The decision comes eight days after the board did not vote to implement universal masking in schools despite Superintendent Gary Lilly’s concerns about staffing issues.

“Oh, Omicron, when are you gonna be gone?” That’s Britton DeWeese’s question as he sits at home, recovered but with a sick family and a work staff continuing to test positive.

Both defendants in the homicide have remained in jail without bond since their 2018 arrests.

Highway patrol points city to (possibly) forgotten funding to catch speeders, doctors urge pregnant women to get vaccinated and a veterans organization is checking out a new Jackson Avenue facility.

Residency requirements, reckless driving and Germantown’s namesake schools are among the issues lawmakers plan to address at the upcoming General Assembly session. School funding reform might have to wait until next year.

Republican mayoral contender Worth Morgan emphasized his differences on crime with Democratic incumbent Lee Harris. The three Democrats seeking to challenge Republican District Attorney Amy Weirich in August said the prosecutors office would change profoundly if any of them upset Weirich.

County commissioners will get their second briefing from the Health Department in a week about the effect the new Omicron variant is having on local hospital capacity.

The top five votes by the Memphis City Council include what happened after a crude oil pipeline plan was withdrawn and the council’s do-over on the work toward a possible MLGW split from TVA. 

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency begins taking applications online Monday, Jan. 10, for $168 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for those behind on their mortgage payments specifically because of the pandemic.

The Daily Memphian compares top pay and pay ranges for the county’s six law enforcement agencies and finds that the area’s smaller police departments pay more. 

With local motorists driving ‘as if they are in video games,’ city and state law enforcement are at odds over who bears more responsibility for enforcing highway speeding laws.

The DeSoto County town was identified in 2021 as the third-safest city in Mississippi by Safewise.com, and citizens want to keep it safe.

Vaccination rates remain low for pregnant women, especially within Hispanic and African American populations. So medical professionals have launched a campaign to change that.

“Behind The Headlines” features a discussion of the year’s major events. The reporters’ roundtable found the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic crossed even those events that seemed unconnected to the global public health crisis.

A federal judge granted an acquittal on two wire fraud charges against state Sen. Katrina Robinson but denied acquittal or a new trial on two remaining counts of wire fraud.

A statement announcing the withdrawal of the application, sent by councilman JB Smiley, came Thursday, Jan. 6, just one week before it was to be presented to the Land Use Control Board. 

Mayor Keith McDonald’s final year in office, what to watch when Sundance comes to town and where Megasite growth will go first. 

Shelby County Schools board member Bibbs is seeking a County Commission seat. Meanwhile Commission Chairman Brooks is aiming for the Shelby County Register’s job. 

“Overall budget is holding in spite of market conditions but we have a long way to go,” Megasite CEO Clay Bright said.

 The top five include property taxes, redistricting, pay raises, a takeback on critical race theory and the strategic battle for a new commission chairman.

Strickland asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, in a letter dated Thursday, to list the bridge project as one of the state’s long-term infrastructure priorities. He cited the three-month shutdown last year of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge as well as the advanced age of other bridges at Memphis across the Mississippi River.

High COVID-19 case numbers are not only affecting staffing at testing sites but at area police agencies, fire departments and hospitals, Memphis and Shelby County officials said Thursday, Jan. 6.

Ken Moody opened his challenge of County Mayor Lee Harris Thursday in Overton Square with an attack of Harris’ leadership, similar to how Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland campaigned in his 2015 upset of incumbent AC Wharton Jr. 

The latest COVID-19 Task Force briefing begins at noon, Thursday, Jan. 6.

Some local COVID-19 testing sites will be closed today because of wintry weather. Others will have reduced hours.