Shelby County Schools reported 165 new COVID-19 cases among students and 30 among staff at the district-managed public and charter schools for the week of Sept. 24-30.

The opt-out policy has been blocked in three metro counties, including Shelby County.

Halbert began complaining about the issue soon after she took office in 2018, resulting in the state investigation.

The county is paying an average of $34,000 per month to a Jackson, Tennessee, law firm to represent Sheriff Floyd Bonner in a federal lawsuit. 

Bartlett Chief Administrative Officer Mark Brown said the six suburban mayors agreed to adopt resolutions in opposition to consolidation that’s recently been brought up again.

Memphis and the surrounding region lost out when the state’s original auto corridor was established in Middle Tennessee almost 40 years ago. But the new Ford plant in Haywood County comes with lessons from that pursuit as well as doubts and the prospect of more change beyond the electric vehicles powered by batteries made at the megasite.

After two contentious budget seasons, commission chairman Willie Brooks has changed up what is the most critical committee assignment in county government. 

When chairman Willie Brooks created a study group Monday on possible local government changes without a vote, some commissioners call it a consolidation committee in all but name, causing chairman Reginald Milton to quit.

The second part of the City Council-County Commission move toward a consolidation charter proposal showed up unexpectedly in committee session last week on the county side. And it was panned by most of the seven commissioners present even after a compromise to consider steps short of a merger of the two governments.

The Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission are already getting requests from groups that want a share of the money.

Statewide, there have been 4,933 student cases and 755 staff cases reported as of Friday afternoon.

Sheriff Floyd Bonner says the COVID-19 pandemic has made his job more difficult but touted low crime rates in unincorporated Shelby County. 

Some of the reaction called for an immediate look at the causes of such violence as part of a national debate while others called for supporting those grieving from the loss of life, at least for now.

National media outlets sent out alerts following news reports on the shooting.

The Shelby County Commission’s ad hoc group on the new district lines got its first look at some proposed maps for the redistricting plan this week. The group makes recommendations to the full commission, which decides on how to deal with shifts in population within its 13 districts.

Shelby may still be the largest of Tennessee’s 95 counties, but it long ago lost the influence and cachet that it once enjoyed statewide.

The resolution to form a commission to draft a consolidation charter showed up in Wednesday committee sessions without notice. Like the City Council, county commissioners amended it to stop short of beginning to draft a charter and to include looking at changes to local government short of consolidation.

The Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday morning their expanded marketing campaign for their Tennessee SAVIN (Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification) system. 

The Commission Scorecard recaps critical votes at the Aug. 23 meeting and an overtime vote at a special Aug. 30 session. The special meeting may have been the last word on bonuses for county employees. But it is far from the last word on the underlying issue that drew out the final vote across two meetings in one week.

Most of the refugees arriving in Memphis are allowed to enter the country because they fear persecution under Taliban rule. Others aided the U.S. military in Afghanistan. 

The County Commission’s working group on the once-a-decade redrawing of district lines got down to business Wednesday, Sept. 8, to set not only commission district lines but those of the Shelby County Schools board.

The special assistant to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland talked about his exploratory campaign for mayor Wednesday, Sept. 8, and sounded very much like he is in the race while taking a few jabs at incumbent Mayor Lee Harris.

The redistricting process formally began Wednesday, Sept. 8, with a bipartisan state House committee hearing public input and approving guidelines. Memphis is likely to lose seats in the General Assembly.

Memphis Councilman JB Smiley Jr. plans to run for governor of Tennessee. 

The council votes to appoint a study committee to weigh whether the city should pursue drafting a charter that would consolidate city and county governments if approved by voters.