Wide-ranging discussion includes safety of vaccines that may have spoiled in the field.

Commission also approves a goal of giving locally-owned small businesses 20% of county government contracts and purchases.

State Health commissioner Lisa Piercey said she won’t have a completed report by Friday, March 12.

The bill in Nashville would outlaw partisan primary elections in Shelby and Davidson counties – the state’s two biggest concentrations of Democratic voters.

Demand for child care far exceeds supply in Tennessee, but a bill passed Monday, March 8, by the state Senate could give state employees more options.

A resolution with nearly unanimous House GOP support is calling for proceedings that could remove Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle.

The new CDC guidance does not include children.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, as of Sunday, more than 14% of people in Tennessee have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose.

Christ Community is offering vaccines on South Third Street.

New law takes aim at third-graders, Tigers head to Fort Worth after heartbreak in Houston, and your plants might not be dead. 

Those in line Saturday were receiving the Pfizer vaccine. More than 1,100 doses were available to those who made appointments.

It only took a dozen days after that March 8 news conference for Mayor Jim Strickland to invoke the first civil emergency order in Memphis in more than a generation, closing gyms, bars and indoor restaurant dining.

Related story:

Year 1 of the novel coronavirus pandemic, by the numbers

The regular Monday session of the commission will be followed by a special Friday meeting with Tennessee Health commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey on problems that led the state to shift control of COVID vaccine distribution from the county to the city of Memphis.

Statistically, COVID-19 is more likely to claim the lives of people 65 and older than any other age group. But apart from that, the pandemic has introduced layers of complications for seniors, especially those living alone and/or on fixed incomes.

A year ago, the novel coronavirus pandemic landed in Shelby County. Here’s a look back at local milestones.

Related story:

12 days that changed Memphis, 12 months later

Speed and distraction factored into a record increase of pedestrian deaths in Memphis during 2020. 

A total of 175,464 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Shelby County. At least 119,181 people have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose; 56,283 people have received both coronavirus vaccine doses, meaning they are fully vaccinated.

Nearly $30 million in federal pandemic assistance for the city and county governments is being pooled for what city Housing and Community Development Director Paul Young calls a “game-changer.”

Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty pushed the narrative that Republican-led states were getting less money in the relief bill at the expense of Democratic led states. 

From Feb. 20 to March 6, the Shelby County Health Department reported 66,592 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, compared to 28,705 in the preceding period.

At least 116,660 people in Shelby County have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose; 53,565 people have received both coronavirus vaccine doses, meaning they are fully vaccinated. A total of 170,225 doses have been administered in Shelby County.

The February freeze has left Mid-South gardeners worried that their plants might not survive.

City officials hope to vaccinate at least 700,000 people in Shelby County with at least one dose by Aug. 1. A total of 113,793 people have received at least one shot as of Friday, according to the Health Department.

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member Chase Carlisle talks about bargaining with TVA for a new contract with MLGW without a specific plan for an alternative, his call for the resignation of the Shelby County Health Department’s embattled leader and the 2022 race for Shelby County mayor.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris believes he may have found a way to stop the Byhalia Connection oil pipeline. Or at least give the community a tool for better regulating projects like it in the future.