Crime is down in the Vollintine-Evergreen neighborhood this year compared to last. But some residents still don’t feel safe. 

Candidates for suburban races on the Nov. 5 ballot began seeking signatures on the petitions this week to run for office.

“I understand the critics. I receive it. I hear it. I listen to it,” MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins said of the district’s communications around the planned elimination of about 1,100 positions.

This approval means the DeSoto County District Attorney’s Office will employ seven assistant district attorneys as it prepares to deliver more than 450 indictments, a total that would set a record for the county and the state. 

Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert and Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp had different reactions at simultaneous press conferences Tuesday, June 18, following news a local judge had dismissed Wamp’s ouster petition against Halbert.

Related content:

Wanda Halbert ouster suit dismissed

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson has dismissed the lawsuit attempting to oust Wanda Halbert as Shelby County Clerk.

The honorees will be in Memphis on Oct. 17 for the 33rd annual awards presented by the National Civil Rights Museum.

Memphis-area native and Grammy Award-winning Justin Timberlake was arrested while driving on New York’s Long Island.

Shelby County finally passes a budget, Collierville’s mayor won’t run again and Bartlett is the new mecca for aquarium fish lovers.

At a meeting that stretched past 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the Shelby County Commission closed out its budget season with no property-tax hike and a 6% pay raise for county employees.

Impacted areas are expected to have received up to 2 inches of rain, with additional rainfall possible. 

Chase Carlisle, the city council’s budget chair, proposed his version of a budget that stands at odds with Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s proposed 75-cent property tax hike. 

Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy is dropping the diversion program that raised State Sen. Brent Taylor’s ire, but the Eads Republican is still pushing for Mulroy’s ouster.

Cleotha Abston is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, unlawful possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence in the Fletcher case.

Flyway beers are now in Memphis, Holiday Deli lives on and you’ve got two more weeks to eat at The Cheesecake Factory.

Nearly 70 food grievance reports from the Shelby County Jail are another issue for a facility rampant with problems, including inmate deaths, broken jail locks, a recent inmate-organized fire, deferred kitchen maintenance, malnutrition and violence.

LaterSkaters Memphis recently gained official nonprofit status and hopes to give 300 kids skateboards this year. 

The supercomputer intended to power and do computations for Grok, the chatbot run by xAI’s artificial intelligence, could be up and running as early as August, a source familiar with the matter told The Daily Memphian.

After 12 years, Overton Park Conservancy executive director Tina Sullivan is ready to step down and she’s confident the green space will endure and thrive under the next generation of leadership.

Also happening this week: State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, will host the Republican Party of Shelby County’s Lincoln Day Gala.

Here are the budgets, budget amendments and the dollar figures including proposed financing for the Regional One campus rebuild and the construction of two new high schools.

Documentary tells the story of 13 Black first-graders who integrated four white Memphis City Schools in 1961.

In Whitehaven, Magic Dads are buying kids backpacks and school supplies, giving them haircuts and making sure they have a positive male role model.