TheVoiceOfJoyce TheNashVillager Captures what’s on everyone’s mind & Community affairs are addressed. Some are not happy with their utility and with out power for 10 days. The school day starts later for teens and ICE raids are on every one’s mind.

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View online| Forward to a friendSponsored by Wildwood ResortFriday, February 6, 2026Good morning! Emily SinerA few nights ago, I went to the weekly community dinner at Trinity Community Commons in East Nashville. People kept saying hello and asking me how I was doing. I kept having the same answer:

“UGH!”

I was on day 10 without power in my home. At first, I’d been comforted by the fact that half the city was dealing with this. But by the time the number of outages had dropped to about 30,000, I felt increasingly bitter. All my friends had gotten power restored. The crisis seemed to be over, but here I was. I was in a real mood.

“We still don’t have power!” I complained to one neighbor. “We’re living out of an Airbnb! I’m slowly sinking into despair.”

“It’s really hard,” he said, nodding. “I’m so sorry.”

I remembered, at that moment, that this man had been homeless for months, bouncing between shelters across town and motels in East Nashville. He would not have been able to afford night after night of short-term rentals. Nor was he certain that his displacement would soon come to an end, like I was.

“I mean —” I stumbled over myself. “We’re OK. We’re lucky.”

I hope you’re OK too, dear reader. But also, it’s OK if you’re not. If you’re one of the last one percent of homes that hasn’t gotten power back. If your pipes have burst, or a tree branch fell on your roof. Or if you didn’t have a stable place to stay in the first place.

The biggest part of the crisis is over, but the effects will linger for a while.

WHAT TO KNOW

Photo: Alexis Marshall / WPLNStarting this fall, many Nashville students will start their school days a little later. The Board of Education adopted a proposal this week to push back school start and end times:

  • High schoolers will begin school 20 minutes later, starting at 7:25 a.m. and dismissing at 2:25 p.m. (They currently start at 7:05 a.m.)
  • Elementary students and Early Learning Centers will see a shift of 10 minutes, starting at 8:10 a.m. and dismissing at 3:10 p.m.
  • There’s no change for middle schoolers. Middle schools will still start at 8:55 a.m. and dismiss at 3:55 p.m.

WPLN’s Camellia Burris reports the new schedule for Metro Nashville Public Schools is based on community feedback, transportation logistics and research about adolescent sleep.

Since last fall, the district and city gathered feedback through town halls, focus groups and surveys, which resulted in more than 23,000 responses. Survey results showed a general consensus that high school start times were too early. 

“This decision reflects months of listening to our community and carefully weighing what is both meaningful for students and workable for families and educators,” said MNPS Superintendent Adrienne Battle. “Even modest adjustments can make a real difference, and this plan moves us forward in a thoughtful, responsible way.”

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On today’s episode of the NashVillagerpodcast with host Nina Cardona 🎙️ 

Why is NES the only option for electricity in Nashville? The Nashville Electric Service was founded out of a triumph of private utilities over private companies. It’s been the only source for power in the city ever since. Plus the local news for February 6, 2026 and Nashville’s Kurds react to news from their homeland. 

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MORE TO KNOW

  • Some immigrant families have been staying in homes with no power, afraid that going to a warming site or calling 911 will put them on ICE’s radar. Lisa Sherman Luna with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said that fear can put the whole community at risk. And she took issue with the timing of Republican state lawmakers who filed their latest immigration package during the winter storm. WPLN’s Marianna Bacallao reports on the latest immigration news, including the deportation of a mother in Rutherford County after a yearlong fight to get her infant daughter back from state custody.
    • See also: More than 100 students at Brentwood High School walked out of their classrooms this week in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. [The Tennessean]
       
  • Noticeably, more locals have been hanging out on Lower Broadway since the winter storm hit. Instead of avoiding the touristy parts of the city, many Nashvillians sought shelter in downtown hotels when they were without power. “It’s cool to kind of see the people we live around out here,” Teeter Brenden, a daytime bouncer at Alan Jackson’s Good Time Bar, told WPLN’s Justin Barney. Turns out Broadway is still fun for locals! (But only when everyone else has stayed home.)
     
  • You know what you get when you mix frozen rainwater and roads? Potholes. Nashville’s Department of Transportation deputy director Phillip Jones says the city is expecting a lot of potholes incoming. Jones said NDOT will have is going to have four to eight crews out filling potholes in the next few days. If you see one, you can report it to Hub Nashville.

FROM THIS IS NASHVILLE

The streets are lined with trunks and limbs awaiting pickup. The power is back on for most — though not all. But the response is going to be discussed and debated for a long time to come. We start in this episode with our roundabout panel: columnist Bruce Barry of the Tennessee Lookout, WPLN’s Metro Reporter Cynthia Abrams and attorney Rita Roberts-Turner, former chief of staff for a former Nashville mayor.

Your input is central to our show. Call (615) 751-2500 to leave us your feedback. Submit your idea or email us. Stream This is Nashville with host Blake Farmeron YouTube, or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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