Senate Minority Chairman Raumesh Akbari, with an eye toward passage of a Florida referendum on felon voting rights, is planning to sponsor legislation automatically restoring the right to vote for people with low-level felony convictions.

Gov.-elect Bill Lee made another round of cabinet appointments Monday, announcing Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Long, a former police officer at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Memphis, will serve as Safety and Homeland Security Department commissioner.

On the fourth consecutive day of what Memphis City Council chairman Berlin Boyd calls “the situation,” the council again could not muster a quorum of seven members to transact business.

The Memphis Sands Aquifer isn’t in danger of drying up, but it remains in federal litigation, and Tennessee leaders say a long-term look at water needs statewide will help prepare for growth and updated systems. State officials say the aquifer produces the purest drinking water in the nation — 159 million gallons daily for public water supplies.

The Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee's newly elected bishop didn't find her calling until late in life, having pursued careers in research, auditing and law before being ordained at age 41.

The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators is putting together a legislative agenda that could fit with one of Gov.-elect Bill Lee’s priorities — keeping felons from going back to prison.

As Gov.-elect Bill Lee works at disentangling himself from the family-founded Lee Company, state lawmakers say he must take steps to avoid even the appearance of conflict with government contracts the company holds.

Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee says his first budget proposal will focus on capping growth in state government and shifting funds toward criminal justice reform and to more vocational, technical and agricultural education in public schools.

In January, deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office are slated to be equipped with 300 body cameras the department purchased earlier this year. 

Germantown alderman John Barzizza is contesting the results of the Germantown mayoral race he lost to incumbent Mike Palazzolo by 120 votes in the certified election results the Shelby County Election Commission approved last week. 

Three girls explode into laughter and cheers as they roll a small cart across the table, successfully getting a rubber band to launch the cart just fast enough to knock a washer off the back of the cart, but not quite fast enough to knock over two washers.

After the Bluff City’s political and business dignitaries filled the Grand Ballroom at The Peabody, the music died down and the mood became slightly somber, as attendees knew the Greater Memphis Chamber’s president and CEO would not be there.

Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee talked with The Daily Memphian at Muddy’s Bake Shop + Coffee in Cooper-Young before he spoke at the Greater Memphis Chamber’s annual luncheon Thursday, Dec. 6. Here is a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity.

Even after working in city and county government for more than a decade, Patrice Thomas is still grateful for the opportunity to serve a community she said has done so much for her.

Freshman Sen. Raumesh Akbari will serve as chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus in the 111th General Assembly, taking the post Tuesday by acclamation. Though the group is small in number, with five members compared to 28 in the Senate Republican Caucus, Akbari said the “energy is undeniable” and she believes the group can “kick it up another notch for 2020.”

Education Commissioner Candice McQueen says she’ll recommend that Tennessee’s Achievement School District take over more low-performing schools in Memphis and Nashville unless the state sees “dramatic changes” this school year.

The polar bear, shrunken head and miniature circus are back in the Pink Palace mansion as it prepares to reopen to the public Sunday, Dec. 8. The reopening follows a five-year rethinking of space at the mansion, which closed for two years for the physical transformation.

Memphis City Council members assembled at City Hall for about 10 minutes Thursday in an attempt to get a quorum of seven members to transact business.

The University of Memphis board of trustees on Wednesday authorized president David Rudd to enter into an agreement with Shelby County Schools to operate a campus middle school at the former St. Anne Catholic School property at Highland and Spottswood.

One of the contenders for the appointment to the open District 1 Memphis City Council seat withdrew from consideration Wednesday, opening the possibility for a compromise among council members on the deadlocked appointment process and a return of a quorum for the council to transact other city business.

The 2018 Memphis Holiday Parade on Beale Street in Downtown Memphis may have been delayed due to the late-running St. Jude Memphis Marathon on Saturday, Dec. 1, but it didn't deter thousands of Memphians from lining up to watch dancers, bands, floats, motorcycles and Santa usher in the holiday season.

FedEx is holding a job fair Saturday, Dec. 8, to fill 500 permanent part-time jobs at the FedEx Express world hub at Memphis International Airport.

Over the past few months, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has continued assembling a team he hopes will lead the county into “a new era” of success.

Gov. Bill Haslam appointed a five-member advisory board for Memphis-based University of Tennessee Health Science Center, including U.S. District Court Judge Mark Norris and Michael Ugwueke, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, according to the governor’s office.

The race is taking shape for the final two years of the District 32 Senate seat vacated by Mark Norris.