"Bluff City Law" took on racism and free speech in a ripped-from-the-headlines fourth episode. 

Gov. Bill Lee’s TennCare block grant proposal is fundamentally flawed. The plan prioritizes cost reduction, but fails to specify how exactly the state plans to curtail TennCare spending.

Kroger serves as a good corporate citizen in its many communities, and its generous support of the Mid-South Food Bank here is one example. However, Kroger can be truly tone deaf about truly local connections.

This former president doesn’t build walls to keep people out. He builds houses to put people in. Jimmy Carter's demeanor, tone and work ethic stand in start contrast to the current occupant of the White House.

Memphis is near the top of the list of places in America where it simply is not safe to be a human traveling outside of a motor vehicle. About 30 pedestrians lose their lives on Memphis streets each year.

Baseball romanticists often argue that part of the game’s charm is that it is played off the clock. In theory, they like to marvel, a game could last forever. Speaking literally, no game ever has. It just seems like most of them do.

Rib lunches, legal triumphs and more family revelations marked week three of "Bluff City Law," where chemistry among the cast seems to be building. 

On Oct. 3, 2019, 28 years to the day of his stunning mayoral victory, Dr. Willie W. Herenton gathered again with supporters on election night in Memphis. He was again the underdog, but this time the outcome was humbling.

Of the Ghosts of Politics Past that voters turned away, the first was the 79-year-old former mayor, Willie Herenton, who resigned the office in the middle of his fifth term in 2009. 

How many of the people around me in waiting rooms at the driver’s center and the SSA office can find all the things they need to get their driver’s licenses, or their benefits, or the REAL ID required by October of 2020?

The city should set aside a fund to support Memphis youth that will ensure that the level of investment will not waver with each election.

In a country where Election Day almost always falls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, what possible sense does it make to have our local election on a Thursday in October?

Before he was a homecoming queen, Brandon Allen was an activist who spoke out against bullying, promoted suicide prevention, and participated in Bridge Builders and his school's LGBTQ Alliance. His work and identity have made some uncomfortable; nonconforming leaders often afflict the comfortable.

In its second episode, "Bluff City Law" takes on barbecue and Elijah Strait tells us where he's from. 

Now United Way requires the agencies it funds to connect with each other, and to guarantee that connection in their funding requests. In turn, United Way nurtures and facilitates those connections.

What happens when Geoff Calkins, Jennifer Biggs and Chris Herrington join Eric Barnes on The Extra Podcast? Singing, of course. (And a whole lot of not answering each others’ question.)

Joe Ford and his son Justin Ford aren't running for office in the Oct. 3 election, but each man is putting out a list of endorsements. 

'I have seen my share of city-specific TV dramas, and I know that the first, most important rule is to slip local phrases, landmarks, traditions, etc., into the regular dialogue seamlessly.'

Debates between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain were held at Belmont in Nashville and Ole Miss in Oxford. Belmont has applied to host another one next fall. Ole Miss thought better of it.

From the Hernando de Soto Bridge to Rum Boogie Cafe and various points in between, Memphis looked sharp in the debut episode of "Bluff City Law."

The mission of The Gentlemen’s League is to intervene in the lives of at-risk boys. It offers monthly workshops that cover topics such as financial literacy, dressing for success and character development.

In healing ourselves of outdated judgments, we overthrow the history that once made it natural to discredit and disrespect us: mothers, daughters, sisters, co-workers and entrepreneurs.

The U.S. Naval Academy instills every midshipman with a sense of accountability to each other. The Shelby County Schools would benefit if children were encouraged to work together as a goal-oriented team.

As people are being shot while shopping and praying and driving because of what they might or might not believe, or just because of what they look like, it serves us well to remember that we have plenty of homegrown terrorism in our history.

When the made-in-Memphis series "Bluff City Law" premieres on NBC on Monday night, it will be the first time the city plays itself, in the present tense, in a television series.