Columnist
Otis Sanford is professor emeritus of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis and political commentator for WATN-TV ABC24 News. Contact him at o.sanford@memphis.edu.
There are 255 articles by Otis Sanford :
After the Memphis-Shelby County Schools takeover bills failed to make it to the finish line, state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, and state Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, changed their messaging.
State lawmakers are looking to eliminate the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, which looks into about 180 complaints about discrimination every month.
The Clarksdale Press Register garnered national attention recently after a judge ordered the paper to take down an editorial critical of Clarksdale’s elected officials.
“Now what we have is chaos on steroids. The board is seen as a laughingstock, except no one is laughing.”
From the DOJ’s report on the MPD to Elon Musk and the xAI supercomputer, here are Otis Sanford’s top five local stories for 2024.
The Crisis Intervention Team has strayed far from its initial goals of treating those with mental-health issues more humanely.
The billionaire owner of SpaceX and the largest shareholder of Tesla Inc. has been heavily criticized for being tolerant of antisemitic and white nationalist content on the X platform since he bought it in 2022.
I say it’s time to end the costly courtroom haggling. It’s clear that Halbert is not leaving on her own, and conditions in the Clerk’s Office don’t appear to have further deteriorated. And soon she’ll be a lame duck.
In an opinion piece, Otis Sanford says Jesse Turner has a section of Regional One Health named in his honor, as well as a South Memphis park and a small bridge on Elvis Presley Boulevard. But is it enough?
Opinion: Our votes will decide nothing. Only the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and possibly Nevada and North Carolina will determine the next president.
In today’s political climate, honesty and good taste are in short supply.
Bickering is nothing new for Tennessee Democrats. But party chair Lexie Carter’s removal, at the hand of the state party chair, also could not come at a worse time.
“Dwayne Thompson’s caucus has repeatedly tried to steer the Legislature, particularly the House, toward more compromise, less rancor and far less dictatorship. It hasn’t worked. And Thompson has had enough.”
The convention is showcasing three current Democratic House members from Tennessee, whose race and gender would have barred them from holding political office before 1920.
“‘The Obsolete Man,’ which aired July 26, is a classic. ... it was as if Rod Serling, the show’s creator, was trying to warn us 63 years ago that our politics would one day devolve into chaos.”
An East Tennessee congressman’s rant is now becoming the blueprint for Republican attacks on Kamala Harris’ freshly minted, but so far galvanizing, presidential campaign.
Early voting starts Friday, July 12, at 26 polling sites throughout Shelby County. And the stakes could not be higher for local Republicans.
Everywhere Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor has served — with the possible exception of the Shelby County Election Commission — public disputes and rancor have followed.
Whether Wanda Halbert is removed from office or not, this community has grown tired of her. Except for a handful of apologists, everyone is weary of the incompetence, excuses and double talk.
Kevin Ritz’s confirmation before the full Senate is far from a slam dunk. His April 17 confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was, to put it mildly, brutal, and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, a Ritz supporter, said his chances are 50-50.
We’ve had plenty of rallies, vigils and marches. We’ve created one anti-violence group after another. We’ve floated balloons as well as ideas. And still, the deaths keep coming.
I’m no fan of our legislature. But in the case of former Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd, lawmakers acted with prudence and in the best interest of all Memphis and Shelby County voters.
Welcome to arguably the most uninteresting Super Tuesday presidential primary since Tennessee first joined the big day of voting in the late 1980s.
Today, the battle is over whether diversity, equity and inclusion should even be mentioned in schools and the workplace. Beyond that, some people locally also want to turn back the clock by suggesting separate judicial systems for Shelby County — the current one for predominantly Black Memphis and a new one for the mostly white suburbs.
What retired Criminal Court Judge Robert “Bobby” Carter discovered — by observation and through data that he could compile — was an eye opener, particularly regarding the dearth of criminal cases that go to trial.