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Curious Nashville

Curious Nashville follow-up: No progress on adding more languages for Tennessee’s drivers tests, but pressure is growing

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In addition to Arabic, a coalition is also asking the state to add Somali, Mandarin, Cantonese and Amharic options to their drivers tests.

Podcast: How did Nashville become such a Kurdish epicenter?

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Nashville is a hub for Kurdish culture and community. But how did this come to be? That’s what we’re exploring in the latest longform episode of Curious Nashville.

Curious Nashville: What’s with the Hogwarts-looking tower at Vanderbilt University?

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The west end of Vanderbilt University’s campus has seen its fair share of new buildings go up since 2018, but one tower rises above the rest.

Podcast: How an ornamental tree led neighbors to the history of their North Nashville corner

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A sixth-generation Nashvillian says she’s rarely surprised by new information about her city — but did start wondering about what she describes as a “bonsai-looking cypress tree” in her yard. She uncovered a rich history about her neighborhood and shares it with Curious Nashville.

Curious Nashville: How an ornamental tree led neighbors to their street’s hidden history

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Liz Cannon reached out to WPLN’s Curious Nashville project about the “bonsai-looking cypress tree” in her backyard. She wanted to know its history and took it upon herself to do some investigating beforehand.

Podcast: Why are freight trains blocking Tennessee streets so often?

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In the past two years, nearly 2,000 people have logged federal complaints about stopped trains blocking road crossings in Tennessee. Sometimes, an entire day passes before the trains get rolling again. As federal officials ramp up their tracking of this chronic problem, WPLN’s Cindy Abrams documents the concern and explains the factors that lead to […]

Curious Nashville: Freight trains keep blocking city streets and frustrating commuters. Can anything be done?

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It can be a daily frustration in some Nashville neighborhoods: a freight train grinds to a halt and blocks the road. The frustration prompted a question to our Curious Nashville project.

Curious Nashville: How to say ‘Demonbreun’ and 4 other unusual Tennessee pronunciations

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If you’re new to Nashville, and no one’s told you yet, let me be the first. That name is not pronounced the way you think.

Podcast: Why isn’t Arabic available for Tennessee’s driving exam?

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Just after English and Spanish, Arabic ranks as the third-most spoken language in Tennessee, with nearly 27,000 people in the state who speak it. But there are less common languages offered on the written driving exam in Tennessee. In this extended version of earlier reporting on WPLN News, Alexis Marshall explores why.

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