Memphis News Today: Stories That Matter to Our City

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Children in one Mid-South community have a safer place to play thanks to a local comedian and activist. Mario Bradley, who performs as Grove Hero, is known for making people laugh with his comedy routines onstage. Offstage, he’s known for giving back to the community with housing and meals for the needy.…

Like any other self-respecting golf fan, Joe Tomek was glued to the final round of the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday. Tomek watched an exciting battle among PGA stars Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau and Justin Thomas, with McIlroy eventually coming out on top. But as the new executive director of the FedEx St. Jude Championship,…

There’s a bumper sticker you sometimes see around town that proclaims “Summer Ave. is My Poplar.” While neither of us adorns our car with one of these, we sort of feel that way and are both frequent travelers along this street, which starts, on the west end, like a Lou Reed song and continues colorfully…

Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design has announced this year’s round of fellows for its upcoming Loeb Fellowship, and it includes two Memphians. Derwin Sisnett, co-founder of Maslow Development Inc. and Gestalt Community Schools, and Shamichael Hallman, senior library manager of Cossitt Library, will join a cohort of seven other individuals working across the globe…

Local developer Dwayne A. Jones has pre-sold 12 properties purchased from the Blight Authority of Memphis, Inc. with plans to build affordable three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath homes in Westwood, Frayser and South Memphis. Jones, of Dwayne A. Jones Construction Company LLC, is primarily known for the $45,000 to $60,000 tiny homes he’s constructed in Orange Mound.…

While other sectors struggled with job losses as they navigated the pandemic, technology-related employment did well, with 44 states experiencing job growth in 2021, according to a report by CompTIA. In Memphis, net tech employment had dropped in 2020 but bounced back strongly in 2021, adding 95 net tech jobs. Software, programmers, web, and quality…

In 2019, Memphis native Brandon Allen, a White Station High School student, won the brand new distinction of homecoming royalty while wearing a sparkly gold dress. While assigned male at birth, Allen is gender-nonconforming and uses they/them pronouns. But, because of Allen, the student body of White Station High School decided to eliminate the titles…

The National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) is collaborating with 10 other prominent Black museums and institutions across the country to celebrate Juneteenth. Members of the group, called the BlkFreedom Collective, share resources, collaborate, and raise awareness about their work. NCRM participated in the initial BlkFreedom conversations in 2020, during the first few months of the…