The new special adviser to Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert says she has some “concrete ideas” about how to end lines outside the office locations.

However, it could take years for the proposed regulations, which would govern emissions of a cancer-causing chemical, to be finalized and enforced. 

The long wait ends with more than 10,000 books, an upstairs performance space, digital studios for podcasts and a cafe.

Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and former State Rep. Justin Jones were expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives last week. 

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed April 4 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee by Gershun Freeman’s wife, Nicole Freeman, on behalf of herself, their child and other wrongful-death beneficiaries. 

The Shelby County Commission postponed indefinitely a plan to buy the Metro Shopping Plaza, which is on the northwest corner of E.H. Crump Boulevard and Danny Thomas Boulevard.

Last summer, the Shelby County Health Department’s air monitoring branch was operating with only two employees, and the State of Tennessee gave the local program until June of this year to resolve the issue. 

The Shelby County Commission chose former city council member Janet Hooks to be Wanda Halbert’s special adviser.

Also on the commission’s Monday, April 3, agenda is funding for more prosecutors and a return to a plan to buy the old Metro Plaza Shopping Center in South Memphis for up to $3.5 million.

Among the 32 projects in the 2023-24 proposed budget are accessibility improvements at City Hall, a new roof and other upgrades at Germantown Community Theater and a number of school, intersection and road projects. 

Carter claimed the chairmanship in the most Democratic county in the state Saturday, April 1, by three votes over rival Jesse Huseth.

The new state law, which prohibits drag shows where children might be present, would have gone into effect Saturday, April 1. 

Wanda Halbert met March 29 with county commissioners who pressed for specifics on a lease at Poplar Plaza and an opening date for the Riverdale Road office. One commissioner pushed his call for her to resign.

Approximately 31% of the 1,279 bonds set between Feb. 15 and March 15 resulted in the release on recognizance, or release without bail, according to a report presented during a Shelby County Commission Law Enforcement, Corrections & Courts Committee meeting Wednesday, March 29.

The Shelby County Health Department shared the results of its first-ever cancer incidence study on Tuesday, March 28. It found no evidence of cancer clusters near a South Memphis facility that emits a cancer-causing chemical called ethylene oxide, or EtO. 

Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert goes before county commissioners Wednesday, March 29. Here are some of the basics of the controversy that has been ongoing for about a year.

An email chain indicates representatives from Poplar Plaza have been asking Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert since at least September 2022 about relocating the clerk’s office space in the shopping center.

Related story:

Your questions about Wanda Halbert’s office, answered

Cary Vaughn was re-elected Shelby County Republican chairman at the local party’s biennial convention, with a call for new blood and a focus on common ground.

The Memphis Anti-Hunger Conference offered local nonprofits an opportunity to learn more about how hunger impacts the region, hear from partners working to address food insecurity and find ways to partner with the goal of ending hunger in Memphis. 

Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert says she has a back-up plan to move the clerk’s office now at Poplar Plaza to an old bank branch at Quince and Perkins.

The main line of storms will roll in around 8 to 10 p.m. for Memphis, or 9 to 11 p.m. for Fayette County, according to a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

In May, Tennessee will stop accepting HIV prevention funding from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, stripping local nonprofits of dollars they rely on to serve high-risk populations.

If Wanda Halbert does not move the Poplar Plaza office location, Mayor Harris could make the case that she is derelict in her duty.

County commissioners approved the “Tyre Nichols Transparency in Policing Policy” resolution, delayed votes on two other police-reform ordinances, and approved TikTok use limits for county employees.