Nashville wasn`t on FIFA`s list of approved base camp cities. Nope. Team Japan went off-book to choose Nashville, y`all.
And it was because of a Nashville metro employee and Japanese native, Masami Tyson.
When the Japanese Football Association found out that they would be playing in the southern region of the United States, they reached out the the Nashville tourism board. who put them in contact with Masami Tyson. She`s the chief of staff to Mayor Freddie O`Connell. The team was drawn to Nashville`s advantageous location and Nashville SC`s 15 acre practice facility in Antioch as the place where their team would eat, sleep and train between games.
Then Masami Tyson gave the Japanese Football Association a pitch in Japanese while she was in Japan last year. She talked about how President Jimmy Carter forged a relationship that has lasted over 60 years. She talked about the cherry trees throughout the city that represents that relationship. In the end, her pitch was the deciding factor.
The team, Samurai Blue, gets to town June 8 and might be here until July 17 if they make it to the World Cup finals. Follow us for more from reporter Justin Barney.
Correction: Jimmy Carter in the 1970’s, not 60’s.
When your child is struggling with challenging behaviors or situations, you might wonder if it’s time to sign them up for a therapist.
But that’s easier said than done. Counseling can require a significant commitment of time and money. Therapists are increasingly deciding not to accept health insurance. The out-of-pocket cost for therapy in 2023 was nearly $150 per session, according to research published in Health Affairs Scholar.
So HealthQ spoke to therapists about how parents should assess the need for counseling. The criteria they give are subjective, and the verdict also depends on household dynamics and family history. Still, they can be a useful starting point during a challenging time.
Tap link in bio for the full story, and follow for more from HealthQ, in partnership with @kffhealthnews.
Producer: @SinerSays
Photo: Becky Evans
The Japan`s Men`s National soccer team will be making Nashville its home for their run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Though Nashville was not on FIFA`s list of approved Base Camp cities, the Samurai Blue came after Mayor Freddie O`Connell`s Chief of Staff Masami Tyson flew to Japan and made her case to the Japan Football Association.
The Samurai Blue are a top 20 team, with impressive wins over Spain and Germany.
Executive Editor of Soccer America Mike Woitalla said "I think Japan is the favorite among those teams who have never won it before."
Injuries have held the team back all year, but if their team stands strong, they have a real shot of making history this summer.
They will be training at Nashville SC’s 16-acre facility in Antioch, and will hold a free practice day at Geodis Park on Monday.
"A lot of people say they love bears. Everyone loves bears. And I`m like man, if you love bears so much, what are you doing to help them? They just need you to not make life harder for them."
Let`s talk about nature encounters of the 3rd kind — like bears getting in your trash. It`s a signal about bear behavior (and our habits) we shouldn`t ignore.
Black bear encounters with people are on the rise in Tennessee. They are in hot tubs. They scrounge through trash. They get into cars and even homes as their keen sense of smell leads them to an easy source of food.
The trend is, in part, driven by convenience for the bears. But there is another factor: climate change. Bears used to range over all of Tennessee. After centuries of hunting, mining and logging and human development, they retreated to the high terrain of the Appalachian Mountains. Now they are very present in urban areas as the human food sources are easier to get, and other natural food sources have withered away due to drought and other climate change factors.
In the first episode the Signal Species series, WPLN’s Caroline Eggers reports about bears. Signal Species is a collaboration with the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsrooms.
Video: Jared Kunish
🐻 Black bears can be so enchanting, like what you see in this video. But bear encounters with humans are on the rise in Tennessee, and they aren`t always so totally charming. (Drop a comment if you have ever seen a bear in your hot tub!) 🐻
Tennessee has an estimated 6,000 bears — following significant population growth in recent decades — with notable concentrations in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee, the state’s only national forest. In Gatlinburg, the work to create harmony between bears and people can be thorny, but the city has made progress.
In the first part of our Signal Species story series with the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, we bring you a look at black bears in Tennessee and how climate change, along with human development, is affecting their habitat and behavior.
Get a full video report tomorrow on bears. Follow along for all our Signal Species in June about armadillos, bats, kudzu and mussels. Tap link in bio to listen to read and listen to the bears story by environmental reporter Caroline Eggers.
Tennessee lawmakers are compiling data on the state’s transgender population. A new law will require clinics to report the number of patients seeking gender-affirming care.
Republicans who pushed for the reporting requirements say that it won’t include identifying information. But transgender advocates still worry. Over the past few years, Marianna Bacallao (@ba.marianna) reports that the legislature has passed a host of laws limiting the care that transgender patients can receive. In 2023, the state’s Attorney General was able to obtain detailed medical records of transgender patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Other laws passed in 2026 named June “Nuclear Family Month” and required schools, prisons and shelters to only recognize a person’s sex at birth in gendered spaces — meaning transgender women could be placed in male prisons or trans boys could only use the girl’s locker room. Tennessee already has several laws requiring gendered spaces in K-12 schools to adhere to a child’s sex assigned at birth.
Follow along for more from reporter Marianna Bacallao and tap link in bio for more stories.
How will Metro spend your tax dollars? The answer will materialize soon as councilmembers work through Nashville’s annual budget process.
Residents can comment on June 2. And there are already interesting proposals on the table, as the leaders of city agencies have made presentations and answered questions with members of Metro Council.
See highlights in this post to learn more about the mayor’s $3.8 billion spending plan.
“When the FMLA was passed in 1993, it was groundbreaking,” said Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
“But a lot of folks can`t take unpaid leave.”
The Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, guarantees employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for their own serious health condition or to care for a parent, spouse or child with a serious medical condition.
Roughly 60% of workers in the U.S. qualify to take FMLA, but two-thirds of eligible employees said they wouldn’t take FMLA because they could not afford to go without pay, according to the Department of Labor.
FMLA guarantees unpaid leave, but some people can still get a paycheck on this leave. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia require employers to provide paid family leave programs. Or you can apply another form of paid time off, like PTO or paid sick leave, to the time you take away from work under the protection of FMLA.
Tap link in bio for the full story, and follow for more from HealthQ, in partnership with @kffhealthnews.
Illustration: Candice Evers
Curious Nashville Returns!
Back by popular demand, the WPLN fan favorite series Curious Nashville is here to investigate oddities, share local history, tell stories of interesting people, and explain how local institutions operate.
You ask the questions, and we answer.
More Headlines
How kudzu became the ‘vine that ate the South’
Survey: How to protect Nashville’s trees, creeks and stars
NashVillager Podcast: Debunking James Earl Ray’s conspiracy defense
GOP leaders blast plan to fund immigrant nonprofit in Metro budget
The surprising depth of affection in Ashley Monroe’s “I Hate Nashville”
HealthQ: Could Your Kid Benefit From Counseling? Experts Offer 3 Questions To Help You Decide
WPLN Originals
Topics
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM
