Normally, in-person visits allow for firsthand observation of possible signs of abuse and neglect at nursing homes or assisted living facilities. This new normal of reduced social contact impairs the ability to ensure residents are living in a safe environment.

Even if we can’t be there, we should join the rest of the world and watch. Even if you don’t like golf or don’t understand it, watch these guys play it like nobody else can.

We’ve had more time to prepare for remote learning than we had in the spring. But there are complications that our spring pause did not present: new teachers for most, new schools for many, and a first school experience for some. 

C.T. Vivian said that while his generation didn’t get everything accomplished, they did their work so well that our generation could not believe what life was like before they went to work.

When he gave his moving address at the Memphis library to supporters – as well as some covert observers – the 27-year-old John Lewis was already a veteran in the fight for voting rights, equal accommodations and equal justice.

As a brown American living in a Black and white city, I have often felt like I am standing on the median. I have watched my Facebook friends slowly show their stance on the Black Lives Matter movement: Some have remained quiet ... some are willing to speak up and support the movement.

We are now attempting to place responsibility for children on over-worked, over-stressed teachers. Rather than supporting families as we should be doing, we are throwing the children at teachers in overcrowded classrooms.

Not long ago, the COVID-19 reports were encouraging. Now, I look at the numbers with a feeling of dread.

Local elections are always a mess. Here are ways they’re especially messy this year.

One suggestion: The NBA could help to repair the breach between communities of color and their police departments by hosting a national forum that features NBA players and diverse leaders of national law enforcement.

'My heart is heavy at the passing of this great foot soldier of the movement and congressman for the people,' says the president of the National Civil Rights Museum. 'In his honor, we’ll vote like our lives depend on it, because they do. '

As leaders around the country make decisions based on wishful thinking, Rhodes College postponed on-campus eduction for the fall semester because it determined it could not safely bring students, faculty and employees back to campus. "It’s about setting your values and having the courage of your convictions," said president Marjorie Hass. If only more leaders would do the same. 

Local elections ought to be straightforward affairs for voters. Here are six ways our leaders always deny us this right – three today and three tomorrow.

Who buys the cleaning supplies for a safe return to schools during the pandemic? What happens if students forget their face masks? A parent has these and other questions about the Shelby County Schools plan for fall. 

Bree Newsome is the African American woman who scaled the flagpole at the South Carolina capital to bring down the Confederate flag after Dylann Roof killed nine people in Charleston, South Carolina. It is my hope that her name is not relegated to the dustbins of trivial history. Bree Newsome. Hardly trivial.

Everything about the coronavirus has become politicized, so why not a return to school? The answer is simple: The losers will be our children, and that is not an acceptable price to pay for political points.

Tennessee passed legislation to allow legal sports betting in an online-only format in May of 2019, but has yet to roll out platforms to make sports betting available to the public. This is a head-scratcher considering the state has an easy slam dunk opportunity to recoup some of the year’s lost revenue with very little effort.

As you wander the world and see a sign somewhere that says barbecue – by any spelling anywhere else – it’s best to just run. Barbecue in Memphis is quite simply the highest a pig can go. 

Sometimes it seems our memory is as selective as our outrage. Black men are taken into custody every day without incident. Two young Black men accused of killing Memphis police officers – Tremaine Wilbourn and Justin Welch – were arrested without incident.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder for years ignored pleas to drop the moniker, telling USA Today in 2014 that he would never change it. Apparently Snyder has since watched Sean Connery’s last James Bond movie, “Never Say Never Again.” 

Four years ago, James Meredith, others from Mississippi and I were invited to take part in a series of college speaking engagements about progress our state had made in the area of civil rights. Most in the audience were amazed that Meredith, the civil rights legend, was still alive. I can attest that my friend is very much alive, spirited and has something to say.

I will argue that state Rep. John DeBerry has more influence than the entire Tennessee Democratic Party combined. The completely absurd effort to remove him from the ballot is the equivalent of taking Peyton Manning off the field during the Super Bowl.

Memphis is not in a weak position regarding our electricity choices, and $450M for Memphis believes that a city should never sign a $20 billion contract without at least one competitive bid that addresses all costs, terms and options.

The district will provide devices for families who need them, but families are responsible for supervising and troubleshooting online learning. Parents must work together to weather this disruption in education, writes SCS mom Heidi Kupke.

Historian Donald L. Miller’s spellbinding book about the campaign is titled “Vicksburg,” but it could just as easily have been called “Memphis.”