The scorecard also tracks votes on paid sick leave laws at the state level and council action on a restaurant accused of racial discrimination.

A Shelby County group seeking election security reforms is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case to prohibit the use of certain election machines and provide for a paper trail of election ballots.

The coalition of 150 local nonprofits issued a call for change two weeks ago. But they say they have seen little indication of movement and will continue to press their demands.

Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order No. 50 Monday to extend the State of Emergency related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to Aug, 29.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance is set to take another vote July 8 to reduce civil penalties against state Rep. Joe Towns after the Attorney General's Office advised it to reaffirm what critics are calling “secret” action that led to an open meetings lawsuit.

The lack of new numbers is due to a data upload issue with the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, according to the Shelby County Health Department.

As we near the end of June, we're talking about the Grizz's new schedule, whether police should live where they work, a test of education and Lloyds of Germantown. 

When public health agencies are not familiar to residents, it’s difficult to penetrate those communities during a crisis. “That’s like not having a military until you get attacked. It’s a bit too late,” says Shelby County Commission member Reginald Milton.

Leaders of the half-century-old organization, challenged by shrunken membership, expected Saturday's annual U.S. flag sale to be its last. But the customers had other ideas. 

The city's top elected Democrat talked about Barr's coming appearance before the House next month and the police reform debate in Washington and in the streets of Memphis.

Tennessee’s charter schools sector has grown to 118 since a 2002 state law opened the door to the publicly funded, independently operated schools. Most are in Memphis. And its new overseeing body, the Tennessee Public Charter Schools Commission, is extending its search for an executive director.

For people who have no sick days, unemployment, the cost of testing and the quarantine that may follow are costs they avoid.

Daily Memphian photojournalist Patrick Lantrip takes a look at the first twelve straight days of protests over the death of George Floyd through 12 photos on the one-month anniversary of the first day of protests in Memphis. 

The Shelby County Health Department reported 365 new coronavirus cases and three new deaths Saturday. 

Groups began lining up both for and against testing after Superintendent Joris Ray, who leads the state’s largest district in Memphis, said he would petition the education commissioner to drop the annual assessment known as TNReady in 2020-21.

Black Lives Matter is a seven-year-old movement with an ambitious platform beyond the protests of police abuses with which it has been most associated. And in the past month of protests, activists and academics locally have seen reaction to it shift — a shift explored on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast and a recent Hooks Institute forum.

Thomas Bryant, a heart transplant survivor, was admitted to the hospital weeks after he had surgery for colon cancer. His COVID treatment and recovery will be part of body of research being gathered around the world that will help scientists know how to treat people with underlying conditions. 

Clerk Wanda Halbert says the seven locations will operate differently. They'll have appointments, and people will wait in their cars before being called into the office. Halbert warns there could be long lines and few employees at the counter until social distancing partitions are installed. The one-week shutdown was the second for the office since the global pandemic was declared in mid-March.

Nine ministers – who were all involved in the set of private meetings with the mayor that lead up to his City Hall announcement Thursday regarding moves toward police reform – put out a letter Friday critical of the reforms Strickland had announced.

According to the state’s Hospital Resources Tracking System, 84% of acute care and 83% of intensive care unit hospital beds are being used, overall, in Shelby County.

As local COVID rates continue to rise, Mayor Jim Strickland signed the City Council's mask ordinance, and also announced next steps on policing reform. Geoff Calkins looks at the initial negotiations on the FedExForum lease, and the surplus it's yielded. 

The time for “Taps” may have arrived for Memphians for America. The group anticipates its street-corner sales of U.S. flags may be the last after holding the event yearly for a half-century.

The county mayor also said in a "Behind The Headlines" interview that he has no regrets about his budget proposal that the commission rejected, which included a wheel tax hike with some budget cuts and an ambitious five-year plan to fund new school construction.

The Shelby County Commission is planning to install plexiglass barriers when it returns to its chambers next month. The Memphis City Council is making arrangements to find a new temporary meeting place. Its City Hall chambers are still undergoing a renovation that began before the pandemic.

This week on WKNO’s Behind the Headlines, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris joins host Eric Barnes and Bill Dries.