Memphis City Council members approved changes Tuesday to the Loews convention center hotel project, moving the drop-off area for the hotel closer to North Main Street and Adams Avenue.

Aramark Food and Support Service has informed the state of Tennessee it will permanently lay off 126 employees from a facility at 2838 Business Park Drive near the FedEx hub.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division is proposing a new electric rate hike that would be less steep than an earlier proposal in the first of three years, but about the same overall. Meanwhile, some city council members want to pair the rate hike decision with whether MLGW cuts its ties with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The second-term slate of 13 Jim Strickland administration directors and chiefs drew some resistance from several council members in committee sessions Tuesday at City Hall. The decision to delay the vote on the slate for two weeks saw some of the new council members on different sides of the question at their first council meeting.

Applications are being accepted for the Shelby County Commission’s Summer Youth Program, which gives the county’s young people an opportunity to develop job skills and constructive work habits.

Gov. Bill Lee unveiled a new paid family leave policy for state employees Tuesday, a measure permitting up to 12 weeks of annual medical leave time for events such as child births and family illnesses. Lee admitted it will come with a cost.

Good morning; it’s Tuesday, Jan. 7, and the new Memphis City Council will hold its first meeting of the year today. The body is expected to discuss a proposed electric rate hike, but first: The Daily Memphian’s Bill Dries has compiled a quick guide to how city government works.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton was in Collierville Monday evening to attend a fundraiser for Collierville state Rep. Kevin Vaughan. The legislative session that begins next week will be Sexton's first regular session since becoming speaker this past summer.

The old council rejected a multi-year electric rate hike at its last meeting of the term last month. The new council talks compromise Tuesday in committee sessions with MLGW brass.

Commission committees will be asked to consider raising the wheel tax by $20 to fund MATA.

The Daily Memphian's primer on the ground rules, customs, proverbs and unwritten rules that keep City Hall running.

According to a copy of the proposal obtained by Chalkbeat, the transition is part of a massive reset for the embattled turnaround model known as the Achievement School District, which has fallen woefully short of its goal to improve student performance since launching in 2012. 

A Memphis Police Department homicide detective who was sleeping with a murder defendant retired last fall amid an internal investigation into his conduct, effectively allowing him to escape disciplinary action.

At stake is the education of 133 students who could need to find a new high school after May.

U.S. Department of Commerce announces grant to support Mid-South Minority Council Technical Assistance and Developmental Pool.

Former governor Winfield Dunn put a dent in a proposal to rename the Cordell Hull Office Building for him, saying he has “reservations” about the plan. He said he asked state Rep. Ron Gant not to push the idea.

Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for total hip, knee and spine surgeries.

The 60,000-square-foot, $21.5 million facility completes the final phase of a 17-year master plan to improve the campus.

Good morning; it’s Monday, Jan. 6. Comedian Bill Burr is at the Orpheum Theatre tonight, but also important: Many local schools are back in session today after their winter breaks.

From Phyllis Tickle and Sam The Sham to Morgan and Keegan and the schools merger and demerger, we round out the Memphis 200 with suggestions from readers on the people, places and events that have made Memphis over the last 200 years.

House Education Committee Chairman Mark White says two "go-to" liaisons to the Legislature who resigned Friday leave a communication void as the 2020 General Assembly session begins Jan. 14.

Flu is spreading in Shelby County and has come early this season, meaning some could get sick more than once. Officials say it’s not too late for a flu shot. 

An individual with knowledge of operating a community/public radio service is needed to serve as executive director of a new broadcast station based at Crosstown Concourse.

The state will fund a Fayette County landfill incinerator east of Shelby County to dispose of deer carcasses testing positive for chronic wasting disease.

Bobby Lanier, former Germantown alderman and executive assistant to multiple Shelby County mayors was remembered as a friend to many and a public servant. His life and legacy was honored and remembered Saturday afternoon.