There are 29 article(s) tagged Shante Avant:

• November 2025

  • ‘How about we cut you off as the chair?’ — Ford tirade aimed at County Commission chairwoman

    Also in the roundup: Amber Huett-Garcia opens Commission campaign, Marie Feagins’ bid for county mayor and Steve Cohen on a successor.

    By Bill Dries November 24, 2025

  • Ford gets heated in County Commission debate about deputy’s benefits

    The County Commission ultimately extended benefits for a severely injured Shelby County sheriff’s deputy.

    By Bill Dries November 18, 2025

• October 2025

  • Regional One focuses on hospital while campus rebuild faces headwinds

    When Regional One Health leaders and county elected officials marked the naming of the teams that will start design work on the new county-owned hospital this past week, some of the dollar figures had changed.

    By Bill Dries October 04, 2025

  • State’s bond ban won’t disrupt Shelby County schools, hospital projects this year

    A $271 million bond issuance from May helps cover funds needed for schools and hospital projects in Shelby County’s budget for the current fiscal year, Shelby County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Shante Avant said.

    By Laura Testino October 03, 2025

• September 2025

  • Shante Avant on the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis

    It’s hard not to talk to Shante Avant about politics, but that’s exactly what “The Sidebar” host Eric Barnes does in this episode focused on the mission of the Women’s Foundation.

    By Eric Barnes September 27, 2025

• August 2025

  • County Commission plans next steps for Shelby County Jail

    The Shelby County Commission has an amended plan to seek proposals on where and how to build a new jail. The detailed process was pushed Monday, Aug. 25, to a Sept. 3 committee meeting for more discussion.

    By Bill Dries August 26, 2025

  • Ups, downs and votes on a new County Commission chair

    It took one vote to elect the new County Commission chair and four to elect the chair pro tempore. In between was the usual commission intrigue and grievances.

    By Bill Dries August 14, 2025

• June 2025

  • The making of Shelby County’s budget and tax rate

    The Commission meets in special session Monday, June 30, to vote on a budget amendment that would undo some of the $23.4 million in amendments it made to Mayor Lee Harris’s budget proposal.

    Related content:

    County Commission Scorecard: Tracking budget and tax-rate votes

    By Bill Dries June 29, 2025

  • County Commission passes budget — with no property tax hike

    A majority of Shelby County commissioners favored some kind of small property tax hike in the new budget, but ultimately couldn’t get seven votes on how to split up the additional revenue. 

    By Bill Dries June 24, 2025

• March 2025

  • County Commission may attempt to block state schools takeover

    “If we do nothing then we are really leaving ourselves at the will of the state,” said Commissioner Shante Avant. 

    By Bill Dries March 26, 2025

• February 2025

  • Shelby County Commission considers MSCS audit

    The Shelby County Board of Commissioners will vote on the resolution at its Monday, Feb. 10, meeting, authorizing $50,000 from the commission’s contingency fund to pay for the audit.

    By Bill Dries February 05, 2025

• December 2024

  • County approves Frayser school funding despite news of MSCS turmoil

    There were no votes opposing the new Frayser high school, but word that the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board will vote on a possible ouster of Superintendent Marie Feagins cast a long shadow over the discussion.

    By Bill Dries December 16, 2024

  • County Commission retreat gets at what makes it tick — and what makes it go off

    The Shelby County Commission met for a retreat where the aim was to get at the working relationship among the body of 13. That relationship has been rocky during the first half of the group’s four-year term.

    By Bill Dries December 16, 2024

• July 2024

  • Whaley selected as County Commission chair

    The vote Monday, July 22, revealed some enduring gaps among the commission’s nine-vote Democratic majority.

    By Bill Dries July 23, 2024

• June 2024

  • ‘It’s about transforming lives,’ mayor says, as he cuts ribbon on latest South City addition

    The ribbon-cutting Thursday, June 13, of a new senior-citizen apartment building at the former Foote Homes was also a look back at the longer timeline of the city’s move to mixed-income communities.

    By Bill Dries June 13, 2024

• July 2023

  • County Commission interviews candidates to fill school board seat

    The Shelby County Commission interviewed eight candidates who applied to replace former Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member Sheleah Harris during a committee meeting Wednesday, July 12.

    By Alicia Davidson July 12, 2023

• February 2023

  • Still no opening date for Halbert’s Riverdale branch

    Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert pledged the Riverdale branch office would open by the end of 2022. It’s not open yet, and Halbert told county commissioners Monday she doesn’t know when it will be.

    By Bill Dries February 06, 2023

• January 2023

  • Avant new head of Women’s Foundation

    Longtime leader Ruby Bright retired at the end of 2022. 

    By Jane Roberts January 04, 2023

• May 2022

  • Shante Avant wins Democratic primary race for County Commission District 5

    “It’s quite simple, the Democrat primary voters have decided who they want as their candidate,” Folsom said. “It was a well-fought race despite the incredibly low turnout.”

    By Alicia Davidson May 04, 2022

• March 2022

  • Charles Everett named to school board seat

    Charles Everett, a Tennessee PTA leader and co-founder of Uplift Westwood, is the new District 6 Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member. 

    By Bill Dries March 22, 2022

  • Seven apply for vacant school board seat

    The Shelby County will commission fill the vacancy at its March 21 meeting. Most of those who applied for the appointment plan to run for a full four-year term in the August elections.

    By Bill Dries March 04, 2022

• February 2022

  • County Commission to fill school board, state Senate vacancies next month

    The commission set the schedules Wednesday, Feb. 23, for taking applications, interviewing candidates and making the picks. 

    By Bill Dries February 23, 2022

  • Political Roundup: Avant may file; ‘pink wave’ thoughts, and ‘ghettoizing’

    Meanwhile, Jason Martin slams Gov. Bill Lee’s state of the state address and calls for the legalization of pot in all forms. And a look at the May and August ballots ahead of Thursday’s deadline to get on the May county primary ballot.

    By Bill Dries February 14, 2022

  • MSCS board member Shante Avant resigns

    Shante Avant, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member representing district 6, announced her resignation Friday.

    By Daja E. Henry February 12, 2022

• February 2021

  • Some Memphis school board members push for a reopening date

    Superintendent Joris Ray presented updates for reopening during a board committee meeting Thursday, including creating a district contact-tracing team and using district buildings to administer vaccines to teachers. But he has delayed reopening classes indefinitely, citing high community spread of COVID-19. 

    By Laura Faith Kebede February 05, 2021