WPLN heard your concerns. This post corrects a previous post, which has been deleted. Our initial reporting about a drowning detection system was not clear enough about the “Angel Eye” systems going in at YMCA indoor pools.

Angel Eye uses cameras in or above pools, plus software that monitors for signs of distress in the water. They can alert lifeguards to trouble.

Residents, and parents in particular, have had strong reactions to the presence of cameras at the pool where their families swim — and to the further spread of surveillance.

“As a parent, what I am concerned about is surveillance. … They should be transparent about how they were sold this technology. Is there some lack of confidence in their lifeguards? I would imagine not,” said Melissa Cherry of Madison

The YMCA states that lifeguards are not going away, and the technology is secure and could save lives, and will supplement the work of lifeguards.

Tap link in the bio for more.

Reporter: Emily West
Photos: Emily West / WPLN

How would Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s strategy in her run for governor translate to Texas hold ‘em?

Blackburn is vying against two other GOP candidates, U.S. Rep. John Rose and Tennessee Rep. Monty Fritts, to make it to the “final table,” this fall’s election. All year she’s been the “chip leader,” with sizeable advantages in campaign finance reports and polls of likely voters.

But Blackburn has chosen a quiet approach, avoiding involvement in many hands. For instance, she refused to appear on a debate stage with the other candidates. That’s deprived them of some opportunities to make big plays, but it’s also led to some awkward moments, like one with a reporter outside an elevator that became a news story of its own.

So will Blackburn take it down? Republican primary voters are dealing the cards. Election day is Thursday.

Tap link in bio for more elections coverage.

Photos: Unsplash, candidates photos from candidate websites
Reporting by Daniel Potter

Notable quotables for the week include back to school with the Ten Commandments, concerns about the death penalty procedures, AI ads in our primaries, the Titans, healthcare for ICE detainees, and nuclear storage in Tennessee.

Wilson County Schools unanimously passed a measure to display the Ten Commandments in all K-12 buildings, but one board member showed some concern.

We’re a week out from the primaries, and the race for governor is heating up. A dark money group ran an attack ad against Sen. Marsha Blackburn, which uses an AI-generated jingle. Her team argues that breaks a new law in Tennessee, which banned generative AI from campaign ads.

Fallout from the state’s failed attempt to execute Tony Carruthers continues. A group of doctors and nurses are calling for redesign of capital punishment in the state. They want Tennessee to find a way to carry out exectuions without relying on medical professionals, who are ethically forbidden from pariticpating in the death penalty.

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Nashville is an alt-country town right now.

A new class of artists represent a new Nashville.

The city has always attracted musicians who love a pedal steel and a broken heart. Now they are adding distorted guitar and pointed lyrics.

This year there has been a handful of stand outs and there are some big releases in the genre coming out this fall.

Tap link in bio for the full story and a playlist from Music and Culture reporter Justin Barney.

Elon Musk’s sprawling xAI campus in the Memphis area is the second-largest climate polluter in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s region.

xAI currently has two buildings, Colossus 1 and Colossus 2, both located in Memphis, that support Grok, the AI for the social platform X.

The second data center is powered across the state line in Mississippi by 59 gas turbines.

Those turbines alone will cause more than 7 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in a given year, according to calculations by the Southern Environmental Law Center, assuming that they operate full-time.

That level of emissions is at least equivalent to the annual energy use of nearly 1 million homes.

Only the TVA’s largest coal plant, the Cumberland Fossil Plant, produces more climate pollution than xAI. No other power plant across TVA’s seven-state region created as much planet-warming emissions in 2023, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest data available.

But the xAI facility does create more of one kind of air pollution. The Colossus 2 turbines produce more nitrogen oxide emissions than any facility in Tennessee, Mississippi or Arkansas. This type of smog-forming pollution is linked to higher rates of heart disease, lung disease and asthma, and causes over 100,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year.

The NAACP, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, sued xAI in April for Clean Air Act violations.

Tap link in bio for more from environmental reporter Caroline Eggers.