Former Shelby County Commissioner Sidney Chism’s annual summer political picnic returned June 10. It was also the last day of early voting for the special primary elections in state House District 86. And Martin Luther King III came through Memphis last week in a summer bus tour across the country.

Ethylene oxide, or EtO, has been on the community’s radar since the Environmental Protection Agency identified a Florida Street business as one of 23 high-risk polluters. 

Memphis “has its unique challenges, but it also has a unique future because of the leaders that are being created today in this stadium,” the governor said in his commencement address.

“I want to bring about change and I think my fellow 2023 Hamilton graduates and I really have a good chance of making a difference.” 

Air pollution is a global issue when it comes to longevity. In Shelby County, there are five air monitoring sites but not one in southwest Memphis, where residents have some of the area’s lowest life expectancies. 

The almost 20-year difference between estimated life expectancies across Shelby County is a product of differences in food, education, crime rates and access to all sorts of resources. 

Newsom died while out of town with the band in Atlanta, where they performed yesterday, April 29.

Memphis residents showed off their emerging small businesses while connecting with Alcy-Ball neighbors Saturday, April 29, at BLDG Memphis’ first MEMFix 2023 event.

MPD has conducted investigations in Gaslight, Bunker Hill and Cane Creek for weeks, determining in the “early morning hours,” a man has been approaching “young females” and forcing them into his vehicle.

The sale price is $800,000 and includes numerous upgrades and a hint of famous DNA that still hangs in the air.

Each neighborhood’s event will feature local vendors and pop-up shops, local performers and temporary street and space activations. The upcoming Alcy-Ball event is set to feature 45 vendors.

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

Whiskey-flavored caramel corn gains national attention, taking Kenny and Penny Mickey’s socially conscious business straight to the Barclays Small Business Big Wins contest.

College students from nearly a dozen universities removed 75,000 pounds of trash from McKellar Lake in the past three weeks, intercepting it before it entered the Mississippi River. 

“I’m excited for people to drive by and say, ‘There is Merit in Memphis’” said Lakenna Booker, Memphis Merit Academy’s founder and head of school. 

BallHoggerz BBQ is the real deal. You can get a smoked turkey leg sandwich at lunch for $8, or even go with smoked sausage for $5.

The County Commission vote approves a nonbinding piece of legislation, but it’s a show of support for residents and groups such as Memphis Community Against Pollution. 

Memphis will spend $42 million to replace all 77,000 of its high-pressure sodium streetlights by the end of the year — a move that is equivalent to taking about 10,000 cars off the road. 

Priscilla Presley is challenging a document that would make her granddaughter, 33-year-old actress Riley Keough, the sole trustee to what’s left of the family’s stake in Elvis’ empire. 

The pilot program is starting in the two areas that experience the most frequent and longest power outages: Orange Mound and Sherwood Forest. 

A small, but patient, group of South Memphis residents concerned about a cancer-causing pollutant in their neighborhood waited five hours to address the Shelby County Board of Commissioners yesterday. 

Better Than Ezra will headline a grand opening show as BankPlus Amphitheater christens its new season and renovated venue in April. The number of seats has more than doubled for a total of 9,800.

Shelby County received $60 million for climate resilience projects in 2016 and work is ongoing in Raleigh, Frayser and Millington. A project along South Cypress Creek is just beginning. 

The new facility replaces the Davis YMCA and marks the return of swimming lessons and classes that have seen generations.