Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland declared a citywide state of emergency Tuesday, Feb. 16, because of the ongoing winter storms.

The Memphis City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16, has been postponed for a week as the city recovers from a Monday deluge of snow and sleet.

Some savored the unusual weather, including a couple having a Valentine’s Day wedding, while others stormed stores to stock up.

For a while, the good times rolled when Memphis had its own Mardi Gras. Then Yellow Fever happened. This year, as the pandemic takes a toll on Fat Tuesday, we look at 1870s images that recall a citywide celebration.

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member JB Smiley Jr. says the Health Department needs “boots on the ground” in Black communities to remedy a racial disparity in who is getting the COVID-19 vaccines.

The resolution from Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland going to City Council next week would include the city’s tallest building in the use of a PILOT extension fund and also include a parking garage in the “Snuff District.”

The coating of ice arrived just before dawn Thursday, after a night of rain and followed by a light snow by afternoon. It is expected to hang around into the weekend.
Related gallery:
Have an ice day – images from Memphis' winter weather

The beleaguered Shelby County Health Department simply cannot effectively manage the monumental effort needed to distribute vaccines. We need someone to take charge and lead. Someone who will get things done, without excuses.

The letter to pastors and congregations from seven council members points to a racial disparity in the virus and death rates from the virus as well as testing that is now surfacing in vaccination numbers for the county. 

Plans for the interactive sculpture were among several new riverfront developments, including Mud Island renovations, reviewed Tuesday, Feb. 9, by the Memphis River Parks Partnership board.

The recruitment ad was part of a series of ads planned as the department seeks to increase its force size. 

‘We haven’t gone after those jobs ... that would make people drop everything and move to Memphis,' City Council member Martavius Jones said.

A proposed change in the utility’s debt policy could allow it to build a power generating plant, which would be key if MLGW cuts its ties to TVA, and pay for the plant with the savings to come from it. 

The link to city information on the “rebalance” includes a map to find your home as well as an app with reminders of the pickup schedule.

Both areas of the city are part of Area E on the city’s solid waste map, an area that has had problems with solid waste service even before the pandemic.

The Fairgrounds conversion to Liberty Park got a $4 million boost Tuesday, Feb. 2, to begin some ground work in May as well as to start designing buildings.

Memphis City Council members Tuesday approved a new office designed to intervene and prevent violence in the city. 

A city ordinance that would ban cat and dog sales at pet stores within Memphis passed the Memphis City Council Tuesday, Feb. 2, on the first of three readings.

The $200 million slate of capital projects over a three-year period is on its way to state officials are approval after the pair of council votes Tuesday, Feb. 2. Council members approved both after one more review of the numbers and the reasoning behind the unique financing.

The city has been paying Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division about $2 million a year for the past three fiscal years without a corresponding payment from MLGW in the form of a PILOT.

The agenda also includes changes to the city’s financial policies to allow the balloon debt structure to finance the project. 

The City Council’s most recent session featured a rare motion to table an item that didn’t have seven votes to pass, at least for now, and a vote to close a street even though the council could very well vote down the development that will follow the street closure.

Before Shelby County Commissioners and Memphis City Council members get together to talk about changing the most used tax incentive in local economic development, they want to do more than watch PowerPoint presentations on PILOTs – payments in lieu of taxes.

The city auto inspection station on Appling City Cove bustled with volunteers Friday, three days into giving second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Those scheduled for vaccinations were urged to come no more than an hour before their scheduled times. 

On “Behind The Headlines,” the Republican and Democratic legislators from the Shelby County delegation to Nashville also agreed on mandatory summer school or tutoring to help students who have slipped academically during the pandemic.