The County Commission ultimately extended benefits for a severely injured Shelby County sheriff’s deputy.

The “interfund tax anticipation note” solves the short-term cash-flow problem for county government. But long-term financial concerns around county reserves remain.

Also in the political roundup, one county mayoral contender calls out current Mayor Lee Harris’ administration for its funding shortfall and another calls for change in the government’s relationship to the school system.

The county administration blames the shortfall on the Memphis Safe Task Force and federal government shutdown.

Jeffrey Allen Walker alleges he was fired after he reported questionable spending on an office credit card.

Design work for Regional One Health is about to begin as well as demolition of the old Commercial Appeal building that will be the center of the hospital’s new campus.

Two female inmates are suing Shelby County after being allegedly sexually assaulted by a male inmate they were housed with last year.

Lee Harris also called for better demographic numbers on those arrested and charged, as well as a total county of traffic stops including those where no one is charged or jailed.

Bonner also denied that his office is working with ICE to make immigration arrests and talked about inmate deaths at the jail, also known as 201 Poplar. 

A federal judge will deny a request to dismiss one of the charges against Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., he said Wednesday, Nov. 5.

The Monday hearing was the Tennessee version of a legal fight that has played out in U.S. courts over the past few months as Trump has sought to use the military in U.S. cities run by members of the opposite political party.

Lee Harris has vetoed six ordinances or resolutions approved by the Shelby County Commission in his seven years as county mayor. Some have stood, others have been overridden by the commission and one was some of both.

The appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court is up to the state’s highest court to grant. 

The nonbinding resolution is the third the Shelby County Commission has considered to suggest alternatives to the National Guard.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals revived the ouster complaint against Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert and sent it back to the circuit court.

The Shelby County Commission voted to override Mayor Lee Harris’ veto of their original decision to make the school board change, meaning five MSCS school board members will see their terms cut short. 

Recent legal filings and a statement from the governor’s office shows that the legality of the guard’s Memphis deployment could hinge on whether the Tennessee National Guard is an army or a militia. 

As recently as last week, ICE arrests made up nearly 19% of total Memphis Safe Task Force arrests. Where that stands now is unclear because the data is no longer being released.

Overriding a veto: The Shelby County Commission will vote on moving races for all nine Memphis-Shelby County Schools board seats to the 2026 ballot after Mayor Lee Harris’ veto of their September decision.

“I saw lines that I’ve never seen in the 7 years that I’ve been here,” the Shelby County clerk said. 

Mayor Lee Harris vetoed the commission’s September vote that would move all nine Memphis-Shelby County Schools board seats to the 2026 ballot, shortening the four-year terms of office of five of the school board members elected last year.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and leaders of other groups seeking to stop the National Guard deployment in Memphis say the city was never offered an option to join their lawsuit.

Also in the political roundup, Harris endorses Green in the race for Governor as Blackburn calls out Green by name. And a close encounter at “No Kings” between Cohen and Pearson.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been asked to review an Oct. 7 dispute between the general sessions clerk and Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies outside the county courthouse.

With Clerk Wanda Halbert still declining to pay Millington for use of a city building in the North Shelby County suburb, Commissioner Mick Wright is drafting legislation where the county could cover the back rent.