The City of Memphis pushed back the opening of its public pools a week this summer, partly due to a nationwide lifeguard shortage. 

The council scorecard looks at two key votes at the May 16 council session, both on issues connected to the October Memphis ballot.

“That’s an entitled bunch there,” Bruce McMullen said to U.S. District Judge Mark Norris. “That holds no credibility at all. One person is on Earth, and the other is on another planet.”

Mayoral contender and Downtown Memphis Commission president Paul Young drew a crowd of around 150 Saturday, May 27, to his campaign headquarters at Poplar Plaza — the first among the contenders.

A call to the Memphis Police Department resulted in the arrests of four men after what the family said was a case of mistaken identity that led to a physical altercation with police.

MPD leadership is developing a “robust plan” to address the “myriad of crime issues in our neighborhoods and business corridors this summer and beyond.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation served a court-authorized search warrant at an address associated with Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. Thursday morning.

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

“Memphis has very large parks, but those large parks are not dispersed in a way that they can benefit the majority of residents.”

If the last two city elections are any guide, the opening day total for qualifying petitions will be about a third of those who ultimately file for the 15 city offices by the July 20 deadline.

Five of the dozen candidates running for Memphis mayor came to the Overton Park Shell Saturday as the race for mayor enters its most public phase.

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He’s seen combat, worked to resolve the city’s sexual assault kit backlog and led the area’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Now, Doug McGowen is taking on Memphis’ publicly owned utility. 

The two mayoral candidates, neither of whom have lived in Memphis for two years, and the City Council argued that a 1996 referendum repealed residency requirements.

A city press release noted that under Alexis Pugh’s leadership, the save rate at Memphis Animal Services has “consistently improved” and finished 2022 at 86%.

City attorney Jennifer Sink says a settlement should be discussed during a private attorney-client meeting. 

The poll showed Van Turner and Floyd Bonner tied with about 15.9% of the vote. Willie Herenton trailed them at 13.9%, and Paul Young had 12%.

A year ago, council members spoke privately with their attorney about an issue in the city charter. The resulting step to change the clerk’s office only surfaced the day before Tuesday’s council session.

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A resolution to back a five-year requirement for those running for Memphis mayor and Memphis City Council was tabled Tuesday.

Shelby County Environmental Court wants to create a fund that would help indigent and elderly people remediate blight on their property. 

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The City of Memphis needs new development within the Liberty Park Tourism Development Zone to begin paying the debt on projects such as The Memphis Sports and Events Center. The problem: The city hasn’t collected a dime of the financing yet. 

“We have been dealing with tires for a very long time, and it is a major epidemic in our community,” said council member Rhonda Logan, who chaired the city’s Blight and Illegal Dumping Task Force. 

Council attorney Allan Wade says the council can put gun control measures on the ballot. He expects they’ll be “inundated” with challenges. He wouldn’t rule out a court fight over whether they could override state law.

The ordinance to eliminate the elected clerk’s office and take it off the October ballot could come up for the first of three votes tomorrow.

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Some council members claim they came to a “consensus” about entering the lawsuit at a closed May 2 meeting with their attorney without taking a formal vote on it.