Reporter
Samuel Hardiman is a reporter who focuses on government and politics. He began his career at the Tulsa World where he covered business and K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on xAI, energy needs and how local governments spend money.
There are 452 articles by Samuel Hardiman :
“There’s a lot of issues that are unknown, and there’s a lot of contamination. ... So how do we address that, and where are those sources coming from?” the science director at Protect Our Aquifer said.
He said the city council’s lawsuit to get the referendum on the ballot could hurt efforts to work with Republican leaders of the legislature. Memphis City Council sues Election Commission over gun-control voteRelated content:
“We won’t back down and d--n sure won’t be bullied,” Memphis City Council Chair JB Smiley Jr. said, as council members announced the lawsuit.
The EPA considers turbines, such as the ones being used at the xAI supercomputer in Memphis, a significant source of hazardous air pollutants.
Energy costs continued to climb for Memphians last week when the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board of directors voted to raise electric rates.
State reps. John Gillespie and Justin J. Pearson were some of the Memphis-area legislators pushing for local gun-control measures on the Nov. 5 ballot after a threat from state Republican leadership.
Memphis City Council member Dr. Jeff Warren said he was disappointed by the news. “Cities are different animals from (the) countryside,” he said.
“Common sense says local governments can’t override state law to give a 12-year-old a driver’s license, and they can’t override other state laws either,” Hargett said in a statement emailed to The Daily Memphian. TN Repubs threaten to withhold sales tax over Memphis gun votesRelated content:
The planned $112.5 million private development High 5 could transform Liberty Park, formerly known as the Mid-South Fairgrounds, and bail the City of Memphis out of an underwater wager.
New Memphis Area Transit Authority documents detail which jobs the transit system plans to cut as it attempts to right-size its operations.Related content:
A survey of Memphis residents finds 17% don’t know who Mayor Paul Young is, and 35% have never heard of Interim Police Chief C.J. Davis.
After xAI’s supercomputer came online, the Elon Musk-founded artificial intelligence startup revamped its plans for a greywater facility to include other large water users.
After the City of Memphis spent $74.5 million of its fund balance in fiscal year 2024, The Daily Memphian filed a Tennessee Public Records Act request to see how the money was spent.
The meeting hosted by MLGW alongside Memphis City Council member Pearl Walker came after months of community worry about the project, which promises to add the electrical equivalent of several thousand homes to the utility’s distribution system. Related story:
Environmental activists have raised concerns about emissions from the site as well as impact on the region’s drinking water.
Liberty Park, formerly known as the Mid-South Fairgrounds, could see a broad transformation in the coming years with $112.5 million in private development now cleared for takeoff.
The treated wastewater from the plant would replace demand on the region’s supply and save hundreds of millions of drinking water a year from industrial use.
The request comes amid the backdrop of some grassroots opposition to the project in Memphis and growing awareness nationwide of the demands supercomputers and other data centers have placed on electric grids and water supplies.
The Republican primary winner is likely to face a spirited general-election challenge. State House District 97, which includes parts of East Memphis and Bartlett, is among the most competitive in the state.
Longtime Tennessee Sen. Sara Kyle faces a Democratic primary challenger on the August ballot — Erika Stotts Pearson, a perennial candidate for higher office.
The incumbents in every contested Shelby County legislative primary cruised to reelection Thursday, meaning there may not be much change in the local delegation.
A federal judge ruled Friday that Tyre Nichols’ young son must be represented by someone besides his grandmother RowVaughn Wells’ attorneys in the civil rights lawsuit against the City of Memphis.
A Memphis police officer and a civilian died early Friday morning after a two-vehicle crash near Downtown, the Memphis Police Department said. A second officer is in critical condition at Regional One Health.
The utility company also said the supercomputer’s heavy electric load will have “no impact” on its reliability.
The lawsuit stems from the department’s decision to create a second lieutenant position, a move that the sergeants say harms their career prospects.