A gun control ballot initiative is back on Shelby County Nov. 5 ballot after Shelby County Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson ruled in favor of the Memphis City Council, according to several media reports.
The ballot questions, which would be unbinding, have been the subject of debate and legal issues over the past several weeks.
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Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) are speaking out against three gun control measures set to be presented to Memphis voters on the November 5 general election ballot which the Republican leaders say is an attempt by city leaders to “circumvent state law.”
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Tennessee State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) warned state Republicans that Democrat constituents may respond with riots after the General Assembly passed a bill prohibiting local governments from inhibiting law enforcement.
Other Democrats expressed their disapproval after the Senate sent the bill in question to the governor’s desk Thursday.
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On January 15, the Memphis Police Department issued a statement on its “internal investigation” into the death of Tyre Nichols — five days after the 29-year-old black man died. MPD said it “was important to take swift and deliberate action to maintain transparency, accountability, public trust, and legitimacy amongst our community.”
But the troubled police department has had a host of transparency troubles surrounding the brutal beating of Nichols at the hands of five black police officers – and a history of closed government offenses.
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During a public safety committee, on Tuesday, The Memphis City Council discussed strictly enforcing the Memphis curfew for children 17 and under.
Vice Chairman Martavius Jones said, “Juvenile Crime has spiked over the years…I commend our men and women in blue for all that they are doing. However, the things that are on the books, we definitely want to make those things happen…One thing that we do know, if they are in the house, a lot of this wouldn’t be happening. If they [children] were at home, under parental supervision, some of these things wouldn’t be happening.”
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Officials in the city of Memphis are silent after the City Council pledged not to follow Tennessee’s law restricting abortions, which takes effect in August and would make performing an abortion a felony offense for doctors.
Tuesday, Councilman JB Smiley introduced a resolution Reproductive Autonomy Is Necessary (RAIN) Act, which was subsequently passed by a vote of 6-0, with two members of the City Council abstaining.
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AFSCME Local 1733 endorsed Democratic candidate JB Smiley, Jr. on Monday to be the next Tennessee governor.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. The group “believes that every person working to sustain their community deserves respect.”
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At least one Memphis City Council member reportedly wants any business that accepts the city’s corporate welfare to raise their minimum wage from $13 to $21. None of the 13 Memphis City Council members returned The Tennessee Star’s requests for comment Monday.
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Memphis City Council reversed course on an ordinance to promote environmental justice, in addition to protecting public health and the environment. The ordinance had been on hold from previous council meetings dating back to April, though it was on its third and final reading when it was withdrawn during Tuesday’s meeting. No discussion or explanation accompanied the announcement of the ordinance’s withdrawal.
Ordinance No. 5782 concerned the groundwater in the Memphis Sand Aquifer that supplies drinking water for Memphis. Council members Edmund Ford,and Jeff Warren sponsored the ordinance.
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On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council adopted a resolution opposing the state legislature’s ban on critical race theory.
The item was added last-minute to the council agenda. Council members Martavius Jones, Michalyn Easter-Thomas, JB Smiley, Cheyenne Johnson, Rhonda Logan, Jeff Warren, Ford Canale, Frank Colvett, Edmund Ford, and Chase Carlisle sponsored the resolution. The council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution without discussion.
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Memphis City Council devoted the first portion of its Tuesday meeting to hearing the demands of activists. The proposals were a part of a plan called “From Protest to Progress,” organized and sponsored by the Greater Memphis Chamber (GMC). GMC President and CEO Beverly Robertson presented the proposals to the council during Tuesday’s meeting.
A total of five activist groups, eleven faith-based organizations, around two dozen companies, and one school system are involved. The activist groups are the Peace & Justice Center, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Coalition of Concerned Citizens (C3), Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH), and Up the Vote. Shelby County Schools is represented in the initiative through their Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBE) Manager, Joyce Douglas.
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Memphis Police officers will be required to live in the city, whether they like it or not.
Memphis City Council members approved an ordinance this month that removed the question of residency from the November 2020 ballot.
Specifically, the approved ordinance rescinds Referendum Ordinance No. 5744, which might have allowed specified personnel employed within the Divisions of Police and Fire Services to reside 50 miles outside of the City of Memphis.
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Members of the Memphis City Council now advocate for Campaign Zero, a group that ultimately wants to do away with the police.
And council members want their local police officers and sheriff’s deputies to do what Campaign Zero says.
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Despite the city’s high crime rate and all the problems that go along with it, Memphis has a lot of financial momentum and part of that has to do with the strong national economy.
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Law enforcement nationwide is a less attractive career prospect because of the disrespect law enforcement officers have to contend with in modern times, said Memphis City Council member Worth Morgan.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is advocating for the removal of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol in Nashville. “My position on this issue has not changed – I do not believe Nathan Bedford Forrest should be one of the individuals we honor at the Capitol. The General Assembly has established a process for addressing these matters and I strongly encourage the Capitol Commission and the Historical Commission to act,” Haslam said in a statement issued Monday. A Tennessee native, Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Also a slave trader, Forrest was known for his brutality. According to some accounts, he became a Christian later in life and distanced himself from the KKK, which he helped start. Activists in many states are calling for the removal of Confederate monuments after violent clashes between white supremacists and leftist radicals on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dozens of protesters gathered at the Capitol Monday to demand that the bust come down, according to Nashville Public Radio. The bust was installed in the 1970s and ever since there have been calls periodically to remove it, the last time being after the Charleston church shooting in…
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