Memphis News Today: Stories That Matter to Our City

Diane Smith, wife of the late FedEx founder Fred Smith, just handed the Memphis Zoo the largest single donation in its history. The $50 million gift is structured as a matching challenge, aimed at pulling in another $50 million from the community. Together, that’s a full $100 million toward the zoo’s first comprehensive campus plan,…

Memphis International Airport just got a new group steering its future. The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority announced its newly reconstituted Board of Commissioners this month, a nine-member body that took shape under Public Chapter No. 978 and became official on July 1. The new board brings together decades of aviation, legal, and business experience: Belinda…

Tiger fans can keep their dials right where they are. The University of Memphis has announced a new multi-year agreement keeping Cumulus Media Memphis as the exclusive radio home for Tiger football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball. The broadcasts, along with the football and men’s basketball coaches’ shows, will continue to air on News Talk…

Memphis is safer today than it was a year ago, and the data backs it up. According to newly released figures from the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, crime fell across every single category from January through June of 2026 compared to the same stretch in 2025. The drops are significant. Major violent crime, which includes…

The knowledge that helped reshape how Memphis grows is now in demand across the country, and the planner behind it is proudly keeping his roots right here. John Zeanah, who spent more than a decade guiding development for Memphis and Shelby County, is going all in on Interval, the planning and policy consulting agency he…

More than a century after Tom Lee pulled 32 people from the Mississippi River, the little house where he lived out his days in North Memphis finally carries a marker worthy of his story. On Wednesday, July 22, a Tennessee Historical Commission marker was unveiled outside Lee’s former home at 923 N. Mansfield St. in…

Memphis lost one of its brightest lights. Sunya Payne, the beloved Memphis Tigers superfan and longtime educator, passed away on July 12 at the age of 55, and tributes have poured in from across the city. For Tigers fans, Payne was unmistakable, waving her blue and grey pompoms from her seat at FedExForum and cheering…

Memphis veterans are getting a major boost. Alpha Omega Veterans Services will receive $2.25 million in federal funding to continue its work housing and supporting veterans across the city. Congressman Steve Cohen visited the organization on Friday to celebrate the award, which he helped secure after learning about its impact. Alpha Omega provides housing, addiction…