All Stories

The latest reporting from The 901 Report, newest first.

Memphis City Council

Memphis Has Never Funded Its Own Violence Intervention Work. The State Money That Does Ends July 1, 2027.

Two organizations told the Council on August 18 that the city is a pass-through, not a funder. One operates on $739,000. Both asked for $2 million each and $10 million for the city office that coordinates them.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Council Members Got a List of Where the Next Surveillance Cameras Go and Three Days to Object.

The committee chairman told colleagues the locations were chosen from data, not out of a hat, and asked for responses by Friday, August 21. The list was not read into the record, is not attached to the published agenda, and no member asked for it to be released.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Extended a Pension Increase to 911 Dispatchers and Paramedics in About Sixty Seconds. The Liability Is $973,000.

The amendment raises the multiplier from 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent and removes a 5 percent early retirement penalty. The cost is charged to a fund created by a 2019 sales tax referendum, with an automatic step-down if that fund cannot carry it.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Three Shelby County Resolutions Reached the Floor Without Clearing the Rules. One Passed, One Died Without a Word Spoken Against It, and a Commissioner Said the Rules Are Becoming a Barrier.

Every item a commissioner files has to pass through administrative review first. Commissioner Mick Wright said that when it does not, the resolution arrives disadvantaged, and the body starts to treat its members unequally.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Told the Council Its Sewer Fund Was $13 Million in the Hole. The Rating Agency Had Already Cut It.

S&P lowered the sewer revenue rating to A from A+ on July 14 with a negative outlook. On August 18 the Chief Financial Officer told a Council committee the system was carrying a negative claim on cash of about $13 million, one month after a $37 million interfund rescue.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

A Community Enhancement Grant Fund Is Buying the Sheriff's Office a $51,429 Pickup Truck. The Award Is Dated After the Current Commissioners Leave.

The same committee had just advanced an ordinance adding accountability and eligibility requirements to county grants. The truck item followed it, and passed without a question.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Approved $3.1 Million for Jesse Turner Park. The Resolution's First Line Names a Different Park.

The money funds a partnership with LeMoyne-Owen College athletics, including indoor tennis courts, an expanded pro shop with locker rooms and a turf field. The project still has no CIP number, and the filed resolution opens by citing Glenview Park Aquatic Facility.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Set Its Small Construction Business Ceiling at $5 Million in 2007 and Never Raised It. It Is About to Pass a Rewrite That Keeps It There.

An administrator told the committee the federal standard for a small construction firm is roughly $12 million to $13 million. If commissioners amend the ordinance now, it restarts at first reading under a new Commission.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

She Has Been a School Crossing Guard Since January 1979 and Has Lived in the Same House for 50 Years. On Monday Shelby County Voted to Put Her Name on Her Street.

Anna Harwell asked for it herself. She told the Commission a son had said it would not happen, and that she told him it certainly would not if she did not try.

The 901 Report

National

Missouri's Map Appeal Is Now on Justice Kavanaugh's Desk, With Answers Due September 7

Missouri officials filed their emergency application late September 4 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the voided mid-decade map. Justice Brett Kavanaugh set responses for noon September 7 and the state wants a decision by September 14.

The 901 Report

National

The Rule the Government Wants the Supreme Court to Save Has Been Declared Unconstitutional

Judge Indira Talwani enjoined the Postal Service's mail-ballot rule on September 5 and called it unconstitutional. The government's Supreme Court application is still pending, with responses due September 8.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

An Ordinance Requiring the Administration to Give Commissioners Financial Reports Passed 10 to Nothing. Its Own Committee Would Not Recommend It, and Nobody Debated It.

The sponsor was absent from committee, so it advanced without a recommendation. On the floor it was set aside mid-agenda because staff could not find the summary sheet, then picked back up and passed without a word.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Appropriated $7.5 Million to Nine Park Projects in About Five Minutes. Four of Them Have No Project Number.

The Parks and Environment Committee moved every item on August 18 with no questions on eight of nine. The filed resolutions carry PK-TBD where a CIP project number belongs, and two of them cite two different numbers in the same document.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Keeps $300,000 on Hand for Fiber Breaks. It Is Down to $90,000, and the Money Does Not Go Back.

The Information Technology division asked the Budget Committee on August 18 to move another $300,000 into the line it can actually spend from. A council member asked what happens if no emergency comes. The answer was that the money stays where it is.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Sent Its Employee Counseling Contract to Three Local Vendors. None of Them Bid. The $143,220 Award Went to the Only Company That Did.

Asked how the local firms compare on capacity, the county's benefits administrator said the county does not know.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Will Convey Vacant Land to Developers at No Cost, Waive the Back Taxes on It, and Charge $75 to Apply. One Applicant Can Take 10 Properties.

The Building Home Program rewrite passed on its third reading with the fee amount stated aloud for the first time, in answer to a question from the floor.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Sold 17 Tax-Delinquent Properties for $32,969.75 Above Asking. It Still Came Up $98,999 Short of the Back Taxes Owed on Them.

Fifteen of the properties sold for less than the taxes owed. Every property that went to an out-of-town buyer sold for less than the taxes owed.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

If MLGW Digs Up Your Water Line, You Get a Lead Warning. If You Hire Your Own Plumber, You Have Not. A County Resolution Would Close That Gap.

The fix is a document handed over with every plumbing permit. It came from a resident who noticed the difference.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Spent $159,202.77 to Erase $17 Million in Medical Debt for 12,169 People. One Council Member Gave Her Entire Grant Budget to Do It.

The resolution buys qualifying medical debt at a fraction of face value and abolishes it. No application is required. The nonprofit told the Council it will not say which providers it buys from without their consent.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

A Commissioner Asked Whether the Data Centers Are Paying Their Property Taxes. The Trustee Put the Figure at $27.7 Million on Three Properties.

The answer came in the final minutes of a routine quarterly report. The Trustee said the company has not been late, and that the current year's bills have only just gone out.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Federal Utility Aid Got Harder and Smaller. MLGW Turned a Community Office Into an Application Center and Ran 13,649 People Through It.

The utility told the Council its president stood up a processing center in three days with more than 100 volunteers, obligated $6.6 million and pushed call center wait times from under a minute to as long as thirteen. Funding to Shelby County fell roughly in half.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Earned a Record $49.9 Million on Its Investments Last Year. Nobody at the Table Knew What This Year's Forecast Is.

The Trustee's final quarterly report set records for collections and investment income. Asked what fiscal year 2027 assumes for that income, the Trustee said her office does not forecast it and finance said it did not know the number.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

A Defense Plant the State Paid to Expand Is Now Cutting 127 Jobs in Rural Hardeman County

Kilgore Flares, a Chemring-owned maker of missile-decoy flares in Toone, filed a state WARN notice for a permanent layoff effective October 31. Eight years ago Tennessee celebrated a $40 million expansion at the same plant that was supposed to add roughly 100 jobs.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

MLGW Asked Memphis for $5.18 Million in Six Contracts. Three of Them Ratify Money the Utility Had Already Spent.

One is an emergency award for $2,790,687.45 in rooftop air conditioning. One ratifies a 2025 software invoice paid after the fact. The whole package passed the Council in one vote with no member in the queue to speak.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

A Judge Learned at the Table That Her Court's $400,000 Was Being Switched to Opioid Money. The Item Advanced on Three Votes and Five Abstentions.

The swap funds four new criminal court clerks from the general fund and moves the mental health court to the opioid abatement fund. The judge said the switch restricts how she can spend it. Finance said one stream of that fund is unrestricted.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

MLGW Told the Council Exactly How Many Data Centers It Serves, What Is in the Queue, and That Nothing New Can Arrive for Six Months.

MLGW told the Memphis City Council it serves 16 data centers, has two approved expansions, two 350 MW requests pending, and ten unstudied applications.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

The Board That Backed Him Fired Him: Senatobia's Police Chief Is Out After His Texts Were Published

Eight days after meeting behind closed doors and standing by Chief Harold Vanderford, the Board of Aldermen rejected his resignation letter and voted unanimously to terminate him.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

A Chiller Failed at the County Jail Annex in May. The $69,524.10 Bill Reached a Committee in August, on an Item With No Routing Sheet.

The item was not on the printed agenda. It took a suspension of the rules to be heard at all. Three commissioners voted to advance it.

The 901 Report

National

The Ballot Rule Is Back at the Supreme Court, and the First Ballots Are Already in the Mail

The Justice Department filed an emergency application September 3 to unblock the Postal Service's mail-ballot rule. Responses are due September 8. North Carolina and Alabama began mailing ballots September 4.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Five Ordinances and Four Bond Releases Passed Memphis in One Vote. One of Them Was the Data Center Moratorium.

The consent agenda carried Ordinance 5982's second reading, first readings for the pension amendment and three other ordinances, and four subdivision bond releases. No member spoke. The whole thing took about ninety seconds.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

After 32 Years, Joe Towns Jr. Has Left the Tennessee House. A Party Caucus Will Pick Who Represents District 84.

The Memphis Democrat resigned to take office as Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk. With no Republican on the November ballot, the replacement process is the whole contest.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Is Approving a Lease Extension That Began 18 Months Ago. Nobody From the Administration Was There to Explain It the First Time.

The committee sent the item forward without a recommendation, then reopened it an hour later when staff arrived. The county cut the tenant's rent in half to keep it in the building.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

The Warrants Were State Warrants: The Raid That Detained 121 People Ran Through a Shelby County Courtroom

The federal government claimed the Macon Road operation. The paperwork behind it, new reporting shows, was obtained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Shelby County Criminal Court.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Took Its First Vote to Pause Data Centers. The Ordinance Keeps the Permit Window Open.

The moratorium passed first reading on August 18. The filed text lets the city keep accepting applications for docketing, exempts anything already vested before the ordinance was introduced, and runs twelve months. Two readings remain.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Is About to Write Limits on Locking Up Children Alone Into Its Code. The Ordinance Cleared Its Last Committee in Under Three Minutes, With No Questions.

The youth covered by the rules have not been adjudicated. The mayor's office told the committee the point is to set the bar high, because it can only go up from there.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Spent Perhaps 2 Percent With Minority Businesses. On Monday It Voted 10 to 2 to Take the Program Out of Its Rulebook.

The chairwoman called it an administrative cleanup required by state law. A commissioner pulled it off the consent agenda so it could not pass silently.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Nine Organizations Waited Through a Five-Hour Meeting to Speak on a $270,000 Opioid Grant. It Died Because Nobody Would Second the Motion.

The committee advanced it on two votes. Five days later the sponsor moved to suspend the rules so the Commission could hear it, and the chamber went silent.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Pays Its Firefighter Paramedics $76,000. Bartlett Pays $82,800, Germantown $82,700, Memphis $84,700.

A commissioner read the numbers into the record while voting against two $100,000 training contracts. She said she asked for this information at budget hearings in May and never got it.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County's Fund Balance Is at 15 Percent. Its Own Policy Says 20 to 30.

The county closed fiscal year 2026 by moving $7,185,588.36 to cover funds that ended the year short. A commissioner asked what that leaves in reserve. The answer was about $80 million, flat to last year.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

The Developer Promised 125 to 300 Jobs and Paid Road Widening. Shelby County Voted It Down Nine to Three, Including the Commissioner Who Sent It Back for a Rewrite.

County planning staff recommended rejection twice. On the floor, staff produced the detail that mattered: the road-widening plans the applicant cited had expired.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

A Commissioner Said the Schools Lawsuit Had Passed $200,000. The County Attorney Said the Number Is $111,000, and the Cap Everyone Was Arguing About Expired With the Fiscal Year.

The resolution started as a ban on spending and ended as a reporting requirement. It passed seven to three after two hours of public comment and a fight over whether it could be heard at all.

The 901 Report

National

The House Vote Came, 370 to 48. The Grant Review Block That Touches Memphis Is One Signature From Law.

The stopgap passed the House on September 1 and went to the President. If signed, the government stays funded through December 11 and the rule that would put political appointees over federal grant approvals stays blocked.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

DHS Now Claims the Macon Road Raid and Counts 121 Arrests. The Warrant, the Charges, and the Locations Are Still Unpublished.

Two days after the Memphis Safe Task Force and the city both said the El Corralon operation was not theirs, Homeland Security named it Operation Corral Light, put ICE's New Orleans office in charge, and gave a number. It did not say where the 121 people are.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

Forty-Eight Memphis Businesses Pledged to Turn Away Task Force Agents. Their Demands Name Four Governments.

One day after the largest immigration raid in city history, a business campaign put specific, answerable demands to Mayor Young, the City Council, the County Commission, and Governor Lee.

The 901 Report

Memphis

SpaceXAI Says the First 11 of 69 Temporary Turbines Are Off. The Order Says All of Them by July 2027.

The shutdown is the first countable milestone under the agreed order with Mississippi regulators. Fifty-eight temporary turbines are still running while the permanent plant is built.

The 901 Report

MLGW

MLGW's CEO Puts the Storm Bill Near $18 Million. No Document Yet Says Who Pays It.

Doug McGowen says the city and county will seek about $18 million in reimbursement for the August 22 storm. The application, the program, and the split are all still unpublished.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Lowery, Buckner, and Eight New Commissioners Take the Oath August 31. Here Is What They Inherit.

The swearing-in lands on the county's own FY2027 budget deadline day, one week after the outgoing Commission committed contingency money to a jail study and capped its takeover legal bill.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

More Than 100 Detained at a Macon Road Nightclub, and No Agency Claims the Operation

Federal agents raided El Corralon at 3:15 a.m. on August 30. The Memphis Safe Task Force says it was not its operation. Mayor Young says MPD only directed traffic. ICE will not give a number.

The 901 Report

National

The Judge the Supreme Court Said Moved Too Early Has Moved Again, and This Time the Postal Rule Is Final

Days after the Supreme Court lifted her earlier injunction for coming before any finalized plan existed, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocked the Postal Service's finalized mail-ballot rule nationwide, with a hearing set for September 3.

The 901 Report

National

A Florida Grand Jury Found $10 Million in Medicaid Settlement Money Was Misappropriated. It Charged No One.

The sealed report, obtained by CBS News Miami, traces settlement money owed to the state through a charity tied to the First Lady's initiative and into a political committee, and concludes nobody would take responsibility for the decision.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Lee Granted 33 Pardons and One Commutation. The Commutation Is the Case a Federal Judge Threw Out and an Appeals Court Put Back.

Governor Bill Lee's August 27 clemency round centers on Thomas Clardy, who served roughly 17 years for a 2005 Davidson County killing, was freed after a federal court overturned his conviction, and faced a return to prison after an appeals court reinstated it.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Shelby County Tried Twice to Remove Wanda Halbert and Failed Twice. A Court Says the County Owes Her Legal Fees.

The government that spent public money prosecuting two ouster efforts against its own county clerk has been ordered to reimburse her defense, per WKNO, and the Daily Memphian reports the county does not want to pay.

The 901 Report

MSCS

The State Will Announce a $48,000 Embezzlement. It Will Not Say Whether Memphis Schools Answered a $54.2 Million Audit.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools had 45 days to respond to the Comptroller's forensic audit, a clock that ran out August 22. As of August 29, neither the district nor the Comptroller's office will say whether a response exists. The office has issued four other news releases this month.

The 901 Report

National

The Federal Government Is About to Halve What It Pays States to Run SNAP. Tennessee Picks Up the Rest.

A proposed USDA rule would cut the federal share of SNAP administrative costs from 50 percent to 25 percent starting in fiscal year 2027, shifting an estimated $16.9 billion onto states over five years. The comment period, extended to September 8, is still open. The fiscal year turns October 1.

The 901 Report

National

Senatobia's Board Met With Its Police Chief Behind Closed Doors, Then Backed Him

The public statement supporting Chief Harold Vanderford followed a Tuesday meeting between the Mayor, the Board of Aldermen, and the chief that residents say was never publicly noticed. On August 28 a community group demanded his firing.

The 901 Report

MSCS

Tennessee Will Spend $258 More Per Voucher Student Than Per Public School Student

State figures put per-pupil public school funding at $7,272 for 2026-27 and the Education Freedom Scholarship voucher at $7,530. In 29 districts the gap runs wider, and at one Memphis school system it reaches $663 per student.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Tennessee Wants to Raise Hunting and Fishing License Fees 29 Percent. The Agency Says It Is Short of Money.

The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved a new license structure on August 21 with most increases in the 27 to 29 percent range. A combination hunt and fish license goes from $33 to $42. The increase still needs legislative sign-off.

The 901 Report

Memphis

Shelby County Lost 17,905 People From SNAP in a Year. That Is $4.1 Million a Month Out of the Local Economy.

Between July 2025 and July 2026, SNAP enrollment in Shelby County fell 11.7 percent, from 153,635 people to 135,730. Advocates attribute the drop to expanded work requirements, eligibility changes, and paperwork failures rather than to families no longer needing food.

The 901 Report

MSCS

The State Released Memphis's School-by-School Scores This Week. It Did Not Announce Them.

Tennessee publicized its 2025-26 TCAP results twice, state-level in June and district-level in July. The school-level data, the only version that names individual campuses, went up during the week of August 24 with no announcement, while the state is in federal court arguing it should run Memphis-Shelby County Schools on the strength of school performance.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

The Autopsy Is Public: The 20-Year-Old Killed by Guard Soldiers in July Was Shot in the Back

Seven weeks after National Guard members on the Memphis Safe Task Force fatally shot a 20-year-old man downtown, the first physical-evidence record in any of the task force deaths arrived through an autopsy report, not an official release.

The 901 Report

National

The Texts Were Public for Five Days. Then Senatobia's Leaders Backed Their Chief.

Mississippi Today reported that Senatobia's police chief repeatedly used a racial slur in private text messages. On August 27 the city's leadership publicly stood by him, turning a media investigation into a government decision.

The 901 Report

National

"An Inadvertent Error Is Not Fraud": Cook's Lawyers Put Their Answer on the Record

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook's attorneys formally responded August 26, 2026 to the White House's renewed removal effort, the procedural step the Supreme Court's June order required before any second attempt.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

The State Found No Red Flags in the Toll Consortium. Its Own Advisers Say the Road Money Still Does Not Add Up.

In two days Tennessee answered the vetting question and reopened the funding one. TDOT says pre-qualification cleared DriveTN. On August 27 the warnings continued that the revenue problem the concession was supposed to solve still covers the rest of the network.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

A $520 Million Pipeline, 20 Percent Rate Hikes, and 35,000 Customers With No Vote

The Tennessee Local Development Authority unanimously approved Columbia's $315 million federal financing request on August 24, 2026. The county ratepayers helping pay for the project elect nobody who sets their rates.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Four Rapid DNA Machines, Up to $700,000, and a Promise: Operational Before Year's End

Shelby County says the machines its Commission funded unanimously in May 2026 will be delivered and running by the end of the year, cutting DNA turnaround from months to under two hours.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Both Sides Asked the Court to Clear Andrew Hayes. The Judge Said He Does Not Walk Out of Jail Today.

Judge Lee Coffee declined to rule on the motion the defense and the Shelby County District Attorney's office jointly support, set the next hearing for October 9, 2026, and said he needs more time with the record.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

911's New Fourth Option Sends a Counselor, Not a Cop. Who Runs It and What It Costs Is Not Public Yet.

Memphis launched a mental health option inside 911 on August 26, 2026, connecting callers to 24/7 crisis counselors. The city has not published the operator, the contract, or the cost.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Nashville's Speedway Fight Just Reached the State, and Memphis Has Seen This Play

State lawmakers entered the fight over the Fairgrounds Speedway on August 25, 2026, per the Tennessee Lookout, putting the state's hand into a Metro-owned property fight two weeks after a contested petition drive and a private redevelopment pitch.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

The State Requires Special Education Pre-K. Its Own Funding Committee Just Said the State Should Pay for It.

Tennessee's TISA funding review committee said on August 25, 2026 that the state should fund the special education pre-K programs districts are already required to run, per Chalkbeat Tennessee.

The 901 Report

National

200,000 Visas, No Published Order: The Largest Revocation in History So Far Rests on Officials' Statements

The administration plans to revoke up to 200,000 visas in what officials call the largest mass revocation in U.S. history, per NPR. No federal notice has been published, and that gap is the story.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Memphis Mayor and Council Put Up $100,000 for Storm Grocery Help. Here Is Who Qualifies and How to Get It.

Mayor Paul Young and Council Chairwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington announced up to $100,000 through the Memphis Cares fund to help households replace food lost during extended power outages. Residents who went more than 24 hours without electricity can call starting August 31.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

The Prosecution Switched Sides: Shelby County's DA Office Joined the Motion to Clear Andrew Hayes

Nineteen years after a Cordova murder conviction the District Attorney's office now calls an injustice, prosecutors stood beside the defense on August 25, 2026 and asked the court to clear Andrew Hayes' sentence.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Tennessee Is Getting $751.9 Million From Meta. Where That Money Goes Is Now Up to the Legislature.

The state's share of a $17.1 billion national settlement over teen social media harm will flow into a newly created Tennessee's Children's Digital Protection Fund. How nearly three quarters of a billion dollars gets spent, and how much reaches Memphis and Shelby County kids, is a decision that has not been made.

The 901 Report

Memphis

An Electrical Box Exploded at a Memphis Prison. More Than 200 People in State Custody Were Moved, and No One Has Published the Bill.

Investigators say an electrical box explosion caused the August 22 fire at the Mark Luttrell Transition Center. The state confirmed no injuries, relocated the inmates, and has not said what the damage will cost or when the facility reopens.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

The State Released the Chase Data. It Is in Court to Keep the Chase Rules Secret.

The director of Memphis's Institute for Public Service Reporting has sued the Tennessee Department of Safety for the Highway Patrol's vehicle pursuit policy, after the department handed over pursuit data but called the rules governing those pursuits confidential.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

If Blackburn Wins, Her Senate Seat Becomes an Appointment That Could Last Until November 2028

Tennessee law hands a vacant U.S. Senate seat to the governor to fill, and the timing of a resignation decides which governor. No appointee would face voters before November 2028.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Dolly Parton Built a Statewide Program That Tennessee Taxpayers Help Fund. Her Death Puts Its Future in the Legislature's Hands.

Parton, who died Tuesday at 80, gave Tennessee the only statewide Imagination Library in the country, a public-private partnership the state renews in its budget every year. Her passing turns a quiet annual line item into a question about what the state chooses to sustain without her.

The 901 Report

National

One Injunction Left: The Supreme Court Clears Half the Path for the Federal Ballot Rule

The August 24 order lifted the first of two injunctions blocking the mail-voting executive order. The Postal Service has already published the finished 95-page rule and says it will move the moment the courts step aside. Shelby County's absentee operation is what it would land on.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Commission

Eight Commissioners Left the Room for Good. Their Last Vote Capped the Takeover Legal Bill at $200,000.

The outgoing Shelby County Commission closed its four-year term on August 24 by putting a ceiling on the county's contribution to the MSCS takeover litigation, days before eight new commissioners inherit the case, the budget deadline, and everything else.

The 901 Report

Memphis

The Airport Board Signed a 12-Year Lounge Deal. Here Are the Terms.

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board on August 20 approved a 12-year lease with CAVU Experiences for an Escape Lounge in the main rotunda: $2.9 million in initial investment, 8 percent of gross revenue to the airport, rising to 11 percent above $4 million a year. It is among the first major commitments by the board Memphis no longer controls.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Nashville Sues to Keep First-Responder Money From Being Tied to How It Runs Elections

Metro Nashville and three other local governments filed a federal lawsuit August 17 challenging FEMA's move to condition first-responder grants on election administration changes, with roughly $3 million of Metro funding at stake. The plaintiffs say the conditions have already cost them 20 percent of their allotment.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

The Governor's Race Is Now a Referendum on the Voucher Program

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn would open Education Freedom Scholarships to every Tennessee family. Councilwoman Jerri Green of the Memphis City Council pledges to defund the program and move the money to teacher pay. Chalkbeat Tennessee put both platforms on the record August 21, and the record is what voters can hold either of them to after November 3.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Two New Criminal Court Judgeships for Shelby County, Four Names, One Signature

Tennessee's Trial Court Vacancy Commission nominated four Memphis attorneys August 17 for two newly created Criminal Court judgeships in the 30th Judicial District. Governor Bill Lee will pick the two judges, per the Daily Memphian.

The 901 Report

Memphis

SpaceXAI's Answer on Memphis Water Now Has a Date: January 2027

SpaceXAI confirmed construction resumes in January 2027 on a Memphis water recycling plant it says will process 10 million gallons daily and protect billions of gallons of aquifer water yearly. The claims are checkable, and the checking is the story.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

A $50 Billion Nuclear Campus Is on the Table, and the First Republican No Is About Waste

Tennessee is one of five states in the running for a $50 billion Department of Energy nuclear campus that would include waste storage. A Republican lawmaker whose district sits in its shadow says the state is "not a dump site," while the governor calls it an incredible opportunity.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Tennessee Sold 50 Years of Its Busiest Corridor in One Unanimous Vote

The state on August 20 selected DriveTN, a six-company group led by toll giants Transurban, Ferrovial, and Cintra, for a $9.2 billion toll lane network from downtown Nashville to Murfreesboro. Construction starts in 2027. Toll prices are variable and undisclosed, and the concession agreement has not been published.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Nashville Is One Vote From Putting Police Drones Under Council Approval

The Metro Nashville Council advanced an ordinance on second reading that would bar police drone deployments without council approval outside four emergency scenarios, after the police department ran a drone pilot without the public process the city's surveillance ordinance requires.

The 901 Report

National

Across the State Line, SpaceXAI Is Buying Into Public Safety. Memphis Is Voting on a Pause.

Southaven agreed August 18 to swap 51 city acres for 69 acres held by a SpaceXAI subsidiary, in a deal carrying $40 million for new police and fire training facilities, the same day a Memphis council committee advanced a data center moratorium.

The 901 Report

National

Alabama's Data Centers Would Out-Consume Every Home in the State. Who Pays Is Decided Under Redaction.

Proposed Alabama data centers would use more electricity than all the state's homes combined, an Inside Climate News analysis finds. Alabama Power says data centers pay full freight, but the contracts are redacted, and the state law requiring a public-interest review takes effect October 1. TVA answered the same question for the Memphis region with a published rate class.

The 901 Report

National

Olive Branch Wrote the Rules Memphis Is Pausing to Write

The Olive Branch Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously adopted data center restrictions August 18, effective immediately: conditional-use zoning, 2,000-foot hyperscale setbacks, overnight noise caps, tiered water limits, closed-loop cooling, and developer-funded decommissioning.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Collierville Closed the Selberg File Without Ever Opening It to the Public

Fire Chief John Selberg resigned August 21, days after being placed on leave. The town released the administrator's memo against him, his own eight-page letter asked for the chance to "correct this situation," a special-called meeting was postponed, and the record closes one-sided, with the town saying only that he served honorably.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

The Crime Drop Has an Exception, and It Is Orange Mound

Murders in MPD's Airways precinct are up 60 percent year to date, 16 against 10, even as citywide violent crime is down 36 percent, per Memphis Shelby Crime Commission figures drawn from preliminary TBI data. Nobody has yet said what changes in the precinct where the trend runs backward.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

600 Cameras, 905,225 Plates in 30 Days, and No Official Count

More than 600 automated license plate readers now operate across Memphis and its suburbs, 97 percent of them Flock Safety units, the Memphis Flyer reports. The Sheriff's Office read more than 900,000 plates in a month. MPD says it does not maintain a count of the cameras.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Tennessee Banned Its Way Into a $110 Million Budget Hole

The state projected $130 million in hemp taxes for the 2026-27 budget, then banned the products that generated most of it. July collections came in at roughly $425,000 against a projected $9.4 million, a 90 percent miss that annualizes to about $110 million.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Tennessee Closed the Year With $1.2 Billion It Did Not Plan On

Tennessee ended fiscal year 2025-26 with a $1.2 billion revenue surplus, driven by corporate tax collections the state's own finance commissioner cautions may not hold. Five named pressures are already lined up against it.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

The $63 Million ICE Call Center Is Coming to Nashville, and Nashville Says It Has Not Been Told the Plan

Federal contract records show ICE moved its planned 24/7 national enforcement call center from Adams, Tennessee to Nashville's Donelson neighborhood. The $63 million contractor will support local police holding 287(g) agreements and track locations of unaccompanied minors. The mayor's office says it still lacks a consistent picture of what is planned.

The 901 Report

Memphis

$75,000 a Month, No Board, 60 Percent On Time: MATA's Accountability Gap Now Has a Deadline

The Memphis Bus Riders Union and Citizens for Better Service want interim MATA CEO Rodrick Holmes out and the board reinstated. The administration says the board returns by September. The 901 Report's FY2027 budget analysis already flagged MATA's $32 million-plus subsidy as carrying no disclosed performance metrics.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

The Wind-Down Has Dates: Guard Lodging Ends September 30, and the Plan Is Permanent Federal Agents

Memphis leaders discussed a Memphis Safe Task Force transition plan that would permanently station certain federal agents in the city, as National Guard lodging contracts head toward an October end with hotel bookings confirmed only through September 30.

The 901 Report

MLGW

TVA Came to Memphis and Rewrote Who Pays for AI Power

Meeting in Memphis on August 20, the TVA board created a data center rate class effective October 1, 2026, approved a $13 billion-plus spending plan through FY2029, and, per FOX13, gave SpaceXAI the go-ahead for a direct connection to the TVA grid at its Whitehaven facility. The analysis behind the rate has not been released.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

Days Before Taking Office, the Incoming Criminal Court Clerk Says the "Shoot on Sight" Post Was Not His

A post on State Rep. Joe Towns Jr.'s Facebook page urged readers to "shoot on sight" and not to trust law enforcement. Towns, who takes office as Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk August 31, says his account was hacked. The post is confirmed; the hack claim is his alone.

The 901 Report

Memphis

Two Judges Fired the City Court Clerk. Now They Want to Pick Her Replacement Before Her Hearing.

Memphis Municipal Court Judges Varonica Cooper and Kenya Hooks terminated City Court Clerk Sukita Johnson on April 7. Her appeal sits with the City Council, a hearing is set for August 28, and the judges are moving to seat retired Judge Earnestine Hunt Dorse as interim clerk first. The grounds for the firing have never been stated publicly.

The 901 Report

National

Tulsa Got the Audit Memphis Just Got. Then Came the Charges.

Oklahoma's state auditor released a second Tulsa Public Schools audit August 18 documenting a $3.73 million scheme in the district's bond program, with criminal charges already filed and more possible. Memphis-Shelby County Schools' answer to its own $54.2 million state forensic audit was due August 22, and no filing has been publicly reported.

The 901 Report

Memphis

Kid University Is Closed for Good. The Questions It Leaves Are Not.

The daycare where 6-year-old Winter Jones died surrendered its license effective August 14, the state confirms, and a mother has come forward, breaking a settlement NDA, to allege her son was struck by an employee there in January 2024. No charges have been filed.

The 901 Report

Memphis Police

Fired Over the Nichols Scene, Re-Hired With Back Pay "As If He Never Left"

The Tennessee POST Commission on August 21 lifted the certification suspension of Adrian Blakes, an officer MPD fired in 2023 for failing to intervene or report what he saw the night Tyre Nichols was beaten. MPD's own legal advisor told the commission he gets his full job back with back pay. The grievance decision that ordered it is not public.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Sheriff

One Conviction, One Acquittal: The Freeman Jury Splits the First Verdict at 201 Poplar

A jury convicted former deputy Courtney Parham of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment in the 2022 jail death of Gershun Freeman, acquitting him of second-degree murder, and found former deputy Stevon Jones not guilty on all counts. Sentencing is September 25. Seven co-defendants still await trial.

The 901 Report

MLGW

More Than 100,000 in the Dark, and MLGW’s Clock Is Set: "Restored by Thursday Evening"

A bow echo with straight-line winds reported at 80 to 100 mph hit Shelby County the evening of August 22. MLGW President and CEO Doug McGowen says the vast majority of customers should have power back by the evening of August 27. The 901 Report is putting the utility's own commitments on the record at hour one, so the week can be scored against them.

The 901 Report

Memphis

A Credit Downgrade Letter Lands at Memphis City Hall. The Warning Was Already in the Budget.

The State Comptroller's office confirmed a Memphis credit rating downgrade in a letter to Mayor Paul Young and the City Council, citing billing failures and rates unchanged since January 2020, per Action News 5. The 901 Report's FY2027 budget analysis flagged the sewer fund's slide toward exactly this outcome.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

A Special Session for One Street's Tax Bills

Republican legislative leaders are floating a special session to rewrite property tax appraisals after Lower Broadway bar owners complained about surging valuations. The state already built a mechanism to divert up to $30 million in convention surplus toward those tax payments.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

The Counties Hosting the $63 Million ICE Call Center Found Out From the News

Officials in Robertson and Montgomery counties say the federal government never told them a contractor was awarded up to $63 million to run a 24-hour ICE call center in Adams, Tennessee, population roughly 600. ICE and the contractor are not answering questions.

The 901 Report

MLGW

Nearly One in Five Memphis Households Lost a Utility Last Year. Here Is How MLGW's Cutoff Machine Works.

MLK50 reports that nearly 1 in 5 Memphis households experienced at least one utility disconnection in 2025, and that disconnections are rising. MLGW's own published rules show a two-tier rating system, staggered shutoffs, and a $58 reconnection fee.

The 901 Report

Memphis City Council

Four Council Members Want to Pause Data Center Construction in the City xAI Chose

Councilman JB Smiley Jr., Chairwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington, Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, and Councilwoman Jerri Green are proposing a temporary moratorium on new data center construction while agencies study the effects of the three xAI facilities. The Council takes it up the week of August 17, 2026.

The 901 Report

Shelby County

The Incoming County Mayor Says Shelby County Must "Course-Correct." He Is Promising the Audits to Prove It.

Mayor-elect Mickell Lowery announced his "One Shelby" transition team on August 13 and said the county needs deep financial audits, naming the payroll borrowing and the generational bills coming due: schools, the jail, Regional One, and county buildings.

The 901 Report

National

One Think Tank's Math Puts Tennessee's Share of Mass Deportation at $4.5 Billion

The Economic Policy Institute estimates roughly $1,961 per Tennessee taxpayer through the end of the current presidential term. DHS calls the spending vital.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

A Jury Cleared the Railroad in the Flood That Killed 20 People in Waverly

A federal jury unanimously found CSX not responsible for the August 2021 Waverly flood after a five-day trial. Families had sought $450 million.

The 901 Report

Tennessee

Tennessee 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.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Commission

Shelby 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.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Commission

Six 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.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Commission

Shelby 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.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Commission

Shelby 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.

The 901 Report

Shelby County Commission

Shelby 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.

The 901 Report