The state is doling out $81 million in grants to K-12 schools, colleges and universities to prepare for a safe reopening this August in the COVID-19 climate.

Memphis City Council members also got their first look Tuesday at how much police have spent in the past four years on overtime and riot gear as well as other preparations to handle protests.

Even as we announce final decisions and protocols, I cannot assure you that it will not change again, because that is how quickly the virus impacts the information we use to make decisions.

Shelby County Schools’ plan addresses every aspect of the school day starting with bus rides and ending with after-school care and extracurricular activities. 

Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter said taking these steps to reduce transmission will help with the plan to reopen schools in the fall.

The offer by CEO Jeff Lyash at a Tuesday City Council presentation includes investments and money over a 20-year period. Meanwhile, there was more reaction from other parts of the issue on a final version of the Integrated Resource Plan on the matter commissioned by MLGW.

More than 1,000 ewes have come to the Millington Solar Farm as part of a “regenerative energy” initiative.

The applicant proposing The Stratford event center plans several measures to prevent the commercial activity from affecting residences nearby.

Overall, 143,329 coronavirus tests have been administered in Shelby County.

Building permit applications show Raymond James plans to spend $7.25 million renovating the 1100 Ridgeway Loop building and $6.33 million renovating the 889 Ridge Lake building.

Finard Properties has filed requests with the planning board to transform Poplar Plaza's southeast corner into a mixed-use development. A rendering indicates existing buildings on the corner will be replaced with six- or seven-story structures.

The city is proposing nearly $4.7 million worth of capital improvement projects. The Financial Advisory Commission proposed moving forward last week. Aldermen will review the projects Wednesday.

While critical of the first draft of the IRP by Siemens consulting, the environmental group says it still makes a case for more renewable energy to generate electric power. The Sierra Club response also stops short of recommending cutting ties to TVA, saying the cost of transmission lines to rival MISO should be fully explored.

Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loan applications resume with Aug. 8 deadline and nearly $130 billion still left in the program till.

The retail chain that serves civilian and professional gun shooters, law enforcement and other first responders has signed a lease in the Market at Wolfcreek, across from Wolfchase Galleria.

The small neighborhood grocery store has been purchased by Cash Saver CEO Rick James, who used to make calls there when he worked for Malone & Hyde.

Germantown's November ballot is shaping up. Rod Motely will challenge Sherrie Hicks for Alderman Position 3, the seat held by Dean Massey. Massey has said he will not run for that seat.

The Shelby County district attorney general said she believed in free speech, but “free speech does not give anyone the right to steal my flags and burn them on my property or to harass and intimidate my husband, children and neighbors.”

Memphis City Council members to discuss removing police from the city’s civil service system.

“I’ve been wanting to help make a change with Memphis radio, specifically community radio, for a long time. ... We are going to amplify voices in Memphis and the Mid-South."

Monday's numbers also bring the area's reported coronavirus-related deaths to 200. 

Mayor Jim Strickland has been in a no-win situation with the City Hall occupation, especially being a white mayor in a predominantly African American city. And while the ending of the protest was not ideal, history shows it could have been a lot worse.

Two of Silo Square's mixed-use buildings, each three stories, are effectively designed as illusions, with a nod to the past. The presence of a kitchen-appliance delivery truck nearby signals that completion of those buildings is within the near future. 

The Cordova headquarters opening spotlighted the only countywide race on the August ballot – the race for General Sessions Court Clerk between Democrat Joe Brown and Republican Paul Boyd.

The team name in question, of course, is Redskins. It has been a standing insult to our country’s first peoples since the team was created in 1933.