Memphis City Council members appear divided on the idea of hiring police officers and firefighters from outside Shelby County.

At their first session since the Oct. 3 city election day, city council members take up a familiar issue -- residency requirements. A new proposal would allow police and fire brass to hire outside Shelby County if voters approve it in a November 2020 referendum. It would be the third residency referendum in 16 years.

Council members discuss the "two-hour drive" proposal during Tuesday committee sessions. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland says he backs the measure.

Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. says, according to one legal opinion, a referendum for county government to claim half the city revenue from the half-cent sales tax increase would be a vote among citizens in unincorporated Shelby County. 

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors Commercial Council on Tuesday presented a discussion of the investor potential of Opportunity Zones and how federal tax law might benefit distressed neighborhoods.

The 60-year-old Allen Fossil plant is scheduled for demolition in 2022, Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Jeff Lyash said Tuesday as leaders got a look at possible future uses for the 500-acre site.

Patricia Ange is seeking $350,000 in damages against Memphis Academy of Health Sciences High School, which enrolled about 400 students last year.

Bigger crowds on Mud Island's south end during a hot summer made keeping people out of the Gulf of Mexico replica hard work. The Memphis River Parks Partnership will use the fall and winter to rethink how the Gulf should be used.

The Memphis schools have shown enough improvement to be eligible to leave the Tennessee Achievement School district next school year. Since that's never happened before, no one knows how that should work.

Incumbent Sherman Greer and contender Rhonda Logan will face off in the District 1 runoff election scheduled for Nov. 14. 

The Division of TennCare will hold a Medicaid block grant hearing Oct. 15 at the University of Memphis, adding the event to three already held across the state.

ALCO Management Inc., Memphis-based provider of government-subsidized rental housing in nine states, is expanding and updating Downtown offices and preparing for the July 2020 retirement of founder Frank Jemison.

Fire and police union leaders are preparing to meet to work out details of implementing the half-cent sales tax increase approved by voters Thursday to restore health and pension benefits. 

A proposed ordinance requiring the city’s chief legal officer to work full time for the city included a few surprises.

Memphis City Council members will talk more Tuesday in committee sessions about a proposal to require all city division directors to be full-time city employees.

The $200 million renovation of the Memphis Cook Convention Center is taking place as the center continues to hold events. 

On The Daily Memphian Podcast, the Shelby County mayor said he's open to other ideas for a "$10 million-plus" commitment to MATA. He framed the call to action around broader changes in local issues as he outlined a start by funding more frequent trips on the eight most popular bus routes as soon as possible.

On “Behind The Headlines,” Rhodes College president Marjorie Hass said the school is recruiting students nationally as the number of high school students in the southeastern U.S. is projected to drop.

The "MEMPHIS" sign on Mud Island got its tiger stripes Tuesday to celebrate the University of Memphis and Tiger Athletics. The temporary installation comes just in time for Memphis Madness.

The Cornelia Crenshaw library near Vance and Lauderdale has been there in one form or another for the past 80 years. Exterior and interior renovations began with a mural on an exterior wall and include landscaping as well as more programming and activities.

The chief deputy of the City Court Clerk’s office, who is running for the clerk’s position on the Oct. 3 Memphis ballot, doesn’t think the job should be an elected position.

The city campaign season this week saw a milestone in the move away from large public housing developments, an endorsement ballot topped by a questionable political figure and discussion about new appointments at City Hall beyond the Oct. 3 election results.

The City Council chairman and the Memphis Fire Fighters Association president debated the proposed sales tax hike on "Behind The Headlines" in a discussion that featured lots of disagreement.

A coalition of mayors from towns and cities along the Mississippi River are in town through Thursday for their annual meeting. Record flooding along other parts of the river earlier this year is the major topic of discussion. 

The state law that outlaws holding or touching a cell phone while driving in Tennessee is probably enforceable by Memphis Police right now, according to the City Council’s attorney.