As I begin my journey of service as Sheriff of Shelby County, I am humbled by the faith this community has placed in me.

You have probably heard some public discourse around the use of code names for projects seeking incentive packages in our community.

This morning I rode my bike east on the Greenline and through Shelby Farms thinking about how perfect the fall morning is and what a great asset we have in our bike paths, parks and recreational areas.

“The job is basically getting 7,000 people to stop bickering and remember why they got into this business,” he said stoically before breaking into his trademark grin. “Should be pretty simple.” A recent acquisition and a second pending acquisition were about to triple the size of the “family” as Phil Trenary lovingly referred to his Pinnacle Airlines employees, and Phil understood his culture was falling behind. “We need to stop behaving like separate airlines and start acting like one.”

Of all the health care issues that any community faces, infant mortality causes the most heartbreak. Nothing matters more than giving our babies – each and every one of them – a fighting chance. Nowhere has it mattered more than in Memphis.

Accusations of sexual assault and resulting trauma have dominated the news during the last few weeks. In its wake a much-needed public debate has ensued about how the memory works when one experiences a trauma.

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – For U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman C.J. McCoy of Memphis, whose goal is to be a naval aviator, the life lesson that got him here is straight forward: “Don’t give up.” 

We, my friends, are being had – and we should have none of it.

If you want to really know your country, Memphis is a good place to start. Artists such as Howlin’ Wolf and Elvis Presley brought American culture together and sent it around the world from a studio only steps from where a slave trader was celebrated in a city park. Martin Luther King Jr. marched for economic justice, climbed to the mountaintop, and was taken by an assassin’s bullet, all within a triangle separated by a couple of miles.

When my wife was a girl, she and her seven brothers and sisters liked to trick their sweet, unworldly grandmother into posing for the camera with her middle finger held high. They told her it meant, “I love you but I don’t like what you’re saying.”

Taylor Swift may have gotten all the media attention for potentially upping the vote.

Coming from Arkansas, it looks like Oz.

It was a week of sobering news and a news-making Presidential visit. Because the opening items underscore reckonings that came, alternately, from us and to us, I kept it light on the rest of this week’s 10.

What might he have been thinking? And what was he saying?

In an alternate universe the Memphis Hound Dogs are playing the NFL’s Thursday game tonight. In the real world it’s the eve of the Memphis Grizzlies’ first NBA preseason home game against the Atlanta Hawks.

On Sundays we’re going to try to catch up on the week’s news, late-breaking items, observations and perhaps a recap of stories that were particularly interesting.

Thursday night, Memphis took a bullet.

Phil Trenary was a friend who I met through work. I think this was probably true of many of Phil’s friends. They met him through work. That’s because Phil’s work, his passion for so many years, was to make Memphis, this city he loved, a better place.

Welcome back to The Memphis 10, the only place where you'll find Marsha Blackburn and the Oblivians hanging out together.

Really unique is really not. Memphis is.

Gambling 2.0, in the form of legal sports betting, and soon Gambling 3.0 – a state lottery – have come to Mississippi, which means they’ve come to neighboring Memphis and Shelby County as well. Mississippi will soon be the only state in the country with sports betting and a lottery and both commercial and Indian casinos.

If you believe the polls, Republican Bill Lee is steamrolling toward victory in the Tennessee governor’s race.

As developments across the Downtown Memphis landscape compound, desire for consumption by and connectivity between people is a universal sentiment. Our investors, architects and developers, funders and supporters believe that attracting people is the greatest indicator of a vibrant center city.

(This was my first column some 400-plus columns ago. I was looking for a word that most aptly describes Memphis. Just one word …)

The heritage of Hi Records brackets this first weekly list, with the sound of Al Green and the image of guitarist/songwriter Teenie Hodges making unexpected appearances. Elsewhere, our criminal justice system bears watching, next year’s mayor’s race gets weird, and our food trucks get some pub.