Investigative reporter
David Waters is Distinguished Journalist in Residence and assistant director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis.
There are 125 articles by David Waters :
John will be lamented and loved as a survivor and casualty of addiction, a saint and sinner, a gentle and tormented soul whose life and death, head and heart, darkness and light were a parable, a revelation, a psalm.
Phoebe Roaf didn't see a woman wearing a clergy collar until she was in her 20s, and didn't wear one herself until she was 41. On Saturday, she became the first female and African-American to serve as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee.
Since Steve Montgomery arrived here from Atlanta in 2000, he has played a role as pastor to the entire community. No one has done more to extend "radical hospitality," as theologian Henri Nouwen called it.
PART 3: Billions of government and philanthropic dollars have funded new curricula and standardized tests, teacher evaluation systems, charter schools and takeover schools. But it hasn't made much of a dent in the third-grade reading gap or any other measures of student performance.
PART 2: High-stakes testing has shifted the focus of kindergarten from what's developmentally appropriate to get kids ready for school, to what's academically required to prepare students for their first standardized achievement tests in third grade.
Randall Mullins and Sharon Pavelda founded a project to identify and memorialize lynching sites in Shelby County, and helped create a community of supporters, from the National Park Service to the local NAACP, preachers and politicians, activists and academics.
Special Report: Memphis' Reading Test PART 1: Meeting goals for third-grade reading proficiency in Tennessee is a daunting task unless dramatic improvements occur in Shelby County, where the hurdles are high and the challenges complex. And in Memphis, a city where nearly four in five children in public schools aren't reading on grade level, the undertaking is monumental.
A three-part series from The Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis explores the challenges and possible solutions to improving third-grade reading proficiency locally.
In Part Two of our series: U of M and UTHSC scientists use non-invasive "brain training" to treat developmental trauma.
In Part Three of our series: Audiologists at U of M are pioneering new methods of diagnosing and treating children with hidden, brain-based auditory deficits that disrupt learning and behavior.
In Part One of our three-part series: Pediatricians and nurses at LeBonheur and psychologists at UTHSC screen children for poverty and trauma, and prescribe social services to help them.
Part two of a three-part series from the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis A TIF Grows in Binghampton: Residents have invested their lives in Binghampton, and they want a say in how their property taxes are reinvested in their neighborhood.
Part one of a three-part series from the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis The 100-year-old neighborhood in the middle of Memphis always seems to be under construction and duress, but the people who live and work there still believe in its promise.
Monday, for the first time in 48 years, Rev. Nicholas Vieron will not conduct his annual Adult Greek Class, a Memphis tradition. His mind and soul are willing. His body, not so much these days.
A new therapy is a possible breakthrough in treating children who have suffered significant abuse, neglect, exposure to violence and other adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs.
Part three of a three-part series from the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis
The Pride of Binghampton: The success of Binghampton's bold 30-year development plan hinges on its remarkable nonprofit and faith-based support system.
Faith-based agencies in 2019 resettled the fewest refugees in Tennessee in more than two decades. The numbers likely will be even lower this year. Meanwhile, some legislators are challenging Gov. Bill Lee’s decision to continue participating in the nation’s 40-year-old refugee resettlement program.
“The people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 are those over 60, those with significant chronic disease issues, and those who medications compromise their immune systems,” said Dr. Scott Morris. “Those are the people who go to church.”
Mayor Jim Strickland announces churches, dine-in restaurants and gyms must close.
“One of our biggest challenges is that many people don’t believe in the seriousness of this pandemic,” Catholic Bishop David Talley told colleagues in a webinar. “Please believe in what science is saying. This is not the devil. This is what science is telling us.”
The total number of Shelby County cases is up to 30, and Shelby County Schools is scrapping its plan to provide lunches for students due to a Central Nutrition Center employee testing positive for COVID-19.
Typical Sunday attendance is about 70 at Trinity United Methodist Church, about 40 at Shiloh United Methodist in Fayette County. Their virtual worship service had 400 views on Trinity’s page and 322 on Shiloh’s page.
It’s difficult for a woman to find space at a homeless shelter in Memphis. It’s nearly impossible for her to find shelter with her teenage son, even under normal circumstances. Efforts to mitigate the spread of coronavirus have caused nearly all of the city’s homeless shelters to close, partially or entirely.
Rev. Brad Whitaker was Hamilton County’s first confirmed COVID-19 case. Church leaders and county health officials began notifying anyone who had come in contact with him. That list included Bishop Phoebe Roaf of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee.
The pressure to move all church gatherings online has set off a tense debate about whether canceling on-site services is an act of faith or a betrayal of it.