The Shelby County Public Defender’s Office is struggling to handle first-degree murder cases, according to an email sent out to Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court judges in July and a recent filing in a first-degree murder case.

Twenty-three years ago when she was 11, Nuha Abuduhair almost moved from Memphis to Gaza. Today, she runs her own business here. But not a moment passes without her thinking of loved ones in Gaza.

The children’s book highlights a variety of Shelby County landmarks from more than 300 submissions from community volunteers. 

Also happening this week: A verdict is expected on whether Ja Morant can use the state’s self-defense immunity statute in a lawsuit over a fight at a pickup basketball game.

Starting December 2023, MSCS will jump-start its $3 million program, “Discovering Memphis,” designed to allow students to travel outside school grounds to explore different places across the city.

Economists say the days of massive budget surpluses are over, but the state remains in a solid financial position. And the economy is not in a recession.

He’s poured 12 years into the Wolf River Greenway that will connect 1,000 acres of woods and wetlands along the meandering ribbon of a river that flows by neighborhoods, rich and poor, in Shelby County. 

Poag Development Group is buying Oak Court Mall for an undisclosed price in a deal that is expected close by mid-December.

The Downtown Memphis Tourism Development Zone is likely to face another shortfall in next year’s debt payment, though it should be the smallest seen in the past three years.

More than 40 people attended and paid their respects to both fallen and living war veterans at the Doughboy Statue in Overton Park’s Veterans Plaza during the Daughters of the American Revolution Veterans Day Ceremony.

The Cordell Walker Veteran Center is named for the longtime executive director of Alpha Omega Veterans Services. The facility at 3114 Jackson Ave. includes housing for 20 homeless veterans.

The leaders of Memphis Parks, Shelby Farms Park Conservancy and Memphis River Parks Partnership talk on “Behind The Headlines” about the combination of public spaces and parks in the city.

Since June, the Army Corps of Engineers has spent $38 million maintaining the Mississippi River channel, mostly through dredging the equivalent of 5,000 Olympic-sized pools of sediment. 

Collierville Schools released a proposed map for rezoning at the elementary levels to better address capacity issues at existing schools. Rezoning is expected ahead of the 2024-25 academic year.

One of the defendants in the civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an inmate who died last year at the Shelby County Jail has filed to dismiss himself from the suit.

Early voting in the three runoffs for Memphis City Council Districts 2, 3 and 7 is open through 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Election day is Nov. 16.

Those who wish to help with the Nov. 18 giveaway for area agencies that provide food for the hungry must register in advance.

Local judge was suspended over drug use, “mor chickin” could be coming Downtown and the gate closes on Chickasaw Gardens’ gate request.

As the City Council nears the end of another term, they’re being asked to increase power rates — again.

Both those for and against the proposal for two gated entrances to the Midtown neighborhood gathered at City Hall for the vote Thursday, Nov. 9. 

Wanda Halbert addressed the sudden closing of the County Clerk’s Poplar Plaza office at a press conference Thursday, Nov. 9. She maintains the exit was not an “eviction” but acknowledged her office missed paying two months’ rent and called it “trivial.”

Riverside Drive will reopen to traffic on Monday, Nov. 13, with some restrictions.

That information was revealed in documents officially referring Shelby County Criminal Court Division 9 Judge Melissa Boyd to the Tennessee General Assembly for “further action,” including potential removal.

The authors of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on George Floyd had to give their presentation to Whitehaven High students without going too deep into the book’s main theme of systemic racism.

Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy have filed an accounting of the funds that were received while they were conservators of retired NFL star Michael Oher, whose life story rose to prominence with the 2009 film, “The Blind Side.”