nashville university at the center of the next chapter in a storied neighborhood’s development?
What changes do Tennessee leaders want to make to our most important governing document?
Why does the utility that makes Tennessee’s electricity hold so tightly to fossil fuels?
Will Franklin’s most controversial Aldermen of recent years find a warmer welcome in a different Midstate community?
Will one of downtown’s most prolific developers finally see a major development come to fruition?
How did “Roosevelt’s Tree Army” pave the way for our state park system?
How can a the legacy of a Civil Rights icon be seen in the battle for control of TSU?
Are state lawmakers prioritizing the needs of gay, trans and queer kids?
Why is Sumner County having trouble with two historic sites?
What’s going on with the airport these days?
Can the people who fuel Nashville’s signature industry really afford to live here?
Which bills will make it to the end of Tennessee’s legislative session?
How do we keep their names alive?
Why is heavily-Democratic Nashville represented in Congress by three Republicans?
How does a city like Nashville have so little in the way of mass transit?
Your human-powered weekday news from WPLN, Nashville Public Radio
September 26, 2025: A waning trust in science
September 26, 202518min 16sec
Tylenol, fluoride and all kinds of vaccines are caught in the crossfire of conflicts between word-of-mouth advice and actual science. Plus, the local news for September 26, 2025, and VibeOut.
Credits:
This is a production of Nashville Public Radio
Host/producer: Nina Cardona
Editor: Miriam Kramer
Additional support: Mack Linebaugh, Tony Gonzalez, LaTonya Turner and the staff of WPLN and WNXP