“To deploy truly lifesaving public health care in this pandemic requires a spirit of self-government primarily motivated by love of neighbor and a sense of personal responsibility.”

The Daily Memphian has become the largest digital-only, local news site in the country. Being the biggest was never our goal. We just wanted to do all we could to provide quality local news to the Memphis area on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Memphis is blessed by its food, the abundance of creativity, diversity and tradition mixed in the same bowls, seasoned with love, soul, and imagination – and still made and served by amazing people with a smile in these, their most trying of times. 

Rolling Stone just published its latest list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and Chris Herrington was among the voters. A look at the Memphis music that did and didn’t make the list, plus Chris’ own ballot. 

One study found that the median business with more than $10,000 in monthly expenses could only survive for two weeks with the cash they had on hand.

More than 6,900 people filed a complaint about home security companies in 2020, ranking them No. 32 among the thousands of types of businesses receiving complaints.

It’s Eddie George vs. Deion Sanders at the Liberty Bowl. Which is exactly the matchup that Fred Jones and the Southern Heritage Classic deserve.

What are the odds that many birds could hit my car all at once while I was going down Walnut Grove? Precision daylight bombing.

After the most horrific attack on American soil in our lifetime, we stood unified against a common enemy. And, despite our differences today, I believe we can do so again. 

A peaceful morning in a residential area seems a bit out of place for a gunman walking the streets.

I expected our team to come back refreshed and ready to meet new challenges. But our post-sabbatical survey told us that this time had an even deeper impact.

The truth is that America has never been a country where everyone just got along and lived in harmony.

At a time when diversity is supposedly valued in education, you’d think Memphis would be an important addition to the Big 12. Instead, the conference is preparing to add BYU, where just 1% of the student body is Black.

If you have friends like that, you’re fortunate. If you have friends like that, especially in the time we’ve lived through and the people we’ve lost, let them know what they mean to you.

So yes, COVID has laid bare our social inequities and made our divisiveness seem irreparable. It is not.

Our desire for convenience begat streaming, but our desire for experiences never went away. It’s old meets new. Just like Memphis.

A lot of us forget that memory is selective and if we actually could go back to times we fondly remember, we would probably run from the reality we find.

And now that the Food and Drug Administration has moved the Pfizer vaccine from emergency-use authorization to full approval, I expect to see more employers, public and private, requiring the vaccine as a condition of employment.

In our infectious disease practice, one COVID death every few days is now common. Yes, these deaths could have been prevented by vaccination, but they could also have been prevented through masking.

By getting the vaccine, you are protecting not only yourself but your family, co-workers and the entire community. You are also helping to ensure that our health care facilities retain the capacity to care for patients who are seriously ill with other disorders.

Danton Barto, the all-time leading tackler in Memphis football history, has died of COVID-19. Before he died, he asked his wife to get vaccinated. The best way for Tigers fans to honor him would be to roll up their sleeves for No. 59. 

We’ve all seemingly decided that virtual instruction is a sub-optimal policy choice, and that classroom instruction is worth the additional risk.

In fact, Governor Lee’s stupidity could quite literally take your breath away and the breath of those you love.

The widely believed notion that COVID-19 is only an adult problem is patently false.

Whatever good could come from consolidating Memphis and Shelby County governments doesn’t have a chance of passage as long as the dual vote is required.