It’s no secret that Tennessee is a dangerous place for people who walk around our city.

We have seen years of high pedestrian fatality rates and various initiatives trying to tackle hazardous roadways. This summer, WPLN’s Cynthia Abrams reports that a new national report shows the issue has only gotten worse.

In the report, Memphis was identified as the deadliest city in the country for pedestrians. While further down the list, Nashville’s fatality rate is getting worse. There have been 16 people killed already while walking in 2026.

Many incidents have been hit-and-runs, which can be difficult for police to solve.

For the full story, tap the link in bio.

Photos: Tony Gonzalez
Metro Nashville Police Department / YouTube

The Hermitage, the presidential home of Andrew Jackson, is revitalizing the “In Their Footsteps” tour.

It highlights the lives of people who were enslaved by Jackson and his family. The updated tour seeks to place more emphasis on the lives of people who were enslaved, portray Jackson’s brutality more honestly.

But as WPLN’s Cynthia Abrams reports, for some historians and descendants, the approach is disappointing. They point to the lack of involvement from historians of color, as well as tour proceeds going back into The Hermitage, rather than benefitting descendants.

Tune in on July 8 to This is Nashville to hear more about this. You can stream from our site at 12pm noon or catch the program later.

Tap link in bio for the full story and follow along for more from Metro Reporter Cynthia Abrams.

Photos: Cynthia Abrams

Happy 250th birthday America! Notable quotables from this hot hot hot holiday week ready for swiping. This week includes stories about hot chicken, AI and musicians, hemp farmers, bats (animal, not baseball), and an investigation into Tennessee’s lethal injection program.

Tennessee’s ban on hemp products that produce marijuana-like effects took effect this week and farmers are looking to pivot on their crops. A group of Republican state senators wants Gov. Bill Lee to commission an independent, broad-ranging investigation into Tennessee’s lethal injection program. It wouldn’t be the first time; Lee commissioned one in 2022 after learning the Department of Correction had been failing to test its lethal injection drugs for potency or contaminants.

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A new Alabama Shakes song actually titled “American Dream” begins with visionary front woman Brittany Howard lamenting, “I thought we wanted the same things,” over the band’s ominous, lumbering groove.

At the forefront of Howard’s mind, reports Jewly Hight, was her troubling awareness that many in her country are living in precarity: “I can’t separate myself from what’s happening in my society.”

Jewly has been on a quest to document artists’ efforts to expand how we view American identity during our America 250 celebrations.

There’s the defiant approach of Black, queer, Southern pop maximalist Houston Kendrick. His new song “American Trash” roasts American triumphalism, cheekily reframing it as “American drag.”

The Cowgays took their first band photos in front of a sizable American flag. “We wanna push for a better America. So why can’t that flag stand for our values?”

Lizzie No produced the album Outlaws’ Almanac and says: “I believe in telling the stories of my people and my neighbors and celebrating folk storytelling. And this is an occasion when people`s ears might be perked up to what the American people have to say and in particular what folk musicians might have to say.”

Swipe to listen and follow along for more from Senior Music Writer Jewly HIght.

Photos: Brittany Howard by Izzy Lux, Houston Kendrick by Luke M. Rogers, Pynk Beard photo by Dez Wright, Lizzie No photo by Dan Russel-Pinson, Cowgays by Ford Fairchild

Tennessee has influenced American history in critical ways over the last 250 years, through presidents, Supreme Court cases and amendments to The Constitution.

The influence has also ocurred in surprising ways: Did you know a Tennessee incident triggered major changes in airport security?

Get more of the state’s historical backstory at wpln.org/backstory.

Photo credits: @tnlibarchives, newspaper clippings from The Washington Evening Star and The Knoxville News Sentinel

The Backstory received funding from the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial.

“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.”

Tap link in bio for more.

Photos by Marianna Bacallao