The Memphis Center for Urban and Theological Studies will gain new advantages for its students when it merges with Union University this summer.

The landscape of considerations includes a close reading of the city charter, the role of a "balancing authority" and where the electric power comes from.

During the annual observance, civil rights veteran and icon Rev. James Lawson also talked about his invitation for King to come to Memphis in behalf of sanitation workers and the "politics of assassination."

The district’s new analysis on where charter schools are most needed was based on the number of students in various Memphis neighborhoods and the school seats available for them.

For the second week in a row, a Democratic legislative group apparently discussed state Rep. John DeBerry’s voting record in line with supermajority Republicans.

Meanwhile, both the Senate and House are expected to pass Gov. Bill Lee’s $30 million school security initiative. The governor wants to prioritize hiring more school resource officers, although the amount falls short of funding an SRO in every Tennessee school.

Former Shelby County mayor Bill Morris said Wednesday public service “preserves a democracy” after receiving the first lifetime achievement award from the Rotary Club of Memphis East. 

• B&K LLC announces new brand identity
• Free financial literacy workshop offered April 11 by Financial Federal
• Dreamland Productions honoring local women in business

State Sen. Dolores Gresham, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said Thursday she is worried about the constitutionality of amended House legislation that could affect whether immigrant students qualify for education savings accounts.

Tennessee already has walked back its transition to online testing two times since 2016 when a wholesale switch failed miserably, prompting then-Education Commissioner Candice McQueen to cancel most of that year’s tests and fire Measurement Inc.

Gov. Bill Lee had campaigned on giving more educational choices to low-income families in districts with failing schools. But the original income cap was criticized for being well above what’s considered low-income in Tennessee.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Robert Weiss has received a rare public reprimand for taking too long to issue rulings in two cases.

The Democratic state Representative got into the race just before a Wednesday deadline for nominations as another contender dropped out and a contender who stayed in the race faces questions about a suspended law license. The party's grass roots council makes its decision Saturday.

A nonprofit group's efforts to secure voter identification cards in downtown Memphis Wednesday caused a brief uproar, though Shelby County Court Clerk Wanda Halbert said it was a misunderstanding.

The People’s Convention, set for later this month to assemble a platform and back candidates in the 2019 Memphis elections, is being pushed back to later in the spring or early summer by organizers.

• Driving range adding Toptracer technology
• UTHSC assistant professor awarded $100,000 grant to study pancreatic cancer progression
• Indigo Agriculture files permit for renovation of new Downtown headquarters 

Students who get pregnant would get time to give birth and start raising child before using state scholarship funds for college.

Senate and House panels approve charter commission legislation with opposition from lawmakers who say charters aren't improving student performance.

Nearly a decade after they first met, Zainora Polk and Stanita Burton now share a stronger bond than ever after Burton gave Polk a kidney.

Seven Tennessee Board of Education members have unanimously upheld the Shelby County Schools board’s decision to close Gateway University Charter School at the end of this academic year, meaning 150 students will need to find a new high school for this fall.

Shelby County's suburban school superintendents worry about the potential effects of vouchers on public education. While Gov. Bill Lee's proposal affects Shelby County Schools locally, suburban superintendents worry it could expand to affect them as well.

The City Council is scheduled Tuesday to take the first of three votes on the Memphis 3.0 plan and to vote on the agreement between the city administration and Graceland for further expansion of Graceland’s Whitehaven campus.

The $5 million Cossitt Library renovation could get started later this spring, with an emphasis on spaces for gathering and creativity within the walls of the city's first library.

Tennessee Black Voter Project and other groups could face fines for turning in hundreds of incomplete voter registration forms.

• Indigo Agriculture files permit for renovation of new Downtown headquarters 
• Shelby County Schools files $2.8M permit for office renovation
• Public open house set before LDS temple rededication