Memphis accepted $350 million in state taxpayer funds for upgrades at its sports facilities and plans to ask Tennessee taxpayers for more.
The set of Memphis sports facility asks previously included funding for $684 million in renovations to the FedexForum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies, along with renovations to Liberty Stadium, AutoZone Park and a new soccer stadium for new soccer club 901 FC.
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According to a maritime news outlet, the United States Coast Guard in Memphis saved a drowning man’s life last week after the crane he was operating fell into McKellar Lake.
“The U.S. Coast Guard helped resuscitated an unresponsive crane operator Tuesday near Memphis, Tennessee, after the crane he was operating fell into the water,” according to a Coast Guard release.
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Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced Tuesday he introduced an Ordinance amendment to invest in a city-wide broadband network based on findings and suggestions of a report conducted by CTC Energy and Technology.
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The property taxes that fund local city governments have a wide range in Tennessee, especially when it comes to the differences between how property is taxed in Memphis and Nashville, according to a report from the Lincoln Institute on Land Policy on data from 2021.
Nashville, for instance, has a lower effective homestead property tax rate than most other large cities (0.814% compared to the national average) while Memphis homestead properties are taxed at 1.523% above the national average. Nashville was 43rd in effective rate amongst the list of 74 large cities where data was available while Memphis was the 16th highest.
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Chicago is the latest major city to sue Hyundai and Kia for failing to equip their U.S. cars for more than a decade with anti-theft technology, which was exposed on social media last year and made the vehicles a target for criminals.
“Unlike the movies, hot-wiring vehicles is far harder than it appears—unless that vehicle was manufactured by Hyundai or Kia,” the lawsuit filed Thursday by the city of Chicago states.
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HVAC company American Residential Services (ARS)/Rescue Rooter recently announced that it will invest $2.75 million to expand its headquarters operations in Memphis.
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Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley warned individuals crossing county lines to commit crimes, saying such actions will not be tolerated.
“I will say this again, if you bring it to us we are going to bring it back at you! If you think we are going to let you run back to Memphis, or anywhere else, without any consequences…you’ve got us confused,” Beasley said in a Facebook post last week.
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Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland (D) joined FOx13 in Memphis Monday where he was forced to answer some poignant questions about the city’s crime in the wake of a viral video showing a Memphis Police Department (MPD) officer being assaulted by a group of men.
“All of this is completely unacceptable, and somebody out there knows who did both those actions, and they need to call Crime Stoppers because we need quick justice to all those criminals,” Strickland said.
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A video circulating on social media shows the moment gunshots rang out in a popular tourist area in downtown Memphis early Sunday morning.
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RedDOT Corporation officials announced Tuesday that the company will invest $18 million to expand its manufacturing and distribution operations in Memphis.
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One of three Memphis men involved in a string of 2021 hotel robberies in the city was sentenced to 31 years in prison earlier this week.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, Reginald Rose, 30, of Memphis, will spend the next three decades behind bars.
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A State Representative who was expelled from the General Assembly for his role in a gun control riot at the Capitol Building in Nashville will host town halls in Memphis to discuss the same topic with his constituents ahead of August’s special session of the General Assembly.
State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) was expelled from the General Assembly in April alongside colleague State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville). Both men led a protest-turned-riot at the State Capitol in March, just after the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville.
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Four Tennessee cities have landed a spot on ConsumerAffairs’ recent study ranking the nation’s top 20 cities with the worst drivers.
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Tennesseans will begin celebrating Independence Day as early as Friday night, according to a state travel guide.
The Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor league baseball team, will have a fireworks show after the team’s Friday and Sunday night games.
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Batches of mosquitoes infected with West Nile virus have recently been collected in both Davidson County and Shelby County.
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As the government observes Juneteenth as a holiday Monday for the third straight year, support for the Black Lives Matter movement has plummeted significantly as black Americans grapple with rising urban crime and stubborn inflation and grow pessimistic about racism in the future.
Juneteenth, the day that all enslaved Americans found out they were free when news of the Civil War’s end reached Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, was celebrated by black Americans for years.
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United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed for The Tennessee Star that the man arrested for a litany of crimes in Memphis last week was an illegal alien.
“ICE issued an immigration detainer on May 31 for Honduran national Jairo Ponce, 29, following his arrest by the Memphis Police Department on charges of aggravated robbery, carjacking, aggravated assault on a first responder, employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony and evading arrest,” an ICE spokesperson told The Star Friday. “On an unknown date and location, Ponce entered the United States without being admitted or paroled by an immigration official.”
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After Thursday’s qualifying deadline, several candidates have made the cut to run in the District 86 special election, including two Democrats and one independent. One Republican picked up a petition on the day of the qualifying deadline but failed to file the 25 signatures needed to be on the ballot. The Memphis-based district has long been a Democratic mainstay.
Late State Representative Barbara Cooper (D-Memphis) held the seat for nearly 26 years before passing away just two weeks before last year’s general election. She was posthumously reelected by a margin of 46 percentage points.
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Amid what it is describing as a “weaker demand environment,” Memphis-based FedEx has announced that it will close 29 freight locations as part of its plan to cut more than $1 billion in expenses.
In the closing of the locations, the company will furlough certain employees for at least three months.
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A video circulating the web appears to show that newly-reappointed State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) ran on a platform of unity among Republicans and Democrats during a bid for Bowdoin Student Government President at his alma mater Bowdoin College just a handful of years ago.
“How can we represent all voices in a conversation?” asked Pearson in a campaign video. “I want to do this by partnering with Democrats from the Bowdoin Democrats to the Bowdoin Republicans. I want to bring together different voices, dissenting voices. Voices that might be more liberal or more conservative, in order [so] that we can reach the point of sort of the ‘radical middle.'”
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Former Democratic State Rep. Justin J. Pearson in Tennessee gave a sermon during an Easter service praying to the “Mother God,” calling for an end to gun violence and arguing that “transgender children” should receive the “health care” they need, according to recordings of the sermon.
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A public policy group in Tennessee released a report this week showing a massive uptick in charter school growth in the Volunteer State.
According the report by The Beacon Center of Tennessee, charter schools in Tennessee have increased in number from fewer than 20 in 2010 to more than 110 in 2019. Such schools have only become more popular since 2019, and more than 44,000 students in the state are enrolled in a charter school.
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Average rent prices in Tennessee increased 12.1 percent year-over-year as of February, according to data compiled by apartment search engine Rent. Tennessee ranked ninth in the nation for experiencing the biggest increase in rent prices from February 2022 to February 2023.
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The Justice Department on Wednesday announced that it will review the Memphis Police Department’s procedures and produce a national guide for officials to use in assessing specialized policing units in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death.
The review, which was requested by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, will be conducted through the agency’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). It will “cover policies, practices, training, data and processes” relating to the department’s “use of force, de-escalation and specialized units,” the Justice Department said.
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Chicago recorded 697 total homicides in 2022, far more than any other city in the United States, but New Orleans had the highest murder rate per capita, according to a new report from a nonprofit research group.
Chicago had more total homicides in 2022 than Philadelphia (516), New York City (438), Houston (435) and Los Angeles (382), which rounded out the top five, according to a report from Wirepoints, an Illinois-based research and news organization that surveyed 2022 crime data from 75 of the largest U.S. cities.
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Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy now says his office will review all criminal cases involving the former police officers accused in the brutal beating death of Tyre Nichols.
He may have no other choice.
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Memphis has fired a sixth police officer in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols.
The decision to terminate Preston Hemphill stemmed from an internal investigation that ultimately found he violated multiple department policies during Nichols’s arrest, the Associated Press reported.
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A long-time Memphis law enforcement source tells The Tennessee Star rumors about guards at the Shelby County Division of Corrections being involved in street gangs have been circulating for years, although he knows of no correction officer implicated such a crime.
“There have always been rumors about that, but they’ve never been substantiated that I know of,” the official with knowledge of the Shelby County criminal justice system told The Star. “The joke in Memphis criminal justice has long been the jailers are one step ahead of being in jail themselves.”
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Former President Donald Trump released a video statement Friday prompted by the riots in Atlanta, calling out the perpetrators and declaring what his actions would be as president under the same circumstances.
Protests against the construction of a new police training facility on Wednesday, January 18 turned violent days later when a man allegedly shot a state trooper during a law enforcement operation at the site. When police shot back, the man died, The Georgia Star News reported.
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The Memphis Police department announced Saturday that the controversial SCORPION unit has been permanently deactivated on the heels of overnight protests in the city and across the nation.
“It is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department, take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted,” the statement said.
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The five former Memphis police officers who were charged last week with second degree murder in the beating death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols were part of a special, 40-member SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods) unit established in October 2021 by Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn Davis and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, a Democrat.
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The City of Memphis on Friday released video footage on the police altercation with Tyre Nichols that resulted in his death.
The city aired the video in four parts on Vimeo.
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Four men have received federal prison sentences after being convicted of carjacking, assaulting a federal officer, and using a weapon during the crimes committed in Memphis nearly two years ago.
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Antwon Brown, a convicted felon and known Unknown Vice Lords street gang member, was recently sentenced to 138 months in federal prison for drug and firearm charges.
Members of the Vice Lords street gang distribute cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and some heroin in Illinois, Tennessee, and other states, according to the Department of Justice. Vice Lords gangs in the Volunteer State are located predominantly in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville.
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Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Monica Timmerman was recently arrested on DUI charges after crashing into a utility pole in Memphis.
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Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis is responding after the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) threatened legal action if the healthcare system does not reschedule the cancellation of surgeries for transgender and nonbinary patients.
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A Memphis news crew was robbed at gunpoint late last week, according to the reporter who was on the scene.
“HOW IN THE HOLY HELL YOU ROB THE NEWS CREW: Robbed at Poplar and Highland. You know I’ve had my fair share of stories but DAMN! Took the camera, tripod, and LIVEU,” said Fox13 reporter Jeremy Pierre. “One of the dudes even showed me the gun in his waist band.”
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In his weekly update, Memphis’ mayor lamented the city’s “revolving door” of crime, and said he supports new tough-on-crime legislature recently enacted by the Tennessee legislature.
“Last week, I told you about a man who, while driving a car, struck a Memphis police officer on foot, causing him to roll over the hood and be thrown to the ground. He led officers on a high-speed vehicle pursuit and crashed into a citizen’s car. He fled on foot. Officers apprehended him and found him in possession of a handgun. He was given a $15,000 bond,” said Mayor Jim Strickland. “Guess what has happened? He has posted his bond, was released, and is out and about in the Memphis community.”
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The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department continues to plead with the citizens of Nashville to lock their car doors and secure their guns as the number of firearms stolen from vehicles climbs to 1,163 this year.
“It’s become a disturbing trend, and it needs to stop; guns being stolen from vehicles. Criminals are continuously checking door handles, ready to steal, and it guns are left visible, they will do whatever it takes to break in. It takes just seconds for someone to grab your gun and go. Stats from this year shows a tremendous increase in guns being stolen from vehicles,” Chief of Police John Drake said in a video posted by MNPD in September.
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After the city of Memphis announced that part of its One Beale project in September – a plan that would have brought a Grand Hyatt Hotel to Memphis – it was announced this week that the plans for the hotel have fallen through.
Developer Chance Carlisle blamed the city, saying that it did not hold up its end of the bargain to provide $46 million in municipal bonds for the project. Instead, those bonds only amounted to $41 million.
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As Memphis crime skyrockets, the city’s mayor Friday took to his weekly email update to justify spending nearly $700 million to upgrade its sports stadiums and build a new professional soccer stadium.
“I would like to clarify a few things on that potential financial support,” said Mayor Jim Strickland (D), noting that residents of the city had asked about the planned spend.
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After a wave of violent crime in Memphis and questions about the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) turnaround time for rape kits, TBI in Jackson has officially opened the application period to hire forensic analysts.
“Combine your science smarts and passion to serve on our team in the Jackson Crime Laboratory! We’re looking for new forensic scientists to help us grow! The application window closes Wednesday!” TBI said on Twitter, attaching a link to the job application.
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Shelby County’s notoriously soft on crime District Attorney announced several new hires that he says will make his office more diverse.
I’m proud to announce that the [Shelby County District Attorney]’s office has added six new attorneys to the team: Ernest Brooks, II, Denania Galloway, Melanie Headely, Kindle Nance, and Krysa Scully will join the office as Assistant District Attorneys. Jessica Indingaro will serve as Special Assistant for Projects & Government Relations. All will start between now and mid-November,” said District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Twitter.
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Tennessee State Representative Ron Gant was airlifted to Regional One in Memphis, Tennessee, after being seriously injured in a car accident on Wednesday night in Hardeman County.
Since the initial reports broke, a spokesperson for State Rep. Gant detailed the extent of his injuries in a Facebook post Saturday evening
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Five current or former IRS employees in the Memphis area have been charged with defrauding federal Covid-19 relief programs after spending relief money on Mercedes, Gucci, and trips to Las Vegas.
U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz, for the Western District of Tennessee, said, “These individuals-acting out of pure greed- abused their positions by taking government funds meant for citizens and businesses who desperately needed it. I thank our law enforcement partners for rooting out this fraud. Our office will not hesitate to pursue and charge individuals who steal from our nation’s taxpayers.”
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The governor of Tennessee has announced that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TB) will hire 25 new forensic analysts in order to assist with processing Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs).
“Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally and Speaker Cameron Sexton announced a decisive step to accelerate the hiring process for 25 additional forensic lab positions at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI),” said a press release from the governor’s office. “Taking this action ahead of the regular budget process will expedite the TBI’s efforts to expand testing capacity and reduce the turnaround time for sexual assault kits (SAKs).”
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An autopsy has revealed the cause of death of a Memphis woman, who was abducted in September while jogging.
“Eliza Fletcher, 34, had a gunshot wound to the back of her head, blunt-force injuries to a leg and jaw fractures, according to an autopsy completed by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center in Memphis,” according to Fox News.
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The City of Memphis announced Wednesday that roughly 1,000 first responders will qualify to take part in the city’s 1978 pension plan, pending the Memphis City Council’s approval.
“I am happy to say that we have agreed with the association to provide those firefighters and police officers who currently do not qualify for the 1978 pension plan – those hired since July 1, 2016, and all future hires – to have the option to choose the 1978 or the 2016 pension plan beginning July 1, 2023, subject to city council approval. Currently, there are about 1,000 firefighters, police officers, and dispatchers who would qualify,” Mayor Jim Strickland said.
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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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The Memphis Police Department (MPD) Monday confirmed that it did not shut down a drag show at the Memphis Museum of Science and History (MoSH), but that the museum canceled the event due to protests.
“Management of the Pink Palace chose to cancel all events [Friday], MPD Public Information Officer Theresa Carlson told The Tennessee Star. “MPD was asked to assist. No incidents occurred and no arrests were made.”
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