The first election of 2019 is for an open state Senate seat in the suburbs and early voting begins Friday.

There are still issues that must be addressed before instant-runoff voting can be implemented for city elections in October, even with voters overwhleming supporting the process in November.

A 20-year-old man is dead after he was shot by Memphis police officers Wednesday night in Whitehaven during a domestic violence incident, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Memphis Police Department said.

State Reps. London Lamar and G.A. Hardaway joined a call Thursday for Gov. Bill Haslam to grant clemency to convicted murderer Cyntoia Brown, who killed a man in 2004 at the age of 16 after he picked her up for prostitution.

After quietly rehiring a former principal it had investigated for allegedly planning to rig state tests and for calling students the N-word, Shelby County Schools abruptly fired her last month, documents obtained by Chalkbeat show.

A school funding lawsuit that has hung over Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration for more than three years has survived a third attempt in six months to kill it, including a “Hail Mary” legal maneuver before Tennessee’s Court of Appeals.

Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Nichols is set to oversee the Tennessee Department of Children's Services in Gov.-elect Bill Lee's administration.

Juvenile justice reform, education and Democratic leadership will be among Lee Harris' top priorities in 2019 as the county's new mayor. 

The partial government shutdown is impacting Tennessee's only immigration court – located in Memphis – and some immigrants may have to wait a year or two for their cases to be rescheduled.

Tennessee lawmakers passed a number of bills in 2018 that became law on Jan. 1, affecting everything from Sunday wine sales to sanctuary city prohibitions and ultrasounds done before abortion procedures.

The 6th Circuit Appeals Court has struck down a Tennessee cap on punitive damages related to a lawsuit filed in Memphis.

At the city's longest running New Year's Day prayer breakfast, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen talks about a new Democratic majority in Congress, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris discusses the new juvenile detention center and religious leaders talk about reality and the Biblical prophet Jeremiah.

The Shelby County legislative delegation will have five new faces and one member moving to the Senate from the House as the 111th General Assembly convenes Jan. 8.

Legislation sponsored by Senate Minority Chairwoman Raumesh Akbari would authorize sports betting in Tennessee and set up a gaming commission to oversee the industry, with 10 percent of the revenue going to state and local governments and community colleges and technical schools.

Shelby County Commission Chairman Van Turner said he wants to make more changes to the MWBE ordinance in 2019.

A planned Memphis Sports Hall of Fame at AutoZone Park is picking up momentum with a project manager on board, an exhibit designer being recruited and fundraising coming in 2019.

Criminal justice reform promises to be a recurring theme in the 111th General Assembly in 2019, along with medical marijuana and possibly an immigration issue affecting in-state tuition. 

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said on New Year's Eve the city is making progress on poverty, but there are remaining challenges as he called for the improving local economy to include all Memphians.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ “healthyShelby 19” inititative to promote physical, dietary and mental fitness is set to kick off. 

Some issues county government would like to address in education in 2019 are pre-K initiatives, workforce development and school facilities. 

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland stuck to the basics in 2018 – the “brilliant at the basics” four-word slogan of his 2015 campaign for mayor and the motto of his three-year-old administration.

City Hall is looking for mandatory jail time for road-rage convictions in the 2019 session of the Tennessee Legislature and a sports book on Beale Street as well as making it easier to get title to tax-delinquent property for tax sales.

According to 2018 TNReady test scores almost 80 percent of Shelby County Schools' third-graders are not proficient in reading. Read901, convened by Literacy Mid-South, is working to get 90 percent of third-graders reading at grade level by 2025.

There were more than votes to count in the 2018 local elections. There were voters, early voting locations and lawsuits – six of them – against the Shelby County Election Commission.

The Shelby County Commission will hold a comprehensive discussion on Juvenile Court at its next committee meeting in January.