When Mike Kernell first took his seat in the House chamber in Nashville he had just turned and he was a political newcomer inspired to run for office in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. just six years earlier.

2. Memphis in May Symbolizes City - Monday, May 07, 2012

Japan was the first country honored by the Memphis in May International Festival.

The reason was simple. The Sharp Manufacturing plant had just opened in the then-remote Hickory Hill area of Shelby County, making televisions and microwave ovens.

3. Students at Heart of Coley’s Legislative Work - Friday, May 04, 2012

It was a year of turmoil in American history and a turning point in the life of one junior student at Messick High School in Memphis.

As current state Rep. Jim Coley, Republican from District 97, remembers it: “(1968) was the year Dr. King was assassinated, I believe on April 4; then six weeks later Robert Kennedy was assassinated in California.”

4. Hot Commodity - Monday, September 26, 2011

Standing on a sidewalk that faces Germantown Parkway, across from the entrance to Bellevue Baptist Church, a man wears a gold-colored track suit and backwards cap while waving an oversized sign in the shape of an arrow that announces to passing motorists, “We Buy Gold. Highest prices paid.”

5. Motions Offer New Details in Petties Drug Case - Friday, June 03, 2011

Three of the four remaining defendants in the largest and most violent drug case ever brought in Memphis federal court want more information about the cases against them and a separate trial for two of them.

6. Obama Sets Ambitious Goal to Reduce US Oil Imports - Thursday, March 31, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for a one-third reduction in U.S. oil imports by 2025, reviving a long-elusive goal of reducing America's dependence on foreign supplies as political unrest rocks the Middle East and gasoline prices rise at home.

7. Palin E-mail Hacker Sentenced to Year in Custody - Monday, November 15, 2010

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former University of Tennessee student who hacked into Sarah Palin's e-mail account during the 2008 presidential campaign was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in custody, with the judge recommending a halfway house instead of prison.

8. USGBC Sharpens Green Building Focus - Thursday, August 26, 2010

Sustainability remains a buzzword in the building trade, but industry professionals emphasize that it’s more than a passing trend – green design is here to stay.

Later this week, two educational seminars offered through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Memphis Regional Chapter aim to drive home that point.

9. Obama Walk in Sand is Prelude to Primetime Speech - Wednesday, June 16, 2010

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - Laying the groundwork for an evening speech to the nation, President Barack Obama walked a pristine stretch of sand on Florida's shoreline Tuesday and pledged to "fight back with everything we've got" against the spreading oil lurking offshore.

10. Republicans Pick Tampa for 2012 Convention - Thursday, May 13, 2010

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Republicans choose Tampa as the site of their 2012 presidential convention, hoping the swing state of Florida will help them defeat President Barack Obama.

A Republican National Committee panel recommended the Gulf Coast city during a closed-door meeting, rejecting Salt Lake City and Phoenix. The decision came amid calls from Hispanic groups and others to boycott Arizona after it adopted a law to crack down on illegal immigrants.

11. Hooks Remembered for Trail-Blazing Life - Thursday, April 22, 2010

National civil rights leader the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks was eulogized Wednesday as an icon who lived very much in the present.

A memorial service for Hooks, the former national executive director of the NAACP, a Criminal Court judge, Federal Communications Commission commissioner, preacher and attorney, filled Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ on Downtown’s south end.

12. Sheriff's Race Attracts Hard-Boiled Veterans - Monday, April 19, 2010

Most of the Democratic and Republican candidates for Shelby County sheriff gathered last month in the office of outgoing Sheriff Mark Luttrell.

13. Civil Rights Icon Hooks Dies at 85 - Friday, April 16, 2010

Right up to the end, the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks was part of daily life in Memphis.

The national NAACP leader, attorney, Federal Communications Commission commissioner, preacher and judge died Thursday at his Memphis home after a long illness. He was 85.

14. Elvis’ Clash With Media Showing at DC Newseum - Friday, March 12, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) – A spark that helped ignite Elvis Presley’s fame more than 50 years ago was lit by the newspaper editors and critics who hated him.

They detested his voice and thought his moves were unfit for family publications, all while teenagers went wild. It’s that shocking style and clash with the media that also will make Elvis the subject of a new exhibition at the Newseum, a Washington history museum that celebrates the First Amendment.

15. Is 9th District Really Black? Maybe, Expert Says - Wednesday, February 10, 2010
 

One of the most hotly contested issues of the Democratic congressional primary race between Willie Herenton and Steve Cohen may be why the district lines are drawn the way they are.

The 9th Congressional District has been predominantly in Memphis for decades. In recent years it has grown to take in small parts of the suburbs. The lines could change again after the 2010 Census, when the Tennessee Legislature begins its usual reapportioning process.

Herenton and his supporters have repeatedly said the district’s borders were drawn to enhance the possibility of black representation in a congressional delegation that’s all white.

“I want you ... to help us to retrieve for our children what we lost in representation,” Herenton told a predominantly black crowd of 300 people Saturday at an East Memphis campaign rally.

To make the point even plainer, Herenton quoted radio talk show host and political blogger Thaddeus Matthews.

“Think about that. White folks, y’all got all 11. We just want one,” Herenton said to cheers from the crowd.

The legal concept and practice of drawing districts that reflect a majority black population, however, is not that simple. It’s rooted in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Section II of the act requires that, in certain circumstances, districts be drawn to “give effect to the political preferences of the minority population.”

“This is actually a fairly technical area and it’s been the subject of a lot of litigation over the years, trying to interpret how Section II applies,” said attorney John Ryder.

Ryder is a Republican National Committeeman and chairman of the RNC’s redistricting committee. He is also the most experienced attorney locally of either party in the law and political effect of drawing district boundaries.

The clearest guideline for the creation of such a district is the 1986 Gingles case from North Carolina, which established three criteria or preconditions to create such a district:

• The minority population must be compact and contiguous.
• The minority population usually votes as a bloc.
• The white population usually votes as a bloc in such a way as to defeat the minority population’s candidate of choice.

Tennessee meets the first condition, Ryder said.

“The problem with the second two … conditions is that it’s hard to argue that the white majority votes in such a way as to defeat the preferred candidate of the minority population’s choice when we’ve elected Barack Obama as president,” he said, adding the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Tennessee in which Harold Ford Jr. got 49 percent of the vote in a statewide race won by Bob Corker.

“You just don’t see the kind of racial bloc voting that existed in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was originally passed,” Ryder said.

The first black political leader to claim what is now the 9th District seat did so in the 1974 midterm congressional elections, in a district drawn with no overt racial considerations.

Harold Ford Sr. was a Democratic state representative at the time, seeking to unseat Dan Kuykendall, the white Republican congressman from Memphis in what was then the 8th Congressional District.

After the 1970 census, the majority Democrat Tennessee Legislature redrew congressional district lines to cede to Republicans seats in the majority GOP eastern end of the state, Ryder said. They also moved to create more Democratic districts in West Tennessee by splitting the Republicans outside Memphis between the 8th and 7th districts.

“As a result in 1972, those seats elected Republicans,” Ryder said. “They got a little too clever and overreached. What was then the 8th district was drawn to be a Democrat district, not necessarily a black district.”

Ford upset Kuykendall in the year of Watergate, when Republican incumbents were imperiled by the scandal and the tarnished presidency of Richard Nixon. Kuykendall also underestimated Ford, who held the seat for 22 years. His son, Harold Ford Jr., continued for another 10 years.

By then, black voters were considered the majority of registered voters in Memphis. The official numbers from the Shelby County Election Commission by themselves are less conclusive.

Voter registration statistics as of Jan. 31 show there are 412,433 voters in the city of Memphis. Of that number, 183,443 are black and 96,686 are white. Another 132,304 are listed as “other,” meaning they are of another racial group or did not indicate their race on voter registration forms.

The 2000 U.S Census puts the city’s population at 670,902 with 61.4 percent black and 34.4 percent white. Of the total population counted, 27.9 percent were younger than 18.

Ryder said the central question that was already present when Cohen was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2008 is who is the preferred candidate of the black population.

“Steve Cohen has obviously been successful in obtaining votes from the black population. I think he can make a legitimate claim to be the preferred candidate of choice,” Ryder added. “What it means is the Voting Rights Act certainly led to the creation of a majority black district, and that means that the black population in the 9th District has the opportunity to elect its preferred candidate of choice. In our political system, all players are free to compete to become that preferred candidate.”

Herenton and those putting together his campaign strategy point out that Cohen won the Democratic primary the first time in a large field with numerous black contenders. In 2008, Nikki Tinker returned from that pack for a second try in a smaller field of four challengers. Cohen won easily and Tinker later expressed regret over a controversial campaign strategy that stressed race.

The message to black voters from Herenton’s camp is a tacit admission that Cohen was elected with black votes.

“It’s the only place in Tennessee that you can elect somebody that looks like you,” Shelby County Commissioner Sidney Chism said at Saturday’s rally. “We’ve got to clean up what we messed up. … You should want the same, and if you don’t, something’s wrong.”

16. Where is "Tea Party" Heading? Leaves Are Unclear - Monday, February 08, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The "tea party" activists all agree: Government is too big. Spending is out of control. Individual freedom is at risk. And President Barack Obama's policies are making it all worse.

17. Tenn. Senator Says Obama Showing Nixonian Tendencies - Thursday, October 22, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The third-ranking Senate Republican said Wednesday the Obama administration appears to be launching a Richard Nixon-like political strategy of making an "enemies list" of people who disagree with the president.

18. Local Environmental Issues More Measurable, Says Ex-EPA Official - Thursday, June 11, 2009

James Palmer Jr., an attorney at Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada PLLC, returned this year from his stint as the administrator for Region IV of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

19. Memories of Jumping In the Hospital Elevator - Thursday, May 21, 2009

Watching the new UT-Baptist Research Park go up against the Memphis skyline, I often think of the hospital that once stood there.

I think of a toy truck, painted bright yellow like the construction equipment there now, rolling across the floor of the intensive care unit’s waiting room. I think about riding the elevators and anticipating the right moment to jump to feel the thrill of gravity.

20. Tenn. Electors Cast Votes In Presidential Race - Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Tennessee delegation to the Electoral College on Monday joined other states around the nation in officially casting ballots for president and vice president of the United States.

The 11 Tennessee electors met in the Legislature’s House chambers and voted for Republican John McCain in what’s considered to be a mostly ceremonial procedure, but one mandated by the Constitution.

21. China, U of M Relationship Continues With Health Care Visit - Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The University of Memphis this week began forging another tie with China, hosting a delegation of 19 health care officials from as many far-flung regions of the world’s most populous nation. They are spending three weeks in West Tennessee learning about American health care, particularly in rural areas.

22. Archived Article - Tuesday, February 05, 2008

60 S. Cooper St.
Memphis, TN 38104
Permit Cost: $7.5 million

Project Cost: $12 million (Phase 1)

Permit Date: Applied January 2008

23. Fred Thompson Shakes up His Campaign Staff - Thursday, July 26, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson is shaking up his still-unofficial campaign, replacing his top aide with a former Michigan senator and a veteran Florida strategist.

24. Stephanie Nichols Named PRSA Professional of the Year - Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The Memphis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) honored Stephanie Wilson Nichols as its 2006 Professional of the Year during the 15th annual VOX Awards Gala. This is the second time Nichols has received the award. The first time was in 2000. She served as the VOX Awards committee chair this year, and in 2005 was the chapter president. She also assisted the VOX committee in 2005. Nichols has earned and maintained her PRSA Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) designation since 2000 and has been an active member of PRSA since 1993.

25. 'Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End' - Friday, December 29, 2006

Each time a modern historical figure dies - Pope John Paul II a couple of Aprils ago, for instance, or Princess Diana of Wales in August 1997 - I can't help thinking of a variety of snippets from popular culture, flickering strobe-light style across my mind's eye or my inner ear.

26. Washington Post Veteran Discusses Role in U of M's Journalism Program - Friday, November 03, 2006

As an 8-year-old boy growing up in New York City, Bob Levey caught the newspaper bug early. He would ride the subway and devour the newspapers that had been left behind by commuters.

"I thought they were the most fascinating thing I had ever seen," Levey said.

27. Donelson featured in 'Memphis Innovations' For a Lifetime of Visionary Work - Thursday, June 01, 2006

Lewis R. Donelson III, shareholder in the Memphis office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, has been an innovator all his life.

No wonder Donelson recently became the only attorney featured in the book "Memphis Innovations: People, Ideas, and Innovations That Changed Our World" by Richard Raichelson. The book, which was published Feb. 1 by Power House LLC, is a collection of stories of 50 Memphians who have made an impact on the city and the world.

28. Benjamin Hooks and Wife to be Honored for 50 Years of Service - Thursday, March 16, 2006

Best known for his leadership roles in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks served as a soldier in World War II, a lawyer, a judge, a Federal Communications commissioner and a Baptist minister.

29. Memphis Theological Seminary Installs New Dean - Wednesday, October 19, 2005

The board of trustees of Memphis Theological Seminary installed Dr. Barbara A. Holmes as vice president of academic affairs/dean of the seminary. Holmes joined MTS as a faculty member in the ethics and African-American religious studies programs in 1998. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and a master's degree from Southern Connecticut University.

30. Memphis Leaders Consider Living Wage Issue - Friday, September 23, 2005

Should companies that are given contracts by the city of Memphis be required to pay workers at least $10 an hour with benefits?

For David Ciscel, an economics professor at the University of Memphis, that answer is a resounding 'yes.' Ciscel has written several documents in support of a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum, an idea commonly referred to as a living wage.

31. Archived Article: Newsmakers - Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Timm Locke, president of Locke Marketing Public Relations, was named new executive vice president of NOFMA: The Wood Flooring

Askew Appointed to AIA Fellows Jury

Lee Askew III, partner and founder of Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, was appoin...

32. Archived Article: Ccrfc (lead) - Wednesday, June 13, 2001
By SUE PEASE Board transfers PILOT for Court St. building By SUE PEASE The Daily News The transfer of a tax abatement agreement for an historic building Downtown topped the agenda at the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. meeting Tuesday. The buildin...

33. Archived Article: Govt Focus - Thursday, January 13, 2000
World-Class Music often starts World-class music in tune with Tennessee manufacturers By Carol Davis Special to The Daily News Each time country recording artist Chely Wright takes the stage, she is backed by more than her talented band she is buoye...

34. Archived Article: 7th Inning Lj - Wednesday, July 16, 1997
By LAURIE JOHNSON 7th Inning begins new Midtown store By LAURIE JOHNSON The Daily News Memphis celebrity and sports memorabilia emporium 7th Inning has broken ground on a new 10,000-square-foot facility at 3040 Walnut Grove in Midtown. The new free-...

35. Archived Article: Law Focus - Thursday, February 06, 1997
In the 1976 landmark case, Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty to be constitutional. Bucking the system Federal judge overturns death penalty convictions but doesnt deter local prosecutors By SUZANNE THOMPSON The Daily Ne...

36. Archived Article: Govt Analys - Friday, October 18, 1996
Presidential debates Presidential debates By Berje Yacoubian Special to The Daily News For the past six elections, presidential debates have played a crucial role in crystallizing many voters predispositions about the candidates. Some debates have s...

37. Archived Article: Govt Analys - Friday, June 14, 1996
Politics and peace Politics and peace By Berje Yacoubian Conventional wisdom has it that unless there is a war, President Bill Clinton will be re-elected to a second term this November. Americans generally reward a second term to presidents who mana...

38. Archived Article: Real Briefs - Tuesday, April 09, 1996
04-09 Real briefs AIA Memphis and the Dixon Gallery will present a lecture by Donald Kaufman on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the gallery. He will discuss solutions for problems in choosing color palettes for interiors. He and his wife and partner, Taffy Da...

39. Archived Article: Memos - Wednesday, March 06, 1996
03-06 memos Tim Verner has been named Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers Young Engineer of the Year. Verner is the current president of the Memphis Society of Professional Engineers and previously was chapter president of the American Socie...

40. Archived Article: Govt Analys - Friday, December 29, 1995
12/29 Govt analys Presidential Campaigns: The Message By BERJE YACOUBIAN Special to The Daily News A clear and concise message is today more critical in winning the presidency than even the presidential candidate carrying the message. "Its the ...