The vote coincides with Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd’s pending criminal case, a conviction that could put her law license at stake.

After a recent joint recommendation from legislators, it seems likely that Judge Melissa Boyd will be removed from office. Her seat would normally be temporarily filled and then an election would follow. But new legislation could change that.

“We were able to remedy the problem,” said former Shelby County Sheriff and former county mayor Mark Luttrell. “Why did the remedy not stay in place?”

Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp and her investigators finished their two-day visit to look at problems within the Shelby County Clerk’s office. 

The local government audit unit of the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office issued its report Thursday, March 21, on incorrect revenue figures from the Shelby County Clerk’s office after a three-week investigation that included a week in Memphis.

“This 24-hour ballistics lab can also provide us with expanded ability to retrieve serial numbers that have been obliterated from guns, which is also something that is important,” Mulroy said.

Wayne Tabor said Memphis Tourism had offered the city and county $30 million on Monday but “they keep wanting more and more.” 

The County Commission took three votes on the county Land Bank Monday, which touched on larger issues that showed lingering differences across two other unrelated items.

The commission first voted against sending the statistics to the state. But then it approved the report after attorneys said it would violate state law not to send it to state officials.

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Monday that would cap the amount of hotel-motel tax funding Memphis Tourism receives, according to a resolution handed out to the media Monday, March 18.

The long-delayed final vote on the rule changes come with plenty of frustration about numerous rewrites of the proposal and long meetings to review them.

The bill comes amid heightened scrutiny of Shelby County’s criminal justice system by Republican lawmakers and the Board of Judicial Conduct.

Shelby County Criminal Court Division 9 Judge Melissa Boyd has been out of custody on a $5,000 bail since Dec. 13. If her bond were revoked, she would be held in custody until trial.

Decertification of an SCSO captain was delayed Friday because of question whether she was properly notified of a hearing.

A former Shelby County Sheriff’s captain failed to show up for her hearing with the POST Commission on Thursday leading to a recommendation that she be decertified as a law enforcement officer.

The vote comes as Boyd, who was elected in August 2022, faces felony charges of coercion and harassment, in addition to professional discipline for an ethical lapse and addiction to drugs and alcohol.

A state House subcommittee has rejected a bill for this session that would have given Shelby County residents an opportunity to vote for a sales tax increase to fund a new jail.

Latest cost estimates for the proposed Frayser area high school 

While the new Frayser high school is being built on the current site of MLK Prep, those students will have to attend another school. Then, once the new school is built, Trezevant High School will close. 

Cost estimates for the new high school proposed for the Cordova area.

The cost of building new high schools in Cordova and Frayser has more than doubled since the projects were first proposed. The debate about what to do involves money, equity and what amenities are needed for a state-of-the-art school.

Related stories:

From MLK Prep to Trezevant and back again

New Frayser high school overview

New Cordova high school overview

The “From Numbers to Narratives: Exploring Prosecution & Safety in Shelby County” data walk on Wednesday, March 13, was the culmination of a year-long partnership between Vera Institute and the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and other local organizations. 

Corrected revenue figures suggest last year’s wheel-tax hike is generating less money than originally expected, at the same time the cost of two new high schools has doubled. 

Dr. Michelle Taylor discussed the Shelby County Health Department’s upcoming projects, which include a new clinic in Whitehaven, an upgraded Hickory Hill clinic and a refurbished Orange Mound center. 

Less than 24 hours before what was expected to be a pointed question-and-answer session, Halbert emailed commissioners, saying she wouldn’t be able to attend and asking to put it off for a month.