For the last few years, Memphis activist Keedran Franklin said police have sat outside his office in an unmarked car. Some have followed him, and other officers he doesn’t know have approached him and addressed him by name.

Republican state Sen. Brian Kelsey is leading Democratic challenger Gabby Salinas by a wide margin in a recent state employees union poll with a heavy dose of GOP voters.

Upended by a blue wave in Shelby County’s Aug. 2 election, ex-Register of Deeds Tom Leatherwood is seeking a return to the Legislature, hoping to fill a void left by the late Ron Lollar.

The Memphis City Council can spend $30,000 to $40,000 of city funds on a “public information campaign” about the three city charter amendment referendums on the Nov. 6 ballot, a court ruled Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Following a mass shooting that killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synogogue Saturday, six Memphians are inviting the local community to not necessarily feel better, but to get better at feeling. Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel was already scheduled to lead the October experience that uses music, stories, silence and dialogue to take attendees into “The Mystic” when he got wind of the attack.

Memphis attorney Marvin Ballin, founder of a criminal defense law firm that includes his son, daughter and grandson, died Tuesday morning.

The Memphis City Council will begin accepting applications Thursday to fill the District 1 council seat that becomes vacant that day with the resignation of council member Bill Morrison.

Shelby County Schools Board member Scott McCormick missed 72 of 94 committee meetings from January 2017 to September 2018, according to records obtained by Tennessee House Democratic Caucus chairman Mike Stewart.

A group working on changes to the local approach to economic development is recommending a larger role for the Greater Memphis Chamber.

Jury selection began Monday, Oct. 29, in the death penalty murder trial of Tremaine Wilbourn, the man charged in the 2015 killing of Memphis Police Department officer Sean Bolton. He is at least the fourth defendant since 2011 to face a capital-murder trial in Shelby County Criminal Court.

The Shelby County Commission has approved a resolution proclaiming a vote of no confidence in the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to end federal oversight of Shelby County Juvenile Court.

Tennessee’s gubernatorial candidates won’t commit to Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal to buy laptops for Tennessee students - at an unspecified cost - in an effort to prepare them for the end-of-year test called TNReady.

The second and final weekend of early voting brought the Democratic and Republican contenders for Tennessee governor to Shelby County as well as Democratic Senate nominee Phil Bredesen.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee presents himself as a political “outsider.” He’s never run for public office, and he says he’s “never worked for the government.”

The Memphis City Council cannot spend any money publicizing the three city charter referendums on the November ballot until Chancellor Jim Kyle holds a hearing Tuesday on a lawsuit filed Friday by members of the group Save IRV, which is among those campaigning for the defeat of all three amendments.

Walter Bailey, the longest-serving Shelby County commissioner, can now add having a county building named after him to his list of accomplishments.  

Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael has revealed how he plans to move forward after the U.S. Department of Justice’s surprise announcement last week to end federal oversight over the court after six years.

An effort to have the federal Department of Homeland Security conduct a cyber-security threat assessment of Shelby County’s touchscreen voting machines and a have a special master review the county’s voting system has been denied in Memphis Federal Court.

U.S. District Judge Jon P. McCalla ruled Friday that the ACLU of Tennessee had legal standing to sue the city of Memphis, saying that there was "clear and convincing evidence" that the city conducted political intelligence against activists in violation of a 40-year-old consent decree.

The day after Chancery Court ordered the Shelby County Election Commission to continue verifying incomplete voter registration applications so eligible people can vote by Election Day Nov. 6, NAACP leaders said they were prepared to begin contacting those prospective voters.

The Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union wants a review of voters purged from the Shelby County election rolls and possible restoration of any voters who may have been purged since May 2017 solely for missing several elections.

Over the last five years, the Memphis Police Department has seen officers leaving every year, but grant funding from private donors has allowed the department to recruit and retain more officers, and for the first time the police force has seen  something it has not experienced since 2011 — growth.

The two men accused in the fatal shooting of Greater Memphis Chamber president and CEO Phil Trenary will be back in court Monday when their attorneys will seek to get a preliminary hearing date set in the case.

Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins ruled Thursday in favor of the Memphis Branch NAACP and the Tennessee Black Voters Project in a lawsuit that will require the Shelby County Election Commission to give potential voters a chance to fix their voter registration applications so they can cast ballots on the Nov. 6 election day. 

Gov. Bill Haslam, coming off a listening tour for the embattled TNReady test, is proposing a litany of changes for the assessment, including spending to put laptops in the hands of every Tennessee student.