In an otherwise carefully crafted State of the City address that was full of symbolism and substance, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland included one line that may have caused more confusion than clarity.

The Tennessee Republican Party must find the political courage to move the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust – a blatant symbol of Tennessee’s shameful history – out of the Capitol rotunda and into the museum, and replace it with a hero that is more representative of all Tennesseans. 

The 10 women honored with Luminary Award medals this year represent the diversity, racially and otherwise, that makes Memphis a cool place in which to live.

"Big Mo" – as in Momentum – is a nickname that just might stick. And as Mayor Jim Strickland makes his re-election bid, he would be wise to embrace it.

Gov. Bill Haslam's highly-publicized and celebrated decision granting full clemency to Cyntoia Brown is indicative of how he has governed during his two terms: a compassionate conservative moved simply by the desire to do the right thing.

After putting the kibosh on rumors about his political future, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is making a rather bold prediction of his own.

A steady flow of mostly positive economic news for Memphis and Shelby County – coupled with the solemn and tasteful commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination – was overshadowed at times by political bickering and grandstanding in 2018.

Will he or won’t he?

I am willing to give the nearly 500,000 Mississippi voters the benefit of the doubt.

So much for civility, consensus and racial harmony.

“Everything is not about race,” Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant boldly proclaimed this week while struggling to defend an indefensible comment from the person he handpicked to be an interim U.S. senator.

“People make choices. Choices make history.”

The politics of fear and division, playing out at the national level, has literally hit home.

Picture this scenario: A man with a gun is chasing on foot another man, who may or may not be armed.

Taylor Swift may have gotten all the media attention for potentially upping the vote.

What might he have been thinking? And what was he saying?

If you believe the polls, Republican Bill Lee is steamrolling toward victory in the Tennessee governor’s race.

Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is doing all she can to nationalize her race for the U.S. Senate.