In an op-ed, Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Bill Haslam, who served as governors successively from 2003 to 2019, offered some specifics around “small step” gun restrictions as starting points.

“We must break down the system silos, invest strategically in communities, and hold ourselves across public and private interests accountable for results.”

“Because of the sanitation workers’ strike and the tragic killing of Martin Luther King Jr. 55 years ago, Memphis has become a welcoming place for refugees and people fleeing unimaginable horrors back home.”

“With a country format moving to the 99.7 spot on the FM dial, a station that set the tone for our youth is disappearing like our hearing and our memories.”

“When teachers, sanitation workers and municipal employees must take time off work to drive across the state to receive care for sick children, we will all feel the consequences.”

“This adolescent muscle-flex, this junior high hissy fit, this racist knee-jerk, this blatant abuse of power, this embarrassing lack of judgment put Tennessee in the national spotlight again.”

After losing 80% of his scoring from this past season, Penny Hardaway has been a busy man in the transfer portal. The Tigers have added four new players from there, and more are on the way.

“We can’t solve the poverty and cultural issues that plague our community in the short or even medium term. But we can build more prisons, with an emphasis on reform.”

The Daily Memphian received an outpouring of letters and comments after the Tennessee state legislature voted to expel the Tennessee Three. Here is a selection of those letters.

Whether it’s denying Memphis funding as punishment for removing Confederate statues or attempting to punish Nashville for not hosting the 2024 Republican National Convention, these are proxies for a political divide between urban and rural communities. 

Given the activism that is being whipped up among younger voters and others who believe there should be some limits to gun rights, the Tennessee 3 incident could be the turning point away from GOP super-dominance in Tennessee.

“Community members shouldn’t have to wait years for relief. Instead of making excuses and dodging questions, the Shelby County Health Department needs to act now to make the facility reduce its emissions or — if it continues to refuse — shut down completely.”

A call to local government leaders: “It is time to get your heads out of the sand and recognize we have a problem. And that problem is going to kill our budding tourist industry.”

“I’ll admit that the Easter bunny is cute and tons of fun – he swings by our house every year. The eggs are nice. The flowers are a delight. In their own ways, they all point to new life. But there is nothing that compares with celebrating what it means for humanity that Jesus walked out of that tomb.”

“Dinner at his and Carol’s house, or five minutes on the phone, or two minutes in the corner of a theater lobby at intermission – be assured – you’d spit out whatever you were drinking.”

On Tuesday night, the Memphis Grizzlies will play their regular season homecourt finale against the Portland Trail Blazers before heading out on a season-concluding three-game road trip.

“Memphis — tough, strong, seasoned Memphis — this is our chance to be soft. This is our chance to love our sister city — to be the ones who understand. This is our chance to be with.”

“The sound of Rolling Fork was the sharp drone of chainsaws as volunteers with equipment went house-to-house, cutting and dragging debris out to where it could be picked up.”

“I believe that the truth is to be found, and we can find it the same way that King was looking for it on the night of April 4, 1968.”

“As bad as it was last Saturday morning, it’s bound to get worse for my hometown. Nothing is working the way it should ... And it was already a town in the vice grip of extreme poverty.”

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“Would that Memphis and its surrounding communities realize King’s dream and be a compelling model for the nation.”

“Pig butchering” alludes to the practice of fattening up a hog before slaughter. The investment scam originated in Southeast Asia and spread worldwide during the pandemic.

Getting away from it all is all around us, and — if only for a morning in the woods or an afternoon or day on the water, or in a peaceful moment of reflection — we need but see it.