A new plan for a local crime lab would focus on three specific areas with an estimated annual cost of $5.5 million. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and District Attorney General Steve Mulroy took the plan to Shelby County Commissioners Wednesday, June 4.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has operated the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center since 2014. 

For the past several months, Memphis City Councilman Jeff Warren has been giving tours of Methodist University Hospital. His goal is simple: Convince the community it doesn’t need to spend $1 billion on a new campus for Regional One. 

The full commission has one more voting meeting on June 23 to approve an operating budget, a capital budget and set the county property-tax rate before the fiscal year begins.

A grassroots organizer emerged as the winner over a retired businessman and party activist.

Thaddeus Smiley remains missing after jumping into the Wolf River in an attempt to save a drowning child, who survived. In a separate incident, a boy in Arlington was found dead in a pool.

The Memphis native has led the department since July 2021. 

As jail population management coordinator, retired Criminal Court Judge Bobby Carter’s goal is to reduce the number of people in Shelby County’s overcrowded jail. 

In an “apples and oranges” comparison, the Shelby County Trustee said her office and the mayor’s administration don’t project county revenue the same way. 

The summertime Art for All digital pass gives kids free, unlimited entry to a dozen Memphis area museums. It joins the physical Art for All card that offers one-time admission to 30 attractions all year long.

Shelby County has closed on the office building and warehouse on the site of The Commercial Appeal’s former 16-acre campus at 495 Union Ave.

Shelby County commissioners drew battle lines at their Monday, May 19, session as they go into the home stretch of their budget season.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has proposed a property tax rate for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 but the commission may leave the ordinance setting the new tax rate blank for now.

Commissioner Michael Whaley withdrew an ordinance that would have downsized the Ethics Commission in order to get the group to meet — something it hasn’t done in years.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris says his budget proposal for the new fiscal year will reduce the county property tax rate by 20% and raise the county wheel tax by another $5.

A trial date is forthcoming in the federal criminal case against Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. 

The Shelby County government budget season opens Wednesday, May 14, in County Commission committee sessions. There is more than dollar figures and the county property tax rate at stake.

Four Youth Villages staffers previously had been indicted for facilitation of aggravated child abuse and facilitation of reckless homicide in the death of 17-year-old Alegend Jones.

Memphis’ Medical Education and Research Institute is growing, but it needs additional storage space to accommodate that growth, including whole human body donations.

Dr. Michelle Taylor, the head of the Shelby County Health Department, said her organization was jolted by how abruptly the funding was rescinded. 

The ordinance is possible because of a state law passed in the Tennessee Legislature this year that enabled local legislative bodies to do that in Shelby and Knox counties.

The Shelby County Republican Party is hoping having partisan primaries in school board races will help them crawl back to relevancy in the Democratic-dominated county, even if they have little chance of winning some races.

Two ethics proposals return to the Shelby County Commission Monday. County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., who faces criminal charges himself, is accusing others of wrongdoing.

The Shelby County Republican Party executive committee didn’t want partisan primaries in school board races two years ago, but Thursday’s vote went the other way.