Reporter
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise 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.
There are 612 articles by Samuel Hardiman :
In the days before a Nashville judge ruled on the legality of Gov. Bill Lee’s deployment of the Tennessee National Guard, hundreds more guardsmen surged into Memphis, according to public records.
At a hearing that displayed a clash of environmental activism and the city’s business establishment, the Air Pollution Control Board said the controversial air emissions permit will stand. But it may come with a policy change.
Some say the National Guard “shouldn’t be here,” while others say Memphis “got the message.” The Daily Memphian captured a snapshot of where Memphians stand on the Memphis Safe Task Force and its impact.
The turbines TVA plans to construct are intended to be used when the electric grid sees high demand.
The company already has two Memphis data centers.
Memphis saw a 26.4% decline in murders year over year.
The Daily Memphian obtained daily reports on the Task Force’s work between Oct. 1 and Dec. 8, and analyzed each day’s report to determine how every arrest started.
MLGW is in the process of providing updated records, which are expected to significantly alter the totals initially reported in this story.
The matter is set for oral arguments on March 5, 2026.
The City of Memphis and the Memphis Fire Fighters Association are winding down their litigation after the Memphis City Council passed a 2% raise this week.
Before the vote on Tuesday, multiple council members raised the city’s fiscal condition.
The letter apologized for the contentious nature of the debate over a raise for firefighters, but also said the raise would not matter much.
The city needs sales-tax growth at Liberty Park to pay bonds at the Memphis Sports and Events Center. To generate that tax growth, it needs hotel and apartments to become something more than hypothetical.
Up to 3,000 kids who receive needs-based prekindergarten in Memphis and Shelby County might not have pre-K centers to go to in January amid a funding crunch.
This spring, FBI Director Kash Patel singled out Memphis’ violent crime rate during an interview with Fox News. When his comments were publicized, law enforcement was underway on what would become Operation Viper.
The “debt cliff” refers to how much city bond payments are expected to decline in the future — essentially, the city’s annual payment on its never-ending mortgage.
The Memphis City Council addressed its YouTube stream not showing the entirety of the body’s Dec. 2 meeting where a council member compared a proposed firefighter pay raise to rape.
The comments came as the City Council debated an additional 2% raise for the Memphis Fire Fighters Association.
A TBI audit of MPD’s crime statistics yielded no real findings, TBI Director David Rausch wrote in a letter to two Memphis-area legislators.
The state argues that a judge was wrong when she ruled that Gov. Bill Lee sent the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis illegally.
The two sides have fought in court since early 2024.
The Tennessee National Guard is likely to remain in Memphis until at least early December, as the state has yet to appeal an injunction blocking the deployment.
“The numbers tell the story themselves. They are undeniable,” said U.S. Attorney General Bondi, who traveled to Memphis on Monday, Nov. 24.
The Tennessee House speaker, who attended U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s news conference Monday, Nov. 24, was asked what the state’s appetite was for funding a replacement to 201 Poplar.
While the Memphis Safe Task Force has had some impact on the county’s finances, the county is typically in this situation each year.