Nashville Scene

In this week's cover package, we have a look at the state’s long and complicated relationship with cannabis — both industrial hemp, which can be grown by licensed farmers as part of a state pilot program, and marijuana, the use of which is still illegal both for medical and recreational purposes. Pick up a copy or visit nashvillescene.com to read more about that.

But flip to the back of the paper and you'll find our run-down of this year's Academy Award nominees. In our latest Scenecast, Scene editor D. Patrick Rodgers, Nfocus editor Nancy Floyd, Scene and Nashville Post staffer Stephen Elliott, and Scene staffer Steven Hale discuss our picks for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and more. We cover everything from the cultural impact of 'Get Out' and 'Lady Bird' to the performances in 'I, Tonya,' sound design in 'Dunkirk' and everything that's wrong with 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.' Fair warning: At least one of us did not like 'Three Billboards.' At all.

McKamey Manor, just an hour south of Nashville, holds frightening intrigue for thrill-seekers from all over the world. The notoriously extreme haunted house subjects willing visitors to activities that push them to their mental and physical limits, which are then broadcast to eager fans across the internet. This week, editor D. Patrick Rodgers and culture editor Megan Seling sit down to talk about the house of horrors, its complicated legality and why, despite the terror, people just can’t get enough.

Staff writer Amanda Haggard talks to journalist Radley Balko, who investigated the work of a Mississippi medical examiner named Steven Hayne, along with his dentistry sidekick Michael West. Balko discusses Hayne’s history and impact, which is darkly fascinating, as he testified in close to 80 percent of homicide trials in Mississippi for 20 years – often employing shoddy reasoning and pseudoscience. Balko will be releasing a book detailing the full story at the end of February, titled 'The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South.'

The Scenecast is back to celebrate the pinnacle of love in America: The Bachelor. Staff writers Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott and NFocus editor (turned resident Bachelor expert) Nancy Floyd sit down to talk about Bachelors and Bachelorettes past and present and why so many of them have roots in Nashville. They discuss heartthrob Luke Pell’s music career, Nashvillian Christen Whitney aka "Scallop Fingers," successful Bachelor marriages here in Nashville, Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s shortcomings and more.

This week the Scene named the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee our 2017 Nashvillians of the Year for their work in supporting the nonprofit sector in Nashville. Executive Director Ellen Lehman talks with staff writer Steven Hale and editor Steve Cavendish about The Big Payback — their annual day of giving that has raised $9.3 million for charities in the last four years — and about how and why Nashville gives.

On today’s podcast, we talk to David Drobny, one of the people behind the Nashville Severe Weather Twitter account. A lawyer by trade, he turned his fascination with the weather into one of Nashville’s most viewed Twitters and, during severe weather events, one of the most useful. You can find it online @NashSevereWX. There’s a reason it’s been voted Best Twitter Account by Scene Readers several years running in our annual Best of Nashville poll. We talked about Tweet-eorology, the #Snowdome and what we can expect from the weather this winter.

Paul Kuharsky has spent the past two decades covering the Titans for The Tennessean and ESPN. And though he spends a few hours every day delivering his opinion on sports for 104.5-FM The Zone, he’s a Columbia Journalism School grad who, first and foremost, has been a journalist. So when huge ESPN cuts came down this year, Kuharsky was forced to make some hard decisions about his career. Instead of signing on with an established outlet, he started his own site where readers could pay him directly for his news and views. It’s a growing trend as the revenue models behind traditional journalism continue to be disrupted. Editor Steve Cavendish talked to him about launching himself as a brand, the state of sports coverage and what he thinks of this edition of the Titans.

After two-term incumbent Bob Corker announced his retirement earlier this fall, Tennessee has turned into one of the most interesting Senate battlegrounds in the country. Staff writer Steve Hale and editor Steve Cavendish sat down with Nashville attorney and Democrat James Mackler to talk about his candidacy to replace Corker.

Two decades after Cyrus Wilson was convicted of murder, the case against him has fallen apart with four witnesses saying they lied at his original trial. Scene editor Steve Cavendish and staff writer Steven Hale discuss Wilson's case, how it got here and where it goes now.

On this week’s bonus Scenecast, managing editor D. Patrick Rodgers talks to longtime local country singer Margo Price about her powerful second solo record, All American Made, out now via Third Man Records. The two talk about the sophomore slump (or lack thereof), politics in country music, touring the country in 2017, hanging out with Willie Nelson and more.