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By James Coleman TSD Contributing Writer
Shelby County commissioners are abiding by their original plan to realign the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board with their own in the 2026 election.
Members agreed 10-1 with Commissioner Edmond Ford Jr.’s proposal to postpone any attempts to upend the realignment — including an effort by Commissioner Erica Sugarmon to remove five of the board’s nine seats from the ballot — during the Monday, Jan. 12, Education Committee meeting.
The realignment was approved in September as a blowback for the board’s 6-3 decision to remove MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins a year ago. As a consequence, five of the nine board members will have their terms shortened by two years. Commissioners overrode a veto attempt by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris a month later.
Sugarmon introduced the resolution after comments by attorney Allan Wade, who said rescinding the realignment would “align” the commission with “state law.” Wade represents the five MSCS members added to the 2026 ballot.
“I want the public to know how we stand as a body,” Sugarmon said. “At least we can say we support democracy, and so far we have not supported democracy.”
Meanwhile, the realignment effort still must survive a legal challenge under consideration in Chancery Court. The rest of the commission appears intent on fighting it out in court.
A temporary restraining order was issued by Judge Melanie Taylor Jefferson on Jan. 7. It prevents the Shelby County Election Commission from issuing petitions for MSCS board districts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. The election commission criticized the decision. Hired in April 2024, Feagins had
been on the job for nine months. Despite her short tenure, she is one of eight declared candidates running in the Democratic primary for Shelby County mayor in 2026.
Commissioner Mickell Lowery, one of the 10 who voted against Sugarmon’s resolution, joins her on the ballot.
Members also approved rent payments for the Millington branch of the County Clerk’s Office through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Commissioners agreed 11-0 to draw the funds from the office’s budget. The amended resolution increased Harris’ original request of $28,000, or six months’ rent at the Navy Road facility. Ford offered the amendment. During the morning General Gov-
ernment Committee meeting, outgoing County Clerk Wanda Halbert assented to the proposal. Still, she stopped short of making payments this month. The clerk’s office has operated rent-free at the location since 2021.
County Support Services and the Shelby County Land Bank typically work with county department heads on leases. In 2021, Millington announced plans to begin charging rent. Halbert was accused of ignoring attempts to negotiate a lease.
According to Shelby County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer LaSonya Hall, backroom discussions between the administration and Halbert last week also failed to bear fruit. Hall is running in a crowded Democratic primary to succeed Halbert as county clerk.
Shaped by COVID and a decade of overlapping crises, young founders are launching organizations driven by urgency, lived experience.
By Judith Black Moore
A new year has a way of inviting fresh perspective. As 2026 gets underway, it feels fitting to shine a light on something young — not just in age, but in energy, imagination and urgency: the growing force of Gen Z philanthropists.
When the world shut down during COVID, our collective awareness of disparities sharpened, particularly in Black and other communities of color and especially in education. While some students logged into class from quiet bedrooms with stable Wi-Fi and parental support, many Black and brown students disappeared entirely — no laptop, no broadband and little supervision. The inequities were there long before COVID. The pandemic simply made them impossible to ignore.
For Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — that moment was formative.
From lived experience to calling
“I was in the eighth grade during COVID, and when I realized a lot of students needed resources just to keep up with schoolwork, I knew then I wanted to help children who were less fortunate,” says Rev. Cameron Kuykindall, president and CEO of Scholar in the Middle, which he founded while still in high school.
Kuykindall and his peers came of age during overlapping crises: a global pandemic, racial reckoning, climate anxiety, gun violence and economic
instability. They didn’t learn about these events in a history class — they grew up during them. As a result, young founders like Kuykindall don’t view philanthropy as extracurricular or as something reserved for older or wealthier people. They see it as their calling.
Gen Z philanthropists may not have deep pockets, but they have deep conviction. They organize online, fundraise peer-to-peer, build mutual aid networks and launch nonprofits while still in high school or college. To them, philanthropy is not just about giving money; it is about solving problems, sharing access and building systems that work for more people.
“Our mission is to propel students with average grades to achieve their fullest potential through learning activities,” Kuykindall says. To support that mission, the founding team intentionally built an organization that communicates where families already are.
“We advertise our organization on social media platforms that both children and parents have access to, like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook,” he says. “We also have an interactive website with a mixture of lighthearted and serious posts so people can connect with us in a real way.”
impact where others are not looking
In the summer of 2025, Scholar in
the Middle made a strategic shift that reflects how Gen Z thinks differently about problem solving. After reviewing education outcomes, the organization chose to focus on a population largely overlooked by Memphis’ nearly 13,000 registered nonprofits.
“We decided to narrow our focus to serving K–12 students who earn C’s in school,” Kuykindall says. “That’s when we changed the organization’s name from The CamKuy Group to Scholar in the Middle. The mission stayed the same — we just carved out a space where we believe we can make the greatest impact.”
With impact as the core of their work, this team of young social entrepreneurs found that most organizations serve either high-performing or low-performing students. Few support students who fall in the academic middle — students with potential who
often go unnoticed. The nonprofit’s shift positions it to focus on moving scholars from average academic performance to academic mastery.
The emergence of self-defined leadership
Scholar in the Middle is led by 15 young people, mostly college freshmen and sophomores at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, plus one current high school student, and all products of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. They call themselves the Scholar Squad, a team shaped by the realities they are now working to change. “We can directly relate to students because we are young adult leaders,” Kuykindall says. “We understand what they’re dealing with because we were just there.”
Programs include the Holiday Magic
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Toy Drive, Fun and Fam Summer Events, Senior to Senior Scholars and the I AM the Solution STEM Summer Camp. The team also conducts school engagement and empowerment days through a monthly program called Planting A S.E.E.D., placing them consistently inside local elementary and middle schools.
This is not symbolic youth leadership. What these leaders experienced during COVID — the frustration of disrupted learning, the visibility of inequity and the emotional toll of being left behind — directly informs how they lead today. They understand that academic mastery is key to long-term success.
Their leadership style also reflects a natural relationship with technology. Digital tools are foundational. They design their own graphics, use online fundraising platforms and rely on social media to share stories and mobilize support. Comfortable with virtual collaboration, they move quickly, operate transparently and reach supporters beyond traditional networks.
Youth-led innovation is an emerging force and precisely what makes these organizations effective. Which brings us to nonprofit governance.
If nonprofits are serious about sustainability, relevance and impact, they must intentionally bring Gen Z voices
into boardrooms as valued contributors. Young leaders bring lived experience, cultural insight and digital fluency.
“It’s time that older nonprofit boards grant us an opportunity to serve if they want their legacy to continue,” Kuykindall says. “If we’re allowed to lead now, transitions will be smoother later because we’ll be ready to carry on.”
Philanthropy is changing in many ways. This evolution includes the coming of age of a generation shaped by unprecedented events. Among them are philanthropists who feel an urgency to take responsibility for the future they will carry forward. By embracing and nurturing Gen Z’s innovative and momentum-driven leadership, communities can remain focused on relevant needs and deploy approaches responsive to present realities rather than past assumptions.
With an unfiltered understanding of disparity informed by this decade’s converging crises, Gen Z is ready to act. As the consequences of this period continue to surface, the nonprofit sector must make room for the next generation of philanthropists — recognizing their power and giving them the autonomy to deploy strategies only they understand best.
Judith Black Moore is a nonprofit consultant and the founder of Taking Back the Future, a youth-focused nonprofit. With decades of leadership experience at nationally recognized nonprofit organizations, she brings a seasoned, strategic lens to the issues that matter most in the nonprofit sector.
By Jake Coyle Associated Press
Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic “Sinners” led all films with 16 nominations to the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, setting a record for the most in Oscar history.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters showered “Sinners” with more nominations than they had ever bestowed before, breaking the 14-nomination mark set by “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land.” Along with best picture, Coogler was nominated for best director and best screenplay, and double-duty star Michael B. Jordan was rewarded with his first Oscar nomination, for best actor.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s father-daughter revolutionary saga “One Battle After Another,” the favorite coming into nominations, trailed in second with 13 of its own. Four of its actors — Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn — were nominated, though newcomer Chase Infiniti was left out in best actress.
In those two top nominees, the film academy put its full force behind a pair of visceral and bracingly original American epics that each connected with a fraught national moment. Coogler’s Jim Crow-era film set in Clarksdale, Mississippi — the rare horror movie to win the academy’s favor — conjures a mythical allegory of Black life. In “One Battle After Another,” a dormant spirit of rebellion is revived in an out-of-control police state.
Both are also Warner Bros. titles. In the midst of a contentious sale to Netflix, the 102-year-old studio had one of its best Oscar nominations mornings ever, with 30 nods. As the fate of
Warner Bros., which Netflix is looking to buy for $72 billion, hangs in the balance amid a challenge from Paramount Skydance, Hollywood is bracing for potentially the largest realignment in the film industry’s history.
For Coogler, the 39-year-old filmmaker of “Fruitvale Station” and “Black Panther,” it was a crowning moment. One of Hollywood’s most esteemed yet humble filmmakers, Coogler has called “Sinners” — a film that he will own outright 25 years after its release — his most personal movie.
“I wrote this script for my uncle who passed away 11 years ago,” Coogler said in an interview Thursday morning. “I got to imagine that he’s listening to some blues music right now to celebrate.”
Coogler held three screenings of the movie in Clarksdale in May 2025 after local activist Tyler Yarbrough extended an invitation, accompanied by a petition signed by town residents, that couldn’t be refused. The town of 14,000 does not have a movie theater so the screenings took place at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium. Coogler and some cast and crew members attended the showings.
“Sinners” also has received 18 NAACP Image Awards nominations. Reached by phone an hour after the nominations were read, Coogler — speaking alongside his wife and producer Zinzi Coogler and producer Sev Ohanian — was still trying to process the movie’s record-breaking haul.
“I love making movies. I’m honored to wake up every day and do it. I was writing last night. That’s why I didn’t get too much sleep,” said Coogler,
chuckling. “Honestly, bro, I still feel a little bit asleep right now.”
The other top nominees
The 10 films nominated for best picture are “Bugonia,” “F1,” “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “One Battle After Another,” “The Secret Agent,” “Sentimental Value,” “Sinners” and “Train Dreams.”
Guillermo del Toro’s lush Mary Shelley adaptation “Frankenstein,” Josh Safdie’s period ping-pong odyssey “Marty Supreme” and Joachim Trier’s family drama “Sentimental Value” all scored nine nominations. Chloé Zhao’s speculative Shakespeare drama “Hamnet” collected eight nods. With the notable exception of del Toro, those filmmakers filled up a best director category of Anderson, Coogler, Safdie, Trier and Zhao, who in 2021 became the first woman of color to ever win the award.
The nine nods for “Marty Supreme” included a third best actor nod for 30-year-old Timothée Chalamet, the favorite in the category he narrowly missed winning last year for “A Complete Unknown.” With Jordan and Chalamet, the nominees are Leonardo DiCaprio for “One Battle After Another,” Ethan Hawke for “Blue Moon” and Wagner Moura for “The Secret Agent.” Nominated for best actress was the category favorite, Jessie Buckley
(“Hamnet”), along with Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) and two-time winner Emma Stone, who landed her sixth nomination, for “Bugonia.”
‘KPop’ leads a field light on big hits
The year’s most-watched movie, with more than half a billion views on Netflix, “KPop Demon Hunters,” scored nominations for both best song (“Golden”) and best animated feature. Sony Pictures developed and produced the film, but, after selling it to Netflix, watched it become a worldwide sensation.
Blockbusters otherwise had a difficult morning. Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good” was shut out entirely. While “Avatar: Fire and Ash” notched nominations for costume design and visual effects, it became the first “Avatar” film not nominated for best picture. The biggest box-office hit nominated for Hollywood’s top award instead was “F1,” an Apple production that landed four nominations.
The 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be televised live on ABC and Hulu. YouTube’s new deal to exclusively air won’t take effect until 2029. This year, Conan O’Brien will return as host.
By Lee Eric Smith TSD Contributing Writer
In a season when the language of diversity has become a political target, a Memphis forum on racial healing insisted the work still starts the same way it always has — with truth, relationships and people willing to show up for each other.
Hosted recently at First Baptist Church-Broad, the “National Day of Racial Healing” discussion was presented by the NAACP Memphis Branch and the NAACP Tennessee State Conference, drawing faith leaders, advocates and community members for a wide-ranging conversation about what healing looks like in a polarized climate.
“We want to explore and listen and learn from each other as we seek common ground toward racial healing in our community, in our state, and hopefully in our nation,” moderator Otis Sanford told the audience. The goal, he added, was not to “blame anyone or belittle anyone,” but to engage in respectful dialogue — rooted in what he repeatedly framed as “truth telling.”
The panel included Pastor Keith Norman of First Baptist ChurchBroad; Gloria Sweet-Love, president of the NAACP Tennessee State Conference; Rachel Shankman, founding director of the Memphis office of Facing History and Ourselves; Mauricio Calvo, president and CEO of Latino Memphis; and Bishop Marvin F. Thomas Sr., a member of the NAACP national board.
From the outset, Norman pushed back against the temptation to treat
political one.
“One of the agents said to me, ‘What are you so upset about?’” Norman recalled, as if the incident did not involve him. “But the idea that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere has to mean that we stand up for everybody.” He pushed the point further with a line that became a refrain for the room: “The issue is the issue. Injustice is the issue.”
racial progress as a settled question.
“There is still a very prevalent problem of racism,” he said. “It’s worse today than it was because the expectation of being better and the tools that we have to improve it are far greater — and we’ve done less with more.”
But the most pointed moments of the evening came when the discussion shifted from abstract values to what solidarity demands in real time — especially between communities often described together as “black and brown.”
Calvo spoke candidly about what he called a hard truth in the Latino community: a tendency not to show up
consistently for Black-led causes, even when Black leaders are advocating for immigrants and Latinos.
“It’s not a point of pride,” Calvo said. “It’s something that I’m personally ashamed for — that my community … is oftentimes not showing up for the Black community.” Healing, he said, requires more than sympathy. “If you want to have a friend,” Calvo added, “you also have to be a friend.”
Norman underscored that principle with an account from his own church campus. He said ICE agents entered the church parking lot less than a week earlier and detained people — a moment he described as a moral test, not a
Sweet-Love echoed the same theme through the lens of lived memory — how the mistreatment of Latino workers can trigger recognition in Black communities because the dynamics are familiar.
“When I see Latinos being mistreated and given the lowest of jobs and not getting their pay on time, it takes me back to what my daddy said and what I saw as a child,” she said. “So we got to stand up. We must stand up.”
Thomas described the work as communal discipline — not just personal goodwill — and said racial healing is possible only when people in institutions are willing to admit the problem and commit to change.
“One of the starting places is being
“Do justly now. Love mercifully now. Walk humbly now … You’re not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
— Rachel Shankman
sion-makers as a necessary form of accountability.
she said. “But if you don’t vote, you don’t count.”
willing to tell the truth that we do have a problem,” he said, adding that healing cannot happen if society tries to “erase people’s history and stories, diminish them and dismiss them.”
Shankman, whose work in education is built around teaching history honestly, argued that the word “community” is often used without being defined — and that in a polarized era, defining it matters.
“Do we see the humanity in each other even when we disagree?” she asked. “It’s a time to have humility … to enter into conversations with curiosity.”
Quoting a definition she credited to Suzanne Goldsmith of City Year, Shankman said community is not made up of people who like each other, but
people who believe they are part of something larger than themselves. In that spirit, she challenged the idea that difference should be feared or managed away.
“Difference is not deficiency,” Shankman said. “Difference is dignity.”
As the discussion turned to politics, Calvo warned against outsourcing moral change to elected officials or limiting civic engagement to election season.
“If it’s going to be possible, it’s going to be up to us,” he said. “It’s almost like they’re counting on us not showing up.”
The work, he said, includes voting, but also the unglamorous labor of pushing leaders year-round. “You have to do that all the time,” he said, describing regular engagement with local deci-
Sanford connected those themes to a local flashpoint: the closing of the University of Memphis Office of Multicultural Affairs at the start of the fall semester. He said the debate over diversity and inclusion has become distorted, treated as a threat rather than a civic good, and asked why institutions comply so quickly with anti-DEI pressure.
“For businesses and law firms and even universities,” Sanford said, “it is about the money.”
The panelists did not pretend there was a single strategy for pushing back. But they agreed the response must include a willingness to stand publicly, not just privately agree.
Sweet-Love, known for her blunt organizing style, called for “good old letter writing and emailing and phone calls,” along with op-eds and sustained public pressure. “We can talk all day,”
Norman urged creativity and, when needed, defiance. He described receiving a cease-and-desist letter challenging a “Black Men in White Coats” initiative he helps sponsor and said the answer was not retreat, but building alternate support.
“We have to learn when to be defiant,” he said, “and learn how to create solutions … and quit taking the easy way out.”
At the close, Sanford asked for brief takeaways, and the answers sounded less like slogans than marching orders.
“Show up for each other,” Calvo said. “Do not be afraid.”
Shankman offered a final moral reminder borrowed from what she called “one of our sages.”
“Do justly now. Love mercifully now. Walk humbly now … You’re not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
By James Coleman TSD Contributing Writer
Memphis weathered subfreezing temperatures and a blanket of snow and sleet, as the city on the bluff was spared the brunt of a historic winter storm that hammered much of the nation.
Temperatures plunged into the low 20s across Shelby County beginning last Friday, followed by a wintry mix the next day. By the time the storm ended Sunday, as much as four inches of precipitation had fallen. Some areas received more, with parts of Germantown reporting totals of up to six inches. Snow fell at a rate of about an inch per hour, according to the National Weather Service in Memphis.
Much of it remains.
Main roads and major arteries are passable, though traffic is moving slowly. Most neighborhood streets, however, remain covered with hard-packed snow and ice.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools canceled in-person classes for the remainder of the week to the delight of many children, who braved the cold to play in the snow. Many businesses across the city remain closed Wednesday. Memphis Light, Gas & Water reported just 44 power outages during the storm.
The question now is whether temperatures will climb high enough — and remain there long enough — for the sun to melt the accumulated snow and ice. After a low of minus 1 Monday night, temperatures were forecast to rise into the mid-30s Wednesday and the high 30s Thursday. Evening temperatures are expected to fall back into the low 20s. Morning fog Wednesday left a thin coating of ice on roadways and vehicles.
Forecasters say temperatures will dip below freezing again Thursday night after reaching a high of 42 degrees earlier in the day. Another round of snow is possible Sunday, with a high near 25 degrees. More seasonable temperatures in the mid-40s are expected to return by Monday.
Roads in Memphis and surrounding areas are unlikely to be fully cleared until the middle of next week. A wintry mix is also forecast, though it is not expected to linger like this storm.
Across the country, communities continue to struggle in the wake of the Arctic blast. Parts of the Southern Plains reported as much as 31 inches of snow. Closer to home, much of the Sun Belt — including Mississippi — was coated in ice. Between 140,000 and 160,000 power outages were reported in Mississippi as downed power lines and fallen trees damaged infrastructure.
(Photos: Gary S. Whitlow/Tri-State Defender)
While this week’s snow and ice storm made for a huge inconvenience for adults in Memphis and Shelby County, it was a time of wonderment for many youngsters across area. Bundled up in coats, earmuffs and mittens, they braved the freezing temperatures Sunday and Monday for that rare opportunity to slide on makeshift sleds and throw snowballs at each other. Among them, on Shandy Drive, were Cloe White with Kevin Hoskins and little Knox Hoskins (pictured on the cover). Instead of snowballs, Knox and his little neighbor in a pink coat and white puffy muffs had to settle for foraging chunks of ice as the snow on their block had hardened by Monday.
By Lee Eric Smith TSD Contributing Writer
Mayor Paul Young wants to make it clear — again — for anyone who hasn’t been paying attention: Memphis is not partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on immigration enforcement.
Young drew that line after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking amid national outrage over the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during federal immigration operations, held up Memphis as a model of federal-local “partnership.”
In a social media “check-in” video that began as an update on winter weather and power restoration, Young pivoted to the controversy.
“I want to clarify, yes, they have worked with the city of Memphis on addressing violent crime through the Memphis Safe Task Force,” Young said. “But I want to be very clear, there has been no collaboration with ICE on immigration.”
Young said the issue is not abstract for Memphis — a city with a growing Latino population and ongoing anxiety about federal immigration tactics.
“We know that our Hispanic brothers and sisters in this community have been working really hard,” Young said. “They make up about 9 percent of our population, the fastest growing population in our community. We want to make sure that as they move about in this community that they feel safe.”
“And so we have been very clear to have that line in the sand where our officers do not assist on immigration in any way,” he said.
Noem’s Memphis reference, and why it landed here
Noem’s comment came during a national moment in which the credibility of federal accounts of immigration enforcement encounters — particularly
in Minneapolis — is under intensifying scrutiny.
A Reuters investigation published Tuesday said video and other evidence in multiple cases has contradicted initial claims made by Trump administration immigration officials, including in the Minneapolis killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
In a Jan. 25 CNN interview segment, Noem contrasted Minneapolis leadership with Memphis, praising what she characterized as cooperation from a Democratic mayor and crediting federal partnership for a sharp drop in violence.
“I’ll point to the city of Memphis, which is where there is a Democrat mayor in place,” Noem said. “He worked with us and our federal law enforcement officers, and we saw murder rates drop by 50 percent because of that partnership.”
Young’s response sought to separate violent-crime enforcement from immigration enforcement — a distinction that has become politically and emotionally charged as images and headlines from Minneapolis drive protests across the country.
Nobody west of Nashville asked for the Memphis Safe Task Force to come to Memphis. In fact, Young learned about it virtually when everyone else did — right before President Donald Trump announced it in September.
Even as other “blue cities” with Democratic leaders fought back against Trump’s crackdowns in Portland, Chicago and Washington D.C., Memphis leaders took a different approach. After all, whereas those cities had the support of their Democratic governors, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, was there at the press conference announcing the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis.
(In related news, a group of Shelby
County leaders is suing Lee over the deployment. A Davidson county judge ruled against Lee, but the case is in appeal. The City of Memphis is not part of the lawsuit.)
With no support from Nashville, Young and Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis have taken a “make the best of it” approach, aiming to steer manpower and resources to minimize negative impacts and maximize the “fighting violent crime” part.
As for the involved federal agencies, pretty much all the alphabets are involved: FBI, ATF, DEA and DHS are in Memphis. The Tennessee Highway Patrol recently announced it will remain an increased presence in Memphis after the task force ends.
Noem claimed the murder rate in Memphis had declined 50 percent because of the partnership.
The best on-the-record comparison point is the Memphis Police Department’s own year-end reporting.
In a Jan. 3 department release summarizing 2025, MPD said murders were down 47 percent compared to 2023, and the city finished 2025 with fewer than 200 homicides for the first time since 2019.
And while a MSTF surge that began last autumn certainly locked away some criminals and scared others enough to stay home, MPD had reported a trend of declining violent crime dating back to 2023. Indeed, from providing grants for crime prevention, to major gang busts to rolling out high-tech artificial intelligence camera systems, Memphis already had momentum on crime before the task force showed up.
“These reductions did not happen by chance,” Davis said in a Jan. 3 statement. “They are the result of strategic policing, strong partnerships, and holding violent offenders accountable while
supporting victims and survivors. As we move into 2026, our focus remains clear — sustain the gain and keep building a Stronger, Safer Memphis.”
If Young’s message was “don’t put words in my mouth,” the subtext is also what Memphis leaders and organizers have argued since the federal surge began: If Washington truly wants to help, it should fund what prevents violence, and strengthen the less glamorous systems that make cases stick — from investigative capacity to forensic work, not just high-visibility deployments.
Memphians have also been clear about what they want changed upstream, starting with tougher gun laws to counter the permitless carry law that GOP legislators signed off on in 2021.
In November 2024, city voters overwhelmingly backed a package of gun-safety measures, including a declaration about the public-safety threat posed by assault weapons. GOP legislators pretty much dismissed the referendum out of hand.
But more than anything, leaders want diversion — programs and resources that intervene before anyone is shot, killed or arrested. It’s the kind of work that Portia Moore does through her nonprofit, TRAP (Transitional Reentry Adult Program).
“We build job readiness, financial literacy, self-esteem; we help people see that there are assets and resources,” Moore told the TSD last fall at a Cities United gathering of community leaders. “That’s how you stop crime — not just with boots on the ground, but with people they can relate to.
“We appreciate safety,” she continued. “But safety without trust, safety without dignity? That’s not real safety.”
The state of Minnesota, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed federal lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that a large-scale deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violated the U.S. Constitution and the states’ rights.
Attorney General Keith Ellison asked a federal judge to block the federal government from deploying thousands of immigration agents into Minnesota, arguing the action overstepped federal authority.
“We allege that the surge has had a reckless impact on our schools and on our local law enforcement,” Ellison said. “It is a violation of the Tenth Amendment and the sovereign powers granted to states under the Constitution.”
The lawsuit follows reports that ICE agents detained a special education assistant at Roosevelt High School and used chemical irritants against teachers and students, hours after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good near Portland Avenue and 34th Street in Minneapolis.
Ellison said the state is challenging what he described as “excessive and lethal force” by federal agents, including warrantless arrests and targeting of courts, houses of worship, and schools.
PBS Frontline reporter AC Thompson told Ellison that his reporting crew was pepper-sprayed by federal agents while covering enforcement activity. “Is this litigation aimed at restraining the use of crowd-control and less-lethal weapons?” Thompson asked. “Our crew was pepper-sprayed today by federal agents. Are you taking action on that?”
Ellison said the state believes the
actions are part of a broader pattern of retaliation by the federal government.
“We believe that the federal government is persecuting the state of Minnesota because of our political views,” Ellison said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the surge, which began in December, is expected to cost the city millions of dollars in police overtime.
“We have normal core functions that we are tasked with daily,” Frey said. “We respond to 911 calls, work to prevent murders and carjackings, and continue community policing efforts that have driven crime rates down.”
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Minneapolis police established a dedicated dispatch operation to handle 911 calls related to encounters with federal agents.
“We had a dramatic increase in calls
related to this activity,” O’Hara said. “There is a designated supervisor on duty 24/7 to field those calls and prioritize response as policies continue to evolve.”
Frey said residents reported incidents of agents in unmarked uniforms and cars detaining American citizens.
On Jan. 8, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained two workers at a Target store in Richfield, including 17-year-old Jonathan Aguilar Garcia, who was later released at a Walmart parking lot after agents confirmed he was a U.S. citizen.
“Some of you saw the videos from Target and Roosevelt High School,” Ellison said. “I have received countless calls from people saying they are afraid to go to work, and they’re citizens, not immigrants.”
Retailers including Target, Home Depot, and Walmart have faced criticism
for allowing ICE to use parking lots as staging areas. Separately, security staff at Hennepin County Medical Center reportedly asked federal agents to leave a stabilization room after an injured person was brought in during an arrest. The agents allegedly refused.
State and local officials argue the incidents reflect what they describe as an ICE “invasion” of Minneapolis and other cities under a pretext of fraud enforcement.
David Super, a Georgetown University law professor, said Minnesota’s lawsuit is distinct from similar challenges in other states because the civil rights claims are being brought by the state itself.
“To prevail, Minnesota must persuade a court that the federal government is acting outside the powers granted by the Constitution and depriving the state of its sovereignty,” Super said. “While DHS has primary authority over immigration, these actions appear to extend against Minnesotans who are neither immigrants nor directly involved with immigration enforcement.”
Super said the court could issue emergency relief, such as a temporary restraining order, though such orders are limited in duration and subject to appeal by DHS. He also noted the case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, where a conservative majority has previously ruled in favor of the Trump administration in immigration-related cases.
“Surrounding Ms. Good’s car, ordering her out, and shooting her for noncompliance goes far beyond federal authority to control immigration,” Super said. “A court could determine that such interactions with citizens are a core power of the state under the Tenth Amendment.”
Alex Jeffery Pretti, 37, was shot and killed by federal immigration officers in south Minneapolis, prompting protests and calls for accountability.
By Izzy Canizares Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Contributor
Less than a month after the fatal shooting of Renée Good, a Minneapolis resident was shot and killed by federal immigration officers early Saturday morning, sparking chaos in the city and prompting a forceful law enforcement response that included flash grenades and chemical irritants used against community members.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed during a news conference that Alex Jeffery Pretti, 37, was shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. O’Hara said Pretti had no serious criminal history and had worked as a nurse since 2021, most recently as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Hospital.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a social media post that Pretti was armed and that officers were attempting to disarm him when an agent fired what DHS described as “defensive shots.” The identity of the ICE agent involved has not been released. O’Hara confirmed that Pretti was legally licensed to carry a firearm.
“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots,” DHS said in a Facebook statement. “Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
However, videos of the encounter circulated widely online hours later, raising questions about DHS’s account. Multiple videos appear to show Pretti on the ground with officers on top of him before shots are fired, after which he remains motionless.
“I’m sick of this,” said a Minneapolis resident who only gave the first name Shawn, who witnessed part of the incident. “I’ve never felt unsafe in this city until ICE came here. This feels like an authoritarian government terrorizing people.”
Another video appears to show Pretti attempting to intervene as officers restrained another woman. Moments later, Pretti and another resident appear to be sprayed with chemical irritants before officers force him to the ground.
The shooting intensified anger in a community already grieving the recent
SHELBY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING
killing of Renée Good. City and state leaders quickly called for independent investigations into Pretti’s death.
“This is not a partisan issue, this is an American issue,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference. “If the goal was peace and safety, this accomplished the exact opposite.”
Residents said fear quickly turned into outrage. “They shoot first and ask questions later,” said Chino, who lives nearby and did not want his full name used. “This affects everybody’s safety.”
By Saturday evening, more than 200 people had gathered in the Whittier neighborhood demanding accountability. Protesters were met by armored vehicles, law enforcement officers deploying flashbang grenades, and chemical irritants. Thick smoke filled several blocks, spreading into residential and commercial areas.
“We were peacefully protesting after they shot another one of our neighbors, and they attacked us with tear gas and concussion grenades,” said Bryan Ebert, speaking to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder shortly after the deployment. “Our city was safe before this.”
Law enforcement agencies blocked roads in as crowds continued to grow near the original scene. Videos recorded by residents show multiple types of chemical agents being deployed. Authorities have not publicly identified the specific agents used.
Rubber bullets and spent chemical canisters were later visible throughout the streets. Officials confirmed that the National Guard had been requested at the Whipple Federal Building and throughout the Whittier neighborhood.
“We are a city built on community,” said resident Janaya. “What’s happening right now is political, and people are standing together because they’re tired of being targeted.”
Ebert described the presence of federal agents as unaccountable and destabilizing. “We have no recourse when they commit violence in our neighborhoods,” he said. “But the people will survive. We always do.”
FISCAL YEAR 2027 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN PUBLIC HEARING
Shelby County Department of Housing (SCDH) will hold two public hearings to discuss Shelby County housing and community development needs in preparation for the Fiscal Year 2027 Annual Action Plan (HUD Program Year 2026, Annual Planning Year 3 (AP3)) on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 12:00pm and 5:30 pm and provide both in-person and virtual attendance options.
In Person Attendance Option: Shelby County Code Enforcement, Conference Room, 6465 Mullins Station Road Memphis, TN 38134. Attendees should enter the Code Enforcement Building through the north entrance facing the Greenline. Follow the posted signs to the meeting room.
Virtual Attendance Option: A virtual option to join is also provided, and participants can join the meeting with a computer, tablet, or smartphone at:
12:00pm https://tinyurl.com/4aak4fu2 or call +1 323-591-8428 Conference ID: 336 504 726#.
5:30pm https://tinyurl.com/4uz8pzb2 or call +1 323-591-8428 Conference ID: 365 660 120#
If you plan to attend the public hearing and have special needs, please contact the Department of Housing at (901) 222-7600 by 4:30 p.m. Friday, February 20, 2026 and we will work to accommodate you. Resident input and public participation are strongly encouraged.
The consolidated planning process for FY 2025-2029 serves as the framework for a community-wide dialogue to identify housing and community development priorities that align and focus funding from the Community Planning and Development (CPD) formula grant programs Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program. The FY 2027 Annual Action Plan establishes within this broader Consolidated Plan (FY 2025-2029) the basis for the use of these formula funds for the period of July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027. The primary purpose of this hearing is to receive comments on community development needs to consider them in the FY 2027 Annual Action Plan. Shelby County anticipates receiving level funding for the upcoming program year. Shelby County expects to submit the Annual Plan for FY 2027 to HUD on or before May 15, 2026 following a 30-day review and comment period, provided HUD has announced allocations prior to that time.
Shelby County Department of Housing has also prepared an Allocation Plan to utilize HOME American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds intended to assist individuals and households that are experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, and address the needs of other vulnerable populations. SCDH will provide an update and share work with community agencies conducting eligible activities outlined in the HOME-ARP notice CPD-21-10 published September 2021.
The hearing will also provide an update on current activities under the CDBG and HOME Programs, information on Section 3 contracting opportunities, and will provide information on other programs operated by SCDH.
Persons wishing to comment on the FY 2027 Annual Action Plan (AP3) or HOME-ARP Allocation Plan may do so by writing to Dana Sjostrom via email (dana.sjostrom@shelbycountytn.gov),
or written comment to Shelby County Department of Housing, 6465 Mullins Station Road, Memphis, TN 38134. Shelby County will schedule an additional public hearing in April 2026 to present the proposed Annual Action Plan for FY 2027 for public comment before it is submitted to HUD. For additional information contact the Department of Housing at 901-222-7600 or TTY at 901-222-2300.
The Shelby County Department of Housing does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or disability in employment or the provision of services. Equal opportunity/equal access provider.
Para mas información en Español, por favor llame Dana Sjostrom al 901-222-7601.
Lee Harris Mayor
Scott Walkup, Administrator Shelby County Department of Housing
As County Trustee, I am required by law to publish the following statement:
You are advised that after March 31st, 2026, Additional penalties and costs will be imposed in consequence of suits to be filed for enforcement of the lien for taxes against real property; until the filing of such suits, taxes may be paid at my office.
REGINA MORRISON NEWMAN SHELBY COUNTY TRUSTEE
This notice pertains to delinquent 2024 Shelby County and (if applicable) Town of Arlington, City of Bartlett, Town of Collierville, City of Germantown, City of Lakeland, City of Memphis and City of Millington Realty taxes only.
January 2026
As County Trustee, I am required by law to publish the following statement:
You are advised that after March 31st , 2026, Additional interest and costs will be imposed in consequence of suits to be filed for enforcement of the lien for taxes against personal property; until the filing of such suits, taxes may be paid at my office.
REGINA MORRISON NEWMAN SHELBY COUNTY TRUSTEE
This notice pertains to delinquent 2024 Shelby County and (if applicable) Town of Arlington, City of Bartlett, Town of Collierville, City of Germantown, City of Lakeland, City of Memphis and City of Millington Personalty and Tennessee State Assessed property taxes only.
January 2026
Book review
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
You knew it years ago.
When you were little and people asked you what you wanted to do when you grew up, the answer was obvious. You had a dream and an idea. Sure, other interests caught your eye once in a while but you always came back to that one plan, that one thing. As in the new book, “Lovely One” by Ketanji Brown Jackson (adapted for young readers), you might be a kid but you’ve always known what you wanted.
When she was just 4 years old, little Ketanji Brown sat with her father at their kitchen table most evenings, watching as he studied his books and prepared for a career in law. He sometimes included his daughter by playfully asking for her advice on his lessons. A memory stuck with her for the rest of her life and instilled a lifelong intrigue for legal matters.
Brown Jackson says that she was lucky to have had so many inspirational, focused ancestors to give her family a solid base, and she was fortunate to be born in the fall of 1970, to parents who had worked hard to secure civil rights. They encouraged that same activism in their children, and they expected excellence in their education. For as long as Brown Jackson could remember, they nurtured in her “a spirit of perseverance,” allowed for extracurricular activities, and helped her seize many opportunities.
She continued to be a good student and a good kid. Then one afternoon,
everything clicked into place.
A few days before her 12th birthday, she says, she discovered a magazine article about a Black woman, a lawyer, who broke ground before Brown Jackson was even born, and it “would extend my horizons.” She realized that the memory of studying with her father “was only the beginning for me,” she says.
Little did she know then that she, too, would break ground someday.
There is, of course, more to the story of Brown Jackson’s life, her career, and her history-making appointment to the Supreme Court; “Lovely One” brings readers up to date. For a kid, that’s great, but the bigger appeal may come from the way the story is told here. In this version, adapted for young readers, time is taken to show that Brown Jackson was just an ordinary kid once.
Playing, attending classes she loved and ones she disliked, traveling, spending time with her grandparents, getting a new sibling — these are experiences Jackson shares with young readers, and they’re very engaging. Her narrative, though it uses adult-level language, is easy to grasp and quite relatable for her audience, and her excitement at some of her life’s highlights is delightfully charming. Jackson never talks down to kids who read this book, nor to the grown-ups who might find it less daunting than its similar adult version.
If a biography is on your 12-and-up student’s reading list, think of this book first. For you, and for a kid who needs inspiration, finding “Lovely One” is the thing to do.
