Barber and beauty shops can reopen as early as Wednesday in Shelby County under new health department directives announced Monday. 

The looming question now is how will the phased-in reopening affect the county’s progress in slowing the spread of the virus in recent weeks.

The reopening of businesses across Shelby County started out quiet and slow, with some stores not even taking advantage of the first day of the Back to Business plan.

Christ Community Health Services is hosting free, drive-thru coronavirus testing from 2-6 p.m. Wednesday, May 6 at Mendenhall Mall. No appointment is required and those seeking a test do not need to have COVID-19 symptoms.

Penny Hardaway voiced his displeasure Friday with the reported delay in transfer rule changes. Does the timing make sense?

Local vocal coach Mandi Thomas performed in the Top 17 round of the 18th season of NBC's "The Voice" on Monday, May 4. On the results episode at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, the artists will be pared down to the Top 9.

Local leaders worry that conflicting and inconsistent policies could make "Back to Business" rules more difficult to maintain and reopening risks more difficult to control.

St. Patrick Catholic Church has been streaming its services on Sundays due to the suspension of public mass. But parishioners' pictures are taped to the pews while they gather apart for worship. Public Mass has been suspended until May 16 by a decree of Memphis Bishop David Talley. 

Tennessee Department of Health reports 516 new coronavirus cases for a total of 13,177. So far the state has tested a total of 204,607, up 8,331 since Saturday. There have been 5,814 recoveries and 210 deaths.

A children's art show, lectures, story time with Michelle Obama and a run/walk/bike event on Saturday are planned to observe the event.

Coronavirus shut down the college baseball season and is causing some summer leagues to cancel their season. That means some University of Memphis players may be scrambling to find a place to play, or sitting out yet again.

New Raleigh-Egypt coach Delvin Lane turned his life around and now he wants to help his players do the same for the Pharaohs football team.

Drive-thru, curbside and patio space becoming higher priorities for restaurateurs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The director of the social justice organization says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast problems with online learning as schools closed and maintaining school lunch programs have opened the eyes of Memphians to long- standing problems.

Hundreds of people in Memphis will tell you that Brooks made life worth living again or saved their marriages. If ever I was in the dark pit, I called Brooks, and he talked me out.

When a group of local Malaysian-American professionals heard that University of Memphis' international students were having trouble keeping food on their plates, they banded together to stage a food drive.

Memphians practicing social distancing and following recommended safety measures while in public sport the latest fashion accessory, coronavirus masks, turning us all into benign bandits.

As Shelby County approaches the beginning of "Back to Business" on Monday, 30,000 tests have been administered in the area. A downward trend in the percentage of positivity points to slower spreads of COVID-19, despite rising totals of infected citizens.

Parts of Memphis’ $3.5 billion a year tourism industry could make a comeback as soon as next week. The city will vet reopening plans on a case-by-case basis.

In Shelby County, 53 individuals have died from the virus.

Studies show that anxiety, heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate can be reduced by listening to music, and that music has been linked to better sleep while on a ventilator in the ICU. Health care professionals have described a reduction in stress and empathy fatigue from listening to music.

MICAH director Rev. Ayanna Watkins talks about bail reform, the digital divide and homelessness and the new look its getting with the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic in Shelby County.

FedEx said an announced national job action against several companies in the e-commerce and shipping businesses had "no impact" on operations Friday.

The YMCA of Memphis & the Midsouth confirmed Saturday that it bought and will use as its resource center a 55,888-square-foot office building in Cordova's Goodlett Farms office park.

The boards produced inside the Memphis Speech and Hearing Center allow COVID-19 patients on ventilators to communicate without talking.