First, let me say I’m pretty much all for development, especially in the Memphis city core, but I think the massive Union Row project demonstrates an inequity in the development process that we need to examine. The beauty of this problem, however, is the solution would have a positive impact, helping create new small “infill” development across Memphis in neighborhoods that might otherwise be ignored.

Again and again, prior to the launch of The Daily Memphian, people would say to me, “You’ve got to have obituaries.”

Michael Nelson offers his take on sports betting in Tennessee; the Mississippi governor's race; and why Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn face some interesting times in Washington.

“OF OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE.” I thought I’d start this year – our bicentennial year – with a couple of ideas. Seems like a good time for new ideas, and some reminders that this place is special – even if so many of us have forgotten that. It was, in fact, special long before any of us arrived.

After putting the kibosh on rumors about his political future, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is making a rather bold prediction of his own.

Memphis has plans: Plans for development, redevelopment and revitalization, from Downtown to the neighborhoods surrounding the central city.

Years are arbitrary units of time, and a lot of what was most interesting in Memphis in 2018 are ongoing changes or trends that don't stop because a calendar flips. With that in mind, this year-in-review often doubles as a kind of year-in-preview: A Memphis 10 look back at some of the most significant Memphis stories and developments (often literally) of 2018, and beyond. 

Whether in Memphis, Mississippi, Tennessee or Washington, politics in 2019 promises to be more interesting than usual in an odd-numbered year.

A DAISY A DAY. A couple of weeks ago, a friend made a request for one of my former columns ­– like a song request. That’s only appropriate since it was a column about a song, and I think an appropriate column for the end of a year, and particular ends and particular memories for each of us. So this one is for you, Dick. And for me.

Go figure: a Christmas week movie called “Vice.”

A steady flow of mostly positive economic news for Memphis and Shelby County – coupled with the solemn and tasteful commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination – was overshadowed at times by political bickering and grandstanding in 2018.

CHRISTMAS TIME. Every Christmas I tell this story, and in the telling Christmas comes home. This year, I’m telling it in memory of my big brother, Frank. His pub – or as they say in England, his local – is central to the story.

There are Confederate monuments, and there are Confederate monuments.

Memphis has plans: Plans for development, redevelopment and revitalization, from Downtown to the neighborhoods surrounding the central city.

Every day in the U.S. there are 10 accidental drownings – 3,500 a year – and it’s the second-leading cause of death among children 1 to 14.

The statement contained a total of 102 words. But for a man who has served his state and country as long as Lamar Alexander has, it was remarkable for its brevity.

Ocie Cleveland “O.C.” Pleasant Jr. always offered a quip and a smile upon an encounter. When expressing the standard Southern inquiry as to his well-being, he would simply reply, “I’m pleasant.”

Now that November is behind us, where does the Mid-South stand politically?

Will he or won’t he?

 “Confirmation bias” refers to the tendency to only credit information which reinforces your own view.

With a shared private and public goal to increase population density as a mechanism to become more efficient and successful as a city, the expansion of Memphis and Shelby County’s Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) payment in-lieu-of taxes (PILOT) incentive to include Midtown has been welcomed by multifamily developers in our community.

At Phil Trenary’s funeral, I spoke about those things that I felt he would want to see happen that would move Memphis forward.

OUR FORGOTTEN TENNESSEE. Ray Skinner called me the other day and told me a story. He has a bunch of them.

Keel Hunt is a Nashville guy, which is why his fascinating new book about Tennessee politics, "Crossing the Aisle: How Bipartisanship Brought Tennessee to the 21st Century and Could Save America," is a lot more Nashville than Memphis.

So much for civility, consensus and racial harmony.