The Daily Memphian On the Record: Recent Episodes
The Daily Memphian
On The Record is the interviews that become Daily Memphian stories by Bill Dries. Read the stories and listen to the interviews for a combination that gives you a fuller context of the stories and issues that are essential Memphis.
The Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn on the Nov. 5 ballot talks about the statewide campaign and the historic change in the Democratic presidential ticket on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
Tami Sawyer and Lisa Arnold are the candidates in the only countywide race to be decided by Shelby County voters this election year. Arnold is a retired supervisor in the clerk’s office who began working there part-time as a teenager.
Tami Sawyer and Lisa Arnold are the candidates in the only countywide race to be decided by Shelby County voters this election year. Sawyer is best known as a former county commissioner.
Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery talks in the “On The Record” podcast about more specific plans for a hip hop museum in Memphis.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris breaks down how county commissioners settled amid budget season, including keeping vacant positions on the books and local opposition to the Regional One Health rebuild.
Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips talks on the “On The Record” podcast about the upcoming August elections and voter turnout. Meanwhile, the latest election commission count shows 593,121 voters countywide as of May - an increase of approximately 10,000 voters from two years ago.
Shelby County Budget Director Michael Thompson talks about the 2024 budget season in county government on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast as well as the savings found in vacant county positions.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talked on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about his $1.6 billion county budget proposal and the change to more local funding for a rebuilding of the Regional One Health campus.
One of the artists working on new stained glass images for Historic Clayborn Temple talks on the “On The Record” podcast about bringing images of the 1968 sanitation workers strike to the frames of the landmark.
County Commissioner Henri Brooks found out two years ago she was adopted through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society - a notorious black market adoption operation. Her lawsuit against the state could open a “floodgate.” Brooks talked about the sudden revelation in The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast series.
Early voting in 2024’s first election in Shelby County begins Wednesday, Feb. 14. The Tennessee presidential primaries top the ballot, but Memphis voters haven’t seen much of the presidential campaigns this year.
Tennessee Republican Party chairman Scott Golden talks in an “On The Record” podcast about the presidential primaries and general election races.
The On The Record podcast talks to Daniel Deriso and Grif Gray, who helped guide Mayor-elect Paul Young’s successful campaign.
Daily Memphian political reporters Sam Hardiman and Bill Dries go over some notes on the 2023 city elections and what the unofficial results mean in an “On The Record” podcast.
Marcus Pohlmann is a former political science professor at Rhodes College whose 2008 book “Opportunity Lost: Race and Poverty in Memphis City Schools” is required reading for teachers and school administrators in Memphis-Shelby County Schools. It is a case study of busing in Memphis City Schools.
Roderick Richmond started at Shannon Elementary School as his neighborhood school at a time when busing as well as private schools were changing the definition of neighborhood schools in public and private school systems. For the first grade, he was bused to Wells Station Elementary School, which racially was a school in transition. His time as a student came as longer-term patterns in the reaction to busing were taking root.
Roshun Austin is a founder of The Works Inc., a community development corporation. She is also a planner who works as a developer in some of the communities affected the most by the impact of busing. She grew up in the Hyde Park section of North Memphis. Austin is also on the board of Memphis Fourth Estate, the nonprofit behind The Daily Memphian.
The founder of Sound Diplomacy, a music industry consulting firm, talks about the groups coming work in Memphis on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
Steve Steffens arrived in Memphis with his family from rural Illinois and Arkansas in 1972, a semester before Plan A began. His neighborhood school was Oakshire Junior High in Whitehaven as an eighth grader. Oakshire and greater Whitehaven beyond the school was predominantly white at the time. Steffens and his family were part of that white majority in a city whose housing patterns were just as segregated as its schools.
The Daily Memphian's Sam Hardiman sits down with Cole Perry of Perry Strategies, which worked on Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's two campaigns. Perry shares his insight on the crowded 2023 race and peels back the layers on what a successful campaign looks like.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about the defeat of his wheel tax proposal on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast and says he is still pushing for county financing of the rebuilding of the Regional One Health campus.
He would be a heavy underdog in the general election were he to win the Democratic nomination.
County Commission Budget Committee Chairman Michael Whaley talks about the proposed doubling of the county’s capital budget on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
Nine years ago this month all trolleys stopped running following a fire on the Madison line. Nine years later, the Riverfront loop and Madison Avenue line are still down. MATA’s chief development officer talks about the delay on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said this week the results of a federal investigation will show whether Tyre Nichols’ death was part of broader cultural issues in the Memphis Police Department.
As a final county commission vote nears on a timeline for a green fleet on county government vehicles, there are a lot of questions about the aggressive timeline the county administration is setting toward the goal over the next decade.
CLERB chairman James Kirkwood talks in The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about the review board’s possible role in investigating allegations of police misconduct, pending legislation in Nashville.
Three contenders reported raising $300,000 or better in the first report of the mayor’s race. J.W. Gibson talked on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about his mix of contributions with self financing and why he wants to depart from outgoing Mayor Jim Strickland’s “brilliant at the basics” theme.
Strickland said, on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast that an outside review of MPD’s special units will likely determine if police culture needs to change or if more police training is the answer.
Next week, a specially equipped vehicle will begin a drive around of the city collecting data for later analysis on potholes and the condition of streets. The data will be analyzed to find and repair stretches of road for immediate action. The city is also experimenting with artificial intelligence that could make calling in reports of potholes a thing of the past.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen talks about the new Republican majority in the U.S. House and the prospects for bipartisanship.
The cofounder of the People’s Convention says a 2023 edition of the gathering could serve to whittle down the field in this year’s race for Memphis Mayor.
The certified vote totals from the November election show an increase in the number of provisional ballots cast and counted compared to the August elections. The votes added didn’t change any of the outcomes on the November ballot, but they did boost the turnout to 34.4%.
The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast takes closer look at the unofficial results in the Tuesday Nov. 8 election and finds a lackluster show of support for the Democratic nominee for Governor in the bluest county in the state as well as interesting numbers from the four amendments to the state constitution.
Shelby County elections administrator Linda Phillips and Ian Randolph of the Shelby County Voter Alliance talked about the low turnout on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast takes a closer look at the numbers in the certified vote totals from August, previews the nearly complete November ballot and features a few political notes.
The unofficial voter turnout in Shelby County for the August 2022 big ballot election was the lowest for the election cycle since partisan county primaries began. None of the changes in totals changed outcomes in races. The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast looks at the totals from several key races and compares the vote totals of candidates across elections for the same office.
Beyond the vote totals, politicos will be considering what a Smiley victory in the Democratic primary for Governor could mean for the statewide Democratic strategy and whether the Republican strategy of trying to keep the GOP’s May county primaries unopposed worked or backfired in August.
Here is The Daily Memphian’s guide to who is who in the 57 contested and retention judicial races on the August ballot included endorsements and polling by the city’s two bar associations.
The “big ballot” that comes once every eight years in Shelby County politics has arrived with the Friday, July 15, start of the early voting period. Here are the stakes in the 163 races with 344 candidates and what has changed for voters.
Chief operating officer Doug McGowen talks about the city’s study of a long range plan for Mud Island River Park 40 years after it opened.
Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips and Ian Randolph of the Shelby County Voter Alliance join the Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast to talk about the August and November elections and the differences voters will see from one to the other.
A look at local Democratic unity calls and challenges to several winners of the May Democratic primaries.
Along with countless other fans on Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok, they’re building new communities where the league’s most knowledgeable, passionate, and funny fans can connect to each other and the team they love.
Republican nominee for Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talked on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about the terrain of the 2022 county general election.
Shelby County commission budget committee chairman Michael Whaley talks about the county budget season on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast reviews the results from Tuesday’s county primaries -- Democratic and Republican -- with a look ahead to the August county general election.
Making its way through the Memphis City Council are a pair of ballot questions that could change the face of city government and the nature of city politics -- if they get on the ballot and if a majority of city voters agree at the ballot box.
Making its way through the Memphis City Council are a pair of ballot questions that could change the face of city government and the nature of city politics -- if they get on the ballot and if a majority of city voters agree at the ballot box.
Earle Fisher of UpTheVote 901 talks in The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about the return of the political gathering begun in 2019 and the state of the city’s new activism that has mixed campaigning for causes with campaigning for elected office.
On The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen talks about the biggest chunk of funding so far for MATA’s eight-mile “Innovation Corridor” between Downtown and the University of Memphis Campus.
The position is one seen under different titles at animal shelters in other cities. The goal is to reunite pets with owners and reduce the need for space at MAS.
The agreement, which also preserves the Overton Park greensward in its entirely, draws on a lot of the ideas that have been proposed individually during the years-long controversy.
Ken Moody has got the one-on-one challenge of incumbent County Mayor Lee Harris he wanted in the May Democratic primary. In The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast he talks about challenging an incumbent with different priorities.
The county administration is working with a national coalition of local elected leaders to question the efficacy fines and fees in the local criminal justice system. Among the first changes, was dropping a fee for medical services at the county corrections center.
Sculptor David Alan Clark talks via the “On The Record” podcast about how he planned his 2006 monument to Tom Lee to work with the river as a backdrop and how it works with Tom Lee Park plans underway 16 years after the work of art was unveiled.
MLGW moves toward an expected Friday wrap-up of ice storm recovery with a method honed by past storms with longer recovery periods. But utility officials already see room for change and improvement.
The number of people without power dropped to about 30% of MLGW’s customers Friday afternoon after a steady rise throughout Thursday. But the numbers could increase as the utility restores powers to pockets and then links them up for larger areas of restoration. Meanwhile, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland talked Friday about a longer term approach by the city on warming and cooling centers in such emergencies.
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, during The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast defends the new district lines for the House that put the two youngest incumbents in the Shelby County delegation in the same district. Sexton also talks about the special legislative session on the pandemic in a wide-ranging interview.
Shelby County Election Commission chairman Brent Taylor says in the “On The Record” podcast that the realignment of some precincts is an adjustment to new Shelby County Commission district lines. And the new identifiers for precincts are a change in a system of identifiers that may date back to the Crump era of Memphis politics.
The podcast debut sets the stage for the interviews that are an integral part of The Daily Memphian’s coverage of politics and government.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member Martavius Jones says he intends to propose doing away with council super districts and also will call for partisan primaries in advance of city general elections.
The state’s executive order banning mask mandates is taking fire from President Joe Biden as well as Biden’s education secretary Miguel Cardona, who this past week specifically questioned the legality of the executive order.
One of the county’s most vocal advocates for a new voting system with hand-marked paper ballots says the push for such a system isn’t part of the national political movement that contends Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
City Council member Chase Carlisle distinguishes between the case for consolidation and the case for drafting a consolidation charter. He also acknowledges getting the votes to form a charter commission will not be easy.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor went partisan in the dispute with the Shelby County Commission over a new voting system for the 2022 elections. And he talked about a possible compromise as he held firm in his belief paper ballots would cause chaos at the polls.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Cohen also described the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection as “Snow White and the six Democrats.” But he said the panel is necessary to answer questions about whether the violent march into the Capitol was connected to former President Donald Trump.
The author of the definitive 2008 biography of the anti-lynching crusader and NAACP cofounder says the statue of Wells defines the city as well as honors her in a city whose leaders once talked of killing her.
National Civil Rights Museum President Russell Wigginton said on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that he hopes state education officials will consult with the museum as they set the guidelines for school systems to navigate the new state law banning teaching about systemic racism and how the history of race impacts the present.
The summit comes during an off-election year in Shelby County politics, which Rev. Earle Fisher said is useful to emphasize the coalition’s focus on issues and policy.
The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast recaps local political development including the county’s budget season and campaign openings for the 2022 county elections. Also, the partisan divide among area legislators remains in place on voting rights and the infrastructure bill.
Some of the changes proposed and outlined on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast address issues that came up in the allegations made against county commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. in an independent investigation made public last month in The Daily Memphian.
The city’s director of Housing and Community Development talks on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about the citywide strategy to be developed by the fall. Mairi Albertson says the lessons of the pandemic include broadband that can handle several people online at the same time.
The former Tennessee Governor talked on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about the state’s path to Republican dominance and his call on Christian conservatives to pull away from the nation’s partisan political divide.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the leader of the coalition of nonprofits calling for different budget priorities questions the resetting of the city and county property tax rates by state law. Cardell Orrin says the city and county rates should stay where they are and not be viewed as a tax hike for all.
Shelby County commissioner Tami Sawyer says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that this close to county elections there is no political will for a tax hike. She also backs a quick budget passage next month and a second look at the budget in the fall once federal American Rescue Plan funding is in play.
The new edition of The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast runs down recent political events including sorting out what became of the idea of a “Super Chancery Court” proposed in the Tennessee Legislature.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the two-time Democratic nominee for the Tennessee Legislature talks about the new Latino Democratic political action committee Fuerza that she serves on the board of. And Gabby Salinas talks about whether she will challenge Republican state Senator Brian Kelsey in the 2022 elections.
City Council budget committee Chairman Worth Morgan said on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that the drop of the city property tax rate below $3 as appraised values have increased could set the stage for a tax rate hike. His comments come ahead of a Saturday, May 1, budget retreat by council members.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor talks about new discussions with county commissioners two months after the Election Commission voted to go to court in the simmering dispute.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Greater Imani pastor Bill Adkins says the case can be made for a new director from the MPD ranks or for someone from the outside. Adkins also said he sees a new indifference to violent crime that calls for new solutions as well as new ways of policing the city.
No date has been set for the return to City Hall by the council but it comes as budget season approaches. Meanwhile, the city’s political scene remains active, as chronicled in The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, state Rep. Mark White acknowledges the bill doesn’t address many of the complexities of the local schools merger and demerger that kept the three namesake Germantown schools in the Shelby County Schools system.
The University of Tennessee expert in property appraising, Joe Griffin, talked on The Daily Memphian podcast about how the proposal to move to reappraisals every two years instead of every four years would change the resulting tax rates locally and set a precedent for the state’s other major cities.
During a wide-ranging interview on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, state House Speaker Cameron Sexton also questioned whether the new federal COVID stimulus package is necessary for Tennessee.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, council member Rhonda Logan says the police force needs more officers but also needs to change the way those officers are used with a return to community policing.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member Chase Carlisle talks about bargaining with TVA for a new contract with MLGW without a specific plan for an alternative, his call for the resignation of the Shelby County Health Department’s embattled leader and the 2022 race for Shelby County mayor.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Shelby County Chief Information Officer Sandra Perry talks about the lasting impact and the security challenges of work-at-home government services and what happens when one part of county government wants its own computer system and network.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, city parks director Nick Walker says community centers would remain free but with fees for specific programs that include equitable access for the community. He also talked about “open play areas” Memphians indicated in surveys they want to see more of, like David Carnes Park in Whitehaven.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member JB Smiley Jr. says the health department needs “boots on the ground” in Black communities to remedy a racial disparity in who is getting the COVID-19 vaccines.
One of those pushing for a joint discussion by city and county governments talks on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about the goal of drawing back Memphians who leave the city during or after college for better paying jobs in other cities.
Before Shelby County Commissioners and Memphis City Council members get together to talk about changing the most used tax incentive in local economic development, they want to do more than watch Power Point presentations on PILOTs – payments in lieu of taxes. Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer joins the Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
The new Tennessee Democratic Party chairman says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that challenging Republican majorities in the Tennessee Legislature will take longer. Hendrell Remus also talked about how different the city’s politics is from other parts of the state.
Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, says the map to winning Tennessee may have changed with some suburban areas turning purple.
Former local Democratic party chairman Corey Strong, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, says the Georgia model of bringing activists and organizers into the state party machinery will take time -- probably six to 10 years to take Tennessee from red to purple.
The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast offers a review of the year 2020 centered on four major events. Three of the four were national in scope. The fourth is a local story that has broad implications for the gap between aspirations and the reality of governing.
Several dozens activists and organizers working for Democratic candidates in the 2020 elections have drafted a “roadmap to renewal” for the state party. A Memphis organizer talks about the roadmap on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast. The recommendations come as the party prepares to elect a new statewide leader in January.
How a moratorium on gas stations, body shops and used tire places has brought to life the Memphis 3.0 plan in other areas of the city.
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander also said President Donald Trump has a record to be proud of during the interview on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast. And he said he carried Memphis in his five statewide general election wins by campaigning everywhere in the county, not just the Republican suburbs.
The Shelby County Voter Alliance is working after its debut effort in the presidential general election cycle to hold the interest of voters through an off election year for most of the county in 2021.
The chairman of the Shelby County legislative delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly talked about the issue on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast. He also reacted to remarks by Republicans about how Memphis can get more out of the legislature by electing more Republicans.
While presidential battleground states continue to count votes in a bright media spotlight, the vote count in Shelby County is quietly moving toward completion with a large number of provisional ballots. The first priority is to determine where those votes were cast to see if they could potentially change a few close local races.
A new voting app breaks down who the early voters were. The broader turnout numbers show more than half of the county’s registered voters have already cast their ballots.
The founder of one of the get out the vote groups working locally says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that higher turnout is part of a national trend. But detailed numbers also show ongoing problems in access to the vote.
Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, says the unofficial vote count may be tallied by midnight Nov. 3. But counting absentee ballots is a complex process.
Memphis City Council member Jeff Warren on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast says there could still be an agreement on the next step in the MLGW-TVA issue. He also warns that the Tennessee Legislature could close the door on a possible MLGW exit from TVA if there isn’t a shorter timeline.
Business leader and developer J.W. Gibson talks about the South Memphis TIF taking in Soulsville, LeMoyne-Owen College and the old Metro Plaza on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
The council budget committee chairman who oversaw 13 hours of pitches by more than 150 nonprofits seeking a share of $1.95 million has problems with the way grants are awarded. But on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Martavius Jones says he continues to work on refining the process and sees a need for the city to help fund some nonprofits.
Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner has seen first hand the impact of violent crime on his commission district which includes Hickory Hill. But Turner says it’s possible to back law enforcement and be opposed to a militarization of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department.
The pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church thinks the first part of Mayor Jim Strickland’s effort to reform the Memphis Police Department didn’t go far enough. Strickland has said it was a start followed Wednesday, Sept. 2, by his appointment of a 13-member advisory group to examine deeper reforms. Pastor J. Lawrence Turner, who was named to the advisory group, says he will stick with the effort.
The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast recaps some events from the past week and some of the recently certified election results are cause to go looking through some numbers from the historic 1991 city elections.
Nick Walker, who recently went from interim to permanent director of the city's division of parks and neighborhoods, talked about the change and the move to a parks master plan on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the city's Democratic Congressman also talked about his recent primary win on the August ballot, the political benchmark it maintained and gave his thoughts on who might succeed him down the political road.
The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast features a 10-minute roundup of what the Thursday vote count means.
Phyllis Betts and Richard Janikowski are the experts who have set a new bar this month for growing the Memphis Police Department ranks to 2,800. The couple also has a link to the Blue Crush era of policing in the city. They talked on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about calls for more police amid calls locally for changing the fundamentals of policing and even the share of government funds devoted to policing.
The County Commission chairman says the differences between the two don't appear to extend to the rest of the commission. Mark Billingsley also said he hopes to move to lift the county hiring budget freeze once there is a reconciliation of the budget approved by the commission last month after rejecting Mayor Lee Harris's original proposal.
Memphis City Council member talks about her push to remove from the November ballot a residency referendum that would allow police and firefighters to live outside the county.
City council member Worth Morgan talks about his possible move to take police out of the city's civil service system and calls a move to cancel the November referendum allowing the city to hire police from outside Shelby County "the ultimate hypocrisy."
The public comment period on the first draft of the study that plays a crucial role in whether the city-owned utility stays with the federal agency ends Monday. The Integrated Resource Plan in its final form goes to the MLGW board in August. The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast reviews three critical interviews on the issue on the WKNO series "Behind The Headlines."
Black Lives Matter is a seven-year old movement with an ambitious platform beyond the protests of police abuses it has been most associated with. And in the last month of protests, activists and academics locally have seen reaction to it shift -- a shift explored on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast and a recent Hooks Institute forum.
Sarah Lockridge-Steckel is one of more than 100 nonprofit leaders who issued a call to action and a list of demands to political and business leaders in an open letter this past week. On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Lockridge-Steckel talked about the frustrations and movement that prompted the nonprofits to speak up.
Rev. Earle Fisher of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church and Up The Vote 901 talks about the issues behind the last three weeks of protest in the city over the death of George Floyd.
Bobby White, a native Memphian with experience behind the scenes in local government and politics, talks about what more than a week of daily protests in the city mean for future decisions on how the police do their jobs.
A short podcast this week with updates on several political topics as non-COVID issues began to move back into prominence and an uneasy coexistence with the pandemic.
Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer talks about the county commission’s budget struggle, almost two years in office with a Democratic majority and the politics of face masks.
A geekfest on the new online system coming to take and track permits and other paperwork from development projects across the county. Our guest is planning and development director John Zeanah.
City council budget committee chairman Martavius Jones talks about the city budget season and the effect of the pandemic on city finances.
MICAH director Rev. Ayanna Watkins talks about bail reform, the digital divide and homelessness and the new look its getting with the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic in Shelby County.
A new wheel tax proposal, a revenue hole from COVID-19 and a review of the city budget proposal.
We talk with Deborah Fisher of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government about the prospect of an Election Commission vote on new voting machines without the public being able to see and comment on the bids for the contract.
Shelby County election commissioners Brent Taylor and Bennie Smith talk about the complex path to making a decision on new voting machines that would keep the price and other details of the contract bids secret until the Election Commission seals the deal.
Shelby County Schools board member Kevin Woods talks about his decision to run for re-election and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public education.
More votes for Trump and Biden and Sanders, the April 2nd filing deadline, no COVID testing numbers and who we are after the unemployment spike.
A summary of items from how the city is moving away from the science and medical developments around the COVID-19 pandemic
Shelby County elections administrator Linda Phillips says new voting machines are still a possibility for the August elections. Phillips also talks about the debate between hand-marked paper ballots and a paper audit trail using touchscreen machines that appear to be the two most likely options.
Shelby County Democratic Party chair Michael Harris and vice chair Sarah Beth Larson on the what Super Tuesday says about Democrats locally and counter the idea that Shelby County could be going from blue to purple.
As the Tennessee presidential primary nears we talk with Rhodes College Political Science professor Michael Nelson about his new book on Bill Clinton’s two campaigns and two terms as President and the view from the Trump era.
Shelby County Republican Party chairman Chris Tutor on Trump, who the Democrats are likely to nominate and why Shelby County is purple, not blue.
The Memphis federal court case from the 1990s that has some similarities to the Roger Stone case, Buttigieg sends on-the-ground people to Tennessee, early voting markers from four years ago and Bloomberg supporters want to talk horse race.
Shelby County Commissioners Tami Sawyer and Mick Wright talk about the effort to get some kind of county funding for the city bus system back on the road and what that means in terms of accountability and what taxpayers can afford.
Memphis City Council members J.B. Smiley Jr. and Dr. Jeff Warren talk about the legal opinion they are seeking on a way to finance MLGW infrastructure with projected savings from leaving the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Robert Donati of the political action committee Future901 talks about the local PACs effort to raise money for state House races and get it to key races that can make a difference in 2020.
City council member Chase Carlisle talks about the start of the new council’s four-year term of office and the Downtown-Midtown development boom and what that could mean for areas of disinvestment.
We review the city election year, the third car fee and whether a half cent sales tax hike will restore benefits for police and firefighters.
Sam Goff, who ran as the Republican nominee for Shelby County Commission in 2018, says he is leaving the party over the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Thomas Abt, the author of “Bleeding Out,” the policy tome new Memphis City Council members are reading, talks about urban violence and different methods for reducing it.
Aspire Public Schools superintendent Dr. Nick Manning talks about Aspire’s new local control model and the relationship between charter school operators and Shelby County Schools.
Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess and Ken Washington, over residential appraisals in the assessor’s office talk about the Orange Mound Initiative that starts with a bid to increase property value in a part of town where the median home value is under $30,000.
The new city council that takes office in January and the transition from candidate to elected official along with Smiley’s views on residency requirements, MLGW rate hikes and “scare tactics.”
Conrad talks about the new council that takes office in January with six new members, the current council’s end of term agenda, why the new CLERB proposal can wait and a sobering moment during his recent trip to Hungary.
Planning and Development director John Zeanah talks about carbon emissions goals for the city, why the bus rapid transit corridor to come will be a different kind of bus ride and the climate change debate.
Memphis Light Gas and Water Division president CEO J.T. Young talks about the report recommending a cut in more than 300 employees, other savings and the rate hike proposal he is about to take to City Hall.
Sijuwola Crawford and Earle Fisher of Up The Vote 901 and the Peoples Convention talk about what voters were saying in city elections, voices outside the polling places and the return of the People’s Convention.
Mayor Jim Strickland’s campaign consultant talks about what happened behind the scenes of the race for Memphis Mayor, a critical change in the polling and the fallacy of a split black vote in the election results.
Carlos Ochoa of Ranked Choice Tennessee talks about ranked choice voting and the group’s push to have it implemented in Memphis elections over the last decade. Why the group expects state election officials to again rule that ranked-choice can’t be used in the state. Also the debate over the terms suffragists and suffragettes in the Memphis 200.
A review of Memphis election results and a few new steps beyond the election. Also Shelby County Election Commissioner Bennie Smith talks about what voters were saying with the turnout and the Strickland re-election effort as well as lots of talk about new voting machines.