Rose Gilbert

Nashville has the largest Kurdish population of any city in the United States, and most are from the Iraqi region of Kurdistan. They arrived in waves starting in the 1970s, and later in the 1980s and 1990s after Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaigns. Since the coronavirus pandemic, there’s been an uptick in Kurds coming to the United States from Turkey. And many end up in Nashville, where they know there’s already a large community. WPLN’s Rose Gilbert reports on how they are influencing the city’s world-famous music scene.

Erbil is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, marked on this map by a red pin.

A crowd of stranded travelers wait at a pickup point at Nashville International Airport during the strike.

FacebookThreadsX As early voting winds down Thursday, here are a few state races to watch this election season.

FacebookThreadsX Davidson County saw a strong start to Election Day voting this morning, with several locations reporting lines forming before they even opened their doors.

FacebookThreadsX Nashville is known as the “Athens of the South” in part because it is home to so many colleges and universities. That means it’s also home to lots of young, first-time voters today.

FacebookThreadsX House Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Sparks has defeated immigrant rights activist Luis Mata to be reelected to his seat, which he has held since 2010.

FacebookThreadsX First-time candidate Shaundelle Brooks has defeated Republican Chad Bobo, keeping Tennessee House District 60 blue. She will replace Democratic Rep. Darren Jernigan, who was elected to the seat in 2012 and who recently became an advisor in the Nashville mayor’s office.

Republican incumbent Jeff Burkhart has been reelected to the Tennessee House, defeating political newcomer Allie Phillips. More: ‘I have to be the chan

FacebookThreadsX President-elect Donald Trump has a complicated track record when it comes to Kurdistan. During his first term in office, he declined to support Iraqi Kurdistan’s 2017 independence referendum and passed a “Muslim travel ban” that impacted many Kurdish people until it was overturned by the courts. Two years later, he withdrew American troops from Syria, where they had been supporting Kurdish forces fighting against ISIS.