‘While we have lived for a year with one type of fear and anxiety, we cannot let the COVID-19 virus stoke fear in the other.’

Memphis will be sitting out the NCAA Tournament yet again this year. Here’s a reason for hope (and some reasons to despair).

We have made the decision to turn off the commenting sections on our articles until we can find a better way of including comments within The Daily Memphian.

Paul Thomas says holding back third-graders can create long-lasting problems, and another letter writer, Duffy-Marie Arnoult, says we must protect the Memphis Sands Aquifer.

We bottled our water and sent it to Flint residents to help with their water contamination crisis, so why would we consider endangering our Memphis Sands Aquifer?

“Tennessee must not fall prey to trendy political gimmicks that harm children and do not address the needs of those children learning to read.”

The shot I’m getting is hard to get, and costs more than our first house. The stuff in this syringe must come from cells scraped from the belly of the dragon Smaug by Hobbits.

“Crime reduction is clearly a complex conversation.”

Voter suppression is very much alive and well in 2021. The cruel violence that once accompanied it has been replaced by underhanded legislative tactics at various statehouses controlled by Republicans.

After seven years as president of the University of Memphis, David Rudd is stepping down. He is one of the greatest presidents in the history of the place.

The FDA has found hundreds of dietary supplements containing ingredients that weren’t listed on the label. 

Gov. Bill Lee and his allies in the state legislature are pushing “permitless carry” legislation, which would allow Tennesseans to carry loaded firearms without permits in public spaces.

It only took a dozen days after that March 8 news conference for Mayor Jim Strickland to invoke the first civil emergency order in Memphis in more than a generation, closing gyms, bars and indoor restaurant dining.

Related story:

Year 1 of the novel coronavirus pandemic, by the numbers

‘I suspect most people who read this will think that anti-Semitism is nothing we need to worry about in Memphis, but they are wrong. Wherever white supremacy exists it is led by those who hate Jews.’

Our Health Department director sacrificed a tremendous amount personally in a difficult crisis to serve us along with the two mayors and COVID task force, and has had a major contribution in keeping us safe.

You may have seen the photo with the story about the brutal weather — firefighters pushing to free an ambulance stuck in the snow and ice. Michael Rowland was in that ambulance. Nothing brings the value of friendship into focus like a threat to a friend. 

With available, clean drinking water an increasingly precious commodity, Memphis’ supply is perhaps the city’s most important asset. We did nothing to earn it. But it’s on us to preserve and manage it. 

The vaccine distribution debacle on Mayor Lee Harris’ watch will figure prominently in the GOP campaign to retake his office, the party’s Shelby County executive director says. 

Tennessee was not “insulated” from cold weather. Temperatures in Memphis were similar to parts of Arkansas and Texas. What was significantly different was the safe, reliable power delivery to Memphians that avoided rolling blackouts that crippled other areas of the country.

“It’s time to claw back the power our public health institutions have accumulated this year. That’s the goal of Tennessee House Bill 7,” says guest columnist Daniel Chatham, a Shelby County physician.

How did a small group of citizens persevere for so long to block an interstate route through the park? They cultivated relationships with the place, through walks in the forest and picnics by the lake. Close connections led to enduring affection.

Binghampton is at the very center of our city but far from the center of our attention. We drive through it en masse every day on Walnut Grove and Sam Cooper, largely ignoring the decline to our left and right.

Among the misguided proposals presented at the Tennessee Legislature, none would have as much negative impact on the majority of Tennesseans as the bill introduced last week to abolish early voting in the state.

“Shelby County does not need help from the federal government or Chick-fil-A or FedEx. They just need to ask our neighbors in Mississippi!”