In light of the redistricting and greater challenges their community is facing, Black activists across Nashville are thinking about how to move forward while embracing moments of joy and celebration. ✍️ @ejturner02.bsky.social

Earlier this week, @anitawadhwani.bsky.social wrote that in the last year, more than 100,000 Tennesseans have lost SNAP, including those with cancer, and those living in homelessness, who were previously eligible.

For the @wired.com Big Interview this week, I talked to the wonderful @timheidecker.bsky.social about his new gig running Infowars for @theonion.com, how to win on the internet, the death of late-night, and much more:

Checking in one year after the closure of Old Tent City in Nashville:

The mayor hasn’t been explicit about what zoning policy he’d support, but signed an order backing the idea of a moratorium on large data centers. Activists are unimpressed, but notably the order has the strictest definition of “large” data center that I’ve seen. nashvillebanner.com/2026/06/15/n...

New @nashvillebanner.bsky.social pod with @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social on the backlash to planned data centers in Nashville supercharged by the Nashville Zoo's public opposition to one next door. nashvillebanner.com/2026/06/12/l...

Nashvillians concerned about animals, minority neighborhoods, environmental impacts, public health and “vibes” spoke out against data centers at a marathon planning commission meeting on Thursday. ✍️ @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social & Anna Blubaugh

I wrote about Chud the Builder, whose arrest last month in Clarksville (which followed multiple incidents in Nashville) has acted like a bug light for the racist right.

“Free speech absolutists” but also unabashed white supremacists

Liberty Collegiate Academy and Nashville Prep will eliminate their fifth grade classrooms starting in the next school year due to low enrollment. ✍️ Lillian Avedian

INVESTIGATION: 🚨 A Polymarket exec used a personal PayPal account to pay major political influencers like Riley Gaines and Brian Krassenstein, who then hyped how "accurate" Polymarket is at predicting outcomes. We uncovered $350,000+ flowing to influencers this way www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

"This leaves us defenseless and adrift” said mom of 10yo with spina bifida. “If we go back to Honduras, he’s not going to make it...We were afraid before this. I’m afraid all the time. I’m afraid to go outside. I’m afraid they’ll take me without my kid” tennesseelookout.com/2026/06/09/t...

President Trump told members of Congress during a flight to Memphis that he would not be endorsing Sen. Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee’s gubernatorial primary because her opponent, Rep. John Rose, “has been good to [him].” But he probably won’t endorse Rose, either. ✍️ @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social

NEW: Trump told members of Congress that he won’t endorse Marsha Blackburn for governor on a recent trip to Tennessee. He likely won’t endorse any gubernatorial candidate, though frontrunners consider themselves MAGA loyalists: nashvillebanner.com/2026/06/08/d...

U.S. Rep. John Rose ran a Congressionally funded radio ad advocating for the SAVE Act. While the ad buy is legally Congressional business, the ad comes as Rose has begun campaign advertising to build name recognition during his campaign for governor. ✍️ @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social

A quick story ... In spring of 2024, we started hearing from both prosecutors and defense attorneys about problems in Blackburn's courtroom. We posted a reporter in there for a few weeks to see and the criticisms were true: she missed names, was scattered on process and relied heavily on her staff

Interesting situation here that seems a bit frustrating to everyone involved.

Is it possible for Fisk to build a data center in a way that’s respectful of the community? North Nashvillians are skeptical, as the project managers share minimal details and the number of data centers keeps growing, without city guardrails.

Can AI do fact-checking? A WIRED fact-checker fact-checks.

Metro schools’ funding policy for pre-K had the unintended consequence of creating segregated classrooms at Inglewood Elementary. After advocacy by parents and educators, next year the district will “braid” funding at 22 schools. ✏️ by Lillian Avedian

Can AI do fact-checking? We asked an intrepid @wired.com fact checker to fact-check the LLMs: "According to my research, AI is even more wrong than people might think."

At an ongoing press conference, ACLU attorney Maria DeLiberato says Tennessee prison officials have not yet granted her request to let an outside doctor see Tony Carruthers after last week's aborted execution attempt.

When even the agency tasked with preventing terrorism calls out your posts for being racist...

On Thursday morning, the NAACP argued for an injunction against the new Congressional maps at a Chancery Court hearing. The three-judge panel said it will rule as soon as it can. ✏️ @mikeiereiland.bsky.social

This is a big deal. We spent significant time in Blackburn's court watching before we wrote about her performance. After Blackburn sealed her recusal, Judge Dalton blocked us from getting access to affidavits about her competence.

When we walked into Riverbend this morning to witness the execution of Tony Carruthers that was later botched and called off, one of the first things we saw was a display about Mental Health Awareness month.

Wait til the employees find out they work for Planatir

The Banner is one of several outlets suing over the fact that reporters can't see executioners doing things like placing IVs. In April, the Tennessee Supreme Court blocked a judge's order to allow it. That's why today, we were literally sitting in the dark trying our best to hear what was happening.

Tony Carruthers execution was delayed after the doctor contracted by TDOC could not find a vein to administer the dose of pentobarbital. An emergency motion was filed in Tennessee Supreme Court, shortly after which Gov. Bill Lee issued a reprieve for one year.

Asked John Rose about a new ad in which he mentions stopping China from “buying up our farmland,” despite China owning little farmland in the U.S., even compared to other foreign countries. He said they are our “geopolitical enemy” and he wants to outright ban Chinese land ownership in Tennessee.

-Using generative ai at all in the production of news stories is dumb and innately some degree of plagiarism -Quietly deleting all traces of an author instead of taking accountability is equally dumb and bad

Tennessee is all but certain to execute Tony Carruthers here in Nashville tomorrow morning. He would be the 11th man from death row killed by the state here since 2018. I will be one of the media witnesses inside the prison. Threading my stories for @nashvillebanner.bsky.social about the case here:

Independents and non-maga Republicans are cooking on Trump in Tennessee. This is the first time his approval has been below 50% in the state since 2017. Read how it may impact midterms and how it probably won’t do much to the governor’s race:

Meet Nashville writer Tonya Abari! Tonya is partnering with the Banner for the 2026 @altavozlab.bsky.social Community Reporting Fellowship. She'll be exploring North Nashville's fight for clean air and environmental equity as part of our ZIP Code Project.

TIRRC, a councilmember and several taxpayers are suing the Tennessee Highway Patrol, asking the court to enjoin the agency from joint operations with ICE like May 2025’s Operation Flood the Zone in South Nashville. nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/19/t...

This (very good post, sorry to ruin it) actually made me research it and, alas, no we didn’t. It turns out the Puppy Bowl is not held in the same location as the Super Bowl and is actually prerecorded months in advance.

Gov. Bill Lee just released a statement announcing that he will not intervene to postpone the execution Thursday.

Three years into Tennessee’s near-total abortion ban, a lawsuit is still making its way through the courts. The plaintiffs spoke to the Banner about why they joined the suit and how they are processing its delays. ✍️ @mikeiereiland.bsky.social

NEW: We've spent 10 months tracking the outcomes in tens of thousands of lawsuits brought by ICE detainees amid an unprecedented detention push. It's not a cose call: judges have ruled more than 10,000 times against ICE, a 9-1 ratio. See the database: www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

Maybe I shouldn’t admit this publicly, but I have looked at Tennessee’s new congressional map about 100 times in the last week and didn’t realize my district changed from D7 to D6. I highly recommend looking it up to be safe if you’re anywhere near any line: tn-cot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant...

A whole lot of new Dems are running in the redrawn Tennessee Congressional districts, or at least thinking about it while the map is challenged in court. Lots of familiar names in Nashville and Memphis: Story w/ @stelliott.bsky.social nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/13/t...

With Tennessee set to execute Tony Carruthers on May 21, his attorneys are arguing not only that forensic testing might prove his innocence, but that his death sentence was based on an inflammatory and false claim that the victims in the case were buried alive. ✍️ @iamstevenhale.bsky.social

Sat down with @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social to pod about Tennessee's whirlwind redistricting. We tried to touch most of the bases. You can listen here and read all her reporting at @nashvillebanner.bsky.social. nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/08/l...

Here @iamstevenhale.bsky.social and I discuss Tennessee’s redistricting in the context of nationwide gerrymandering and what this means for the state’s activists: nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/08/l...

New from the Banner: Following the NAACP’s lawsuit yesterday, Tennessee Democratic candidates in the 5th, 6th and 9th districts have filed a second legal challenge to the redistricting maps created during the special session. nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/08/t...

We made this one for the real sickos and wonks with 16 maps and charts to compare the new districts with the old:

NEW: I wanted to fact check a lawmaker’s claim that Tennessee’s new Congressional balanced “urban” (population dense) areas with more rural parts of the state. Here’s what the numbers say about population, race and compactness compared to the previous version: nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/08/t...

Updated with the Senate demonstration and final details of the special session. Really insane three days.

As Tennessee Republicans voted Thursday to approve an unprecedented Congressional redistricting map that would divide Memphis, protesters and Democrats pushed back with walkouts, protests resulting in arrests and burning a printed Confederate flag in the Capitol. nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/07/t...

NEW: Redistricting passes in Tennessee after protests, arrests, lawmaker walkouts and even fire at the capitol Thursday. nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/07/t...