Keep us strong. You power public media.Donate todayWednesday, April 15, 2026Good morning! Paige Pfleger

When I set out to report an investigation, as WPLN’s criminal justice reporter who mostly focuses on investigative work, it’s hard to know how it will land.

Sometimes the work can take months — pouring through documents, reaching out to sources, drafting and editing — until we finally get to publication day.

But from the time we hit publish, there’s no guarantee what kind of impact the story will have. Will people read it? Will they be moved by it?

So, it always feels sort of miraculous when that story lands in front of the right people and becomes proof of a problem… and then, in this case, that it began a movement to change a state law.

WHAT TO KNOW

Photo credit: Andrea Morales for ProPublicaTennessee lawmakers passed legislation to fix the state’s controversial threats of mass violence law, which had resulted in children being charged with felonies over jokes and misunderstandings.

The change comes after pressure from advocates and investigations by ProPublica and WPLNthat found that many of the children charged had disabilities and were students of color. One of the youngest children charged with a felony last year was 6.

Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the bill, which will require that school officials only report student threats to police if a threat is “credible,” meaning reasonably expected to be carried out.

Previously, a school administrator who failed to report any threat of mass violence could be charged with a misdemeanor.

In one case ProPublica and WPLN investigated, an autistic teenager with an intellectual disability told his teacher that his backpack would blow up if anyone touched it. Police only found a stuffed bunny inside, but they arrested and charged him with making a threat of mass violence. That child’s mother is now suing the school district; the case is ongoing.

You can read more about the change in law and how it came to be on our website.

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

What help is the federal government offering now to people impacted by Winter Storm Fern?The effects of the storm continue to be felt, this time in the form of red tape. Plus, the local news for April 15, 2026, and this week’s edition of What Where Whens-day.

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MORE TO KNOW

• The Beacon Center of Tennessee has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to repeal a sweeping ban on data centers and cryptocurrency mines enacted by Hawkins County late last year.As WUOT’s Pierce Gentry reports, the conservative think tank represents ExoticRidge, a Kentucky-based cryptocurrency mining company which wants to build a bitcoin mine adjacent to a fractionation plant in the farming community of Bulls Gap. Many people who live nearby say they don’t want a bitcoin mine next door, fearing the potential for noise pollution and increased energy rates.
   
• The explosion at a munitions plant in Hickman County that killed 16 people in October could have ignited for a multitude of reasons due to dangerous working conditions, according to a six-month investigation by state officials. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 100 citations and a record $3.1 millionpenalty against Accurate Energetic Systems. All but five citations from TOSHA were considered “serious” due to dangerous or even life-threatening working conditions, according to a review of the documents provided to WPLN’s Caroline Eggers.
   
• College students who participate in walkouts could be suspended or expelled under a new measure passed by the Tennessee General Assembly on Monday. WPLN’s Marianna Bacallao reports that the Charlie Kirk Act, named for the late conservative activist, addresses free speech on college campuses. It would require colleges and universities to sign the University of Chicago’s policy on freedom of speech — and prohibit administrations from uninviting a speaker based on their opposition to abortion or LGBTQ rights.

FROM WNXP

Summer Joy emerged a singer-songwriter with strong ties to Nashville’s young-and-rising R&B scene. In March, she released her debut project, the “Lessons in Love” EP. Its five tracks drift by in just 13 minutes, all rustling acoustic textures and jazz undertones, but it’s hardly a slight statement. With her posture of openness and the reedy, winning warmth of her vocals, Joy inquires into the limitless capacity of love.

She sat down in the Nashville Public Radio studios for one of her first in-depth interviews to date. 

FROM THIS IS NASHVILLE

Tennessee could get about $1 billion to invest in its rural health care over the next five years. Gov. Bill Lee and his administration are drumming up excitement for the plan, which they say is an opportunity to rebuild the state’s broken rural health infrastructure. But some critics are worried there may be strings attached. We’re sorting through the good, the bad and the unknown in this moment of rural health transformation.

Stream This is Nashville with host Blake Farmer on YouTube, or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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