NASHVILLE—“You go into these positions understanding that your shelf life can be limited and you&#8217;re also always walking on eggs. We all work by the grace of somebody.” 
That was the response from Errol, a law enforcement officer from New York, minutes after listening to outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem address law enforcement from around the country shortly after she was reassigned by President Donald Trump.
At 1:41 p.m., Trump announced on Truth Social that he was moving Noem from head of the Department of Homeland Security to a special envoy for a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere. He said Noem would be replaced by Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin. 
Roughly 25 minutes later, Noem walked onto the stage in a conference room of the Grand Hyatt Hotel off Broadway to talk to law enforcement gathered for the Major Cities Conference organized by the Sergeants Benevolent Association. 
During her speech to law enforcement gathered for the Major Cities Conference, Noem spoke for roughly 35 minutes about the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, efforts to work with local law enforcement, and support for the families of law enforcement officers. She did not discuss her new role or take questions about her replacement at DHS. 
&#8220;Thank you for all that you do to keep people safe and to hold your oath, to be out in our communities, protecting people from public safety threats, but also being an example to our next generation of Americans,&#8221; Noem said.
Noem touted the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to crack down on crime in cities like Memphis and its partnership with local law enforcement agencies on immigration enforcement throughout her speech.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Noem just left. No questions about Trump reassigning her from being DHS secretary <a href="https://t.co/tDEDp7fZlt">pic.twitter.com/tDEDp7fZlt</a>
— Leif Le Mahieu (@leif_lemahieu) <a href="https://twitter.com/leif_lemahieu/status/2029643369920774339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Noem took a few questions after her speech from several attendees in front of the crowd of attendees and a few who were lined up by the staff. None of those who asked questions mentioned her replacement at DHS.
In the minutes leading up to the speech, attendees started buzzing as the news broke. One man walked by the section where the press was delegated to in the back and excitedly asked if reporters had seen Trump’s post. 
After the speech, The Daily Wire spoke with multiple attendees from coast to coast. They all praised the Trump administration’s strong support for law enforcement and said they appreciated Noem’s speech. 
Joel, a police officer from Milwaukee, said he thought the speech was “very good” and said he thought Noem did a “great job” as head of DHS. 
“He’s [Trump] done this with other people. I don’t necessarily think that it means that she didn’t do a good job. I just think Trump likes to shake things up,” he said. “Maybe with everything that’s going on, he just wants someone to get a different voice. I saw that he’s going to move her to another position, so it’s not like he’s firing her like people want to put out there and say, because they want to make her look bad.” 
He added that he had a “lot of respect” for Noem and that she still gave the speech despite the news breaking minutes before. 
Stephen, from Central California, said he saw the news break and was wondering if Noem would show up for the speech. 
“I thought she was doing a good job. You get politics at that highest level, which is kind of the nature of it,” adding that it was “pretty rare” for a cabinet secretary to make it the entire presidency. 
Errol from New York said he thought Noem’s speech was “excellent” and said it was nice to hear her speak. 
Noem’s tenure as head of DHS comes to an end after a heated Senate hearing, in which Noem blamed Trump for approving questionable contracts worth over $200 million for deportation ads, which raised <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/docs-show-dhs-specifically-steered-200m-ad-contracts-raising-questions-about-noems-testimony?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=13&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Docs+Show+DHS+Specifically+Steered+%24200M+Ad+Contracts%2C+Raising+Questions+About+Noem%E2%80%99s+Testimony">concerns</a> about potential conflicts of interest.

MixCollage-05-Mar-2026-03-35-PM-3998

Minutes After Trump Replaced Her, Noem Highlights Key Point About Her Work

Department of Homeland Security

Kristi Noem

Law Enforcement

Nashville

Tennessee

<a href="https://anniebosko.com/">Annie Bosko</a> is a California-native country singer whose latest hit is a plea to save her home state.
The song is called &#8220;<a href="https://anniebosko.com/">Goodbye California</a>,&#8221; which she describes as the most &#8220;beautiful state in the world.&#8221; And while its title sounds like the closing of a chapter, she hopes her song brings about a welcome change to a place she says has rapidly declined since the pandemic.
Bosko hails from Thousand Oaks, California, and has fond memories growing up on a farm, surrounded by her four siblings. Fresh air, hard work, and endless miles of beauty are what she remembers most about where she was born and raised.
Living in Nashville, the country music capital, she still associates the real cowboys of the world with the West, especially California, known for cattle farms and growing a large portion of the country&#8217;s produce. Unfortunately, her home state is now associated with tremendous negativity, and she is addressing that through her lyrics.
&#8220;Now you&#8217;re just a wasteland of dust and broken dreams,&#8221; Bosko says in the song.
Her lyrics address the billions of dollars California spent trying to combat the homeless crisis. Instead, according to the <a href="https://www.ppic.org/blog/californians-concern-about-homelessness-has-softened/">Public Policy Institute of California</a>, the homeless population grew by more than 20% between 2019 and 2024.
Bosko also laments the devastating Palisades wildfires in her song, including how California fire hydrants ran dry. The song&#8217;s bridge highlights California&#8217;s critical issues during the fires that destroyed 23,000 acres.
&#8220;When working hard hardly works, can&#8217;t keep up with the dollar. Even when it&#8217;s free, you can&#8217;t afford the water,&#8221; she sings.
Bosko wants the Golden State to return to its desirable roots. She wants affordability, safety, and an economy that attracts businesses, not one that forces them to relocate.
&#8220;When you lose the things about a place that made it special, it&#8217;s a really sad thing to watch,&#8221; Bosko told The Daily Wire. &#8220;When you lose the history, the culture of a city, and you lose its landmark and what made it so special &#8230; it&#8217;s just hard to come back from that.
In &#8220;Goodbye California,&#8221; she sings about longing for the better days, not just for her, who has finally left it behind, but for those who can&#8217;t leave and are stuck in the current climate.
&#8220;They don&#8217;t feel safe, they can&#8217;t afford a yard,&#8221; Bosko said.
While her goal is to bring change to the state, the song also doubles as a love ballad, with California representing an old flame.
&#8220;Goodbye, California, you still got my heart. This view of you in my rearview is tearing me apart,&#8221; Bosko sings.
Bosko said it was actually Kid Rock who had the idea to make the song have a double meaning.
&#8220;Whichever side you&#8217;re on, you can&#8217;t refute he’s a great artist,&#8221; Bosko said.
While California dreaming has turned into a nightmare for many, Bosko hopes to one day return home, and said she is hopeful California is close to making a comeback. She is honored to release &#8220;Goodbye California&#8221; to the world to help with that.
&#8220;I&#8217;m an artist, so I think our jobs are to look around at what we see, what we observe&#8230; and write about it,&#8221; Bosko said. &#8220;If it can just make a difference in saving California &#8230; because it needs to be saved.&#8221;

Credit: Michael Hickey/Billboard via Getty Images

‘Sad Thing To Watch’: Country Singer Strives To Save California With Her New Song

California

Culture

Music

News

Michael Knowles’ new high-energy show “Bar Fight” is going live from downtown Nashville on Wednesday night, with the Daily Wire host facing off against Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw and liberal political commentator Luke Beasley.
Knowles, Crenshaw, and Beasley are set to debate President Donald Trump’s ongoing military operation against Iran, breaking down an increasingly contentious debate in front of a rowdy Nashville audience. And the debate comes just one day after Crenshaw, who has served in Congress since 2019, lost his primary election in Texas’ 2nd district.
Wednesday night’s heavyweight debate marks the first time “Bar Fight” will stream live. It will only be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/bar-fight">available on DailyWire+</a>.
The three “Bar Fight” participants will also face questions from Daily Wire members and the live Music City audience. The live edition of “Bar Fight” is slightly different from normal programming as past episodes typically feature Knowles facing off against two liberals. Will the audience see Knowles and Crenshaw team up to take down Beasley’s arguments or is there also a divide between the two conservatives?
Crenshaw, a retired Navy SEAL, has supported Trump’s strikes on Iran, while Beasley, who hosts his own political podcast, has called the president’s action “an unconstitutional initiation of a war.”
The Iran conflict, like nearly every political issue, has divided Republicans and Democrats, but the American public is mostly supportive of Trump’s actions so far, according to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/majority-of-voters-back-trumps-operation-epic-fury-view-iran-as-threat-to-global-peace?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=12&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Majority+Of+Voters+Back+Trump%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98Operation+Epic+Fury%2C%E2%80%99+View+Iran+As+%E2%80%98Threat+To+Global+Peace%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a> released by OnMessage on Tuesday. The poll shows that 56% of likely voters support the United States taking out Iranian leadership, while 63% agree with targeting Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile sites. Nearly 70% of respondents, meanwhile, agree with the Trump administration’s argument that Iran is a “threat to global peace and democracy,” and 76% agree that “if Iran built a nuclear weapon, [it] would pose a direct threat to the United States.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/bar-fight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch “Bar Fight” on DailyWire+</a>.

Bar Fight with Michael Knowles

‘Bar Fight’ Goes Live: Knowles Debates Iran War With Republican Dan Crenshaw And Liberal Luke Beasley

Daily Wire

Dan Crenshaw

Donald Trump

Iran

Michael Knowles

U.S. Military

When a crippling ice storm hit Nashville leaving hundreds of thousands in the cold and dark, customers could rest assured knowing that the utility company tasked with restoring power made sure its employees were trained to recognize their &#8220;implicit biases&#8221; and had a diverse friend group.
In January 2026, winter storm Fern slammed into Nashville, leaving a heavy coat of ice that took out trees and powerlines throughout the city. The resulting damage left 230,000 residents without power for days amid frigid temperatures. During the storm, the Nashville Electric Service (NES), a public-private utility responsible for powering the city, was lambasted by residents and elected officials alike for its confusing communication about its preparation and response to the historic storm.
Amid the chaos, Democrat Mayor Freddie O&#8217;Connell attempted to shift blame away from his office while top Republicans pointed to the utility&#8217;s documented focus on DEI and climate change. Republican officials questioned whether the utility had become more focused on politics rather than competency.
<div id="attachment_1052805" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052805" class="size-full wp-image-1052805" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2257840500.jpg" alt="Damaged ice-covered trees and downed power lines during a winter storm in east Nashville, Tennessee, US, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. US power grids are expected to grapple with unprecedented seasonal demand and the threat of blackouts after a damaging winter storm coated parts of the South and Mid-Atlantic in ice - leaving brutal cold in its wake." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2257840500.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2257840500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2257840500-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2257840500-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Photographer: Kate Dearman/Bloomberg via Getty Images.</div>
While previous reporting highlighted NES boasting about its DEI trainings, new documents obtained by The Daily Wire through public record requests reveal the actual trainings.
One training called &#8220;Building a Culture of Trust&#8221; focused on the concept of &#8220;implicit bias,&#8221; a theory that people are unintentionally prejudiced against others based on their identity. A training slide defined implicit bias as &#8220;a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1052633" style="width: 2054px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052633" class="size-full wp-image-1052633" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.20-PM.png" alt="" width="2044" height="1146" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.20-PM.png 2044w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.20-PM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.20-PM-1024x574.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.20-PM-768x431.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.20-PM-1536x861.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2044px) 100vw, 2044px" />NES slide obtained by Daily Wire.</div>
The training was facilitated in 2023 by Chandra Jarrett of the Nashville-based Joy Consulting Group, according to a schedule of trainings obtained by The Daily Wire. It was required for all supervisors and managers. The training did not appear on the schedule for the 2024-2025 training schedule provided to The Daily Wire.
The objective of the training was to &#8220;identify and create a culture of trust&#8221; and to &#8220;identify implicit or unconscious bias to become more aware of the impact on coworkers and customers.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1052625" style="width: 2068px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052625" class="size-full wp-image-1052625" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.40-PM.png" alt="" width="2058" height="1178" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.40-PM.png 2058w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.40-PM-300x172.png 300w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.40-PM-1006x576.png 1006w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.40-PM-768x440.png 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-02-at-12.00.40-PM-1536x879.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2058px) 100vw, 2058px" />NES training obtained by Daily Wire.</div>
Another slide says that implicit bias can be &#8220;thoughts or feelings we have without our conscious knowledge,&#8221; &#8220;can be stereotypes about others,&#8221; or can be &#8220;negative attitudes or opinions about others.&#8221;  To combat implicit bias, employees were told to &#8220;intentionally&#8221; pursue &#8220;diversity in relationships.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1052679" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052679" class="size-full wp-image-1052679" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-53-AM-1619-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />NES slide obtained by Daily Wire.</div>
Employees were asked to consider whether they were &#8220;connected&#8221; to people of different races and sexual orientations than themselves.
<div id="attachment_1052687" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052687" class="size-full wp-image-1052687" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-10-56-AM-4043-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />NES slide obtained by The Daily Wire.</div>
Later in the presentation, employees were given multiple examples of &#8220;implicit bias in the workplace.&#8221; One of the examples of &#8220;sexual orientation bias&#8221; included a fictional scenario where a woman was fired for asking for time off for a &#8220;Pride&#8221; event.
“A woman tells her boss she would like to take off for Pride weekend. Her coworker says, &#8216;You shouldn’t have told him that because he’s not into that.&#8217; A few weeks later the woman is terminated,&#8221; the scenario read. 
<div id="attachment_1052701" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052701" class="size-full wp-image-1052701" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-04-AM-813-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />NES training slide obtained by Daily Wire.</div>
An example of &#8220;gender and professional bias&#8221; in the workplace was the common cultural assumption that men will provide for their families.
&#8220;Men are often seen as &#8216;providers&#8217; for their families, many times receiving higher pay and opportunities for promotion,&#8221; the slide says. &#8220;Women are not given the same opportunities, sometimes considered as inexperienced or unable to complete the same projects/tasks as men.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1052707" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052707" class="size-full wp-image-1052707" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-09-AM-3965-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />NES training slide obtained by Daily Wire.</div>
Another slide says that a hiring manager did not hire a Muslim woman because of her faith, even though the manager determined she did not have the skills for the job.
&#8220;A woman in a hijab applies for a position but she’s not considered because of your belief about Muslims,&#8221; the slide said. &#8220;Your assessment says she was not hired because of skills but the truth is that she was denied because of her ethnicity and faith.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1052713" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1052713" class="size-full wp-image-1052713" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-11-12-AM-9309-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />NES training slide obtained by Daily Wire.</div>
Another slide appeared to be a personal story from the training administrator claiming that a white man told her she would make a &#8220;good maid&#8221; and that a judge confused her son as a criminal defendent because of his hair.
&#8220;A few years ago, my son entered the court room with his client and the judge assumed he was the client because of his locs. My son is an attorney,&#8221; the slide said. &#8220;Early in my engineering career, while working in a production plant, I was told by a White man that I would make a good maid.&#8221;
The presentation concluded by telling employees to &#8220;be curious by asking questions of people who can teach you about your implicit biases&#8221; and &#8220;courageous in admitting your implicit biases with a willingness to grow and change.&#8221;
Several of the slides from the presentation have the logo of the GiANT consulting group. GiANT told The Daily Wire it was not involved in crafting the training and did not create the slides.
&#8220;As part of our Culture of Civility and Belonging Training Series, we implemented these comprehensive professional development programs designed to enhance interpersonal dynamics and operational excellence,&#8221; a spokesman for Nashville Electric Service told The Daily Wire. &#8220;These modules were completed by employees in 2023-2025. We are proud of our employees&#8217; commitment to these principles as they continue to serve our customers.&#8221;
Other trainings obtained by The Daily Wire showed that employees were trained in various leadership and communication styles, team dynamics, conflict resolution, and ways to increase &#8220;belonging&#8221; at the utility.
According to its 2024 Community Investment <a href="https://www.nespower.com/-/media/project/nes/common/pdfs/annual-reports/2024/nes-esg-2024-report-interactive.pdf">report</a>, Nashville Electric Service held 102 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging (DEIAB) themed training sessions in 2023 and into 2024.
&#8220;These courses are the first step in a multi-year training series to foster DEIAB values throughout the organization,&#8221; the report boasted. The trainings were not mentioned in the 2025 community investment report.
As the historic storm left Nashville reeling, the Tennessee Star <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/politics/nashville-electric-service-receives-consulting-for-dei-projects-and-initiatives-from-field-superintendent-who-recruits-new-employees/tpappert/2026/01/29/">reported</a> that the board of Nashville Electric Service was considering the contract of a DEI consultant. That prompted backlash from locals and Republican lawmakers who questioned why the utility was discussing DEI amid the disaster.
A spokesman for NES told The Daily Wire that it does not do DEI training.
&#8220;We hire, train and promote employees in accordance with laws governing non-discrimination, merit-based promotion and overall qualification to execute a job&#8217;s duties. We have had a long-standing commitment to maintaining a workplace culture rooted in mutual respect, civility and trust,&#8221; the company said. 
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), currently running for governor, sent a <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/services/files/7D81B642-E140-4ABA-86C0-CD46005EBDCD">letter</a> to NES on January 30 demanding answers about the utility&#8217;s handling of the storm. In a post on X, Blackburn questioned its DEI initiatives.
&#8220;The Nashville Electric Service held 102 DEI-related training sessions by the end of 2024,&#8221; Blackburn said. &#8220;They should’ve been using those resources to trim trees and bury utilities. This is what happens when companies put woke politics over the needs of the people they serve.&#8221;
In the meantime, NES has <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2026/02/17/nashville-electric-service-lobbyists.html">hired</a> numerous lobbyists to combat the criticism.

MixCollage-03-Mar-2026-01-23-PM-8402

EXCLUSIVE: Before Historic Storm, Embattled Electric Service Asked Workers If They Had Gay Friends

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Implicit Bias

Marsha Blackburn

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Hi, my name is Lauren, and I’m a Los Angeles refugee living in Nashville. It’s been 31 days since I left my apartment on Hollywood Boulevard, where I carried my dog over hypodermic needles and human feces; reported a makeshift meth-lab Jeep on the corner; huddled on the floor of my kitchen during a lunchtime police standoff with an armed, barricaded neighbor; evacuated my apartment because of wildfires; paid $50 for two tacos and a skinny marg; gave another driver the finger while listening to a mindfulness meditation; was called a “pedo” for not honking in support of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-asked-no-kings-protesters-what-made-trump-a-king-they-couldnt-say">No Kings</a> protest; and was unsuccessful at landing a “good morning” response from the guy who walked his black lab past me every day, for six years, completely ignoring my existence.
After downing enough juice cleanses and kale salads to scrub my body of all internal organs, I began to hear rumors of people in other cities living fully realized lives. When I finally summoned the courage to leave the safety of my five-mile-wide bubble to explore these alleged civilizations, I landed in Music City. Immediately, I realized something was off about the place: People were smiling. I made it my mission to find out exactly what they were on. 
Admittedly, the LA talent pool is straight outta Central Casting, but I’m pretty sure one out of every two people in Los Angeles is mentally deranged. (It’s not their fault — they’ve been shopping lame script ideas to anyone who will listen for 47 years.) I befriended a few brilliant diamonds in the rough, but much of the Hollywood crowd was indistinguishable from the life-size, animatronic zombies on seasonal display at Rock &amp; Roll Ralphs on Sunset Boulevard. Was the half-dead creature awkwardly twitching to “Monster Mash” on sale for $99.99 or shopping for corn flakes? It&#8217;s hard to say.
But who am I to judge? I was a shell of a human, too, struggle-bussing it through my slightest-shred-of-kindness-brings-me-to-tears era. When the garbage collector paused to let my dog sniff the grass before grabbing a nearby trash bin with the truck’s monster claw, I waved to him like one of us was going off to war. The time an elderly man held onto my arm to steady himself on the sidewalk, my heart turned to warm mush in my chest. And the parking enforcement officer who didn’t ticket me for accidentally parking at a broken meter? We almost eloped on the spot.
LA’s famous good weather belies the dark cloud coming from the locals. I&#8217;d like to offer California the award for outstanding performance by a state taking a royal dump on the <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/meteorologists/best-weather-in-the-us.htm#:~:text=1.,spend%20time%20outdoors%20year%2Dround.">best weather in America</a>. Its quality of life, like the 1980s mullet, is fine up front and 100% dumpster fire in the back. Perhaps this dichotomy was best illustrated by the time I saw a tourist take a photo of her Erewhon <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mymanabites1/videos/strawberry-glaze-skin-smoothie/1584423176196268/">“Hailey Bieber” smoothie</a> against the part of the sky that was blue while apocalyptic black clouds from the <a href="https://recovery.lacounty.gov/disasters/palisades-fire/">Palisades</a> fire billowed miles into the atmosphere out of frame. By that point, I had already uncovered the righteous irony of “we’re in this together” during the pandemic in a city where next-door neighbors remain lifelong strangers. But a $24 smoothie puts a gilded frame around the insanity.
On a bad day, I liked to think I lived in a mecca for the entitled jerks of other cities (you know, everyone who ever fell for “OMG, are you a model?”). When they were alone in their hometowns, their friends and family kept their egos in check, but assembled in the wild, with the practiced inexpressiveness of the Kardashian-Jenners, their powers aligned to form a narcissist nightmare. On a good day, I lived among those same people, but with, like, fun, puffy clouds.
Meanwhile, back in the normal-sphere, Nashville, Tennessee, ranked 96th on the worldwide <a href="https://happy-city-index.com/">Happy City Index</a> in 2025. Based on my scientific research (wondering why everyone makes eye contact and says “hello”), Nashvillians totally live up to the hype. Couples walk hand-in-hand. Kids can be heard laughing on playgrounds. Bartenders and baristas actually seem to enjoy interacting with customers. People enjoy long walks in the park and non-obsessive exercising. Even a teen death metal band playing a song called “Purgatory” at a dive bar breaks into easy smiles when the singer’s older sister makes them pose for a post-show pic.
Nashville was voted <a href="https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/52614-americans-favorite-city-is-nashville-tennessee-poll">America’s favorite city in 2025</a>, clearly getting the memo on <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/happiness/comments/1ngdu92/joy_maxxing_at_work/">joy-maxxing</a> and spreading the good news. You could say it’s the no <a href="https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/states/tennessee-taxes/?srsltid=AfmBOop9SfQ8fZBMscLt9NmNZIaSiVSyAmrwKL4uW4NVnYX4_40dL2pZ">state income tax</a>, booming <a href="https://news.utk.edu/2025/12/15/boyd-centers-2026-economic-outlook-for-tennessee-shows-positive-but-slow-growth/">job market</a>, A-plus <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2023/08/30/u-s-news-world-report-rankings-reveal-top-high-schools-in-tennessee/70708190007/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=true&amp;gca-epti=z1188xxe1188xxv006373d--70--b--70--&amp;gca-ft=192&amp;gca-ds=sophi">schools</a>, or lively <a href="https://archive.is/20241125130929/https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2024/11/25/nashville-ranked-as-one-of-the-best-cities-in-the-country-to-live-in/76495728007/">music-scene lifestyle</a>, but everyone’s clearly high on life. 
As Tennessee gains followers, California’s star gradually dims. Residents (the <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/15/who-s-leaving-who-s-staying-sf-standard-s-billionaire-tax-tracker/">billionaires</a> and the dollar-aires, like me and my musician boyfriend), have been <a href="https://www.uhaul.com/Articles/About/U-Haul-Growth-Index-Texas-Back-ON-Top-As-No-1-Growth-State-Of-2025-36556/">fleeing the state</a> in record numbers. A hefty <a href="https://dof.ca.gov/forecasting/demographics/estimates/E-2/#:~:text=Net%20domestic%20migration%20from%20California%20became%20more,consistent%20with%20levels%20in%202018%20and%202019.">216,000 people</a> left in 2025. I quickly discovered that U-Haul moving truck rentals cost at least $2,000 more to leave the Golden State versus moving in. I still left.
I’ve met lots of former Californians in Nashville, and I do run into the occasional expat who reminisces about LA weather. I struggle to drum up enthusiasm for the sunshine and succulents when it feels like standing over someone’s great aunt’s funeral casket, marveling at how her makeup gives her a healthy glow. Or like telling Andy Dufresne in “Shawshank Redemption” to crawl back through the escape hatch behind his Raquel Welch poster and once again tuck himself into bed in his prison cell. It’s too soon to reminisce about the weather — for me, anyway.
A grocery cashier in my East Nashville neighborhood noticed my boyfriend’s California ID and joked that she felt lucky to be hanging out with movie stars. (Does everyone here work on tips?) “Well, welcome!” she said. 
“Thank you. It&#8217;s better here,” we blurted out after just days in our new apartment.
“You know, sometimes you’ll see Brad Pitt around here,” she said with a wink.
I spent 15 years working as an actor in commercials, film, and TV in Los Angeles — with a food delivery side hustle for wealthy clients. I saw A-listers on set, on the street, and in their jammies on their million-dollar doorsteps. (Stephen Tyler will never not look like someone’s fun aunt to me. And I swear Bruce Willis promised me his vintage red muscle car.) This woman glowed with the kind of unjaded sweetness that LA almost hammered out of my soul. I felt the misty eyes coming on.
I’m sure I’ll miss glamorously swishy palm trees against pink moon skies, the smell of blooming jasmine on the warm breeze, and my good friends bravely holding down the fort. But as I bask in the glorious aura of people living their best lives, I’m grateful I got out before I was completely consumed. Let Tennessee weather be the crazy lottery that it is. It’s Nashville’s happy world, and I’m just living in it. 
* * *
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

What’s Wrong With Nashville? Everyone Is So Happy Here

Los Angeles

Upstream

A new proposal seeking to crack down on the influx of abortion pills into Tennessee would treat abortion as murder under state law. 
The bill from state Rep. Jody Barrett and Senator Mark Pody <a href="https://x.com/AbolitionistFAA/status/2021945840332308900">says</a> that unborn children are entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment and that all laws protecting life in the state should apply to them. The bill would punish anyone involved in taking the life of an unborn child, including the person who provided the pills and the woman who took the pills with the intention of ending the life of her unborn child. 
Barrett told The Daily Wire that his legislation “extends equal protection rights to unborn children” so that the same laws in the criminal code against homicide would apply to people in the womb. 
The proposal comes as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/despite-dobbs-more-babies-are-still-being-aborted-in-the-united-states">data shows</a> that thousands of abortions have taken place in Tennessee despite a trigger law that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. In 2024, there were at least 5,870 abortions facilitated through abortion pills sent into the state in violation of laws making medication abortions illegal. 
“We don&#8217;t ban abortion, we have banned the practice of abortion by medical professionals. There is no crime in Tennessee for anyone else other than a medical professional that performs an abortion,” Barrett said. 
He believes his proposal, which would criminalize abortion for everyone involved, would help crack down on the abortion pill problem, which has so far stumped pro-life states. Many traditional pro-life groups have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-of-2025-inside-the-conservative-debate-on-criminalizing-abortion">voiced opposition</a> to laws that would criminalize abortion for the mother. 
Barrett says he wants to start a conversation with his proposal and that the numbers show the traditional approach has not worked. 
“My goal in presenting the bill and having it heard is for us to start having that conversation and have a deeper discussion about this topic and where our shortcomings are currently in the law that they&#8217;re preventing us from stopping this completely and ridding this practice completely from our society,” he said. 
Local media outlets have emphasized the possibility that a woman could be given the death penalty for having an abortion. Barrett noted that the death penalty has been sparingly used over the last few decades and said that it would be unlikely a woman would be sentenced to death under his proposal. A jury would still have to find a woman guilty and then unanimously agree to give her the death penalty. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/friendly-fire?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_content=20260224_sotu_aa_desktop&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=banner" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch the State of the Union with The Daily Wire! Live coverage from the nation&#8217;s capital begins at 7:45 ET.</a>
Barrett crafted the legislation with the help of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, a group that seeks to expand equal protection laws to the unborn.
“The equal protection legislation in Tennessee affirms this simple biblical and constitutional standard by making murdering anyone illegal for everyone,” Bradley Pierce, the group’s president, told The Daily Wire. “All image-bearers of God, whether born or preborn, must be treated by our laws as equally valuable and worthy of protection.” 
The legislation was backed by Clint Pressley, the president of the Nashville-headquartered Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. 
“Tennessee now has the opportunity to set an example of how states can protect the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death,” he <a href="https://x.com/pastorclint/status/2024555347709399522">said</a>. “I am urging the Tennessee legislature to move these bills forward this legislative session. It’s both pro-life and consistent!”
The abortion pill problem has plagued pro-life states for years, with data showing that abortions increased in 2025 from 2024. Some advocates have pinned the blame on a Biden-era Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy that allowed abortion pills to be dispensed through the mail without an in-person doctor’s visit.

Anti-Abortion Activists Protest Against Abortion Pill Sales At Pharmacies

Tennessee Bill Would Classify Abortion As Murder

Abortion Would Be Treated As Murder Under Tennessee Bill

Abortion

Abortion drugs

Just a few years after boasting about how transgender surgeries were “huge money makers,” Vanderbilt University Medical Center will no longer perform the procedures.
The Nashville-based health care center confirmed to The Daily Wire that the surgeries, which include procedures like crafting pseudo-genitalia for gender-confused individuals and removing the breasts of women who identify as men, were being phased out for logistical reasons.
“Due to operational limitations and lack of surgical coverage, Vanderbilt Health will cease providing gender-affirming plastic surgeries for adults,” a spokesman for the hospital told The Daily Wire. “Vanderbilt Health continues to provide nonsurgical gender-affirming care for adults 19 years and older. Vanderbilt Health does not provide any gender-affirming care for patients younger than 19.”
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, also known as Vanderbilt Health, is a separate entity from Vanderbilt University.
The hospital’s transgender medical program first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/huge-money-maker-video-reveals-vanderbilts-shocking-gender-care-threats-against-dissenting-doctors">faced criticism</a> in September 2022 when Daily Wire host Matt Walsh published videos highlighting comments from Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor discussing how lucrative transgender surgeries were.
“It’s a lot of money,” said Taylor, the program’s director at the time. “These surgeries make a lot of money.”
Taylor discussed how “chest reconstruction” could bring in $40,000 per patient and described “female-to-male bottom surgeries” — where a fake penis is constructed by taking skin from the forearm, abdomen, and thigh — as “huge money makers.”
“These surgeries are labor intensive, there are a lot of follow-ups, they require a lot of our time, and they make money,” Taylor said. “They make money for the hospital.”
Vanderbilt Health&#8217;s transgender center opened in 2018, and Taylor <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/health/2018/08/21/vanderbilt-transgender-health-clinic-nashville-tennessee/1054571002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> its purpose was “to coordinate” patients&#8217; “care wherever they are in the transition process.”
Taylor has since left VUMC and now runs a primary care center in Massachusetts and <a href="https://www.bluecanyonprimarycare.com/about">describes</a> herself as an expert in “general LGBTQ Health and Adolescent Medicine.”
The investigation from Walsh prompted a statewide probe from Republican officials who moved quickly to pass a ban on transgender procedures for kids. That ban was challenged by the ACLU, but was upheld in June 2025 by the Supreme Court.
Over two dozen states have passed laws to shield minors from transgender surgeries and hormonal procedures. The Trump administration has come down hard on hospitals that offer transgender procedures to kids, pulling federal funding and initiating investigations into hospitals across the country.
One <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=HB2498&amp;GA=114">bill</a> currently making its way through the Tennessee legislature would prohibit dollars from TennCare, the state’s health funding program for impoverished people, from funding transgender procedures.

Four Surgeons discuss each Other Surgical Precision and Healthcare Expertise  before the Operation case

After Boasting About $40K Trans Surgeries, Vanderbilt Health Reverses Course

Social Issues

Transgender

transgender surgery

U.S.

Lights! Camera! How-dee!
The city of Los Angeles is losing film and TV productions at an alarming rate. That opens up new opportunities for cities to prove that La La Land can hunker down just about anywhere.
Take Nashville, for instance. Other non-L.A. destinations have made their mark as production hubs — think Atlanta, Georgia, and Toronto. Now, it may be Nashville’s turn in the spotlight.
The Tennessee locale is known as a country music Mecca. More recently, it’s welcomed a growing group of filmmakers who clamor for its talented locals, rich cultural history and, yes, a lower price tag than the City of Angels.
Think “9-1-1: Nashville,” Showtime’s “George &amp; Tammy,” Nicole Kidman’s “Holland” and the upcoming “Scarpetta” (Prime Video), Netflix’s “Ruth &amp; Boaz,” and a film opening Feb. 20, “I Can Only Imagine 2.”
<div id="attachment_1047423" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1047423" class="size-large wp-image-1047423" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-864x576.jpg" alt="Ryan Murphy Television. User Error Productions. 20Th Television." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Nashville-911.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Nashville 911. Ryan Murphy Television. User Error Productions. 20th Television.</div>
The sequel to the sleeper 2018 hit revisits how MercyMe became a Christian music sensation, and the struggles lead singer Bart Millard (John Michael Finley) had following his breakthrough hit.
Co-Founder of Kingdom Story Co. and co-director of the film Andrew Erwin, a pioneer in the faith-based film space, tells The Daily Wire why he tackled the sequel.
“It’s the movie that you didn’t know you needed,” he says. The first film appeared to wrap Bart Millard’s story up, but the singer and his fellow musician Tim Timmons — played by Milo Ventimiglia in the film — suffered subsequent tragedies that made a follow-up film make sense.
<div id="attachment_1047439" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1047439" class="size-large wp-image-1047439" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-865x576.jpg" alt="Photo by Jake Giles Netter/Lionsgate/Jake Giles Netter/Lionsgate - copyright 2026 Lionsgate" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Milo-Mercy-Me.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Jake Giles Netter/copyright 2026 Lionsgate</div>
And Nashville has proven to be particularly welcoming to Christian artists. That wasn’t the case back in Los Angeles, Erwin said.
“There’s a group of us that started doing faith stories 15, 20 years ago, and we were all struggling to get our feet under us,” Erwin says. “We could literally end any dinner party in L.A. by saying we were faith film guys. They would instantly get a fake phone call and walk out of the meeting.”
Entertainment culture started to swing in their spiritual direction.
“Something has shifted in the past 10 years, particularly in the last five … there has been an appetite for hope. Stories of faith were considered cheesy. Now, they’re counter-culture, rebellious. It’s kind of punk rock.”
<div id="attachment_1047343" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1047343" class="size-large wp-image-1047343" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261337233-384x576.jpg" alt="NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 12: Andrew Erwin attends the &quot;I Can Only Imagine 2&quot; Nashville Premiere at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on February 12, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261337233-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261337233-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261337233.jpg 683w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Jason Kempin/Getty Images</div>
What better place than Music City to sing from their storytelling hymnals?
“There’s been a real freedom here,” says Erwin, who even bumps into fellow filmmakers at church. “You don’t have to apologize for us being able to do things that we believe.”
“For whatever reason, a group of actors and writers and directors and producers are all finding (Nashville),” he continues. “I can’t give a reason why … we just feel like we’re supposed to be here.”
“I Can Only Imagine 2” filmed exclusively in Nashville, save a critical sequence shot at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. The veteran filmmaker was initially hesitant to lean so heavily on Nashville, but the film’s team assuaged those fears.
“We had been worried if the crews were strong enough … it was the best crew I ever had … the most cheerful, the most team-oriented, the least amount of divas, blue collar, everything you aspire to,” he says.
He still wants the state to beef up its incentive programs to grow that crew base and keep it steadily employed.
Nashville has an Oscar-winning benefactor on its side: Kidman is eager to make movies closer to her <a href="https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/nicole-kidman-keith-urban-kids-divorce-custody-home/">Tennessee home</a>. 
<div id="attachment_1047431" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1047431" class="size-large wp-image-1047431" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Kidman-holland-1024x425.jpg" alt="Photo by Courtesy of Prime/Courtesy of Prime - copyright Amazon Content Services LLC" width="1024" height="425" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Kidman-holland-1024x425.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Kidman-holland-300x125.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Kidman-holland-768x319.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Kidman-holland-1536x638.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Kidman-holland.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Courtesy of Prime/Courtesy of Prime &#8211; copyright Amazon Content Services LLC</div>
Plus, newer studio space is helping smooth this transition. <a href="https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts_culture/coverstory/nashville-film-industry/article_b76671a9-cee1-44e5-84cb-6f30cf4fa99a.html">Recent Nashville-area additions</a> include Vu Studios in West Nashville, Worldwide Stages in Spring Hill, and Skyway Studios.
Erick Goss, CEO of the Christian streaming platform Minno, says Nashville has a cultural advantage.
“People recognize there’s a real creative community here in Nashville [already] with Christian and country music, a real appreciation of the arts,” says Goss, who established his kid-focused company in the city seven years ago.
“It’s not like institutions have moved here, but talent has moved here,” Goss says. “It’s different than Seattle or L.A. There’s a real sense of pride and civic nature here … people love what Nashville stands for and want to be a part of it.”
Some pieces of the Hollywood-like puzzle are still missing, he says.
“There are really world-class storytellers here in Nashville. They don’t necessarily have access to capital in the way they need,” he says.
Goss brings a wealth of experience to Minno, including time spent at Amazon and in the U.S. Military. He praises Nashville as having the “highest caliber” of talent he’s seen. What’s missing? Major tech companies that can complement the city’s blossoming production.
<div id="attachment_1047341" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1047341" class="size-large wp-image-1047341" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261145346-864x576.jpg" alt="NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 13: (L-R) Tim Timmons, Milo Ventimiglia, Bart Millard, John Michael Finley and Trace Adkins attend Lionsgate's &quot;I Can Only Imagine 2&quot; Night at The Grand Ole Opry on February 13, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Lionsgate)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261145346-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261145346-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261145346-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2261145346.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Lionsgate</div>
“What company will aggregate and bring that talent together?” he asks. “We need more talented operators coming into the systems, creating companies that execute really well,” he says, noting that Erwin’s “I Can Only Imagine 2” arrives courtesy of his partnership with Lionsgate, an established film studio.
The key to creating the next L.A.-style production hub is simple, Goss says.
“Get the best projects, the best people, and the best money together. That’s happening. We’re beginning to see these things coalesce [in Nashville],” he says.
Erwin says it helps to believe in both the city and a Higher Power.
“There’s an emboldening that happens when you realize you’re not alone. I can really stay true to the stories I’ve felt called to tell and not have to apologize for it because there are a lot of others who believe what I believe,” Erwin says. “It’s been amazing to see people of faith just find Nashville.”
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
This article has been updated for clarity.

Only Imagine

Hollywood Heads South: Music City’s Faith-Based Film Boom

Bible

Entertainment

Faith

Film

Hollywood

Movies

A Tennessee court has overturned a judge’s decision to block the release of writings by the transgender-identifying woman who killed three children and three adults during an attack on a Christian school in Nashville in March 2023.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/Majority%20Opinion%20-%20%20M2024-01139-COA-R3-CV.pdf">said</a> Wednesday that the city of Nashville must allow inspection of the writings of The Covenant School attacker under public record laws. In August 2024, Davidson County Judge I’Ashea Myles <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservative-publisher-appeals-decision-to-block-release-of-covenant-attackers-writings?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Conservative+Publisher+Appeals+Decision+To+Block+Release+Of+Covenant+Attacker%E2%80%99s+Writings">ruled</a> that copyright claims put on the writings preempted public records requests.
“Construing the [Tennessee Public Records Act] broadly to promote access to public records, as we are required, we conclude that under these particular circumstances, the only overt action Metro must take to meet its obligation is to allow Petitioners access to the records for personal inspection,” the judges wrote. “Simply put, so long as Metro maintains the records, it must allow Petitioners access … for personal inspection.”
The writings of the shooter include journal entries made in the months leading up to the March 27, 2023, attack. After the attack, the Nashville Police Department refused to release the writings, citing an ongoing investigation. A group of parents whose children attended The Covenant School also intervened to block the release of the writings, citing a copyright claim to the materials granted by the attacker’s parents.
The parents and the school also said that releasing the attacker’s writings would cause school safety concerns, a position that Myles agreed with in her ruling.
“This conclusion strains credulity, and we are neither willing nor able to make the blind logical leap the Covenant Intervenors ask of us,” the appeals court said, noting that many of the writings were made years before the attack.
The judges also said that there was no school shooter manifesto exemption to public records law because of fears about the writings inspiring future attacks.
“Respectfully, this argument is rooted in speculation about potential future events, not facts present in the record before us. This is a policy debate not contemplated by, or anywhere mentioned in” public records law, the judges said.
The parties who sued for access to the writings included Tennessee Star publisher Michael Patrick Leahy, the Tennessee Firearms Association, The Tennessean, and the National Police Association. Leahy was represented by the America First Legal Foundation.
“This unanimous ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals is a major victory for freedom of the press, the people of the State of Tennessee, and The Tennessee Star,” Leahy <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/covenant-school-shooting/court-of-appeals-gives-the-tennessee-star-major-victory-in-covenant-manifesto-case/tpappert/2026/02/04/">said</a> of the ruling. “It is in the public interest for all of these documents to be released to us expeditiously, as the Court of Appeals ruled.”
Despite these efforts, portions of the shooter’s writings have already been released through the FBI and through media reports, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/covenant-journal-revealed-my-imaginary-penis?author=Brent+Scher&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=COVENANT+JOURNAL+REVEALED%3A+Shooter+Said+Being+Female+Was+A+‘F***ing+Curse%2C’+That+She’d+‘Kill’+To+Have+Had+Puberty+Blockers">including</a> The Daily Wire. Ramblings of the shooter posted by the FBI in December 2025 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-covenant-school-killer-hated-religion-and-white-people-fbi-files-reveal?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Covenant+School+Killer+Hated+‘Religion’+And+‘White+People%2C’+FBI+Files+Reveal">revealed</a> that she hated white people and religion.

3 children, 3 teachers fatally shot in US city of Nashville school shooting

Court Says Nashville Cannot Block Access To Covenant Shooter’s Writings

Courts

School Shooting

The Covenant School

Self-described antifascist anarchists advertised their plans to protest at the <a href="https://yaf.org/events/nashville/">Nashville Freedom Conference</a> later this week, which will feature Daily Wire hosts Michael Knowles, Reagan Conrad, and Cabot Phillips, along with Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan.
A leftist Nashville group, which goes by the name 615 Antifascist, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/antifascist_615/">posted</a> a flyer on social media calling for people to &#8220;rally against transphobia&#8221; at the Nashville Freedom Conference on Saturday, February 7. The Freedom Conference, hosted by the Young America&#8217;s Foundation, is a two-day event that begins Friday and is expected to draw hundreds of young conservatives from across the country.
The anarchist group specifically called out Knowles, whom they accused of making &#8220;inflammatory&#8221; comments, &#8220;especially around transgender people.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been informed that Antifa intends to protest my speech on Friday. The last time they sent a goon to one of my speaking events, he ended up in federal prison,&#8221; Knowles said on Monday. &#8220;Looking forward to another opportunity to help correct America&#8217;s under-incarceration problem!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I&#8217;ve been informed that Antifa intends to protest my speech on Friday. The last time they sent a goon to one of my speaking events, he ended up in federal prison.
Looking forward to another opportunity to help correct America&#8217;s under-incarceration problem! <a href="https://t.co/nllaYT0aLX">pic.twitter.com/nllaYT0aLX</a>
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/2018402892525207641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It&#8217;s unclear if the group has any plans to also protest on Friday, when Knowles is scheduled to take the stage.
Knowles commented further on the leftist group&#8217;s protest plans during his show on Tuesday.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a Nashville antifa — even in Nashville. Nowhere is sacred, I guess. This is the &#8216;rally against transphobia.&#8217; They&#8217;re still on this; they&#8217;re still on the trans thing,&#8221; Knowles said. &#8220;They never give it up because it&#8217;s the apotheosis of liberalism, because the transgender ideology is the culmination of centuries of the liberal impulse for radical liberation from everything, including morality, social order, religion, God, and even the self.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Zohran Mamdani Freezes 16 New Yorkers To DEATH" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Utd803pNIpY?start=167&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Knowles is used to leftists and anarchists showing up to make a scene when he speaks, and in one instance, three years ago, a protest became violent.
In 2023, a leftist protester attempted to disrupt an event featuring Knowles at the University of Pittsburgh by setting off homemade smoke bombs and shooting a firework into a crowd of protesters and police officers, injuring one person. The protester, 37-year-old Brian DiPippa, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/protester-who-shot-firework-explosive-at-police-during-michael-knowles-event-sentenced">sentenced</a> to five years in prison.
Knowles has enraged radical leftists for years over his strong stance against gender procedures. During a 2023 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Knowles <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/knowles-at-cpac-there-is-no-meeting-halfway-between-truth-and-falsehood">argued</a> that &#8220;transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.&#8221;
The comment sparked a firestorm from leftists who falsely claimed that Knowles was arguing for the eradication of trans-identifying people.
The Nashville antifascist group said in its flyer that the Freedom Conference &#8220;will include leadership sessions, and a lineup of right-wing voices from media designed to &#8216;confront the Left&#8217;s narratives&#8217; and mobilize young conservatives across campuses and communities.&#8221; Other featured speakers at the event include CNN conservative contributor Scott Jennings, conservative activist Robby Starbuck, and pro-life activist Abby Johnson.
The anarchists told people to meet at a Lutheran church just a block away from the hotel in downtown Nashville where the conference is being held.
The antifascist group <a href="https://615antifascist.com/">says</a> it&#8217;s &#8220;a collective of anonymous individuals based in Nashville, Tennessee, united in the mission to combat Fascism in all its manifestations.&#8221; The group focuses on protesting the Trump administration&#8217;s policies and &#8220;rejecting oppressive social norms &#8230; such as racism, sexism, xenophobia, capitalism, and transphobia.&#8221;

Michael Knowles/antifascist protest

‘Antifascist’ Anarchists Plan To Protest Nashville Freedom Conference Headlined By Daily Wire

General

Leftism

Reagan Conrad

The Daily Wire

Young America's Foundation

Conservative leaders, lawmakers, and activists will gather in downtown Nashville on Friday as The Daily Wire and Young America’s Foundation launch the ‘Freedom at 250’ national tour, an event aimed at celebrating constitutional governance amid national unrest.
The rally, titled the “Freedom at 250: Its Defense Requires Action” tour kickoff, is expected to draw a capacity crowd of young conservatives and will feature remarks headlined by Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles.
Organizers say they intend to emphasize support for constitutional government, the rule of law, and civic responsibility amid a wave of protests and unrest that has erupted in cities across the country in recent weeks. Young America’s Foundation President and former Wisconsin GOP Governor Scott Walker said the event is meant to serve as a response to what he described as “well‑funded left‑wing agitation,” citing recent protests in Minnesota that have disrupted federal immigration enforcement operations.
“As America approaches its 250th anniversary, this rally stands as a call to uphold the rule of law and the timeless principles our Founding Fathers fought to establish,” Walker said, adding that the Nashville event would highlight “ordered liberty, civic responsibility, and a nation grounded in law.”
Local left-wing activist groups have announced plans to stage a counter-protest, underscoring the sharp political divide surrounding the event.
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, one of the headline speakers of the rally, said the gathering reflects a broader effort to equip young conservatives to confront what he characterized as ideological intimidation on college campuses and in public life. 
“The radical Left has stopped trying to win arguments and started relying on intimidation and outright violence,” Knowles said. “That’s why it matters that students are equipped with the intellectual tools they need to prevail in a hostile culture.”
Knowles referenced prior disruptions at his events by left-wing activists, saying he would continue to speak publicly despite threats of protest. 
The Nashville rally marks the first stop on a yearlong tour combining Young America’s Foundation’s campus outreach efforts with The Daily Wire’s media platform. Organizers say future events will focus on engaging young Americans on issues of constitutional governance, American history, and cultural influence.
In addition to Gov. Lee and former Gov. Walker, speakers scheduled to appear include Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan; filmmaker and activist Robby Starbuck; former Green Beret Nick Freitas; and country music artist Lee Greenwood. Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips will serve as emcee.
Ahead of the rally, Young America’s Foundation is also hosting a free student-activist training session aimed at equipping conservative students with organizing and advocacy skills.
The Nashville Freedom Rally will take place on Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. CT.

MixCollage-29-Nov-2023-04-02-PM-8528

The Daily Wire, Young America’s Foundation Set To Celebrate ‘Freedom At 250’ In Nashville On Friday

Lee Greenwood

Rally

Robby Starbuck

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — While Tennessee leads the nation in many ways, it often ranks as one of the unhealthiest states in the country. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tennessee Republican leadership hope to address that issue within the boundaries of traditional American liberty. 
Kennedy stopped by the Tennessee state capitol on Wednesday for a meeting with Governor Bill Lee and other GOP leadership as part of his Take Back Your Health tour. During his speech, Kennedy spoke about various initiatives the Trump administration had launched to invest in rural health care, remove harmful additives from food, increase pricing transparency, and study the dramatic increase in autism. 
“President Trump told me that [he] wants to make the American public, every patient, the CEO of their own healthcare [so] that you can make good decisions and that you’ll have access to your own information,” Kennedy said. 
Kennedy’s speech was given in the old chambers of the Tennessee Supreme Court to a packed crowd of lawmakers and invited guests. He received a warm welcome from the crowd, but was met with a few hecklers outside the room who were upset about some of Kennedy’s positions on vaccines. 
<div id="attachment_1038869" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1038869" class="size-full wp-image-1038869" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1928" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-300x226.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-765x576.jpg 765w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-768x578.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-1536x1157.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/PXL_20260204_174719331.TS-000-2048x1542.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Kennedy in Nashville: Daily Wire.</div>
Kennedy was introduced by state GOP leadership that included Lee and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin).
“Tennessee is leading the nation in many ways, and there’s a lot of things we can brag about. But when we’re doing that, you should also acknowledge areas where we need to do better. And one of those is with regards to our health outcomes,” Johnson said, noting that the Volunteer State had comparatively high rates of infant mortality, obesity, and diabetes 
According to HHS, Tennessee <a href="https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/fc0324d9-ccb8-42a7-b333-66546446cc61">ranks</a> 44th in the nation in terms of overall health due to drug overdoses, chronic health problems, smoking, physical inactivity, premature death, obesity, and preventable hospitalizations. 
Part of reversing this trend is eating better food, one of the reasons why Kennedy’s HHS <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-flips-the-food-pyramid-and-announces-massive-changes-to-dietary-guidelines">flipped</a> the food pyramid last month to recommend whole foods, prioritizing healthy fats and protein, and limiting or avoiding ultra-processed foods.
“Our job is not to tell Americans what to eat. It’s to tell them what’s good for them and to give them good information. If you want to drink a Coca-Cola or eat a Krispy Kreme donut, you live in America, you ought to be able to do that. But we’re going to tell you what the cost is. It seems cheap at the grocery store but the long term costs may not be worth it,” Kennedy said Wednesday. 
Kennedy said that the government spends about $405 million per day to subsidize meals through school lunch programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other government programs. Kennedy said that raising the standard for the food paid for in these programs would &#8220;transform&#8221; the quality of the food the people were getting through the programs and help the farmers produce &#8220;real food.&#8221;
Rep. Bryan Terry, the chair of the Tennessee House Health Committee, told The Daily Wire that sometimes poor health outcomes were the result of bad choices. 
“In Tennessee, we’re not banning Big Gulps,” he said, noting that Tennesseans value individual liberty and that “sometimes that liberty that you have leads to bad choices.&#8221;
But that doesn’t mean the government will fund unhealthy decisions. In December, Lee led Tennessee to join a handful of other states that ban Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients from using the money given to them by the government to buy soda, energy drinks, and candy.

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Department of Health and Human Services

Health

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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