"$450 Million for Memphis" wants Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division to end its ties with TVA and start the move with a specific look at how much it would cost to sign on with the MISO network, the best known competitor for the city-owned utility that is TVA's biggest customer.

The MLGW contract with TVA to supply all of its electric power goes back to the Great Depression. The contract is in play with some concerted lobbying efforts that have drawn the ire of at least one City Council member and some interesting filings in two federal courts.

City council member Martavius Jones, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, said a proposal to cut MATA funding by $10 million is the first item in the city budget book that got his attention.

Two Memphis CRE executives talk on "Behind The Headlines" discuss the challenges, opportunities and changes behind the pandemic.

The pandemic may be delaying the city's process for selecting the next users of Rust Hall and the Brooks Museum of Art building in Overton Park.

Friends and family are remembering longtime yoga studio owner Sarla Nichols, who passed away over the Memorial Day weekend.

The Memphis Zoo awaits word from the city on when it can reopen with limits on crowds and social distancing requirements enforced.

The council moved $354 million in bonds closer to a summer issuance. But the bonds took a back seat to more maneuvering in the question of whether MLGW should continue its 80-year relationship with TVA. And in the process, it looks like one rival to TVA may have been ruled out.

Strickland says the city's $113.6 million federal CARES Act grant cannot be used to make up for revenue losses to the city as things stand now, causing a $40 million dip into the city's $78 million reserve fund without raising taxes, laying off employees or raising salaries for city employees.

Strickland has three possible options for a city budget proposal in the new fiscal year that starts July 1. Also on the council agenda is the first steps toward a $354 million MLGW bond issue, a resolution calling for no restrictions on absentee voting by mail and an ordinance to require face masks in all public places in the city.

The director of the social justice organization says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast problems with online learning as schools closed and maintaining school lunch programs have opened the eyes of Memphians to long- standing problems.

Parts of Memphis’ $3.5 billion a year tourism industry could make a comeback as soon as next week. The city will vet reopening plans on a case-by-case basis.

Mediation is getting underway on a consent decree modification case between the city and the American Civil Liberties Union. The city wants to modify a 41-year-old consent decree governing police activities.

City of Memphis COO Doug McGowen discusses the metrics Memphis’ elected officials and health officers studied to determine when to start gradually reopening the city. 

The city's chief operating officer said on Behind The Headlines that the hospital is one example of how the pandemic has changed and will continue to change how the city addresses issues that existed before COVID-19 arrived.

The money is to help businesses and communities get back on their feet from the economic blow that has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. But the city is still searching for new federal funding proposals that could be used to make up for more than $100 million in revenue losses the city is expected to take in the economic shutdown.

The mask resolution was proposed as a rule requiring all within the city to wear coverings of some kind before some council members questioned how it could be enforced.

Mike Williams, president of the Memphis police union, posted a video on Facebook confirming he tested positive for COVID-19.

The city council's attorney has been bond counsel on 17 of the 18 Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division bond issues over the past 28 years. The relationship is being brought up again as the utility's relationship with TVA is being examined. 

Effort to assist St. Vincent de Paul food ministry is connected to the school’s Institute for Citizenship program. 

The extension of the order first issued more than a month ago was expected. The order has evolved since last month and there could be more changes to its conditions.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland says the city faces an $80 million loss of revenues from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a worst-case scenario and a “status quo” budget with no growth is the most optimistic forecast of federal and state government relief.

Once Mayor Jim Strickland presents his budget proposal to the Memphis City Council Tuesday, here are some dollar figures and percentages from the current fiscal year with which to make some comparisons.

Strickland's Tuesday budget address to the Memphis City Council reflects some uncertainties about the financial hit city revenues have taken in the pandemic. It was already going to be a difficult budget year by Strickland's estimate before the arrival of COVID-19.

The Links at Whitehaven city golf course will reopen Saturday, April 18, in the first loosening of restrictions in the city’s state of civil emergency.