This Is Nashville
This Is Nashville
WPLN News - Nashville Public Radio
Mr. Rogers on stage, Jayla Thomas on the GOP, and private juvenile prisons under investigation
45 minutes Posted Aug 18, 2026 at 6:00 pm.
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The headliner: WPLN’s senior criminal justice reporter Paige Pfleger on her latest investigation with ProPublica about abuse in Tennessee’s privately-run juvenile prisons.
The newsmaker: Jayla Thomas, GOP candidate for state House District 55, one of the few contested seats in Nashville on the November ballot.
The tastemaker: Melanie Sutton, managing artistic director of the Tennessee Theater Fellowship, producing a play about Fred Rogers, and an unlikely friendship, called “I’m Proud of You.” It’s opening at Studio 615 Thursday night, August 20.