One perosn has died and another was injured in a fire at a high-rise apartment building in the Medical District. The flames broke out overnight at the Helix Apartments on North Manassas Street near Washignton Avenue. A Memphis fire spokesperosn at the scene reported that the fire started on the 9th floor and spread down … Read more
The University of Memphis says President M. David Rudd will be leaving his position next year to return to the faculty. The university says Rudd will be stepping down as president in May 2022. A psychology professor, Rudd became the university’s president in May 2014. During his time as president, the university has seen improvements … Read more
Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is scheduled to sign a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. Mississippi will become the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked a similar Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 is set to … Read more
Mississippi legislators wrangled Wednesday over regulations for medical marijuana, with the House killing one bill and the Senate reviving the issue hours later by wedging it into a separate bill. Voters in November approved Initiative 65, which authorizes a medical marijuana program. It got on the ballot through citizens’ petitions. The constitutional amendment requires the … Read more
Police are investigating a car crash that killed an off-duty officer in Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis Police Department said on Twitter that 31-year-old Officer Nicholas Blow was driving away from a police station parking lot on Monday night when his car was hit by another vehicle. Blow was taken to a hospital, where he died. … Read more
The former director of the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery was arrested and accused of embezzling money from the office, authorities said. Henry Gruno was arrested Monday by the Office of the State Auditor and presented with a $29,818 demand letter, news outlets reported. The amount includes interest and investigative expenses. The auditor’s office said Gruno … Read more
The Mississippi House on Tuesday rejected a proposal to restructure the board that governs the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The nine-member board was established in 1902. Its members have always nominated their own successors and those nominees have been confirmed by the state Senate. Senate Bill 2727 said the Archives and History board … Read more
A Mississippi man convicted of child exploitation has died after being taken from a prison to a Jackson hospital. The state Department of Corrections said Tuesday that Vernon Williams, 63, was pronounced dead Saturday at Merit Health Central. He was taken there from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. An autopsy will be done. Williams pleaded guilty … Read more
Soldiers from the Tennessee National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 181st Field Artillery Regiment, are deploying for a 10-month tour of the Middle East. A farewell ceremony took place on Sunday at Smyrna’s Volunteer Training Site. The battalion commander said many of the more than 350 departing soldiers have assisted with efforts to fight COVID-19 over the … Read more
Almost every Tennessee House Republican says hearings should be held for the removal of a judge who expanded absentee voting in the 2020 election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The push against Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle has sparked warnings from legal experts that lawmakers were seriously considering an unprecedented breach of judicial independence. … Read more