Dennis Wolf, Lakeland’s future fire chief, expects the suburb’s new fire department will begin answering calls in July, 2019, becoming the last government entity in Shelby County to operate its own fire service. Wolf, former fire chief in Germantown, provided insight on the new department for officials and residents at a Lakeland Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, Sept.18.

The city that has been the epicenter of Tennessee’s school improvement work since 2012 got encouraging news on Friday as fewer Memphis schools landed on the state’s newest list of troubled schools.

In May, Explore Bike Share launched its 600-bike, 60-station system. Now, the bike share system is expanding into Mud Island and Harbor Town via three stations along Greenbelt Park.

Less than two weeks before an Oct. 2 gubernatorial debate set for Memphis, Republican candidate Bill Lee missed an MTSU Gubernatorial Luncheon & Forum in Murfreesboro on Thursday, Sept. 20.

Chris McLean, currently the chief administrative officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, will serve as chief financial officer of Shelby County government beginning Jan. 15, 2019, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris announced on Friday.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland addressed the city Friday morning, saying there have been 40 incidents in which the Memphis Police Department investigated and disciplined officers for violating policies surrounding the use of body and vehicle cameras, vowing to get “to the bottom of this” shooting of 25-year-old Martavious Banks.

With questions surrounding the shooting of Martavious Banks by a Memphis Police officer, state Rep. G.A. Hardaway is set to renew legislation requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to take control of officer-involved shooting probes.

Two months into his job as superintendent of Millington Municipal Schools, James “Bo” Griffin goes into all four schools in the system at least once a week.

At the end of Wednesday’s committee meeting, Turner sponsored a resolution that would reverse Luttrell’s second request to end DOJ oversight of Juvenile Court. Commissioner Brandon Morrison asked to defer the resolution to have more time to study the letter, which Turner granted. The commission will revisit the resolution at its next committee meeting Oct. 3.

Debra Clark thought there must be a catch when her manager announced FedEx was offering Memphis hub workers tuition-free online education at University of Memphis.

Few items to be voted on at City Hall kindle controversy like the prospect of a new billboard. The controversy usually pits council members who see billboards as blight and oppose any proliferation of them against members who see them as a money-maker for property owners who lease their land for billboard use.

The Memphis Police Department said an officer who critically wounded a 25-year-old man in a shooting in South Memphis Monday night did not record the encounter because he and two other officers failed to turn on their body and in-car cameras during the incident.

Danielle Schonbaum, Democratic candidate for House District 83, is looking to upset the status quo in the General Assembly.

Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd won’t be Tennessee’s next governor, but he is likely to be named the next president of the University of Tennessee – at least on an interim basis.

University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro is set to leave active service in mid-November, three months before he will officially retire as head of the state system.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is making a change in who runs the county’s memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Justice Department for changes in Memphis-Shelby County Juvenile Court.

The University of Memphis president is at it again, pushing for big, iconic structures to define the campus and its surrounding neighborhoods.

Most of the 50 citizens at a Hickory Hill town hall meeting Monday, Sept. 17, came to talk and complain about city garbage and trash pick-up. There were so many complaints the host, City Council member Patrice Robinson, began setting up a meeting just to talk about the city’s solid waste services, which are in the process of changing.

As a new chapter in Shelby County government is being written, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and the County Commission have an opportunity to improve the strained relationship between the two branches of government.

Open records advocates believe they’re on the verge of major victories in eliminating and changing exceptions to Tennessee laws to offer a more transparent look at how government runs.

Siblings were truant at a Shelby County school last year because they had to share a uniform.

Democratic state Senate candidate Gabby Salinas, a three-time cancer survivor, moved with her family to the United States from Bolivia as a child to seek treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Republican Senate nominee Marsha Blackburn removed a picture Monday, Sept. 17, of her with the University of Memphis Spirit Squad posted on her campaign Facebook page.

Purple Haze, a Downtown Memphis nightclub that announced last week it was closing indefinitely after four people were shot there, has now had its liquor license suspended by the state.

Bartlett Police Chief Gary Rikard, leader of the suburban department for 11 years, will retire Dec. 31.