A foreign national from Peru with a history of violent crimes was detained by federal immigration authorities after a Tennessee school official alerted ICE to a child&#8217;s warning that her father might kill her mother.  
Earlier this month, a young girl in Nashville told school officials she feared Luis Meza-Olivera would kill her mother. The school reported the concern to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and federal agents arrested Meza-Olivera on March 14, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire. 
Meza-Olivera, who had recently been released from Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, Tennessee, has an extensive criminal record. 
“Luis Meza-Olivera is a monster whose daughter feared he would kill her mother. This criminal alien from Peru should NOT be loose on American streets,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told The Daily Wire. “Thanks to a school official who left a tip for ICE, this individual is now in ICE custody and will enter removal proceedings.”
Bis added that others should follow the lead of the school official and report tips to ICE. 
According to DHS, Meza-Olivera entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa in 2002 and became a lawful permanent resident in 2010. He is now subject to removal due to his criminal convictions.
Those convictions include aggravated kidnapping, arson, and aggravated assault in Tennessee, as well as a DUI conviction in California. He also faced charges for attempted first-degree murder, vandalism, and child cruelty. 
In 2017, Meza-Olivera was <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/luis_meza_olivera_cca_majority_opinion.pdf">convicted</a> in Tennessee of two counts of aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated kidnapping and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Court records show the charges stemmed from a December 27, 2015, incident in which deputies in Washington County found a woman “hogtied” in her bedroom with a rope tied around her neck.
“The deputies were dispatched to the victim’s home after her five-year-old son, J.S., called 911 and stated that he was locked in the victim’s bedroom closet. The victim had no memory of what had happened,” court records say. 
Meza-Olivera was arrested days later in Memphis and identified by the victim. Court filings describe multiple incidents of violence, including one in which the victim was locked in her bathroom while a fire raged outside. 
“The victim was unable to open the bathroom door,” court records say. “When firefighters arrived at the farmhouse, they found a rug on fire in front of the bathroom door and the head of an axe wedged underneath the bathroom door to prevent it from opening.”
A Tennessee Court of Appeals later rejected Meza-Olivera&#8217;s attempt to overturn his conviction.

MixCollage-20-Mar-2026-10-23-AM-666

A Child’s Tip To ICE May Have Saved Her Mom’s Life From ‘Monster’

Department of Homeland Security

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Nashville

Tennessee

Senator Marsha Blackburn warned Memphis District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Tuesday not to impede the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on crime after data suggest his office released dozens of violent criminals in December 2025. 
“President Trump and his administration are working around the clock to make Memphis the safest city in America,&#8221; the Tennessee Republican wrote in a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/3.10.26-Follow-up-Letter-to-DA-Mulroy2.pdf">letter</a> obtained by The Daily Wire, cosigned by Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor. &#8220;It is your obligation as Shelby County’s District Attorney to enforce Tennessee’s criminal code and hold violent criminals accountable — not to allow them to be released back onto the streets to reoffend.&#8221;
Data from the <a href="https://memphiscrimebeat.org/">Memphis Crime Beat</a>, a citizen-run website that tracks crime in the city, showed that only 84 defendants received prison time for the 514 “resolved” cases in December 2025. At the same time, Mulroy admitted to Blackburn in a March 6 <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/2026-03-06-SM-Response-to-Senate-Letter1.pdf">letter</a> obtained by The Daily Wire that 166 of the cases resolved in December were classified as violent offenses.
The rebuke comes amid a back-and-forth between Blackburn and Mulroy over the Democrats&#8217; “soft-on-crime” policies. Mulroy has long faced pressure from state and local Republican officials over his handling of crime. In recent years, Memphis has been ranked as one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country, with consistently high murder rates. The Trump administration has surged law enforcement to the city to assist in a federal operation to reduce crime in Memphis.  
The data team from Memphis Crime Beat found that in December 2025, there were 514 total cases resolved, including 144 cases where there was no prosecution. Of the other 370, 178 received a combination of suspended sentence and probation or probation, 84 received prison time, 63 received diversion, and 45 were released with time served, Memphis Crime Beat Executive Director Leslie Taylor noted in an analysis of the data.
“It would logically follow that, if there were only 84 defendants who received prison time in December 2025, but there were 166 violent cases in that same month, there appear to be dozens of violent criminal defendants — based on your own admission — that received no jail time in December 2025,” Blackburn and Sen. Taylor wrote.
Mulroy told Blackburn on March 6 that 166 of the 514 cases were “designated as ‘violent’ in our system.” He added that there were a total of 187 “serious” cases closed counting Class A, B, and C felonies. In Tennessee, a Class A felony has a prison range of 15 to 60 years, while a Class C felony has a range of three to 15 years. 
&#8220;Most of the cases the letter lists as receiving probation or diversion are either nonviolent cases, cases involving defendants without significant criminal histories, cases where defendants have already spent time (often significant time) in jail, or cases in which judges granted such relief without our agreement,&#8221; Mulroy added.
Blackburn’s letter asked for more information on how many of the 166 violent defendants were released onto the streets and how many of the violent or serious felony cases got diversion or probation. 
“We have made significant progress in making Memphis the safest city in the United States, and we will not allow you to stall the tremendous progress that the city of Memphis has made,” Blackburn said.
Mulroy has denied Blackburn&#8217;s claims that he is a George Soros-backed DA, despite the evidence that Soros <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/02/08/billionaire-behind-curtain-da-steve-mulroy-denies-funding-claims-after-billionaire-george-soros-revealed-possible-campaign-donor/">contributed</a> to a political action committee that backed his campaign. Senator Taylor, a Republican from Memphis, has attempted to remove Mulroy from office through the legislature.
Leslie Taylor, who said that crime data is often difficult to obtain, told The Daily Wire that what happens after someone is arrested is at least as important as the initial detainment 
“The most recent data from the Shelby County Jail shows that 80% of those booked into jail have been there before, and 49% have been in jail 6 or more times,” she said. “We are concerned that if criminals aren&#8217;t effectively prosecuted, we will be back to square one when federal resources are withdrawn.”

Examining the Live Entertainment Industry

Marsha Blackburn Warns Dem DA: Stop Releasing Dangerous Criminals

Crime

Marsha Blackburn

Memphis

Violent Crime

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

Kristi Noem

Law Enforcement

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

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.
***
Two Tennessee lawmakers are looking to change the state’s criminal statute to treat abortion as a homicide. This is a misguided effort to punish women who end their pregnancies in a state where abortion is almost entirely banned, and it could endanger both women seeking care for a miscarriage and the crisis pregnancy centers that have stepped in to help women with unplanned pregnancies.
The addendum to Tennessee’s HB 570 is also so poorly written as to be almost inscrutable, casting doubt on whether the two Tennessee legislators, Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson and Rep. Mark Pody of Lebanon, even authored the bill with Tennesseans in mind. Abortion is all but banned in Tennessee under a trigger law that went into effect immediately after the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs ruling sent the regulation of abortion back to the states. The two almost certainly didn’t consider the needs of women or the goals of the pro-life movement at large.
So-called “abortion abolitionist” bills are not new. Earlier this year, National Right to Life joined forces with unlikely allies, the ACLU and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, to defeat a nearly identical measure in South Dakota. Support for legislation such as the Tennessee amendment has festered recently in the same recesses of social media where men debate the utility of the 19th Amendment as a means to ensure women feel the fullest extent of possible punishment for their moral transgressions.
But while this sort of terminally online version of conservative politics captures clicks and the attention of paranoid leftists, it often fails to consider the real-world implications of its policies. The 19th Amendment, of course, prohibits discrimination in voting based on sex, not specifically the female sex, meaning if it were up for true debate, women, who make up the majority of reliable American voters, could just as easily disenfranchise men. 
The “abortion abolition” bills, similarly, would directly and negatively affect the very pro-life organizations that support women facing unintended pregnancies and put pro-life organizations in the untenable position of preaching compassion to pregnant women in a land of punishment — after years of work ensuring that Tennessee protects not only the most vulnerable among us, but also the women whose lives and futures are in the balance.
The Tennessee law is so unbelievably vague that it even puts the very people pro-lifers have always sought to protect — people like me who lived through the agonizing reality of a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy — at risk of being investigated, charged, or tried if they run across an authority who is confused or even vindictive.
In December 2022, right after the Tennessee trigger law went into effect, I ended up in the emergency room in downtown Nashville. What I’d thought was a case of food poisoning turned out to be my worst nightmare: My pregnancy, which I’d been overjoyed to learn about just a few short weeks before, was ectopic. My fallopian tube was either strained or had ruptured, and I was bleeding out. The hospital called a Catholic priest to give me last rites, just in case I didn’t make it out of emergency surgery. 
I survived. My child, then just shy of 12 weeks, did not. 
It was not my choice, and it was not by any definition, even the strictest interpretation of the Catholic faith to which I fervently ascribe, an abortion. But in the months-long haze that followed, I considered the “what ifs.” The trigger law in Tennessee, written decades ago, was vague, and while I’d gotten swift and competent care, the law left open the possibility that other doctors in lower-level trauma hospitals outside of a big city or unattached to a major university might not be willing to risk what could, in some people’s minds, be an abortion procedure.
It was a rare point on which the state’s pro-life and pro-choice organizations agreed: We could not let confusion endanger women. Tennessee’s law needed to be clearer and more specific about treating an ectopic pregnancy so that no woman would be denied the care I received. In the worst weeks of my life, I worked with those organizations and the doctors who saved my life to change that language.
Tennessee’s laws now protect both the unborn — the “heartbeat”-style statute proscribes any abortion after about six weeks, once fetal heart tones are detected — and women who need life-saving care. This is a perfect scenario for someone like me, such a hardcore and consistent pro-lifer that I can make both the Left and the Right deeply uncomfortable at cocktail parties.
Enter the “abolitionists.” The provisions of the <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=HB0570&amp;ga=114">new Tennessee legislation</a> don’t say the word “murder,” but they theoretically extend the definition of “homicide” to include any taking of a life from the moment of fertilization — a definition so extreme it almost sounds like satire authored by Planned Parenthood’s communications department. It strips legal protections for pregnant women who currently reside in the state and makes an assault on an unborn child the equivalent of an assault on a born-alive one.
Here’s where it gets hairy, though. The bill’s sponsors claim that the bill includes protections for a “spontaneous miscarriage” and for the “unintentional” death of a child during “life-saving procedures,” so long as an adequate effort is made to “save the life of the unborn child.” But the language comes after and in response to the redefinition of “homicide,” meaning that the two scenarios are defenses to alleged crime, not situations where a woman would be excused from scrutiny.
Homicide isn’t the same as murder; it includes intentional, reckless, and negligent killings. Under this law, a woman who goes to a hospital for a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy could end up in a file on a prosecutor’s desk, where the state’s legal department — not the woman’s medical team — would be left to determine whether care that ended the life of an unborn child was actually needed and whether adequate effort had been made to save the child’s life. In other words, they could be asked to decide what type of homicide each woman had committed and whether that homicide was justified.
We already know that confusion over what interventions are legal puts women in danger of not receiving timely care, and that’s why pro-lifers were so adamant that the Tennessee law be clear. While states such as Texas that have similar laws have faced <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/josseli-barnica-death-miscarriage-texas-abortion-ban">allegations</a>, albeit mostly unsubstantiated, that abortion laws delayed or prevented adequate medical care, Tennessee has not. Given that Tennessee all but outlaws abortion, the only women likely to fall under the government’s scrutiny are women who show up to receive medical care.
The bill’s supporters claim the legislation is actually aimed at women who procure abortion medication through telehealth, but they seem to miss that most of these women, who will have abortions on Tennessee soil, will remain unknown. To curb these “loophole” abortions, abolitionist organizations could push President Donald Trump and the Department of Health and Human Services to impose stricter health and safety restrictions on drugs such as mifepristone and limit doctors’ ability to prescribe it for off-label uses.
Abolitionists, though, <a href="https://abolishabortiontx.org/abortion-is-still-legal-in-texas-even-in-2023/">have hamstrung those authentically pro-life efforts</a>, as well as efforts to get heartbeat laws passed in new states, standing in the way of any pro-life legislation that does not specifically punish women. This is not simply a side effect of their work; keeping pro-life legislation off the books is <a href="https://abolitionistsrising.com/the-antithetical-goals-of-the-abolitionist-and-pro-life-movements/">a feature for them, not a bug</a>.
These laws, quite simply, make the job of pro-lifers much harder. For years, only the Left worked against us in the legislature and the judiciary. Now, leading pro-life organizations, working to pass pro-life laws that limit access to abortion, face the opposition of abolitionists. And pro-life organizations doing the truly hard work — counseling and serving the women who are faced with unplanned pregnancies — now must publicly reckon with a movement that is everything we have, for years, adamantly denied we are not: cruel, cold, and motivated by desire to punish women.
The argument is, of course, that these women are cold-blooded killers, not victims, and should receive punishment in kind. But we know, from decades of work in the pro-life movement, that abortions are often coerced, directly and indirectly, and that mothers who find themselves considering abortion outside of coercion often have complex motivations. Life isn’t what you see on radical feminist TikTok; while some women could find joy in destruction, they are certainly not the majority. Pro-lifers have dedicated themselves to meeting women where they are — in desperation, in poverty, at critical junctions, in fear, and in danger — and to treating each woman as a human, worthy of dignity and care.
That message simply can’t coexist with a “pro-life” message that takes perverse joy in punishing women at their most vulnerable.
The law in Tennessee is unlikely to pass. But rest assured, the abolitionist movement is not dead. And pro-lifers should be prepared to defend what has made us successful: our commitment to both the unborn and the women who carry them.
***
Emily Zanotti is a Catholic writer, humorist, and professional chicken tender living in Nashville, Tennessee.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Editor&#8217;s Note: The bill does not allow for retroactive investigations and prosecutions, as this article previously claimed.

Silhouette of a pregnant woman with heartbeat graph in a medical concept illustration

A Radical Abortion Push Threatens Pro-Life Progress — And Women Could Pay The Price

Abortion

Pregnant women

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 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.

NASHVILLE — California’s Democrat governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom began his nationwide book tour in a red state on Saturday night, but he didn’t use the night to continue his move to the center.
The event was moderated by Justin Kanew of the leftist media outlet the Tennessee Holler, whose disdain for the Trump administration and conservative policies was also made evident multiple times. Throughout the evening, the Newsom weaved back and forth between discussing the book and his life journey and raging against President Donald Trump and Republicans.
Newsom spent much of his time pushing the typical Democratic talking points, such as calling out Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and criticizing Republican-led efforts to pass strict voter ID requirements through the Save America Act. But the governor also echoed some rhetoric from the far-Left wing of the party, saying that America&#8217;s economic system &#8220;fundamentally has to be reformed.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re talking about trillionaires now, not billionaires, so this isn&#8217;t working for enough folks. If you&#8217;re 30 years old, you&#8217;re the first generation in American history that&#8217;s not doing better than their parents,&#8221; Newsom said. &#8220;So Bernie [Sanders] is right in that respect. Donald Trump was right, but he exploited it, and he has not done a damn thing to solve it and he&#8217;s just making it worse.&#8221;
&#8220;So the system fundamentally has to be reformed,&#8221; he added.
Newsom also agreed with Kanew that the next Democratic president should be more aggressive with executive actions.
&#8220;We are capable of doing much more,&#8221; he said.
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/dli9J00daBSEOL46019ImUIrmYt6x025F601?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=bed0ce19-fd54-46f9-b0ea-66ffd7e18365&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=26-02-21%3A%20Newsom%20on%20Economy&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2F6f70ba50-a6f7-4a6a-a994-3feead8c03b1.png&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
The evening, which focused on Newsom&#8217;s new memoir, &#8220;Young Man in a Hurry,&#8221; drew hundreds of people. It also allowed Newsom an opportunity to inform Democratic voters about his background and personal life. The California governor remains the betting favorite to win the 2028 Democratic nomination.
Newsom touted his own record on the economy as governor and boasted about signing legislation that is set to increase the minimum wage in California to $20 per hour for fast food workers and $25 per hour for many health care workers. He then blasted other states, hinting at Tennessee, for not raising their minimum wages. Newsom did not address <a href="https://epionline.org/release/new-data-staggering-16000-jobs-lost-under-newsoms-20-fast-food-wage-law/">data</a> that shows that numerous restaurants in California cut thousands of jobs and raised prices after the minimum wage hike.
Newsom expressed concern that Trump is attempting to hijack the 2026 midterm elections through his push for redistricting, ICE operations, and the Save America Act, but he remained optimistic that Democrats would take control of the House after the midterms.
&#8220;Donald Trump&#8217;s presidency de facto ends as we know it in November of this year when Speaker [Hakeem] Jeffries gets the gavel. It does. That&#8217;s going to happen,&#8221; he said.
The moderator then asked Newsom, &#8220;Are the elections going to matter? Is [Trump] going to steal the election? He&#8217;s going after the Georgia ballots, he&#8217;s already planning to surround the polls with ICE, so obviously voter suppression is on his mind because he knows he can&#8217;t necessarily win.&#8221;
Newsom agreed with the concerns brought up by Kanew and mentioned how former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has called for ICE agents to surround polling places in November. Bannon, who is now a podcast host, has not advised Trump since 2017. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgE7QZnfBLQ">told</a> Congress earlier this month that &#8220;there&#8217;s no reason to use ICE officers&#8221; in that situation.
The governor&#8217;s criticism of ICE again on Saturday night comes a month after he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/months-after-violent-riots-newsom-claims-that-california-cooperates-with-ice">admitted</a> to Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro that it was &#8220;fair&#8221; to criticize his office for calling ICE agents terrorists.
Newsom’s admission came after Shapiro told the governor that accusing ICE of terrorism “makes our politics worse” and “our ICE officers are obviously not terrorists.”
Newsom stated bluntly on Saturday that he opposes the Republicans&#8217; Save America Act, which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The governor suggested the Save America Act would prevent Americans from voting because many people don&#8217;t have a passport or their birth certificate.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not about voter ID, the Save Act is not about that. It&#8217;s about registration. It&#8217;s about proving your citizenship with a passport. Not everyone has a passport,&#8221; Newsom said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know where &#8230; do you know where your birth certificate is? I lost that at seven. I don&#8217;t even know where to begin to get it back.&#8221;<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/NuWCjZUU5HcPe7Ha2Xx6n8QNPAYHCWXY?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=6df59e3f-eeca-485c-a714-f8fb159d69dd&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=26-02-21%3A%20Newsom%20On%20Voter%20ID&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2F18fd6908-01d7-4810-a482-ceb5ab3abdf7.png&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The crowd, which gathered at an event space in west Nashville, consisted mostly of middle-aged and elderly people.

Gavin Newsom

In Tennessee, Gavin Newsom Sprints To The Far-Left

California

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

“Got Woke? Knoxville Symphony does.” 
That message will be emblazoned on a mobile billboard and greet attendees of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra as they arrive for a romantic date night featuring Valentine’s Day-themed music on Thursday and Friday. 
The mobile billboard seeks to spotlight a renowned clarinet player&#8217;s fight to remove DEI from the world of professional music and arrives courtesy of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a conservative nonprofit. James Zimmermann, the clarinetist, filed a lawsuit in December, accusing the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra of refusing to hire him based on his opposition to DEI. 
Zimmermann told The Daily Wire he won a blind audition for the principal clarinet position in September 2025 and was told by staff he would soon be on salary, only to have that opportunity fall away a few days later once the orchestra learned of his <a href="https://freebeacon.com/culture/how-racial-anxiety-conquered-an-orchestra-and-crushed-a-career/">previous DEI battle</a> with the orchestra in Nashville. 
“This whole scenario is much bigger than just me and this one little job in Knoxville. It&#8217;s the demoralization that every white guy feels that, ‘Hey, these orchestras don&#8217;t want me.’ They have openly stated, ‘We need our orchestras to be more diverse.’ All that means is they want fewer white guys in the orchestra. It&#8217;s very obvious,&#8221; Zimmermann told The Daily Wire. 
Images shared with The Daily Wire by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation show the multiple messages that will appear on mobile billboard vehicles outside the Tennessee Theater from 3-11 p.m. On both days, the orchestra is performing a concert called “Star-Crossed Lovers” at 7:30 p.m.
The images include statements such as “DEI ≠ Fairness,” “Go Woke, Lose Talent,” and “Your Tax Dollars Fuel Woke DEI Policies at the Orchestra.” The Coolidge Reagan Foundation also launched a <a href="https://www.wokesymphony.com">website</a> to highlight Zimmermann&#8217;s story. 
<div id="attachment_1042819" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1042819" class="size-full wp-image-1042819" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="2560" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-46-PM-4128-2048x2048.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Coolidge Reagan Foundation.</div>
According to a lawsuit filed by Zimmermann in Tennessee’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra refused to hire him based on his politics. Zimmermann is suing for compensation he would have earned had he been given the job. 
“The Orchestra engaged in racial discrimination against Mr. Zimmermann, violating the results of its own screened audition, in violation of the Tennessee Human Rights Act,” a copy of the lawsuit shared with The Daily Wire said. “Had Zimmermann not been a white male, particularly a white male who had previously expressed opposition to DEI initiatives, the Orchestra would have proceeded with hiring him consistent with the result of its screened auditions.”
<div id="attachment_1042821" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1042821" class="size-full wp-image-1042821" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="2560" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-04-47-PM-8822-2048x2048.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Coolidge Reagan Foundation.</div>
After advancing through the screened audition process for the clarinet position, Zimmermann said Knoxville Symphony Orchestra personnel manager Mark Tucker informed him he had won, would soon be “on the payroll,” and would call him to follow up on September 17, 2025.
Instead, on September 18, Zimmermann says he received a phone call from the symphony&#8217;s CEO, Rachel Ford, who mentioned his previous musical job working for the Nashville Symphony. 
An email from Ford to Zimmermann, obtained by The Daily Wire, confirmed Zimmermann’s account. 
Ford told him in the email that “based on a number of items which have come to the attention of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra regarding your employment with the Nashville Symphony, I regret to inform you that the [Knoxville Symphony Orchestra] has decided not to move forward with offering you a contract of employment.”
She added that there would be no further discussions on the matter. 
“We wish you the best in the future. Please know our decision is final and we will not participate in any ongoing communications related to this matter,” she wrote. 
Neither Ford nor Tucker responded to requests for comment. 
The controversy referred to by Ford erupted roughly six years ago when Zimmermann started speaking out against DEI measures at the Nashville Symphony. Eventually, he was fired after two minority musicians, oboe player Titus Underwood and Emilio Carlo, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/culture/how-racial-anxiety-conquered-an-orchestra-and-crushed-a-career/">accused</a> him of harassing them and making threatening and racially charged comments to them.
In the end, Zimmermann was fired after 12 years as the lead clarinet player. Six of his colleagues would later defend him in interviews with the Washington Free Beacon. Zimmermann acknowledges that he was not perfect throughout the situation, but said his firing was prompted, in large part, by politics. 
As that played out, both Underwood and Carlo got a Davidson County judge to issue temporary restraining orders against Zimmermann. Zimmermann has called those restraining orders “bogus” and noted that they were not later renewed.
Carlo and Underwood did not respond to requests for comment. In a <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/knoxville/james-zimmermann-sues-knoxville-symphony-orchestra-for-alleged-discrimination/51-59429c8d-5d6b-4aa9-86a3-6815006f322b">statemen</a>t to local outlet WBIR, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra cited the restraining orders. 
&#8220;The KSO made the decision to reject the Audition Committee’s recommendation and not hire Mr. Zimmermann due to legitimate safety concerns as confirmed by the Nashville Symphony,&#8221; the statement said. 
Zimmermann said that Ford did not mention the restraining orders during her call with Zimmermann, but instead said there were &#8220;items of interest&#8221; that he knew about. Zimmermann said he was never given a chance to explain his side of the story. 
“I have nothing bad to say about the people running the [audition]. It&#8217;s just about the CEO, who made the decision to not hire me, not ask me anything about the past, not ask my side of the story,” Zimmermann told The Daily Wire. “This is supposed to be the land of opportunity, and a blind audition gives you a chance to prove your skills, independent of your political views and race and gender and sex and all that.”
Zimmermann says he has heard from musicians all across the country who agree with him and have told him they hope the orchestra world abandons DEI once and for all.
Dan Backer, the president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, is a counsel for Zimmermann during the suit. 
“I&#8217;m just glad Coolidge Reagan is able to be there and keep the pressure on and make sure that everybody knows that when you set foot in Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, you&#8217;re not listening to the best music you could get, you&#8217;re listening to the wokest music you can get.”
On its website, the Knoxville Symphony <a href="https://knoxvillesymphony.com/aboutkso/history-mission/#:~:text=In%20May%202016%2C%20Aram%20Demirjian,Center%20and%20Washington%20Performing%20Arts.">boasts</a> that its programming emphasizes “music by living composers” and “artists from underrepresented groups.”
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra <a href="https://knoxvillesymphony.com/support-the-kso/corporate-partners/#:~:text=generations%20to%20come.-,Sponsorship%20Opportunities,of%20concertgoers%20across%20East%20Tennessee.&amp;text=Knoxville%20Symphony%20Orchestra%20concerts%20and,%2C%20and%20Arts%20&amp;%20Culture%20Alliance.">receives</a> local and state taxpayer funding through the city of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Tennessee Arts Commission. It is unclear exactly how much the orchestra gets in grants. 
Neither the Nashville nor the Knoxville symphony orchestras responded to requests for comment.

hands playing clarinets in orchestra

He Won The Blind Audition — Then Woke Culture Took The Baton

Woke Music? Tennessee Orchestra Accused Of Targeting Clarinet Player Over DEI Stance

Classical Music

Music

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

Tennessee&#8217;s Republican congressman John Rose was originally a “no” vote on a move to get the spending package up for a final vote before going to the president to end the government shutdown. In the room with leadership, he switched his vote to “yes.”
It wasn&#8217;t due to a change in heart on the spending proposal, according to Republican congressman with knowledge of the conversation. Rose, according to the Republican colleague, planned to vote &#8220;no&#8221; in protest of positive comments that Trump made about his gubernatorial primary opponent, Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.
The congressman, who provided details of the situation on background, said Rose &#8220;was just mad because the president had not endorsed him.”
The congressman said that Rose was able to leverage his stance into a meeting with Republican leadership, which CNN also confirmed with Rose directly. Rose said the meeting centered on his frustrations that the SAVE Act not be tacked onto the package, but also said that the gubernatorial race was discussed.
“John is engaged in a tight race for the governorship of Tennessee,&#8221; House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
&#8220;He’s thoughtful about that and he wants a fair fight there and so that&#8217;s what we discussed, but no promises,” Johnson continued when reporters asked about Rose’s flip on Tuesday, according to a CNN clip.
&#8220;You can imagine what that means,” Rose told <a href="https://x.com/elliskkim/status/2018773546835546410?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> in response to Johnson’s “fair fight” comments.
A White House official confirmed to The Daily Wire on background that the president and Rose “did not speak” on Tuesday.
The president has yet to make an official endorsement in the race, but the recent positive comments about Blackburn fueled endorsement speculation, including in the <a href="https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/29/trump-praises-blackburn-for-governor-raising-speculation-of-endorsement/88398974007/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=true&amp;gca-epti=z11xx65p118950c118950v11xx65d--39--b--39--&amp;gca-ft=203&amp;gca-ds=sophi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Knoxville News Sentinel</a>.
“Marsha Blackburn is an incredible person. Unfortunately, she is running for governor. She is running for governor of Tennessee,” the president said at the Trump Accounts summit last week.
“I’d love her not to, I begged her, I said Marsha, &#8216;Don&#8217;t, we don&#8217;t want to lose you in the Senate,’ but I have to say, they&#8217;re lucky. They&#8217;re lucky to get you. Because you&#8217;re a talent and a great person, and you&#8217;ve been with me all the way, and I appreciate it, and you&#8217;re a very special person. Marsha, stand up, please,” he continued.
The Republican congressman said Rose “took that as an endorsement.”
The procedural vote ended up squeaking by with just 217 votes, as Republicans hold a narrow 218 majority. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against the rule, along with all Democrats. The actual spending package vote passed with 217, but with bipartisan support and opposition. Rose voted to reopen the government.
The Daily Wire reached out to Rose’s office and his campaign for comment.
A January poll of 559 Republican primary voters shows Blackburn leading Rose with 56% compared with his 9%, according to The Beacon Center of Tennessee. The Cook Political Report ranked the general election race as “Solid Republican.”
Rose was part of the group of GOP lawmakers that wanted the act included in the spending package as a way to get it up for a Senate vote. The legislation, which would require nationwide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, has already passed the House but has yet to be voted on in the Senate.
On X, Rose wrote that Senate Majority Leader John Thune “is already backtracking on what he reportedly told some House Republicans: that if we reopened the government, he’d keep his word and bring the SAVE Act to the floor.”
“House Republicans MUST hold the line and refuse to fold on something as fundamental as election integrity. The SAVE Act belongs on must-pass legislation,” he added.
The House voted to end the shutdown on Tuesday afternoon, as Congress gears up for a battle over Department of Homeland Security funding, which was only approved through Feb. 13.

TrumpJohn Rose Split (getty)

Tennessee Republican Threw Wrench Into Shutdown Vote Because He Was ‘Mad’ At Trump, Congressman Says

Congress

john rose

Mike Johnson

Menu