Blake Farmer
Blake Farmer is Nashville Public Radio's senior health care reporter. In a partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, Blake covers health in Tennessee and the health care industry in the Nashville area for local and national audiences.
Blake has worked at WPLN throughout his career, most recently serving as news director and primary editor for the newsroom. Previously, his reporting focused on education and the military. He's also enjoyed producing stories about midnight frog gigging and churches holding gun raffles.
Growing up in East Nashville, Blake attended Lipscomb Academy. He went to college in Texas at Abilene Christian University where he cut his teeth in radio at KACU-FM. Before joining WPLN full time in 2007, Blake also wrote for the Nashville City Paper and filed international stories for World Christian Broadcasting.
-
Trump voters in Tennessee react to the election outcome and President-elect Joe Biden's call for cooperation and civility during his administration.
-
The Trump administration has given states ways to restrict spending on the government insurance program for low-income Americans. A Biden administration would expand Medicaid coverage.
-
Medicaid provides health care for millions of low-income Americans. The presidential election could reshape Medicaid — at a critical moment for health care.
-
Plus, of all U.S. homes that include someone with a disability, 63% report serious financial hardship during the pandemic, and 37% have used up all or most of their savings.
-
Many are worried that Labor Day will be like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day, when travel and celebrations fanned the flames of viral spread, especially across the U.S. South and West.
-
The rare migratory birds have made a pit stop in downtown Nashville. Residents are delighted, turning out at dusk to catch a glimpse of the Purple Martins before they head south for winter.
-
Only a few states have enough tests to ensure safe reopening. Most of those have a small population or have taken up unique approaches. The state of Tennessee has decided to pay for every single test.
-
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with WPLN's Blake Farmer from Nashville and KCUR's Peggy Lowe from Kansas City about how nursing homes are dealing with deadly outbreaks of COVID-19.
-
Most available coronavirus data doesn't include ethnic or racial demographics, but public health experts say they fear the response to the pandemic will lead to predictable health care disparities.
-
The three-time Grammy-winning icon, whose hits included "Lucille," "Lady" and "The Gambler," died at home in Sandy Springs, Ga., his family said in a statement.