The owners of Club 152 in the Beale Street entertainment district are due in Shelby County General Sessions Environmental Court Monday, May 20, for the first hearing on the injunction that closed the popular nightspot Thursday afternoon as a public nuisance.

2. Assisi Foundation Donates $200,000 to Attorney General - Saturday, May 18, 2013

The Assisi Foundation of Memphis Inc. is giving the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office $200,000 to replace file servers and other computer hardware that is outdated as well as desktop and laptop computers. The grant will allow a much-needed update in the computer system of the prosecutor’s office.

3. Club 152 on Beale Closed as Nuisance - Friday, May 17, 2013

Club 152 in the Beale Street entertainment district was closed Thursday, May 16, as a public nuisance.

Memphis Police and officials with the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office emptied the three-level club of customers and employees and then had a locksmith padlock the doors to the club.

4. Assisi Foundation Donates $200,000 to Attorney General - Monday, May 13, 2013

The Assisi Foundation of Memphis Inc. is giving the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office $200,000 to replace file servers and other computer hardware that is outdated as well as desktop and laptop computers.

5. Carson Takes Charge of Shelby Democrats - Friday, April 12, 2013

The new chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party says the 2014 big ballot of county elections will require more than a conclusion that there are more Democrats than Republicans in Shelby County.

6. Troubled Beale Nightspot Changes Hands - Tuesday, April 09, 2013

It’s been almost four months since Club Crave, the Beale Street nightspot with a history of violence under several names, was closed as a public nuisance under state law.

As the legal question of whether the building at 380 Beale St. is off limits for any future nightclub leases works its way through Shelby County General Sessions Environmental Court, the ownership of the club has changed in the last four months.

7. Local GOP Convention Continues Tea Party Effort - Tuesday, March 26, 2013

When Shelby County Republicans got together for the biannual party convention Sunday, March 24, in Bartlett, local party chairman Justin Joy counseled patience.

“There will probably be some moments when this will not appear to be a well-rehearsed wedding,” Joy said.

8. Mudbugs in March Returns to Court Square on March 16 - Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Mudbugs in March will return for the third year to Court Square in Downtown Memphis on Saturday, March 16, from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m.

The day-long festival features an authentic Louisiana crawfish boil, drink specials, twisted mac from Hard Rock Café, a gumbo contest, barbecue from 2011 Memphis in May champion Fat Side Up, and live music from The Mason Jar Fireflies and FreeWorld.

9. Gang Tackle - Saturday, March 09, 2013

Cecil Dotson was a gang member until the day he died violently five years ago this month.

He also worked every day for 16 years as the maintenance man at the apartment complex where he lived until he moved, just before his death, into a rental house on Lester Street in Binghampton.

10. District Attorneys Outline Wish List - Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference’s legislative agenda for the new session of the Tennessee General Assembly includes a focus on children, sentencing guidelines and the fight against drugs.

11. Club Crave Nuisance Case Moves Slowly - Wednesday, January 09, 2013

The Shelby County District Attorney General’s office and attorneys for the owners of Club Crave have been talking privately since prosecutors got the court order that closed the Beale Street nightspot during the Christmas holidays as a public nuisance.

12. Weirich Taps Myers, McFarland for Top Posts - Friday, November 09, 2012

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich has appointed Carter Myers as Deputy District Attorney to fill the position recently held by John Campbell.

13. Weirich Taps Myers, McFarland for Top Posts - Monday, November 12, 2012

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich has appointed Carter Myers as Deputy District Attorney to fill the position recently held by John Campbell.

14. District, US Attorneys Pooling Efforts - Thursday, September 06, 2012

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich and U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton are working together on cases that cross the state-federal boundary for prosecution.

15. Election Winners Take Oaths of Office - Wednesday, September 05, 2012

The Labor Day weekend served as a political marker for past and future events in Memphis politics.

The four Shelby County general election winners from the Aug. 2 vote are officially in office as the weekend ends and the workweek begins.

16. County Sees 21.6 Pct. Voter Turnout - Monday, August 06, 2012

Slightly less than 127,000 Shelby County residents – or 21.6 percent of 584,443 registered voters – cast ballots in the Aug. 2 elections.

The turnout in early voting and election day combined was a higher percentage than the 15 percent turnout four years ago in the same election cycle, but it was well below the 44-year high of 39.4 percent set in the August 1992 elections.

17. Muni Schools Questions Pass, Cohen Wins Big - Friday, August 03, 2012

Voters in each of the six suburban towns and cities in Shelby County approved establishing municipal school districts in the unofficial results of the Thursday, Aug. 2, county general and state and federal primary elections.

18. Muni Schools, Cohen, Weirich, Johnson, Stanton, Kyle Take Early Vote - Friday, August 03, 2012

Voters in each of the six suburban towns and cities in Shelby County were overwhelmingly approving the establishment of municipal school districts and a half cent sales tax hike to fund them in the first vote totals released Thursday, Aug. 2 by the Shelby County Election Commission.

19. New Gang Unit Takes All-Out Approach - Friday, August 03, 2012

There are few pieces of gang graffiti that are a more certain indicator of gang activity than the word Hoover.

Pitchforks and multi-pointed stars and certain numbers could be the work on bona fide gang members or those who aspire to gang membership – called “wannabes” by police.

20. Law Enforcement Agencies Launch New Gang Unit - Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Local, state and federal law enforcement officials formally launched Monday, July 23, a new “Multi-Agency Gang Unit.”

But the unit will operate differently than the past gang unit that was a consolidation of efforts by the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.

21. Voters Turn Out Early at Polls in Suburbs - Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The first day of early voting in the suburbs in advance of the Aug. 2 election day saw a noticeable jump in voter turnout and some problems at polling places in Bartlett.

Voting opened Monday, July 16, at 20 satellite voting sites across Shelby County.

22. Events - Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Booksellers at Laurelwood will host a life-coaching workshop with Cynthia Schulz Tuesday, July 17, at 6 p.m. at the bookstore, 387 Perkins Road Extended. Schulz’s presentation is titled “Failure is Never Final.” Visit thebooksellersatlaurelwood.com.

23. Events - Monday, July 16, 2012

The second annual Midsouth Autism Conference will be held Monday, July 16, to Wednesday, July 18, at the Landers Center, 4560 Venture Drive in Southaven. Sponsored by Transformations Autism Treatment Center, the conference is geared toward educating professionals, parents and people affected by the disorder. Visit transformingautism.com for a schedule and registration information.

24. District Attorney Contenders Discuss Court Review - Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The two contenders for Shelby County District Attorney General on the Aug. 2 ballot offered different takes on Juvenile Court reforms Monday, June 18, at a League of Women Voters forum.

Republican incumbent Amy Weirich and Democratic challenger Carol Chumney were asked about the recent review of Memphis Shelby County Juvenile Court by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department.

25. Mentoring Group Announces Men and Women of the Year - Monday, May 28, 2012

The 110 Institute, a Memphis-based youth development and research firm, has announced its 2012 “Men of the Year,” and for the first time two “Women of the Year”.

This year’s recipients are: Fred Tillman, CEO of Century Management; Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich; Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong; and News Channel 3 Morning Anchor Markova Reed.

26. Events - Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Better Business Bureau breakfast series will continue with a seminar on fraud risks facing small businesses Tuesday, May 15, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the BBB, 3693 Tyndale Drive. Cost is free for BBB members and $10 for nonmembers. R.S.V.P. to Cheryl Stewart at cstewart@bbbmidsouth.org or 757-8603.

27. Events - Monday, May 14, 2012

The Greater Memphis Paralegal Alliance will hold a continuing legal education meeting Wednesday, May 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the University Club of Memphis, 1346 Central Ave. Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich will present “Pursuing the Guilty and Protecting the Innocent.” Cost is $20 for members and $25 for nonmembers. R.S.V.P. to gmpa.reservations@gmail.com by Monday, May 14, at noon.

28. Child Advocacy Center Remembers Lost Children - Monday, April 09, 2012

Reinyah Ballard, 2, died Sunday, April 1, from abuse. Her father has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, after leaving her, along with her young siblings, unattended inside his vehicle with the engine running.

29. Commissioners Out of Probable Cause Biz - Thursday, April 05, 2012

Judicial commissioners are out of the business of holding probable cause hearings for suspects arrested by Memphis Police and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

The week-old General Sessions Court order is in effect at least until a probable appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court of a March state Criminal Appeals Court ruling that has called into question the way some suspects are held for 48 hours before they are formally charged.

30. Jason Baldwin Part of U of M Law Event - Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Jason Baldwin has been a free man for about seven months. To understand how dramatically the life of Baldwin, of the West Memphis Three, has changed since then, he’s currently planning to go to law school.

31. Three Shelter Workers Indicted For Animal Cruelty - Friday, March 09, 2012

The Memphis Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit usually uses undercover officers to work on drug cases.

But late last year, OCU brass sent an undercover officer to work at the Memphis Animal Shelter to investigate allegations some shelter employees were part of dog fighting rings across the city as well as allegations of cruelty to animals.

32. Three Shelter Workers Indicted for Animal Cruelty - Thursday, March 08, 2012

The Memphis Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit usually uses undercover officers to work on drug cases.

But late last year, OCU brass sent an undercover officer to work at the Memphis Animal Shelter to investigate allegations some shelter employees were part of dog fighting rings across the city as well as allegations of cruelty to animals.

33. GOP Politics Resemble 2008 In Tennessee - Thursday, March 08, 2012

This time around, leaders of the Tennessee Republican Party were convinced their choice in the Republican presidential contest would be a match with voters in the state’s presidential primary.

Four years ago, when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee carried Shelby County and took the state, the party argued convincingly that the state’s second choice for the nomination – former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney – was a victim of the move of the Super Tuesday primaries to February.

34. Santorum Carries Shelby and State, Jackson Out As Clerk - Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum carried Shelby County and the state of Tennessee in the Tuesday, March 6, Republican Presidential primary.

And incumbent but suspended General Sessions Court Clerk Otis Jackson finished a poor third in a Democratic primary battle for the clerk’s office that was won by interim clerk Ed Stanton in the closest contest of the night over County Commission chairman Sidney Chism.

35. Hodges Indicted On New Corruption Charges - Wednesday, March 07, 2012

A Shelby County grand jury has replaced felony criminal charges against former Millington Mayor Richard Hodges with new corruption counts and included Marlin Roberts, the owner of a Millington transmission shop, with Hodges in the new charges.

36. New Corruption Counts Filed Against Hodges - Tuesday, March 06, 2012

A Shelby County grand jury has replaced felony criminal charges against former Millington Mayor Richard Hodges with new corruption counts and included Marlin Roberts, the owner of a Millington transmission shop, with Hodges in the new charges.

37. Irving Leads Research Co. Animal Cell Therapies - Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Adam M. Irving is chief executive officer of San Diego-based Animal Cell Therapies Inc., a company that develops stem cell treatments to treat a variety of ailments for animals. Irving is based in Memphis.

38. Primary Battle Starts Locally With Early Voting - Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Early voting in the Tennessee presidential primary begins Wednesday, Feb. 15, but the Republican presidential contenders have Arizona and Michigan on their minds.

The early voting period in advance of the March 6 Election Day also includes a set of Shelby County primaries for General Sessions Court clerk, Shelby County district attorney general, property assessor and one Shelby County Commission seat. The winners in those primaries advance to the August county general election ballot.

39. City, D.A. File More Suits, Legal Action to Fight Blight - Friday, February 10, 2012

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration is keeping the gloves off in the city’s fight against blight.

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the mayor and Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich jointly announced the filing of 86 lawsuits and 11 nuisance petitions against the owners of blighted property.

40. YMCA Announces Board Members - Monday, February 06, 2012

YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South has installed its 2012 metropolitan board of directors.

Sandra Bailey of Methodist Extended Care Hospital will serve as board chair; Ted Ferris of the Greater Memphis Chamber will serve as secretary; and Perry Green of Waddell and Associates Inc. will serve as treasurer.

41. Events - Monday, February 06, 2012

The second annual Farm to Table Conference for Mid-South Producers will be held Monday, Feb. 6, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Memphis Bioworks Foundation conference enter, 20 Dudley St. The conference is a forum for farmers, consumers, entrepreneurs and other interested groups to discuss ideas for developing the local food system of Memphis and the Mid-South. For more information, visit www.growmemphis.org.

42. Events - Friday, February 03, 2012

The Rotary Club of Memphis Central will meet Friday, Feb. 3, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave. Deborah Hester Harrison, president of Girls Inc., will speak. To reserve a place, call Dick Wieland at 270-3778.

43. Events - Thursday, February 02, 2012

The 25th Rhodes Institute on the Profession of Law will be held Thursday, Feb. 2, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the McCallum Ballroom of the Bryan Campus Life Center on the Rhodes campus. The program will overview the civil liability organizations face when child sexual abuse accusations surface and will examine recent cases. For more information or to register, visit www.alumni.rhodes.edu/lawinstitute.

44. Events - Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Memphis Claims Association will meet Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 5:15 p.m. at Coletta’s Restaurant, 2850 Appling Road. The topic is “Fire Investigation,” and cost is $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers.

45. Events - Monday, January 30, 2012

The City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development will host a public meeting Monday, Jan. 30, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at BRIDGES, 477 N. Fifth St. The meeting will discuss the Triangle Noir Redevelopment Project.

46. Events - Friday, January 27, 2012

LaunchMemphis will present Business BOOSTcamp Saturday, Jan. 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at EmergeMemphis, 516 Tennessee St. Entrepreneurs who are starting a company are encouraged to attend. Industry experts will lead presentations on entrepreneurial problem-solving processes and will offer advice in one-on-one sessions in the afternoon. For more information or to register, visit www.launchmemphis.com.

47. Artistic Support - Friday, January 27, 2012

Jerry “The King” Lawler, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, District Attorney General Amy Weirich and Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy are just a few of the local celebrities who’ve channeled their inner Renoirs to raise money in support of local victims of domestic violence.

48. Weirich Exemplifies Hands-On Approach - Friday, January 13, 2012

Editor’s Note: A Daily News series features past winners of the Bobby Dunavant Public Service Awards, which annually honor one elected and one non-elected government official. The 2012 awards will be presented Feb. 22.

49. Dunavant Awards Nomination Deadline Nears - Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The choices are already being made in this election year. There are lots of nominees. Some already hold elected office. Others are the non-elected officials that are the day-to- day face of local government.

50. City Closes Books on Dynamic Year - Thursday, December 29, 2011

If there’s one thing 2011 proved about the legal profession in Memphis, it’s how intrinsic it is to the daily ebb and flow of life in the city and how deeply enmeshed it is in the big news stories of the day, from politics to business.

51. Election Commission Website Causes Confusion - Monday, December 19, 2011

The information was there somewhere on the www.shelbyvote.com website, Shelby County Election Commission staffers insist.

It was just somewhere that most politicos interested in basic information about the four countywide races on the March 6 primary ballot couldn’t find.

52. County Primary Ballot Set With 3 Exits and 2 DQs - Friday, December 16, 2011
One of the four sets of Shelby County primaries on the March 6 ballot was decided at the Thursday, Dec. 15, deadline for candidates to withdraw from the ballot.

The Shelby County Election Commission Thursday certified 16 candidates in the two sets of primaries for four county offices and one independent candidate who advances automatically to the Aug. 2 county general elections.

53. Weirich Addresses Complexity of Sex Abuse Laws - Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich knew the questions were coming when Memphis Police Department brass said Monday, Dec. 12, they are investigating child sexual abuse allegations passed on to them by leaders of the Amateur Athletic Union Friday, Dec. 9.

54. MPD Investigates Molestation Reports Against Former AAU Dir. - Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Memphis Police Department is investigating allegations of child sexual abuse by former Amateur Athletic Union director Bobby Dodd. But police investigators have not yet heard from the two men who claimed in an ESPN documentary that they were sexually abused by Dodd in the 1980s while they were teenagers.

55. Weirich and Ross Unopposed At Filing Deadline - Friday, December 09, 2011

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich appeared to have no opposition in the March GOP primary for the job as the county’s top prosecutor.

56. Weirich and Ross Unopposed At Filing Deadline - Thursday, December 08, 2011

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich appeared to have no opposition in the March GOP primary for the job as the county’s top prosecutor.

57. Deadline Looms For Candidates In March Primaries - Thursday, December 08, 2011

There is the paperwork and there are the deadlines in politics. And then there are the campaigns that begin long before the paperwork or deadlines.

One group of candidates in the 2012 election cycle is approaching its first deadline Thursday, Dec. 8, at noon – the filing deadline for the March 6 county primaries.

58. Stanton Pulls Petition for Gen. Sess. Court Clerk - Monday, December 05, 2011

The interim General Sessions Court clerk has pulled a qualifying petition to run for the office in the March Democratic primary.

Ed Stanton Jr. was appointed interim clerk in August after General Sessions Court judges suspended clerk Otis Jackson following his indictment on four counts of official misconduct.

59. Stanton Picks Up For Gen Sessions Court Clerk - Friday, December 02, 2011

The interim General Sessions Court Clerk has pulled a qualifying petition to run for the office in the March Democratic primary.

Ed Stanton Jr. was appointed interim clerk in August after General Sessions Court Judges suspended clerk Otis Jackson following his indictment on four counts of official misconduct.

60. Chism Vying With Jackson for Court Clerk - Thursday, December 01, 2011

With one week to the filing deadline, the race for General Sessions Court Clerk is the busiest of the four races to be decided next year in the March 6 county primaries and the Aug. 2 general elections.

61. Chism Vying With Jackson for GS Court Clerk - Wednesday, November 30, 2011

With one week to the filing deadline, the race for General Sessions Court Clerk is the busiest of the four races to be decided next year in the March 6 county primaries and the Aug. 2 general elections.

62. Weirich Files Petition to Run for DA - Thursday, November 24, 2011

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich filed her qualifying petition Tuesday, Nov. 22, to run in the March 6 Republican primary for the post she has held since January.

63. Problems Follow Memphis Animal Shelter to Cordova - Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The new Memphis Animal Shelter in Cordova, which will have its formal opening next month, will come with many of the same concerns that plagued the old shelter near Memphis International Airport.

The problems go beyond the building used to house abandoned or stray dogs, cats and horses as well as other animals rounded up across the city.

64. Shelby County DA Race Taking Shape - Monday, November 07, 2011

With a month to the Dec. 8 filing deadline for the March 6 presidential and Shelby County primary elections, the coming race for Shelby County district attorney general is beginning to show signs of life. That is as voters in one part of Memphis prepare to decide the last election of 2011 this week.

65. Martin to Keynote Dunavant Awards - Wednesday, November 02, 2011

A business leader with roots in the city’s political and nonprofit communities will be the keynote speaker at the 2012 Bobby Dunavant Public Service Awards.

66. Events - Thursday, October 27, 2011

Hutchison School will host an Upper School Visitor Day for girls entering grades nine through 12 in the fall of 2012 Thursday, Oct. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hutchison, 1740 Ridgeway Road. For more information, call 762-6672 or visit www.hutchisonschool.org.

67. Celebrities to Sling Cocktails for CLC - Thursday, October 27, 2011

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr., television personality and former professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, and longtime Fox 13 news anchor Mearl Purvis are among the celebrity bartenders who’ll serve up cocktails Thursday, Oct. 27, at Strut Memphis, a benefit for the Community Legal Center.

68. Weirich Pulls Petition for March GOP Primary - Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich pulled an election petition Monday, Oct. 24, to run for the office in the 2012 countywide elections.

69. Haslam to Campaign for Weirich - Friday, October 14, 2011

With the March Shelby County primaries on the way, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam will be lending his support to a fundraiser for Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.

70. STCC to Host Symposium on Homeland Security - Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Southwest Tennessee Community College will host a symposium titled “Criminal Activity: Its Impact on National Security” Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Macon Grove campus, Farris Hall, second floor, rooms A and B.

71. Weirich Raises $45K for District Attorney General Run - Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich has raised $45,000 in six months for her 2012 bid to remain the county’s chief prosecutor.

72. Jackson Indicted for Official Misconduct - Monday, July 11, 2011

General Sessions Court Clerk Otis Jackson has been indicted on four state charges of official misconduct.

73. Events - Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Levitt Shell will hold free concerts as part of its summer kids concert series Tuesday, June 21, at 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park, 1930 Poplar Ave. The New Ballet Ensemble will perform.

74. Events - Monday, June 20, 2011

Visible Music College and the Cooper Young Business Association will present Visible Live, a free concert featuring Visible students, alumni and staff, Monday, June 20, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the corner of Cooper Street and Young Avenue. Josh Smith will perform. For more information, visit www.cooperyoung.biz.

75. Mission Accomplished - Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, as the week began, was still reading the fine print of some of the last bills passed over the weekend by the Tennessee Legislature.

Both chambers adjourned for the year on Saturday with Haslam having accomplished the major legislative goals he set shortly after taking office in January.

76. Luttrell, Weirich Win Dunavant Awards - Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell and Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich are the winners of the eighth annual Bobby Dunavant Public Service Awards.

77. Flood Scenario Become More Specific As River Crest Nears - Monday, May 09, 2011

The rise of the Mississippi River at Memphis continued Sunday to within a few inches of a crest of 48 feet.

And emergency responders Sunday locked in on dealing with a 48 foot crest sometime early Tuesday morning.

78. Events - Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Public Relations Society of America will hold a luncheon Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. at the Fogelman Executive Conference Center on the University of Memphis campus. Linn Sitler, commissioner of the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission, will speak about why Tennessee and Memphis are suffering for lack of competitive state filming incentives. Call 754-9035 or visit www.prsamemphis.org.

79. Turner Stays on To Lead Local Democrats - Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Van Turner Jr. remains the Shelby County Democratic Party chairman after a weekend local party convention.

And Turner, who ran unopposed for the chairmanship, is hoping for a reversal of party fortunes in the next two years.

80. Campbell Brings Fairness, Toughness to Deputy DA Role - Thursday, March 24, 2011

When Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich appointed John Campbell as the county’s deputy district attorney on Jan. 18, she called him, “fair, dedicated and tough.”

81. Higgins Named District AG’s Communications Director - Monday, March 14, 2011

Vince Higgins is the new communications director for the district attorney general’s office. Higgins was named by Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich, who took office in January.

82. Long-Sought Family Safety Center Moves Forward - Tuesday, February 01, 2011

After years of talk and false starts, much of the local response to domestic violence will now be under one roof in Midtown.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell announced Monday the opening of the long-planned Family Safety Center in the Madison Professional Building at 1750 Madison Ave.

83. New DA Weirich Ready to ‘Roll Up Sleeves’ - Thursday, January 20, 2011

Newly sworn-in Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich has spent 20 years in courtrooms trying all manner of cases.

84. 2010 Court Filings Show Mixed Bag - Monday, January 17, 2011

Court filings were a mixed bag in terms of their volume for 2010.

The three civil courts tracked by The Daily News Online (www.memphisdailynews.com) reported more filings in Circuit Court compared to 2009 and fewer filings in Chancery and Probate courts than in 2009.

85. New Deputy D.A. Chosen by Weirich - Monday, January 10, 2011

Amy Weirich, who will be sworn in as Shelby County district attorney general Jan. 18, has chosen a second-in-command who will start the job the same day she does.

86. What Happens Next - Monday, January 03, 2011

Take a good look around you, Memphis.

The next 12 months have so much in store, almost anywhere a person looks – from the neighborhood school to the family doctor to office buildings Downtown to industrial space in South Memphis – the pace of change is likely to make 2011 one for the record books.

87. Weirich Preps for Role as County’s Top Prosecutor - Thursday, December 16, 2010

Amy Weirich wasted no time and used few words the day her appointment as District Attorney General was announced.

88. Haslam Names Gibbons to Cabinet Safety Position - Thursday, December 09, 2010

Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons is leaving the job as the county’s chief prosecutor to join the cabinet of Gov.-Elect Bill Haslam.

89. Haslam Names Gibbons Commissioner of Public Safety, Homeland Security - Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons is leaving the job as the county’s chief prosecutor to join the cabinet of Gov.-Elect Bill Haslam.

Gibbons will be commissioner of public safety and homeland security. What were once two separate cabinet positions were combined under the administration of outgoing Gov. Phil Bredesen.

90. Blue CRUSH Boots Midtown ‘Problem Renter’ - Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The house on the corner of South Cox Street and Southern Avenue didn’t look bad, as alleged drug houses go.

There was fresh blue-gray paint with neat borders, the distinct lines of a well-built house and a substantial red door with heavy glass.

91. Longtime Prosecutor Weirich Embraces New Role as Deputy DA - Thursday, October 14, 2010

In August, veteran prosecutor Amy Weirich made history when she was appointed Shelby County’s first female deputy district attorney.

92. Weirich Appointed Deputy District Atty. General - Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Amy Weirich is the new deputy district attorney general.

Weirich was appointed to the No. 2 spot by Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons this week following the retirement of deputy district attorney James Challen.

93. Springdale Fights Back - Monday, June 21, 2010

In the mile of Springdale Street between Chelsea and Jackson avenues there are five churches. That’s not counting the churches on side streets.

On Eldridge Avenue, one of those side streets, between two tiny churches is a pair of identical small houses – both boarded up.

The one closest to the corner has faded blue spray paint stenciled across the plywood.

In inner-city Memphis, the stenciling is as familiar as gang graffiti. It’s the mark of the Memphis Police Department’s Blue CRUSH campaign.

Five years into the crackdown guided by a devotion to crime statistics, crime is down in Memphis.

But the statistical drop in crime has come with lingering questions and concerns in Springdale and other neighborhoods with Blue CRUSH houses.

“Once we board them up, we really have to depend on the community to let us know if drug dealers have broken back into them,” Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons said. “If we don’t know about it, sometimes drug dealers can get right back in there.”

In the neighborhoods, homeowners lament that street level dealers are easily replaced and soon released from jail to resume their place in the neighborhoods – now with a criminal record that makes a move away from drug dealing even more unlikely.

Last year, a team from Memphis that included a police officer, a state prosecutor, a federal prosecutor, a University of Memphis researcher, the head of the Memphis Leadership Foundation and the pastor of one of those five churches along Springdale went to several cities to get training in a new anti-drug strategy.

“We were really interested in changing people’s lives, not locking them up,” Springdale Baptist Pastor Derrick Hughes told The Memphis News. Hughes wasn’t sure at first if he would be part of the Drug Market Intervention (DMI) program.

“It sounded as if possibly it was just another program that was going to possibly just put criminals in jail without rehabilitation,” he said. “And I wanted to make sure that if we were going to be a part of something that it was going to look at rehabilitating the person, changing lives, changing them from a holistic point of view as well as a spiritual point of view.”

Gibbons said some of his prosecutors and some police brass also had their doubts as they looked for an area to test out DMI Memphis style.

“It was based primarily on looking at crime patterns and in particular drug activity in that area,” he told The Memphis News. There was plenty of open drug dealing in the Springdale area.

Drug Market Intervention is picking several street level drug dealers in a community, confronting them with the evidence against them and telling them they have one more chance to get out of the business. The police are involved in making a decision not to prosecute a few as they target dozens of others in an area.

Others on the team are community leaders from the neighborhood. And some are with proven programs to provide job training and other help in getting a legitimate job.

High Point, N.C., was the first stop for the Memphis group because it is the birthplace of DMI. It seems an unlikely example for Memphis with a population of fewer than 100,000. But in 2003, High Point had several open air drug markets. The city’s new police chief, James Fealy, attacked them using what became the DMI strategy.

David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Control and Prevention at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, replicated DMI in other cities with money from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance. The BJA funded the training of the Memphis team and came here.

Kennedy’s philosophy is specific to open air drug markets. It doesn’t pretend to eliminate all drug dealing.

“Open air drug markets are found primarily in our cities and in African-American neighborhoods,” Kennedy wrote in a 2008 article for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Journal. “Although we are loathe to admit it, this issue is soaked in race.”

Kennedy said police complained to him that the families of the drug dealers and others in the surrounding communities knew they were selling drugs, did nothing to stop it and profited from it.

But Kennedy said those living in the communities countered that police were only interested in locking up as many people as they could as part of a conspiracy to destroy the community.

Kennedy said each side had a point and each side was wrong.

“The crime is real and overwhelmingly the arrests are legitimate. But we are destroying the village in order to save it,” he wrote. “And none of this gets rid of the crime. The drug markets and violence continue to exist.”

Kennedy didn’t try to tackle the long-standing racial issues and their lengthy back story. The conversations that formed the basis for the DMI strategy were about drug markets.

It was hard for some on the Memphis team to believe that hardened drug dealers would respond when the threat of arrest, prison time, drive-by shootings and gang turf tripwires hadn’t discouraged them from the life.

Nevertheless, when they returned to Memphis, the planning began for several months of undercover drug buys in the Springdale area by the police Organized Crime Unit. For months, the officers bought repeatedly from dozens of street dealers in a two-mile radius of Springdale. And they recorded the drug buys on video – not just one buy but multiple buys.

Prosecutors reviewed the cases against more than 60 men and women and prosecuted 51 of them. Five were indicted on federal drug charges. Six others – five men and a woman – were the first candidates for the Memphis DMI program.

“It was taking a look at individuals who obviously were involved in drug trafficking, but a little more on the periphery – not an extensive drug record,” Gibbons said.

A few days after New Year’s Day, police descended on the Springdale area serving the arrest warrants and putting up a fresh crop of plywood with blue stenciling on the drug houses in the area. The neighborhood grapevine buzzed anew about the heavy police presence.

It was still buzzing when on the coldest day of the year – Jan. 8 – the Memphis group knocked on six doors in the Springdale area. The temperature never got near freezing and was in single digits part of the day.

No one inside the six houses knew they were coming. No one approaching the doorsteps knew what the reaction inside would be.

It was the first indication the six people involved and inside those homes had that they had sold drugs to undercover Memphis police officers and had been recorded on video making multiple drug sales to the officers.

The father of one of the six was among those who had been arrested.

When the DMI team knocked on his door, his grandmother answered.

“He did not want his grandmother to know why we were standing at the door,” Peggie Russell, the DMI coordinator and a University of Memphis researcher and community resource specialist, said. “He said, ‘It’s OK grandmother.’”

Howard Eddings, president of the Memphis Leadership Foundation, said the young man didn’t deny he was a drug dealer.

“He wanted to basically shut the door,” Eddings told The Memphis News. “She might not have known exactly what he was doing. She was an older lady. He didn’t like the fact that we were knocking on her door.”

He and the other five got a letter asking them to come to Springdale Baptist Church a few days later. If they came, the letter from Police Director Larry Godwin said they would not be prosecuted this time.

For Hughes the pledge was crucial. He wanted to be able to say, “I give you my word, you will not be arrested,” with certainty and conviction.

Five of the six showed up at Hughes’ church where the congregation and other community leaders were waiting in the sanctuary. On the walls were posters of the 51 defendants who weren’t getting the chance they were about to get. The posters included the possible prison sentences those defendants faced.

The five “guests” sat in a reserved front row with a friend or family member.

Their faces blurred in a video of the event, they listened as Assistant District Attorney Amy Weirich told them, “We’ve had it,” and called their names individually. “The Memphis Police Department is tired of picking up dead bodies in the street.”

Russell remembers some denying they had done anything wrong. Then police showed the video.

They watched video of themselves selling drugs numerous times to undercover police officers.

The woman’s denials stopped.

“She got caught during the first time. I don’t necessarily know that we believed it was the first time,” Eddings remembered. “But she was so embarrassed as a mom who had small kids who was put in the spotlight. … All of her junk is coming to the forefront.”

Russell said some of the others were telling those who came with them that they had no idea why they were summoned to the church.

“You’re sitting there and you’re telling your family member, ‘No, I didn’t do it,’” Russell said. “Then the tape started rolling … and you see yourself. It’s reality. You can’t hide it. I think that was a turning point for most of them.”

Hughes told the group of five that the church cared about them and was willing to help.

Some of his congregants spoke up too.

“Our congregants said, ‘Listen, we’re tired of watching you sell drugs. We’re tired of being afraid of coming in and out of our communities. We want our community back,’” Hughes recalled. “During the call in, some of our residents had an opportunity to look in their faces and say, ‘We are tired of the way you’ve been running down our communities. This used to be a wonderful community where people had pride, where people had hope. … Now a lot of us are afraid.’”

After the tough talk and the confrontation came a commitment to work with the five DMI candidates. Eddings emphasized there are no guarantees.

“We were careful not to promise them that we were going to get them jobs or that even if we could get them a job that it was going to pay them something comparable to what they were making on the street,” he said. ”We said the opposite. We can’t do that at all. But one thing we do know for sure. If you stop doing what you’re doing, you don’t go to jail.”

Russell, who gets much of the credit for pushing to give DMI a try and has become the program’s de facto coordinator, described the response as “something totally new.”

“It’s not about those five,” she said. “They are supposed to stay out of trouble for two years to make the necessary transition in their lives. But it’s really about the Hollywood Springdale community, changing the response of the community to open air drug sales.”

Eddings was surprised by the response.

“Most of these guys’ mamas know what they’re doing. But to know now that other mamas and other grandparents and other church leaders and the community have their eye on you, it has a different motivation,” he said. “Some of these guys are hardened. They’ve been doing it for a while and they’ve been out there on the streets. So, not much embarrasses them. But I could tell by looking at them and even some of the denials.”

The Memphis Leadership Foundation already works with convicted felons trying to make the difficult transition after prison. There are even fewer guarantees for those with a substantial prison record.

Marcus, who didn’t want his last name used, vented about how hard it’s been to find a legitimate job since he did prison time in 2006 for felony drug dealing.

“It’s not like people want to sell drugs,” he began. “On a lot of applications they are saying they don’t discriminate. They’re lying. … They’re ready to end the session right then. They might tear up the application in your face.”

If drug dealers like him bring blight to areas like Springdale and violence and a hard life for law-abiding citizens, Marcus said society has responded with its own brand of hardness.

“They ain’t reaching out anymore,” he said. “They expect for the world to be better because we’re building more jails. We’re putting more cops out. If somebody killed me today – the person who killed me, they want to put him in jail. But why put him in jail when y’all treating this man he killed like he’s a nobody anyway.”

Eddings said with criminal records or without, street level drug dealers have problems as they get older because they have no legitimate work history. He started to say there aren’t transferable skills before thinking about it.

“Actually, some of the skills do transfer. They’ve just got to get access,” he said. “It’s really a reshaping, a little bit more recognition that they need to deal with in terms of how they see themselves and how they can use those skills that they utilize on the streets to do something positive and pursue a legitimate way of life.”

The young man Eddings is working with seems not to have hit the wall that Marcus is at yet.

“He is simply trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other. They go from having some source of income to having no source of income,” Eddings told The Memphis News. “We’re convincing him now that getting his GED ought to be a decision that he ought to make. He’s been a little slow in that.”

Hughes said he would get the occasional dope boy showing up at his church before DMI.

“Very rarely. I did hear one or two stragglers you come across who say, ‘Yes, I do want to change.’ Often times, it’s usually because of a pending trial or they are in trouble,” he said. “Since that time, we’ve had a lot of people coming, wanting to change their lives.”

Gibbons is reviewing some neighborhoods where DMI might go next but he’s not saying where because of the undercover police work involved. He wants to see it replicated based on lessons learned in Memphis and he hopes to get a federal grant to hire a full-time coordinator.

The sixth man given a chance in the DMI program didn’t come to the church and was prosecuted. He pleaded guilty to five counts of selling drugs and was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $10,000. But the sentence was suspended and he was put on a diversion program.

Weirich recalled Criminal Court Judge John Fowlkes asking the man why he didn’t respond. He told Fowlkes, “It sounded too good to be true.”

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