“There’s not a person in this industry that didn’t know this day was coming,” says Bill Corbin, a farmer based in Springfield.

Marianna Bacallao (@ba.marianna) reports that as of July 1, you can’t grow or sell THCA in Tennessee, and that’s forced hemp farmers to pivot. In Corbin’s case, he’s turning to a different variety of hemp, with fibers used to make rope, packaging and even car parts like seatbacks and dashboards.

Others, like Lee Crabtree, are now growing food instead. On his farm in Readyville, east of Murfreesboro, Crabtree has sweet corn, blackberries, tomatoes, and sunflowers. “I’m not making the money that I would have been making back when CBD was huge there for a minute,” Crabtree says. If his new crops don’t sell, he’ll be out of a job.

A recent estimate put the total value of Tennessee’s hemp market at $1.7 billion, but that stands to take a hit in the absence of “full-spectrum” CBD products, or those with THC. Corbin says he`s relied on them for his arthritis, and he worries for others who use such products medicinally.

Those folks are a huge part of the market, says Frederick Cawthon, head of the Hemp Alliance of Tennessee. “A lot of people think it’s the young generation — no,” says Frederick Cawthon, head of the Hemp Alliance of Tennessee. “The data shows it’s your grandmother, it’s your auntie, it’s the church lady, actually.”

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Photos by Marianna Bacallao

Same-sex sexual behavior has been documented in more than 1,500 species. Many animals also have the ability to change their sex, and some species have a combination of sexes.

In Tennessee, red foxes commonly engage in homosexual mating with multiple partners outside the breeding season: Males typically display equal preferences for female and male partners, but female foxes are more oriented toward same-sex relationships. Female black bears co-parent cubs together. Male southeastern blueberry bees mount each other, and eastern bluebirds engage in ritual exchanges of food gifts with all genders.

Across the planet, female bonobos are more likely to have homosexual encounters. Male bottlenose dolphins form lifelong relationships with other males. Clownfish can change sex, while some butterflies and beluga whales can be a combination of sexes. Female Laysan albatrosses in Hawai’i share nests, engage in sexual behavior and raise their young together.

Scientists now think it may be rare to find a species that does not exhibit some form of queer behavior.

“Being a purely heterosexual species is the exception,” Josh Davis, a science writer at London’s Natural History Museum, wrote in the book “A Little Queer Natural History.”

Tap link in bio for the full story from environmental reporter Caroline Eggers.

Photos: Fox family: Jeremy Hynes/Unsplash, Black bears: Ben Owen/Unsplash, Lone fox: Zetong Li/Unsplash, Bee: iNaturalist user jill1004, Bluebird: Patrice Bouchard/Unsplash

While Pride remains popular with the community, it’s become less popular with corporate sponsors. Many long-time donors have pulled funding.

WPLN’s Marianna Bacallao (@ba.marianna) reports it’s a problem for Pride festivals across the country. Nashville Pride’s Brady Ruffin has commiserated with other organizers from Atlanta to San Francisco.

“Costs are rising all around … Entertainment costs, production costs, security costs,” Ruffin said.

Going into this year, Nashville Pride wrestled with a $250k budget hole. The group turned to the community to fundraise, but it fell around $100,000 short. That meant scaling back this year’s Pride from a weekend to a one-day event. This shift has sparked a debate: Should Pride me more of a celebration or a protest?

“Especially in Tennessee, where LGBTQ+ folks are consistently facing political attacks and harmful rhetoric, I think that joy is not separate from protest,” says Nashville Pride’s Brady Ruffin. “For many people, joy is how we resist.”

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Photos: Marianna Bacallao

Notable quotables for this week — we explored the debate (or lack thereof) over birthright citizenship, a report that found Tennessee schools are re-segrating more quickly than almost any other state, why ecologists are working to preserve freshwater mussels in the Southeast, the joy in protest and the thrill of seeing ‘Hamilton.’

Specifically this week: doctors filed a lawsuit against the state. They’re challenging a new law, which requires the Tennessee Department of Health to submit immigration information to a state division that works with ICE. TDH runs the Children’s Special Services program, which covers health costs for severely disabled kids. That includes about 400 immigrants without legal status. There are concerns their parents will pull them from the program for fear of deportation.

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It’s all fun and games if you get a video of a bear in your airbnb hot tub in East Tennessee. But you can get more than just Instagram views when you snap photos or get audio of nature around you. You can contribute to science.

During June we`ve brought you stories about signal species: bears, kudzu, mollusks, armadillos, and yet to come - bats! These species are telling us something about our changing world — but are we listening? If you are, then there`s something you can can contribute to scientific data about the changing world around us. Join our project!

We`ve teamed up with @inaturalistorg and created an Appalachia Signal Species project.

Tap link in bio to join and to contribute your observations. We can better our collective understanding of the world around us. Your observations might lead us to our next story.

Photos: Megan Jones/iNaturalist, Scott Loarie, used with permission

Fisk University’s rollout for its billion-dollar project dubbed the “Quantum Leap” has garnered pushback from community members concerned about its planned data center.

“They affect the health, well-being, and quality of life of the people who live near these facilities. As a teacher, I think about the children and families who live in these communities every day,’ says Jarrett Harper, teacher and Fisk alum.

Thousands signed a “No Data Center at Fisk” petition, and many others spoke before the Metro Planning Commission asking them to establish guardrails for data centers related to water usage, energy consumption and noise emissions. Others support the move, saying that Fisk can be a leader on how data centers should be run while also increasing the university’s technological abilities.

WPLN’s education Camellia Burris spoke with the university president, Dr. Agenia Clark, who insisted that misinformation is fueling many of the concerns about the proposed data center.

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Photo: Courtesy of Fisk University. Alexis Marshall / WPLN