Memphis-area private schools are re-assessing the safety and security measures they have in place to protect students.

A massive protest for gun safety legislation on Thursday, March 30, overshadowed the passage of one of Gov. Bill Lee’s top priorities.

The recent Nashville school shooting provided yet another reminder that “presumptive safe places” might now always be safe.

Memphis students went shopping for prom free of charge Saturday, April 1, at the Memphis Police Department’s second Prom Closet event in Downtown Memphis.

Friends and neighbors in Covington gathered to pick up the pieces after a tornado tore through the area, decimating the town.

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Covington ‘impassable' after tornado; Arkansas under state of emergency

National Weather Service breaks down Friday’s tornadoes

President Joe Biden pledged during his visit to a Mississippi town ravaged by a deadly tornado vowed that the federal government is “not leaving” until the area is back on its feet.

Two rounds of severe weather and tornadoes hit Arkansas and parts of Tennessee on Friday night, March 31, something the National Weather Service says was expected as the spring season kicks in.

Carter claimed the chairmanship in the most Democratic county in the state Saturday, April 1, by three votes over rival Jesse Huseth.

Clean-up efforts are underway in Covington after long-track supercell storms pushed through Arkansas, crossed the Mississippi River and hit the city.

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Tornadoes kill at least 11 across US Midwest and South

Tornado slams Little Rock, smashes rooftops, flips vehicles

Tornadoes that tore through parts of the South and Midwest killed at least 11 people. Damaging winds and severe thunderstorms hit Shelby County, leaving more than 34,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers without power.

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Tornado warnings expire, damage reported in Covington area

Tornado slams Little Rock, smashes rooftops, flips vehicles

Two history professors, looking at the city’s Civil Rights Movement since Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination 55 years ago, talk about Tyre Nichols, police reform and where today’s movement is headed on “Behind The Headlines.”

As of March 30, there had been 78 murders in Memphis this year compared to 54 murders at the same point in 2022, according to Memphis Police Department data.

The new state law, which prohibits drag shows where children might be present, would have gone into effect Saturday, April 1. 

For the first time in more than two years, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center issued a rare “high risk” forecast for Memphis Friday afternoon.

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Schools, MATA closing in advance of severe weather

Tornado slams Little Rock, smashes rooftops, flips vehicles

A tornado plowed through Little Rock and surrounding areas on Friday afternoon, reducing rooftops to splinters, toppling vehicles and tossing debris on roadways as people raced for shelter.

The race for chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party is set against the backdrop of turmoil this week in the state House. Two of the three contenders say Democrats in the House aren’t being vocal enough.

“In the past, most bar fights ended up being just that — a bar fight,” Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis said. “Now everybody has a weapon, and we’re seeing more and more simple arguments turning into gun battles.”

Council attorney Allan Wade says council rules forbid special meetings to vote on ordinances, like the redistricting plan an ad hoc group is sending to the council for a vote in special meetings April 5 and April 12.

During an appearance on The Daily Memphian’s On the Record podcast, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland declined to say whether he thought the police department had issues with its culture. 

Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins denied a motion to make the city of Memphis part of the lawsuit. But he consolidated two legal challenges to the City of Memphis’ five-year mayoral residency requirement Friday. 

Friends of George’s, a Memphis LGBTQ+ theater company, recently filed a First Amendment challenge to Tennessee’s new “drag ban” in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

And MATA announced it would suspend services beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, March 31.

A man has been charged in the Whitehaven shooting that resulted in the gunshot injuries of two Memphis Police Department officers Thursday, March 30.

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TBI investigating Whitehaven shooting that hospitalized two officers

TBI investigates officer-involved shooting, lawmakers are open to red flag gun laws and a Binghampton man has a light bulb moment.

The National Civil Rights Museum hosted “The Reckoning: Community Policing and Accountability,” the first in a three-part series to examine historical connections of systemic racial violence.