North, a 1-year-old golden retriever, wears a bright yellow cape as he makes the rounds at the Memphis Zoo where curator Courtney Janney is training him to be a Canine Companions assistance dog.

The annual fundraiser of the Memphis Branch NAACP was held online Saturday and featured appearances by the national president and CEO of the nation's oldest civil rights organization as well as recent Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro. 

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member Worth Morgan talks about his possible move to take police out of the city's civil service system and calls a move to cancel the November referendum allowing the city to hire police from outside Shelby County "the ultimate hypocrisy."

The proposed discount would be in "Area E" – parts of Cordova and Hickory Hill where Waste Pro, the contractor for the city, has been falling behind in garbage collection.

Memphis City Council members also got their first look Tuesday at how much police have spent in the past four years on overtime and riot gear as well as other preparations to handle protests.

The offer by CEO Jeff Lyash at a Tuesday City Council presentation includes investments and money over a 20-year period. Meanwhile, there was more reaction from other parts of the issue on a final version of the Integrated Resource Plan on the matter commissioned by MLGW.

While critical of the first draft of the IRP by Siemens consulting, the environmental group says it still makes a case for more renewable energy to generate electric power. The Sierra Club response also stops short of recommending cutting ties to TVA, saying the cost of transmission lines to rival MISO should be fully explored.

Memphis City Council members to discuss removing police from the city’s civil service system.

The Memphis Zoo cites the pandemic's effects on the local restaurant industry as a factor in cancelling this year's Zoo Rendezvous event.

The Corps of Engineers took a wait-and-see attitude on some questions about how much Tom Lee Park can be changed by new park design, suggesting ongoing dialog ahead.

There's no doubt costs of maintaining and operating Tom Lee Park will increase after a planned $60 million overhaul of the riverfront park. How much is an open question.

The public comment period on the first draft of the study that plays a crucial role in whether the city-owned utility stays with the federal agency ends Monday.

The manual search through Memphis Police Department's excessive-force investigations is a slow and tedious process. But a recent search uncovered a file on the 2015 police beating of a suspect that reportedly wasn't referred to the Shelby County District Attorney's Office for review of the officers' conduct.

On “Behind The Headlines,” the first-term council member said the proposals to come will push further on changing the Memphis Police Department beyond nonbinding resolutions approved last month. 

During that span, Shelby County recorded its four highest single-day increases in new cases and exceeded a 10% daily positivity rate in 10 of the past 14 days. 

The measures, effective immediately, include no out-of-county prisoners into the four facilities and more access to visitation and prison programs by video livestream. They follow a testing surge for prisoners and staff earlier in June.

The scorecard also tracks votes on paid sick leave laws at the state level and council action on a restaurant accused of racial discrimination.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has signed the ordinance that requires masks or face coverings inside public places within the city.

PRSA Memphis and Memphis Association of Black Journalists emphasize in "Media and Racism" webinar how diversity at all levels in media help organizations paint a true picture.

The civic group calling for MLGW to cut ties with TVA says TVA's estimate this week of hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses in the switch is wrong. And it says the draft report's recommendation of local power generation by MLGW is wrong too.

The federal agency’s formal response to the draft report released last month says Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division could lose $260 million a year if it drops TVA to go with another electric power supplier. 

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Sarah Lockridge-Steckel talked about the frustrations that prompted local nonprofits to issue a call for action.

A city task force on public safety started its work this week with several calls for hiring local in the police and fire ranks. Meanwhile, an effort to remove from the Nov. 3 election ballot a proposal for allowing the city to hire police and firefighters who live outside the county may be picking up momentum.

Christian Brothers University will have about 150 DACA students on its campus this fall and is looking to recruit more.

The City of Memphis is seeking to modify the 1978 consent decree dealing governing police surveillance activities. A hearing on the request began Wednesday, June 17.