Blighted property on Union at B.B. King Boulevard became AutoZone Park. A new hotel occupies the site of the bus station. Now Union Row has the potential to remake Downtown Memphis.

As newcomers arrive, whether new employees or hotel operators, billion-dollar real estate developers or ag-tech firms, we import not only their ideas but also their competitive edge.

In 1831, the French traveler watched a federal agent load a band of Choctaw Indians onto a ship for transport to Arkansas, a vanguard of the Trail of Tears. “In the whole of this spectacle,” Tocqueville observed, “there was an air of ruin and destruction, something that felt like a final farewell with no returning.”

As a youngster, the writer thought thank-you notes were drudgery at best, acts of dishonesty at worst. Now, she thinks that if gratitude is a feeling, a written note might be its physical embodiment.

To understand the ramifications of modifying the Kendrick Consent Decree, we must understand the history that led to the necessity of such a decree in the first place.

The city needs efficient public transportation, a living wage and subsidized day care to adequately address poverty. 

My family has been visited by death, near death and deadly threat, by deceit and heartbreak,  ... But we’ve also been visited by each other, by shared experience and gained appreciation, by children and grandchildren, by a lot of friends and a lot of delightful silliness.

It seems like there's a little bit of everything going on in the Memphis sports world right about now meaning local sports fans have a lot to appreciate.

This year while Scouting for Food, it was cold and drizzling, but Pack 200 collected six packed-full bags to donate to the Mid-South Food Bank.

Since its founding, Memphis Junior Science Association has provided over 215 hours of free science education to over 800 kids in six states through a variety of one-day events and long-term programs.

As a public space, The Peabody lobby is an enduring classic that defines the center of Downtown Memphis. Now, the Central Station Hotel lobby is an instant classic that does the same for South Main. One has ducks spinning around a fountain. The other has vintage vinyl spinning around a turntable.

The FedEx founder’s story is one every Memphian of a certain age has heard. But it’s a story – like the Christmas story – that never gets old. And like that story, it lies at the intersection of history and legend. 

Somewhere in the middle of the season, "Bluff City Law" started addressing actual civil rights issues. It tackled hate speech, the right to die, conscience issues in Catholic education, and racial bias in school athletics.

We have found that it only takes one hour per month to serve as a local support system to our TN Promise students, one hour a month to be part of the magic that helps students succeed.

Here are a handful of Memphians who've altered our music, our food, our landscape and the game of golf.

It wasn’t just the insulting language that cost Berlin Boyd his council seat. Many voters were upset that he tended to favor big business over the needs of neighborhoods.

From the time Jews landed on southern shores, they were largely accepted by the white population. But the privileges that came with whiteness were sometimes challenged.

In addition to both being Andrews from Tennessee, Jackson and Johnson were among the earliest presidents to be the targets of assassination plots.

Prosecutors in the Special Victims Unit of the Shelby County District Attorney's Office handle nearly 75 cases each year in which an elderly person is the victim of physical or financial crimes. Statistics suggest only one out of 14 cases is ever reported. 

'As faith leaders, though we may hold different views, we stand together in our belief that, because the death penalty is an irreversible sentence, state officials must take every step to ensure public trust.'

As always, the playlist has some new releases (“O.T.F.” by J. Buck and “I Feel Good” by The Sensational Barnes Brothers), and there are throwbacks in honor of the recent Memphis Music Hall of Fame induction. 

What these people have in common is Memphis – a place from which seemingly ordinary people send extraordinary things to the world.

Rage and guns are a bad combination. In Memphis last weekend, eight people were shot, one of them killed, in altercations at a strip club, a convenience store and outside a Beale Street honky-tonk. On Monday, one discount store customer shot another four times. 

Memphis sports fans are enraged about the enforcement of amateurism on the immensely talented basketball center James Wiseman, arguing that the NCAA’s execution is arbitrary and biased. In fact, amateurism, by its very nature, is arbitrary and biased.

When his song “Green Onions” was racing up the charts, Booker T. Jones was a freshman at Indiana University Music School, coming home every weekend so the MG's could seize the moment by recording an album.