“With business giant Amazon adopting 20 schools in Memphis I am concerned that Amazon has encroached on Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ long-established Adopt-A-School program.”

“Voter sentiment about our city’s crippling crime epidemic transcends socioeconomic, gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds. Actual voters want violent, repeat offenders off the streets, legally. They want the bail ‘loopholes’ closed for these offenders who should be held in jail and timely prosecuted.”

“We must continue to let our state representatives know how their gun laws have completely upended our city and that we demand Tennessee’s urban cities be given the authority to impose their own firearm laws. It won’t be a quick or easy road.”

“Loud and powerful opponents of progress, such as Mayor Jim Strickland, have wrongly claimed that Shelby County’s pretrial policies undermine public safety. There is no data behind his claims.”

“With drag racing, carjackings, car thefts, armed robberies — some resulting in death of victims — murders, etc., being reported every day in our city, we are well past the time of ‘we need to rehabilitate our youth.’”

“The DA and our county commissioners need to stand up for the law-abiding people of Memphis and do whatever it takes to reverse this disastrous bail-reform policy.”

“The City of Memphis’ funding of its Affordable Housing Trust Fund has not been near enough. And it has lagged behind the funding in other peer cities.”

“Brian Kelsey is certainly not the only example of the moral bankruptcy of so much of our society; he’s just a ready and easy pick of low-hanging rotten fruit.”

State Senator Brent Taylor discusses increasing penalties for certain violent crimes and proposed legislation that seeks to stem the rise in juvenile crime.

“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, and above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

“Memphis should be led by someone who actually lives here, is committed to the city, and has demonstrated that commitment throughout their career.”

Celebrate Earth Day by spending some time observing a single creature — what it looks like, how it moves, how it interacts with other plants or creatures in its habitat, and whether it makes any distinctive sounds.

“When there’s a medical breakthrough, you’re not going to hear about it first through an ad or sales pitch.”

“Having FedEx’s influence in Memphis the past 50 years — from the high-profile items like FedExForum and the Grizzlies to actions that fly under the larger radar like all the FedEx Cares events in Memphis — has been incalculable in making our city as amazing as we all enjoy it to be.”

“These three leaders effectively tapped into the political will of a demographic that had been held down, abused and ignored year after year. A megaphone was all that was needed to shatter Speaker Cameron Sexton’s fragile ego and trigger a political earthquake.”

“We strongly urge the MSCS board and the next superintendent to continue making early literacy a top priority for our community.”

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.”

“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.”

“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.”