“Love thy neighbor” is what attendees at an interfaith gathering at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church were reminded of Monday, Sept. 12.

Christian Brothers University placed in the top 20 in its category in the latest U.S. News and World Report college rankings, rising from last year, while other local colleges and universities fell. 

Collierville and Lakeland were the only districts in Shelby County designated reward schools by the Tennessee Department of Education. The honor is reserved for schools in the top 5% for performance, growth or both.

“MLGW’s decision on its future power supply is one of the most consequential single decisions that any community has made in the history of SACE’s work throughout the Southeast region over the past three decades,” said the executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. 

The council’s monthly crime update from Memphis Police brass could be more than a regular check-in. Last week’s violence has renewed a long-running civic discussion. And it has moved swiftly to questions about the criminal justice system.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools Deputy Superintendent John Barker has been placed on paid leave pending an investigation into a complaint levied against him. 

Three local owners of small businesses opened up to share their stories of success during a seminar hosted by The Daily Memphian last week. 

State blames delay in testing Cleotha Abston’s 2021 rape kit on backlog, gun detection technology faces lawsuit and group builds tiny homes to house the homeless.

One started out as an automotive service manager. The other was a zookeeper. Now, they are nurses, filling gaps in a national shortage.

The agenda is light Monday for the body of 13 that includes six new commissioners and seven returning. The commission has a nine-member Democratic majority following the August county general elections.

The Democrats didn’t field a candidate in a district that used to be — before redistricting — one of the General Assembly’s most flippable.

The scorecard looks at two special meetings this month that filled an open council seat, shut down another city charter change ballot question and approved a compromise on One Beale.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools is taking issues with comments from Mayor Jim Strickland about enrollment and truancy.

ShotSpotter was installed as part of test in Memphis last year, but a lawsuit out of Chicago claims the gunshot detection system isn’t as effective as advertised.

Federal and state funds for local prevention efforts, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education in schools, began drying up before the pandemic.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says MPD should have acted more aggressively to solve the 2021 assault; DNA analysis was completed a few days after the disappearance of Eliza Fletcher.

Related story:

Eliza Fletcher’s alleged killer investigated in 2021 for rape

Cars overflowed from the Second Presbyterian Church parking lot onto Central Avenue as the community gathered Saturday, Sept. 10, for the funeral of Eliza Fletcher. 

A young mother, a community educator and a new social development firm work to unpack and defy grim teen birth statistics, build healthy families and ‘redesign’ the community.

In September 2021, a woman told police Cleotha Abston abducted and raped her at gunpoint, yet Abston remained free until he was arrested earlier this week for Eliza Fletcher’s murder.

Corteria Wright, who died in a shooting Wednesday night, was not killed by Ezekiel Kelly, the 19-year-old accused of going on a city-wide shooting spree.

Related story:

Shooting victim remembered as ‘sweet little girl'

Medical assistant who lived in the community was a victim of daylong shooting spree across Memphis.

Former Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich talked to The Daily Memphian about the 2020 plea deal for Ezekiel Kelly that Gov. Bill Lee called an example of “soft-on-crime plea deals.”

Related story:

Gov. Lee calls for changes in plea deals during Memphis visit

Carlson characterized Lee as soft on crime in a monologue against criminal justice reform, which, he claimed, “means letting violent people out of prison early.”

Corteria Wright, 17, was killed Wednesday during the shooting rampage, but at the hands of a different killer.