Paige Pfleger
Criminal Justice ReporterPaige Pfleger covers criminal justice for WPLN News. Previously she has worked in Central Ohio at WOSU News, covering criminal justice and the addiction crisis, and was named Ohio's reporter of the year by the Associated Press in 2019. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR, The Washington Post, Marketplace, and PRI's The World, and she has worked in the newsrooms of The Tennessean, Michigan Radio, WHYY, Vox and NPR headquarters in DC.
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The state of Tennessee executed Oscar Franklin Smith Thursday morning. It was the first lethal injection since 2019, and comes on the heels of a third-party investigation into the state’s protocol that found failures in testing the drugs used during executions. -
The bill establishing a public registry of domestic violence offenders was named after Savanna Puckett, a Robertson County sheriff’s deputy who was shot and killed by her abusive boyfriend in 2022. -
Tennessee lawmakers are considering a bill that would add another, harsher penalty for people who make threats of mass violence at school. -
Two Republican state lawmakers filed legislation this week that would change Tennessee’s firearms dispossession form, closing a dangerous loophole that experts say leaves domestic violence victims vulnerable. -
Tennessee has one of the largest foster care populations in the country. And a new report from Belmont Innovation Labs has found that those youth are suffering once they age out of the system.
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Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada told the state legislature this week that his department had made progress or completed most of the action steps assigned to them by the statehouse last year. But when attention turned to the department’s relationship with private prison operator CoreCivic, the hearing got heated. -
A Tennessee state law makes threats of mass violence at school a felony, even if they’re not credible. Judges and school officials say the law unnecessarily traumatizes kids. -
Disability Rights Tennessee filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee, Department of Children’s Services, and the commissioners of both DCS and the Department of Education Wednesday for failing to protect children in the juvenile justice system from physical and mental harm. -
Deadly tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee on Saturday, causing damage and power outages for thousands. As of 7:15 p.m., six people were confirmed dead. There were three deaths in Clarksville and three in the Madison area of Nashville. There were also dozens of injuries across the region. -
At least 100 activists gathered in front of Tennessee’s legislative offices to demand gun reform in the wake of the Covenant School shooting.
