The 901 Report - Memphis civic news and budget accountability
Memphis City Council
More ->
Memphis City CouncilBellevue Tennis Center Is Closed Until January and Its 50 to 60 Children a Day Have Moved to Whitehaven. The $3.1 Million for the Next Phase Has Not Come to the Council Yet.
Memphis Parks told the City Council on August 4, 2026 that fiscal year 2027 carries $3.1 million dedicated to Jesse Turner Park, that a resolution has not yet come to the council, and that whether the money builds indoor or outdoor courts depends on stakeholder meetings not yet held.
Memphis City CouncilTen Months on One Memphis Corridor: 1,183 Tires, 98 Vacant Lots, 50 Court Cases and a 21-Day Mowing Rotation.
Community enhancement gave the Memphis City Council its first full accounting of the Lamar Avenue revitalization on August 4, 2026, covering work since October 2025. A 21-day maintenance rotation across at least eight vendors is the commitment that can be measured later.
Memphis City CouncilMemphis Showed the Council Drone Video of Six Park Projects Wrapping Up. It Did Not Give a Dollar Figure for Any of Them.
The Memphis Parks director showed the council's parks committee video of six construction projects on August 4, 2026, describing them as the wrap-up of Accelerate Memphis and capital improvement dollars. No cost was stated for any project and no member asked.
Memphis City CouncilTwo Air Conditioning Units Were Out at the Orange Mound Community Center. A Council Member Asked Whether Anyone Had Checked for Mold. No One Had.
General services walked the Orange Mound Community Center the week of July 27, 2026 and found two failed HVAC units affecting the classroom under the bleachers, the front desk and a front classroom. Repairs began August 4. A reported substance in a classroom near the exercise area had not been checked.
Memphis City CouncilMemphis Borrowed $7,100,000 to Buy Garbage Trucks on August 4. No One Said the Interest Rate, the Term, or What It Will Cost to Pay Back.
The Memphis City Council authorized a financing lease up to $7,100,000 for solid waste vehicles on August 4, 2026, and amended the FY2027 capital budget to appropriate the same amount. The only floor question was about the meaning of a phrase in the caption.
Memphis City CouncilFour Residents Asked What the Civil Service Charter Amendment Would Do. The Council Attorney Asked Them to Raise Their Hands if They Knew the Law. Then It Passed.
Ordinance 5978 cleared third and final reading on August 4, 2026 and goes to Memphis voters in November. The council attorney said the Tennessee Supreme Court requires the framework. The sponsor said the current appeals process can take two years. Councilman JB Smiley Jr. cast the only recorded no vote.
Memphis City CouncilMemphis Moved $37 Million Into Its Sewer Fund by Borrowing From Two Other City Funds. The Council Asked No Questions.
A $9 million interfund note at no interest closed June 29, 2026, borrowed by the sewer treatment and collection fund from debt service. A $28 million note from the storm water fund carries 3.761 percent, a rate Tennessee law sets. Both were reported to the budget committee August 4, 2026 without questions.
Memphis City CouncilSeven Items Were About to Pass Memphis's Consent Agenda in One Vote. A Council Member Pulled the One With the $1,192,500 Bond and Asked What It Was.
On August 4, 2026 the Memphis City Council pulled item 8 from its consent agenda after Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton asked what a $1,192,500 bond at A. W. Willis and North Fourth was for. The answer was a developer-funded traffic signal tied to St. Jude construction.
Memphis City CouncilThe Chillers at Memphis's Main Library Have as Little as Two Years Left. Asked What Is in the FY2027 Budget for Them, General Services Said Nothing.
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library runs on two 600-ton chillers more than 20 years old and four boilers 25 years old. General services told the council on August 4, 2026 that replacement money starts in 2028 and beyond, and confirmed nothing is being added to 2027.
Memphis City CouncilA City Building on Mud Island Went 56 of Its First 92 Days Without Working Air Conditioning. Its Tenant Is Asking Memphis for $5 Million.
The immersive attraction that opened in the former river museum building on May 1 told the Memphis City Council on August 4, 2026 that it has drawn 10,283 ticketed visitors and more than $220,000 in gross sales, and that it operated without air conditioning for 56 of its first 92 days.
Memphis City CouncilMemphis Will Mail More Than 200,000 Notices About a New Zoning Map, at an Estimated $100,000 to $120,000. The Hearing Date Became Specific Only After a Council Member Pushed for One.
ZTA 2026-002 sets the process for replacing the zoning map for Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County. The city will notify every property owner, more than 200,000 notices at an estimated $100,000 to $120,000. The Land Use Control Board hearing is October 8, 2026 at 9:00 a.m.
Memphis City CouncilMemphis Wants Short-Term Rental Owners to Pay for Police Calls to Their Properties. The Amendment Was Supposed to Be Filed August 4. It Was Not.
Councilman Philip Spinosa told the Planning and Zoning Committee on August 4, 2026 that an amendment creating cost recovery for police calls to short-term rentals was drafted for that day's first reading, was pulled, and remains under legal review. He read its intent into the record.
Shelby County Commission
More ->
Shelby County CommissionShelby County's Drug Court Is the Largest in Tennessee. It Ran Out of Inpatient Treatment Money, and the $500,000 Approved to Refill It Had No Spending Plan Attached.
The Shelby County Commission approved $500,000 from the opioid settlement special revenue fund for the county drug court on August 10, 2026. The presiding judge said the program exhausted most of its inpatient treatment funds over the past year.
Shelby County CommissionSix Municipal School Districts Have Not Received Their 15 Percent Capital Share for Three Fiscal Years Because Memphis-Shelby County Schools Has Not Spent Its 85 Percent.
Shelby County releases capital funding to municipal school districts only after Memphis-Shelby County Schools spends its 85 percent share. The county finance director confirmed on August 10, 2026 that fiscal 2024 funds tied to an East Campus project remain unspent.
Shelby County CommissionShelby County Committed $350,000 of a Roughly $500,000 Contingency Fund to a Jail Study 21 Days Before Eight New Commissioners Take Office.
The Shelby County Commission voted ten to one with one abstention on August 10, 2026 to allocate up to $350,000 in contingency funds for a jail study. The sponsor said the figure came from his own consulting experience rather than a formal solicitation.
Shelby County CommissionShelby County Says Its Five Largest Regulated Polluters All Sit in Two Zip Codes. It Is Raising Their Air Permit Fees Because Federal Law Requires It.
The Shelby County Health Department told commissioners on August 5, 2026 that Title V permit fees must fully fund the county air permitting program or the general fund covers the gap. Countywide industrial emissions have fallen from more than 25,000 tons a year in 2004 to roughly 5,800.
Shelby County CommissionShelby County Approved a $366,623.26 Emergency Purchase Order in August for Election Work That Was Finished in April.
The Shelby County Commission approved a $366,623.26 contract and emergency purchase order with Access DNSI, Inc. on August 10, 2026 for low voltage and information technology construction at the Election Commission operations center. County engineering told the committee the work was completed by April 15.
Shelby County CommissionThe Memphis-Shelby County Schools Budget Grew by $119,595,046 Between the Printed Agenda and the Vote. No One From the District Was in the Room When It Passed.
A substitute resolution handed out at the August 5, 2026 committee meeting raised the Memphis-Shelby County Schools budget figure from $1,679,759,131 to $1,799,354,177. The Shelby County Commission approved it on August 10 by a vote of seven to four with two recusals.
Shelby County CommissionShelby County Needed a State Waiver to Borrow $125 Million. Its Last Budget Was Never Approved.
The county could not issue its payroll borrowing without an emergency waiver from the Tennessee Comptroller, because its fiscal 2026 budget was never state-approved. The fiscal 2027 budget is due August 31.
Shelby County SheriffA Family Has Sued Over a Death at 201 Poplar. The Lawsuit Says He Spent Eight Days in Jail on Two Misdemeanors Without Seeing a Judge.
Rockez McDaniel, 33, died in custody in July 2025. His family filed suit on July 28, naming Shelby County, jail officers and supervisors, nurses, and the jail's medical contractors. Every claim in the complaint is an allegation. No court has ruled.
Shelby County CommissionMemphis Schools Open Monday. The County Commission Has Not Approved Their Budget, and Will Not See the Final Version Until August 10.
The school board passed its budget in late May. Nearly two months later the Shelby County Commission, which funds the district, has not acted on it. Four days before that, commissioners borrowed $125 million to cover the county's own payroll.
Shelby County CommissionShelby County Commissioners Voted to Write Into Law a Requirement That the Administration Give Them Financial Details. The Finance Director Told Them to Show Up First.
"We would like to see more than four commissioners sitting in the gallery to hear it." The ordinance passed first reading 11 to 0, in a meeting where commissioners also learned they have not received the school district's budget, which state law requires 45 days before adoption.
Shelby County CommissionA Shelby County Commissioner Asked Her Colleagues to Let Her Election Records Bill Be Heard. Nobody Seconded.
The chairwoman called for a second, waited, called again, waited longer, and then ruled the item was not properly before the body. It never got a vote. Twelve other commissioners were in the room.
Shelby County SheriffA $173,920 Emergency Repair for a Winter Air Conditioning Failure at 201 Poplar Cleared Committee in About 80 Seconds. It Passed on the Consent Agenda.
No commissioner asked a question at committee. No commissioner pulled it from the consent agenda five days later. The money is fiscal 2026 general funds, and fiscal 2026 ended on June 30.
MSCS
More ->
MSCSTwo New School Board Members Won Seats Whose Authority a Federal Court Has Suspended. The Audit Response Is Due August 22.
T.L. Harris took District 6 and Tanya Frey took District 8 in the first partisan school board election in the district's history. No Republicans filed for any seat. What the winners control depends on litigation neither of them is party to.
MSCSMSCS Opened the School Year With Its State Takeover Still Blocked in Federal Court
Classes began Monday, August 3, 2026 with a federal judge's pause keeping the state-appointed oversight board from taking control of Tennessee's largest district, and with the litigation unresolved while students are in class.
MSCSThe MSCS Audit Found Board Business May Have Been Shaped Outside Public Meetings. It Covers 2021 Through 2024.
Auditors identified email exchanges among board members and the district's legal counsel that they concluded may have influenced district decisions, including superintendent searches and contract negotiations. The finding is a management finding, not a charge.
MSCSA Single Custodial Contract Accounts for $48 Million of the $54 Million the Audit Flagged. The Same Vendor Was Awarded a New MSCS Contract in January.
The state-ordered forensic audit found more than $54 million in Memphis-Shelby County Schools spending that auditors identified as potential fraud, waste or abuse. More than $48 million of it traces to one 2022 custodial award to ServiceMaster Clean. The district awarded the company a new yearlong contract effective January 1, 2026.
MSCSMemphis Schools Opened August 3 With the Takeover Fight Undecided and No Hearing Date Set
A federal judge suspended the state oversight board's authority on July 1, the day it was to take control. Four weeks later there is still no preliminary injunction hearing on the calendar. Classes begin August 3 with the governance question open.
MSCSMSCS Has 45 Days to Answer the State's Audit. The Clock Started July 8.
Superintendent Roderick Richmond told board members this week that improvements are coming to internal controls, procurement, human resources and cybersecurity. The district's own rules say the corrective action plan has to be far more specific than that.
MSCSA New Group Wants MSCS to Drop Its Takeover Lawsuit. It Will Not Say Who Is Behind It.
Together4Students launched in May, backs the state-appointed oversight board, and is gathering signatures to pressure the district into abandoning its case. Its founder says it has no funding and declines to name the organizations on its strategy team.
MSCSMemphis Is Voting for Two School Board Seats. The Winners' Power Is Not Yet Settled.
Early voting is underway for the District 6 and District 8 seats on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board. Because the state takeover of the district remains tied up in federal court, it is not yet clear how much authority the winners will hold when they take office September 1.
MSCSA Federal Judge Froze the State Takeover of Memphis Schools. The State Is Fighting to Restart It.
On July 1, the day a state oversight board was to take control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, a federal judge ordered everything paused. The district calls the takeover unconstitutional. The state has asked the judge to lift the freeze. The case will decide who runs the district as the school year begins.
MSCSState Forensic Audit Finds Years of Governance and Contracting Failures at Memphis-Shelby County Schools
The Tennessee Comptroller's four-volume review flagged about $54.2 million in transactions the auditors called consistent with potential fraud, waste, or abuse, most of it in procurement, and made 133 recommendations. It is an accountability review, not a criminal case, and no one has been charged.
MSCSMSCS Sues Tennessee to Stop School Takeover Board Before July 1
Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the Shelby County Commission, and all nine elected board members filed a federal lawsuit on June 19 seeking to block the state-appointed oversight board from taking control of the district on July 1.
MSCSLee signs MSCS takeover law, hands 9 GOP appointees control
Gov. Bill Lee just turned Memphis schools over to a nine-member state board of Republican appointees. That means Shelby County’s largest district is entering a new power structure - and families need to know who will be held accountable when decisions land.
MLGW
More ->
MLGWMLGW Wants 125 Megawatts of Batteries at Nine Substations. It Has Not Said What They Cost.
The utility told the City Council the project would push rates down, not up, and would be fully operational by December 2028. The presentation did not include a public price tag.
MLGWMLGW's Grid Is Getting Better. For 17 Percent of Customers, It Is Getting Worse.
Outages are falling across Memphis, and that is real. But 17 percent of customers still lose power three or more times a year, and that number is rising. Everyone paid the same rate increase.
MLGWMLGW: Who Governs Your Utility, When They Meet, and the Money You Are Now Paying
As The 901 Report opens its MLGW beat, here is how the city-owned utility is governed, when its board meets in public, and where the rate increase now on every bill is supposed to go.
Memphis Police
More ->
Memphis PoliceThirty Missing Children Were Recovered in Six Days. The Statewide Unit That Led It Has Six Employees.
A multi-agency operation checked 109 addresses in Shelby County between July 29 and August 3 and located 30 children ages 10 to 17, all safely. The TBI's Missing Persons Clearinghouse, which coordinates these cases for all of Tennessee, is staffed by one special agent and five analysts. Nobody has said how many Shelby County children remain listed missing.
Memphis PoliceShe Spent Nearly Three Months in Jail After Both Victims Identified Her. The Correction Came From a Defense Attorney, Not the Police.
Aljon Tyler was arrested within a day of the May 5 shooting at OUTMemphis. Prosecutors reopened the case after a criminal defense attorney brought new information and the community raised concerns, then cleared her within 24 hours. No one has explained why it took three months to get there.
Memphis PoliceThe TBI Is Investigating Eight Use of Force Incidents by Memphis Safe Task Force Officers. Four People Are Dead.
Seven of the eight involved an officer firing a weapon. The eighth involved someone being run over. Every investigation is active and ongoing, and no finding has been released in any of them.
Memphis PoliceMemphis Budgeted $6.9 Million for Lawsuits This Year. One Case Going to Trial in November Seeks $550 Million.
The city's FY2027 general fund raised its lawsuits appropriation nearly thirteenfold, from $540,977 to $6,925,000. The federal civil trial over Tyre Nichols' death is set for November 9 and expected to run four weeks. A city attorney has previously written that the amount sought could bankrupt Memphis.
Memphis PoliceMemphis Crime Fell Again in the First Half of 2026. The Numbers Are Still Preliminary.
A new report from the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission puts major violent crime down 31.5 percent in the city. The data is early-stage, and Memphis has seen these figures revised before.
Memphis PoliceNo Charges for the Agent Who Killed Darrin Pigram. The DA Released the Video. His Family Says It Does Not Match.
District Attorney Steve Mulroy found the shooting legally justified and declined to prosecute. None of the four DEA agents who entered the Frayser Burger King were wearing body cameras. Pigram's death was the first of four fatal Memphis Safe Task Force shootings this year.
Memphis PoliceFour Dead, Two in One Week: Pressure Builds to Pull the Memphis Safe Task Force
State investigators have opened eight use-of-force inquiries into the federal task force since September. Two of the four fatal shootings came within four days this month, and civic leaders are now calling for the unit to leave the city.
Shelby County Sheriff
More ->
Shelby County SheriffThe Highest-Ranking Officer in the Jail That Day Graded His Own Team One Out of Ten. He Also Testified He Did Not Think CPR Had Started When He Arrived.
Chief Inspector Michael Green was the shift commander at 201 Poplar on October 5, 2022. He testified for several hours Saturday in the trial of Stevon Jones and Courtney Parham, who are charged with second-degree murder and are presumed innocent. Jurors saw video of Gershun Freeman being punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed.
Shelby County SheriffNearly Four Years After Gershun Freeman Died at 201 Poplar, Two Former Jailers Are on Trial. Seven Others Were Also Charged.
Jury selection began August 3 for Stevon Jones and Courtney Parham, each charged with second-degree murder. Both have pleaded not guilty and are presumed innocent. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. The case is being prosecuted by a district attorney from Nashville.
Shelby County SheriffTwo Commissioners, Two Letters, One Crumbling Jail: The Fight Over 201 Poplar's Future
After 14 detainees and five staff were overcome by heat inside the Criminal Justice Center, commissioners are pressing Mayor Lee Harris to order a full assessment of the building. The county has already spent $58 million on emergency repairs, and the Sheriff says the facility is crumbling.
Shelby County SheriffThe County Has Approved More Than $58 Million for the Jail Since 2024. In June, the Air Conditioning Failed Anyway.
Temperatures hit 92 degrees at 201 Poplar. Fourteen detainees needed medical attention, one was hospitalized, and five kitchen workers overheated. Staff called the conditions "inhumane and cruel."
Shelby County SheriffBonner's Budget Fight and the Jail Question Head Into the June 29 County Vote
The Shelby County Sheriff's Office is one of the largest pieces of the county budget the Commission votes on June 29. Sheriff Floyd Bonner has said the county shortchanged his office, even as the aging jail at 201 Poplar faces serious scrutiny.
Memphis
More ->
MemphisThe ICE Flights Leave From Private Terminals on Public Land. The Airport Authority's Leases and Board Minutes Are Public Records.
Advocates rallied at Wilson Air Center and asked the operator to stop servicing detention flights. Wilson did not respond to the Tennessee Lookout. The layer nobody has reported is that the terminal sits on Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority property under a lease, and the Authority is a public body.
MemphisAn Advocacy Group Says It Counted 51 ICE Flights Out of a Memphis Airport Since March. The Airport Authority Has Not Said Whether It Has a Role.
Vecindarios 901 protested outside Wilson Air Center on August 4 as detainees bused from the federal facility in Mason were flown toward Louisiana. The flight count is the group's own tracking and is attributed to it. The legal consequence the group describes is specific and checkable.
MemphisMATA Says the Trolleys Come Back This Fall. It Has Filed a 180-Day Notice and Made Three Countable Fleet Promises.
Service has been suspended since 2024 over brake problems. Interim chief executive Roderick Holmes says braking safety testing is complete and system integration testing is underway. The bus commitments are checkable: 56 buses in 12 months, 12 delivered, 15 refurbished.
MemphisThe City Agreed to a $22 Hourly Floor. Its Solid Waste Budget Set Aside $704,284 for Raises, and That Fund Is Already Budgeted to Lose $4.5 Million.
AFSCME Local 1733 announced a tentative agreement August 4 with Mayor Paul Young's administration, effective October 1. The fiscal 2027 budget adopted in June carries a Potential Raises line of $704,284 in the Solid Waste Management Fund, against $45,860,374 in personnel services. The agreement's total cost has not been made public.
MemphisSpaceXAI Says It Will Remove 69 Turbines From Its Memphis-Area Operations. The Timeline Runs to July 2027.
Removal is scheduled to begin this month under an agreed order with Mississippi environmental regulators. A 1.2 gigawatt permitted power plant is to replace them. The Clean Air Act suit over the turbines is still pending, and the Justice Department has moved to intervene on the company's side.
MemphisShelby County Has $9.4 Million in Utility Assistance This Year. It Is Meant to Reach 18,000 Households.
The county's Community Services Agency and MLGW are taking applications for federal energy assistance at a downtown office. Seniors, people with disabilities, and residents in crisis can walk in. Everyone else needs an appointment.
MemphisA Contractor Recorded $136.9 Million in Liens Against the Memphis Colossus Sites. The Filings Do Not Name SpaceXAI.
Two mechanics' liens were recorded at the Shelby County Register of Deeds on July 30 and 31. They name MZX Tech LLC and CTC Property LLC as the property owners, not SpaceXAI. The claims are allegations and have not been decided by any court.
MemphisThe City's Task Force Dashboard Once Counted Immigration Arrests. It No Longer Does.
Memphis publishes running Memphis Safe Task Force arrest totals at memphistn.gov/safedata. Immigration arrests appeared there in the operation's early weeks and then came off. Two separate reviews, eight months apart, found the category still missing.
MemphisMemphis Just Lost Majority Control of Its Airport Board. Shelby County Lost Every Seat.
A new state law reconstituted the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority on July 1. The city went from naming five of seven commissioners to three of nine. Nashville and Chattanooga sued. Memphis did not.
MemphisMemphis Now Gives City Employees Six Weeks of Paid Parental Leave. The Order Runs Through the Sick Leave Bank.
Mayor Paul Young signed the executive order on July 20, six weeks after the Council asked him to. The Council's resolution named fertility treatments. The reported description of the signed order does not.
MemphisThe Administration Has a Plan for $3.3 Million in SpaceXAI Tax Money. It Covers Five Miles.
Mayor Paul Young's administration pitched how it would spend roughly $3.3 million collected from SpaceXAI on the area within five miles of the Colossus I data center in southwest Memphis.
MemphisThe City Wants Out of Its Liberty Park Development Contract. Ground Still Has Not Been Broken.
The private piece of Liberty Park was approved in 2024 as a $112.5 million project with a hotel, apartments, and retail. Two years later there is no groundbreaking, and the City of Memphis is moving to end its contract with the joint venture managing it.
Shelby County
More ->
Shelby CountyThe Millington Officer Indicted for Falsifying His Own Timesheets Was the Department's Training Records Officer. A Dozen Officers Were Short on Required Training.
The Comptroller found Lieutenant Bryan Childress reported working for the police department and a private security company during the same hours on 59 days, totaling 66 overlapping hours and $2,971.89 in unearned wages. He is presumed innocent. A separate state review in January found officers under his record-keeping missing training hours, including firearms.
Shelby CountyLowery and Buckner Won. They Inherit a County That Borrowed $125 Million for Payroll, Has a Budget Due August 31, and Has Not Approved the Schools Appropriation.
Mickell Lowery declared victory in the county mayor's race and Anthony Buckner was elected sheriff, both on August 6. They take office September 1, 26 days later. Buckner named the jail as his immediate priority. Lowery voted for the borrowing he will now administer.
Shelby CountyThe Election Commission Calls the Ballot Error Isolated. The NAACP and the County Democratic Party Say It Is Not.
Officials attribute the machine that dropped four judicial races for 307 Bartlett voters to human error tied to a headquarters move and congressional redistricting. At an August 5 press conference, NAACP Memphis Branch President Kermit Moore said there have been discrepancies across the county. Polls are open today.
Shelby CountyA Bartlett Alderman Has Revived the Idea of the Suburbs Leaving Shelby County. The County Just Borrowed $125 Million to Make Payroll.
David Reaves is renewing a proposal that first surfaced more than 35 years ago, and floating a second version in which the six outlying cities join adjacent counties instead. No new county has formed in Tennessee in close to 150 years. There is no filed proposal, and this post does not treat the idea as pending.
Shelby CountyAbout 300 Early Voters Cast Ballots Missing Four Judicial Races. It Is the Second Time the Same Races Were Left Off.
Roughly 700 absentee voters got incomplete ballots in July and were sent supplemental ones. The 300 who voted on one machine at Christian Life Church cannot be identified, because their ballots are secret. Election Day is Thursday.
Shelby CountyShelby County Just Handed Its Court Clerk's Office to the County's HR Director
Gerald Thornton takes over as General Sessions Court Clerk Pro Tempore on August 8. His term is not tied to Tami Sawyer's suspension. It runs until her case ends or her term does.
Shelby CountyTami Sawyer's Trial Is Set for January 11. Her Replacement Could Serve Until 2028.
A federal judge has scheduled a four-day trial for the suspended General Sessions Court Clerk. The judges who suspended her have already named a stand-in whose term is tied to the outcome of her case, not to her suspension.
Shelby CountyThe State Spent Nearly Two Years Trying to Remove Wanda Halbert. It Just Walked Away Six Weeks Before Her Term Ends.
The ouster case against the Shelby County Clerk was voluntarily dismissed after the trial landed in the final week of her term. The county's chief litigating attorney says continuing would have cost taxpayers money for a trial that could no longer change anything.
Shelby CountyAbout 700 Shelby County Absentee Ballots Went Out Missing Races. Early Voting Starts Friday.
A "processing omission" left four of six special judicial races, and a county charter referendum, off ballots already mailed. Replacement ballots are due Wednesday. Check yours.
Shelby CountyCourt Clerk Tami Sawyer Suspended 30 Days Following Federal Indictment
Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer was suspended for 30 days beginning June 17, days after a six-count federal indictment accused her of embezzling about $44,600 in public funds. She has pleaded not guilty.
Shelby CountyCourt Clerk Tami Sawyer Turns Herself In on Sealed Federal Indictment
Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer surrendered to federal custody Monday morning, according to Action News 5. The indictment is sealed, and the specific charges have not been made public.
Shelby CountyMulroy sues Tennessee, blocks two Shelby County laws May 26
Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy filed an emergency lawsuit today to block two new state laws targeting the county's criminal justice system. The fight now centers on who controls local prosecutions and court oversight in Shelby County.
Tennessee
More ->
TennesseeTennessee Executed Anthony Hines. NBC News Reports the Doctor From May's Troubled Execution Took Part.
Anthony Darrell Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. on August 13 at Riverbend, after final appeals built on the claim that the assigned physician could not safely place an IV line. Media witnesses described groaning and facial discoloration during the procedure.
TennesseeCoreCivic's Revenue Grew 27 Percent as Immigration Detention Expanded. A 600-Bed Facility in West Tennessee Came Online the Same Quarter.
The Brentwood company reported $684.9 million in second-quarter revenue, sold four facilities to the Department of Homeland Security for $2.2 billion, and activated the 600-bed West Tennessee Detention Facility, the detention pipeline that sits an hour from Memphis.
TennesseeThree Tennessee School Boards Have Voted to Post the Ten Commandments. The Law Lets Every District Choose, Including the Seven in Shelby County.
Washington County joined Wilson and Rutherford counties under a law Governor Bill Lee signed in May that permits but does not require displays, in a state-approved text at a minimum 26-point font. No board in Shelby County has been reported to have voted. No legal challenge has been filed.
TennesseeA Sitting Memphis Councilwoman Won the Democratic Nomination for Governor. She Still Holds Her Council Seat.
Jerri Green won the Democratic primary Thursday. Marsha Blackburn won the Republican primary, defeating John Rose in a race President Trump declined to endorse. Whoever wins in November commands the Highway Patrol and the National Guard supplying the Memphis task force, and inherits the state's posture on the schools takeover.
TennesseeOne Memphis House District Has No Name on the Ballot Today. The Incumbent Turned In 47 Signatures and 24 Were Valid. He Needed 25.
No candidate qualified in either party for Tennessee House District 93, which covers Orange Mound, Binghampton, Highland Heights and part of Cordova. Voters there must write in a name. The threshold Representative G.A. Hardaway Sr. missed is one of the lowest ballot access requirements in the country.
TennesseeNashville May Reopen Its Airport Takeover Fight. Memphis Already Lost That Fight and Has No Case Pending.
The state restructured both cities' airport boards. Nashville litigated and its dispute may reignite. Memphis lost majority control of its own board and, so far as the public record shows, no comparable challenge is pending here.
TennesseeThe Money Behind the Governor's Primary: Rose's $13 Million of His Own, and Blackburn's $4.8 Million Federal Workaround
Final disclosures before the Thursday, August 6, 2026 Republican primary show U.S. Rep. John Rose largely self-funding while U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn's PAC network absorbed millions routed from her federal Senate account, a transfer a national money-in-politics tracker calls a workaround.
TennesseeMemphis Now Sits in Three Congressional Districts. Thursday Is the First Election Under That Map, and Your District May Have Changed.
A May special session split Shelby County across the 5th, 8th and 9th districts. The state has a free address lookup that tells you which one you are in. If you are voting Thursday, check before you go.
TennesseeTennessee Agreed to Stop Reporting 400 Sick Children to Immigration Officers. It Has Not Withdrawn the Policy.
The state health department told families of roughly 400 medically fragile immigrant children to disenroll or be reported to a state immigration enforcement division. A Nashville chancellor blocked it, and the state has agreed to hold off while three doctors litigate. The directive itself is still on the books, and Memphis families are among those living under it.
TennesseeTennessee Signed a Pledge to Keep Data Center Costs Off Your Power Bill. The State's Own Law Has an Exception.
Governor Bill Lee joined 22 other Republican governors on a voluntary White House pledge holding data center companies responsible for their own power costs. The Tennessee law passed this year, sponsored in the Senate by a Shelby County Republican, allows utilities to help cover those costs in defined circumstances. Neither instrument is enforceable by a Memphis ratepayer.
TennesseeFederal Judges Let Tennessee Split Memphis Into Three Districts for the August Primary
A three-judge panel denied the ACLU's request to block Tennessee's new congressional map, ruling that politics, not race, best explains why Shelby County was cut into thirds. The lawsuit itself is not over.
TennesseeMemphis Is Now Split Across Three Congressional Districts. You Vote Under the New Map on August 6.
Tennessee dismantled its only majority-Black district on May 7, dividing Shelby County three ways. Early voting starts Friday. Check your district before you vote.
National
More ->
NationalThe Senate Passed the Stopgap 90-6 and Left for Recess. The Grant Rules That Touch Memphis Are One House Vote From Law.
The measure would fund the government through December 11 and carries the grant-approval provision The 901 Report reported on August 4. The House must still reconcile its own version before any of it becomes law.
NationalPearson and Taylor Won the District 9 Primaries. The Seat Anchored in Memphis Is Now Drawn to Elect a Republican for the First Time in More Than Forty Years.
State Representative Justin J. Pearson took the Democratic nomination with about 65 percent. State Senator Brent Taylor took the Republican nomination with just over 46 percent in a four-way race. The redrawn district is rated R+9. Both men leave state legislative seats in play.
NationalCongress Now Has a Cost Projection for the Washington Deployment Through January 2029. For Memphis, the Last Federal Estimate Is 190 Days Old.
The Pentagon told Congress the National Guard mission in Washington will cost an additional $1.43 billion, about $51 million a month, from October 2026 through January 2029. The number exists because a senator asked for it in writing. Nobody has asked for Memphis.
NationalTexas Just Froze Data Center Approvals Until Companies Disclose Their Water Use, Tax Breaks and Ownership. Memphis Has No Such Requirement, and the Texas Rule Would Not Have Caught xAI Anyway.
Governor Greg Abbott directed state regulators on August 3 to audit every data center in the grid queue before any more are approved. The disclosures he ordered are the same facts Memphis has been unable to establish about the Colossus campus. But the Texas order reaches only projects seeking a grid connection, and companies that generate their own power fall outside it.
NationalThe Senate's Stopgap Would Fund the Government Through December 11 and Block a Grant-Approval Chokepoint
Bipartisan text released Monday, August 3, 2026 would avert a shutdown at the September 30 funding deadline, and would stop an Office of Management and Budget rule that routed federal grant approvals through senior political appointees.
NationalA House Committee Has Demanded Access to the Memphis Data Centers. The Justice Department Has Entered the Case on the Company's Side.
The ranking member of House Energy and Commerce wants a tour of the Colossus facilities, citing turbines operated without permits or pollution controls. Separately, DOJ moved to intervene in the NAACP's Clean Air Act suit, arguing the litigation threatens national security.
NationalTwenty-Three States Have Approved Tariffs Making Data Centers Pay Their Own Power Costs. Tennessee Wrote an Exception Instead.
Wisconsin regulators rejected having ratepayers share the cost of power plants built for data centers and cut the threshold from 500 megawatts to 100. Oregon approved a framework in May. Minnesota created a rate class by statute. Tennessee's law lets utilities help cover the costs, and MLGW's published policy for customers over 5,000 kilowatts is that everything is negotiated case by case.
NationalA State Audit Found 62 Percent of One Town's Employees Held Government Purchasing Cards. The Town Manager Had Eliminated the Internal Auditor Position.
North Carolina's State Auditor found widespread oversight failures in the Town of Cary, where employee purchasing cards accounted for $24.2 million over two years. The former town manager resigned in December. Criminal investigations remain open, and no charges have been filed.
NationalThe Website Built to Track Federal Spending Cannot Trace $712.6 Billion in Federal Grant Spending, a Watchdog Found. The Money Was Headed to Local Communities.
USAspending.gov was created two decades ago so the public could follow federal grants. A Project On Government Oversight analysis of the site's own data found $712.6 billion in fiscal 2024 spending that cannot be followed below the state level, in categories covering schools, children's health care, veterans and drinking water.
NationalThe Congressional Budget Office Put a Price on the Memphis Deployment: $28 Million a Month. No One Has Published an Updated Figure Since January.
A nonpartisan CBO analysis broke out the cost of troop deployments city by city. Memphis ran $28 million a month for 1,500 Guard personnel, at $129 a day in lodging alone per person. Memphis and Washington were the only two deployments still standing when the report was written, and the Memphis operation has continued for six months since.
NationalMemphis Is Being Offered Houston as the Model. Three Years In, Houston Has Lost 13,208 Students and One in Five of Its Teachers Is Uncertified.
Takeover advocates have repeatedly pointed to Houston's 2023 state intervention as the template for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. A University of Houston research center pulled the state's own enrollment and personnel data and published what the first two years actually produced.
NationalMemphis Is the Model in a $300 Million Federal Grant. Applications Close September 1. Nobody Has Said Whether Memphis Applied.
The Justice Department's Model Cities Initiative cites the federal surge in Memphis as proof of concept and will fund two to four cities. Applying requires the mayor's personal certification, signatures from the local governing body, and a written commitment to take direction from DOJ. There is no public record of where Memphis stands.