Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty is calling on President Joe Biden to take an “urgent, all-hands” approach to the shutdown of a bridge that connects Tennessee and Arkansas. The Republican says in a letter to the president that the shutdown is “affecting the lives and livelihoods of real people right now.” Hagerty says the fix to … Read more
The Man in Black is now being honored on the Mississippi Country Music Trail. A new marker dedicated Friday memorializes a night Johnny Cash spent in the Oktibbeha County Jail. In the early hours of May 11, 1965, Cash was arrested for public drunkenness after he was found picking flowers at a private home after … Read more
Nearly a year after requiring people to wear face masks in many public settings to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the city will stop enforcing the mandate on Saturday. Strickland tweeted on Thursday that people must still wear a face mask if they are inside a city facility and … Read more
A company that’s been making surgical instruments and equipment in Mississippi since 2007 announced plans to close its facility next year. Ecolab, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, will close its facility in Columbus by mid-2022, said spokesman Roman Blahoski, The Commercial Dispatch reported. The facility specializes in manufacturing surgical instruments and equipment. There are currently … Read more
A Mississippi man was arrested Thursday for his alleged role in a scheme to get more than $6 million in federal loans from the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program, federal prosecutors said. Christopher Paul Lick, 45, of Starkville, is accused of using the relief money to buy a variety of luxury items, including a $1 million … Read more
A Tennessee death row inmate’s attorneys are asking a court to declare that he cannot be executed because he is intellectually disabled. The petition was filed in Memphis Criminal Court on Wednesday. That’s one day after Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill making Tennessee’s law that prohibits the execution of the intellectually disabled retroactive. At … Read more
A transportation official says repairs to the Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee could take months after a crack was found in the span. Thousands of trucks and cars are being forced to detour and shipping on the Mississippi River is shut down in the Memphis area. Both states’ transportation agencies are working to … Read more
The Mississippi Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for a man convicted of a marijuana possession charge because he had previous convictions and those made him a habitual offender. Allen Russell, 38, was sentenced to life in Forrest County in 2019 after a jury found him guilty of possession of more than … Read more
Tennessee will soon become the latest state to require certain medical providers to cremate or bury fetal remains from surgical abortions under legislation recently signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. Roughly 10 other Republican-majority states have enacted similar laws across the country despite objections from reproductive rights advocates, who argue such requirements are unnecessary and … Read more
The Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River has been closed after authorities said they found a crack in the span linking Arkansas and Tennessee. The Arkansas Department of Transportation tweeted on Tuesday that it found the crack during a routine inspection of the bridge. The department said it was working with the Tennessee Department … Read more