A pharmacy student sues over her free speech rights, volunteers talk about their work at the Pipkin and on Appling City Cove and they’re moving heaven and earth at Overton Park. 

Shelby County Commissioners vote Monday, Feb. 8, on first-phase funding of $5.9 million to start a Millington project that creates a broader flood plain for Big Creek and doubles as a recreational area when flood waters are low.

Using surrogate viruses developed by UTHSC professor, labs working on COVID vaccines and boosters can check their efficacy without using the dangerous SARS-CoV-2 virus. 

Shelby County prosecutors have seen more violence in domestic violence cases during the pandemic and they worry about the number of post-pandemic disclosures of child abuse. 
Related story: Pandemic a challenge for criminal justice system? Guilty as charged

Friends for Life opened The Haven, its larger HIV/AIDS outreach and support center, near the University of Memphis Sunday, Feb. 7, on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. 

The Shelby County Health Department reported 319 new coronavirus cases and 7 additional deaths on Sunday, Feb. 7.

Even under so-called normal conditions, the criminal justice system encounters delays and backlogs. The COVID-19 pandemic takes it to a whole new level. 

From Jan. 23 to Saturday, the Health Department reported an average of 325 new cases and 3,593 test results a day with a 9% positivity rate. While the case average is still higher than in most points of the pandemic, that’s a notable decline from the previous two-week period.

The Shelby County Health Department partnered with Southwest Tennessee Community College to begin administering first doses of the Pfizer vaccine Friday at the school’s Whitehaven center at 1234 Finley Road.

The 23 reported deaths range from Nov. 16, 2020 to Feb. 3, 2021, according to the Health Department.

‘We haven’t gone after those jobs ... that would make people drop everything and move to Memphis,' City Council member Martavius Jones said.

A proposed change in the utility’s debt policy could allow it to build a power generating plant, which would be key if MLGW cuts its ties to TVA, and pay for the plant with the savings to come from it. 

Several dozen non-binding budget amendments were suggested in the Senate to make political statements. Meanwhile, there was a House vote on Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Pharmacy student alleges her First Amendment rights were violated by the school.

Since March, the Health Department has reported 84,123 total coronavirus cases and 1,348 deaths, classifying 79,397 cases as inactive/recovered.

Brown Baptist Church in Southaven is hosting a blood drive to combat the nationwide blood shortage that has been worsened by the pandemic. 

Superintendent Joris Ray presented updates for reopening during a board committee meeting Thursday, including creating a district contact-tracing team and using district buildings to administer vaccines to teachers. But he has delayed reopening classes indefinitely, citing high community spread of COVID-19. 

A complex idea in East Memphis, a murder mystery near Shelby Farms and wide disparities in who is getting the vaccine — and who’s not. 

Someone has been dumping dead horses, cows and deer on county land not far from a public trail along the Wolf River near Shelby Farms. Investigators can’t figure out who.

The order keeps alive Tennessee’s quest to create an education savings account program that would provide taxpayer money to eligible families in Memphis and Nashville to pay toward private school tuition.

April Alley seeks DNA testing to exonerate her father, Sedley Alley, who was executed in 2006 after being convicted of the 1985 murder of Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne Collins in Millington. Sedley Alley confessed to the crime, but later said the confession was coerced.

Gov. Bill Lee talked with SCS Superintendent Joris Ray about potentially returning children to classes by Feb. 15. Dozens of Tennessee counties have progressed to Phase 1b, which includes teachers in the vaccination priority list.

The conversation on “Behind the Headlines” with three experts in education reveals the complexities in reopening schools and helping students catch up.

The 220 new cases come from 1,985 tests, giving the day a positivity rate of 11.1%.