FedEx aircraft at Memphis International Airport. Photo by Jon W. Sparks
The Memphis area exported about $1.4 billion worth of goods to its top three international markets — Mexico, China, and Canada — in 2023, according to the latest data, but effects of tariffs aren’t yet known.
The report from the U.S.-China Business Council (UCBC) also found that Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, which covers most of Memphis and parts of Tipton County, exported about $537 million worth of services to its top six international trading partners. Those include Canada at the top and China at sixth.
Credit: U.S.-China Business Council
It’s unknown how those markets would change under promised tariffs by President Donald Trump. The president agreed to pause tariffs on Mexico Monday to allow the countries to work out a deal. Trump also agreed to lower the tariff price on Canada to 10 percent from a threatened 25 percent.
Stocks for FedEx Corp., one of the area’s largest private employers, fell by more than 6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange by Monday afternoon. Shares fell $16.29 to $248. 58 just before the closing bell.
However, the freight sector had already slowed before the the 2024 election. FedEx dropped the U.S. Mail as a customer last year, a move that cut 60 flights to Memphis International Airport.
The UCBC report shows that the 9th District’s top exports to China alone were medical equipment and supplies ($313 million), basic chemicals ($76 million), and engines and turbines ($9.9 million). Changes to the China market alone could put downward pressure on Memphis companies like Medtronic, Drexel Chemical Co., and a host of mechanical companies.
The district also exported $38.9 million worth of services to China, also. The top three include education ($21 million), freight and port services ($10 million), and royalties from industrial processes ($7.9 million).
Market data was broken down to the district level in reports on trade between Tennessee and Mexico and Canada.
Total trade with Mexico in 2023 was $20.1 billion, according to the Embassy of Mexico in the U.S. The figure includes $6.1 billion in exports and $14 billion in imports. The state’s biggest import categories include motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts, HVAC equipment, electrical equipment and components, and communications equipment. In all, Tennessee’s trade with Mexico is greater than the total U.S. trade with Argentina, the embassy report says.
The latest report from the Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta says that trade with Canada supported 160,400 employees in Tennessee last year in addition to the 11,700 employees at Canadian-owned businesses across the state.
Tennessee exports $10.0 billion in goods and services to Canada. The state imports $6.8 billion in goods each year, the report said. Those include chemical, metals, and equipment — base goods that, with tariffs added to their costs — could drive up prices on a number of products for Tennessee consumers.
Also, Canadian-based company Richardson International Ltd. announced last year it will invest $220 million in its Wesson Oil production facility in Memphis. That is part of a multiphase project that will replace the oil production plant with a new refinery to fulfill customer requirements and meet growing global demand for vegetable oil. The company said when it is completed, the new refinery will drive substantial reductions in water, energy, and wastewater volumes.
In West Tennessee, auto parts maker Magna International plans to invest more than $790 million to build the first two supplier facilities at Ford’s BlueOval City supplier park in Stanton.
Magna’s two Stanton facilities include a new frame and battery enclosures facility and a seating facility. The company also plans to build a stamping and assembly facility in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
The Ontario-based supplier will supply Ford’s BlueOval City with battery enclosures, truck frames and seats for the automaker’s second-generation electric truck.
Magna will employ approximately 750 employees at its battery enclosures facility and 300 employees at its new seating plant. The company plans to employ about 250 employees at its plant in Lawrenceberg. Production at all three plants is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Desmond Bane shoots the ball against the Houston Rockets. (Photo: Joe Murphy/NBAE for Getty Images)
Thursday night, two of the top Western Conference teams, the two-seed Houston Rockets and three-seed Memphis Grizzlies faced off in their final meeting of the season. Thanks to a fourth-quarter burst from newly named all-star Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies eked out a 120-119 victory over the Rockets.
Houston has been a problem for Memphis this season; that much is clear. Rivals in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference, they meet four times a season, and until last night’s matchup, the Rockets appeared poised to sweep the season series. This win has pulled Memphis within a half-game of Houston for the second seed.
These two teams met three times in the month of January, with the Rockets winning the first two games and now the Grizzlies snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat in the third.
This game came down to the final possession, with Memphis ultimately securing the win thanks to a pair of clutch free throws from Jaren Jackson Jr. in the final seconds of the game.
Giving credit where it’s due, the Rockets dominated most of the game, leading by as many as 11 points. All five starters for Houston finished the game in double figures.
Former Grizzly Dillon Brooks had his highest scoring game of the series with 22 points, and shooting guard Jalen Green led all scorers with 25 points.
After struggling offensively in the first half and trailing by ten at halftime, the Grizzlies outscored the Rockets 64-53 in the final two quarters.
Point guard Ja Morant was sidelined with shoulder soreness, and Luke Kennard took his place in the starting lineup. Kennard has seen more minutes in the backup point guard role lately, in part due to the ongoing struggles of Scotty Pippen Jr., who finished the game with just four points.
Four of the Grizzlies’ starting five notched double figures — led by Desmond Bane’s 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. Bane played a season-high 40 minutes.
Luke Kennard added 22 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 2 steals on 9 of 17 overall shooting and 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. Kennard leads the NBA in three-point shooting, averaging 49.1% from three.
Jaren Jackson Jr. added 21 points, four rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Nine of his 21 points came during the final quarter, including making a pair of free throws that gave Memphis the lead.
Shortly before tip-off, Jackson Jr. was announced as one of the Western Conference All-Star reserves, his second all-star appearance.
Jaylen Wells finished the night with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block.
From the second unit:
Santi Aldama led the bench with 15 points, five rebounds, one assist, and two blocks on six of 13 overall shooting and three of 8 from beyond the arc.
Brandon Clarke put up 13 points, five rebounds, three steals, and two blocks on six of seven overall shooting.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies are hitting the road for one game to take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, February 2nd. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. CST.
Chairman Bo Watson and Vice Chairman John Stevens lead the Tennessee Senate Finance Committee, which voted 8-3 to advance Gov. Bill Lee's universal school voucher bill during its meeting on Wednesday. (Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat)
Gov. Bill Lee’s private school voucher bill on Wednesday cleared the committee level in a special legislative session, setting the stage for votes this week by the full House and Senate.
As expected, the bill sailed Tuesday through education panels stacked with lawmakers who support policies that provide taxpayer funding to families to pay toward private education services.
The bigger test came later in finance committees, where a similar voucher bill bogged down last spring over disagreements within the Republican supermajority. It passed easily there too, with only a few GOP members from rural areas in opposition.
Lee’s Education Freedom Act, his signature education proposal, is scheduled to be debated Thursday by both full chambers, where the votes are expected to be tighter.
If it passes, the initiative would mark a major change in K-12 education in Tennessee. It would create a new statewide schooling track, starting with 20,000 “scholarships” of $7,075 each.
To draw support from lawmakers worried about the impact to their public schools, the measure also would give one-time bonuses of $2,000 to the state’s public school teachers; establish a public school infrastructure fund using tax revenues from the sports betting industry that currently contribute to college scholarships; and reimburse public school systems for any state funding lost if a student dis-enrolls to accept the new voucher.
Only 15 of the state’s 144 districts are expected to receive such reimbursements, according to the legislature’s latest fiscal analysis of the bill.
An amendment added on Tuesday requires that, for public school teachers to receive the bonus, their school boards must adopt a resolution saying that they want to participate in the bonus plan. Sponsors said the change was intended to give local boards more autonomy over the funds.
The action on Lee’s proposal came as President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that frees up federal funding and prioritizes spending on school choice programs.
A day earlier, Trump applauded Tennessee’s Education Freedom Act.
“Congratulations to Tennessee Legislators who are working hard to pass School Choice this week, which I totally support,” the president said in his post.
A subsidy or a civil right: Senators debate the bill’s purpose
Republican leaders who control the General Assembly have signaled that they intend to wrap up that business in one week and pass three different legislative packages, as well as about $1 billion to pay for them.
The statewide voucher bill is the session’s most contentious issue, prompting philosophical debates Wednesday among members of the Senate Finance Committee about whom the proposed program is intended to help.
According to the state’s own analysis, about 65 percent of the new voucher recipients are expected to be students who are already in private schools, with the rest coming from public schools.
That projection may be low. In Arkansas, which approved universal vouchers in 2023 under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, more than 80 percent of last year’s enrollees had not attended public schools the previous year.
Tennessee’s bill would remove any family income restrictions for eligibility in the program’s second year. For the upcoming 2025-26 academic year, half of the vouchers would be available to students whose family income is no more than three times the federal threshold for receiving a reduced-price lunch, or about $175,000 annually for a family of four.
“It’s essentially giving a scholarship to people who can already afford to go to private school anyway,” said Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis).
By contrast, the state’s smaller existing school voucher program, approved by the legislature in 2019, restricts eligibility to public school students living in Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, and whose families have significantly lower incomes.
Defending the governor’s universal voucher plan, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) challenged the suggestion that the measure amounts to a government-funded subsidy for affluent families.
“We’re not going to penalize people who’ve been successful,” said Johnson, the bill’s Senate sponsor. “We’re not going to penalize people who work hard and might do a little better than someone else. We want these to be universal, and that’s the ultimate goal.”
Johnson added that he “has a problem with deciding who’s rich and who’s not.” It depends, he said, on their family’s location and circumstances.
“This program is going to help families across Tennessee — 20,000 kids — get into a school that their parents think is a better option,” he said. “And it shouldn’t be based on income. It should be universal.”
Early research shows that small voucher programs limited to low-income students are more likely to have positive outcomes, while recent national studies indicate that vouchers have mostly negative or insignificant impacts on academic outcomes.
Long-term costs worry critics
Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) sought to pin down the proposed program’s cost as it grows, especially since the 74,000 students who attend private schools in Tennessee would be eligible to apply for a state-funded scholarship.
State analysts expect all 20,000 vouchers will be awarded in the first year, allowing the state to expand the program by 5,000 participants each year, potentially doubling the program’s size by the 2029-30 school year. In the first five years, the program could cost taxpayers at least $1.1 billion, the state’s analysts say.
“This is a long-term program, and we should think about the long-term costs,” Yarbro said.
He called out the explosive growth of Arizona’s voucher program, which became available to all students in 2022. The initiative has contributed to a $400 million shortfall in the state’s current budget.
Johnson said Yarbro’s concerns amounted to “scare tactics.”
Any growth in the program is “subject to appropriation” by the legislature, he said. “We’ll be back next year, and we’ll have a conversation about it.”
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Tennessee House and Senate education committees passed the governor’s private-school voucher program Tuesday, speeding the $450 million first-year expense to final votes before week’s end.
Senators voted 8-1 to send the measure to the finance committee to be considered Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), carrying the bill for Gov. Bill Lee, told lawmakers the plan will “empower families to do something for their kid, fulfilling needs we’re not meeting with this public school system that we run together with our local folks.”
Johnson claimed a mandate to pass the measure from President Donald Trump, who posted on his Truth Social platform earlier that he supports Tennessee lawmakers’ efforts to adopt “school choice.”
Senate Republican Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin said Tennessee lawmakers have a “mandate” from President Donald Trump to enact private school vouchers. (Photo: John Partipilo)
“It is our goal to bring education in the United States to the highest level, one that it has never attained before,” Trump said in his post.
Lee’s plan, which is zooming toward final votes in a special session this week, calls for providing more than $7,000 each to 20,000 students statewide and then expanding by about 5,000 annually. Half of those students in the first year could come from families with incomes at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, an estimated $175,000 for a family of four, while the rest would have no income limit. No maximum income would be placed on the program after the first year.
A financial analysis by the state’s Fiscal Review Committee determined K-12 schools will lose $45 million and that only $3.3 million would go toward 12 school districts most likely to lose students.
Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) was the lone vote against the bill as she urged the committee to “exercise a bit more caution.” Akbari reminded senators that students participating in the state’s education savings account program, which provides vouchers to enroll in private schools in Davidson, Hamilton, and Shelby counties, are performing worse academically than their peers.
In contrast, Sen. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun) said standardized tests shouldn’t be the deciding factor in passing the bill. Lowe also told Hawkins County Schools Director Matt Hixson he shouldn’t be worried about talk that some local leaders in upper East Tennessee believe they have to support the voucher bill or the legislature could refuse to approve $420 million for Hurricane Helene disaster relief.
The House panel endorsed the plan on a 17-7 vote after Republican lawmakers used a procedural move to bypass debate on the bill. Rep. Jake McCalmon (R-Williamson County) called for an immediate vote following public testimony, backed by Rep. William Slater (R-Sumner County). The move kept opponents from questioning the bill’s sponsor, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland).
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) called the move “ridiculous” afterward because of the impact the bill could have on public schools and the state’s budget.
In addition to complaining that the state will be running two school systems and likely hitting financial problems, Johnson challenged Lamberth’s assertion that the bill will make public schools “whole” when they lose students to the private-school voucher program.
Lamberth, though, said public schools would not lose “one red cent” as a result of the program.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Tennessee’s proficiency rate grew in eighth grade math, while the national average declined, according to the latest results from the Nation's Report Card. The gains position the state's middle schoolers to perform better in Algebra I, their first high school math class. (Photo by Allison Shelley for EDU)
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters
Tennessee students held their ground on a major national test in a year when average student test scores declined nationwide.
Results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, released Wednesday, show that average test scores in Tennessee increased slightly in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math, compared with 2022, though the gains were not statistically significant.
Tennessee’s latest post-pandemic results stood in contrast to declines seen nationwide and in many other states. And Tennessee students scored three to four points higher than the national average in math and one to two points higher in reading.
“Tennessee students did well relative to other states, and we did better than some of our neighbors,” Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds said.
“We didn’t move backwards, we moved a little bit forward, and we expect to do better next year,” added state Rep. Mark White, of Memphis, who chairs a key House education committee and also serves on the NAEP governing board.
Math scores outpace reading scores.
Tennessee has launched numerous initiatives aimed at bolstering early literacy, but the latest NAEP showed the state’s most dramatic improvements came in math.
In fourth-grade math, 42 percent of students scored proficient or advanced, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2022. The state was one of 29 jurisdictions that posted scores similar to 2019, before the pandemic. Only Alabama had average scores higher than 2019. Nationwide, average scores are down three points, and 22 states had declines.
In eighth-grade math, Tennessee’s proficiency rate also grew, while the national average declined. Tennessee was one of just two jurisdictions with similar scores to 2019. Average scores dropped 9 points.
In fourth-grade reading, Tennessee was one of 47 states with no statistical change from 2022. Nonetheless, its scores were up slightly, whereas the nationwide average dropped by two points from 2022 and by five points from 2019.
The small increases in eighth-grade reading scores were not statistically different from 2022 or 2019, but again, the small increase stood in contrast to nationwide averages that dropped 5 points since 2019. Tennessee also saw more notable increases in scores among higher-performing students in the 75th percentile.
Credit: ChalkbeatTNCredit: ChalkbeatTN
The relatively strong showing in math, according to state officials, could be tied to the full return to in-person learning, which studies show is especially important for math instruction; Tennessee’s 2021 adoption of new math standards; and the subsequent rollout of math curriculum to align with those standards.
They expect that trend to continue with passage of a 2024 state law spotlighting more analysis of and support for math instruction.
Tennessee was an early adopter of pandemic-era interventions.
Tennessee has been held up as a model both for how it managed federal pandemic relief spending — quickly steering money into tutoring, summer learning camps, and after-school programs aimed at students who had fallen furthest behind — and for its intense focus on early literacy. State test results from 2024 show students there making steady progress since 2021.
The challenge now will be to maintain progress and deploy state funds to replace federal pandemic relief aid that expired last year.
“We still have that obligation at the state level to continue to support districts in as many ways as possible,” said Reynolds, the state’s education chief. She cited free professional development resources provided to school systems by her department as one example.
“Local school officials also knew that the money was ending, so they’ve been building in their own sustainability practices to keep the work going,” she said.
White, the state lawmaker and NAEP official, said the state’s controversial 2021 third-grade reading intervention and retention law was a key part of the mix. It pushed children whose families might have opted for summer breaks into summer learning programs and motivated schools to increase support for struggling readers.
“If a child is not reading proficiently in third grade, we want to really understand why and not just pass them on,” he said.
State officials already are digging into the latest NAEP data on how various student groups performed to study how they can offer better support.
Tennessee’s growing population of English-language learners saw across-the-board improvement, while students with disabilities showed slight decreases.
The alignment of national and state data is important, said Amy Owen, the state’s senior education policy director, because “it shows that our students will be able to compete with students from across the country when they look at post-secondary and career opportunities.”
“We’re seeing steady increases, which is significant when you think about where our kids were during COVID,” added Reynolds. “Our fourth graders were kindergartners then, our eighth graders were fourth graders.”
Memphis district opts out of separate NAEP assessment
Since 2018, NAEP has also released results for Memphis Shelby County Schools, one of roughly two dozen large urban districts participating in national math and reading tests through the Trial Urban District Assessment program, which is designed to help those districts measure student performance against districts in other large cities. But last year, leaders of the Memphis district chose not to participate in the program.
The lack of participation represented a “leadership breakdown” as the district cycled through superintendents.
— State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis)
White, who represents part of Memphis, said the lack of participation represented a “leadership breakdown” as the district cycled through superintendents. “That’s sad that we don’t have their scores,” he said. “We can’t continue that trend.”
What is NAEP?
Not every Tennessee fourth-grader or eighth-grader took the national test when the federal government administered the assessments in early 2024.
NAEP tests a nationally representative sample of students in every state. In Tennessee, each of the four assessments was taken by about 1,700-1,800 students in 80-90 schools.
The results, published as the nation’s report card, allow comparisons across states and are an important marker for showing how students are doing over time.
The last three testing cycles happened in 2019, 2022, and most recently in 2024, providing an especially helpful comparison of what students knew before the pandemic and how much they have rebounded from COVID-related learning disruptions.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
According to 2024’s “The Infinite Dial” report by Edison Research, 47 percent of the U.S. population, 12 and older, listened to at least one podcast in the span of a month, up 12 percent from the year before. What can we say? People like their podcasts. So much so that there are millions of them. We tried Googling the exact number but got bogged down in the AI of it all, so we landed at millions … or at least hundreds of thousands.
What we can say with certainty is that a decent number of podcasts are being created right here in Memphis. Check out what a few local podcasters had to say in this week’s cover story, and take a peek at the sidebar to discover even more podcasts to add to your playlist.
Verbally Effective
If there’s a go-to expert in podcasting in Memphis, it’s Ena Esco. She’s the host of Verbally Effective, innovator in residence at Cossitt Library, founder of the PodBox Memphis Podcast Festival, and the wearer of many more hats in this new media landscape.
With a background in radio since graduating from LeMoyne-Owen College in 2001, Esco started her podcast in 2018. “With radio, you only have so many minutes that you can have a conversation,” she says, “and I wanted to extend those conversations through podcasting. And so I wanted it to be a podcast that intersected art, culture, politics, entertainment, with a Memphis focus.”
Ena Esco, host of Verbally Effective (Photo: Courtesy Ena Esco)
Her Verbally Effective became home for just that, with each episode, over 300 in total, in conversation with a Memphis changemaker — from National Civil Rights Museum president Russell Wigginton to Grammy Award-winning Crystal Nicole to therapist Brandy J. Flynn. “You just never know what people have gone through to be where they are today,” she says, “and to hear their stories lets me know that the type of work that I’m doing with podcasting is important because I know that their stories will resonate with other people.”
Esco’s goal, she says, is to elevate voices, whether that’s in her own podcast or through helping others create theirs. “So much is going on right now, especially right now, with people trying to silence voices, but we can utilize the new media platforms to get our messaging across.”
“With podcasting, anything is on the table,” adds Esco. “In podcasting, you can create your own situation. You can format your show however you want to format your show. You can monetize. You can build relationships with people that you probably never would.”
After building her audience with Verbally Effective, Esco drew the attention of Memphis Public Libraries’ leadership and before too long became its first-ever innovator in residence, coordinating free podcast programming at Cossitt Library, developing workshops, curating panels and shows, and working with podcasters individually. In her nearly three years at Cossitt, Esco has helped podcasters in a gamut of genres, from sports to lifestyle to travel. “When you get [people] into podcasting, you’re really building up their confidence in making them a stronger speaker, a better storyteller,” she says. “It just gives me joy to see people transform in their way.”
For her work through the library system, Esco earned an honorable mention from the Urban Libraries Council Innovation Awards in 2024. “It was a big deal because it afforded [the Memphis Public Libraries] the opportunity to receive a grant to bring in more innovators [in other areas],” she says.
This coming year, Esco hopes to produce 10 podcasts, with a focus on community podcasting. “It’s going to be quite the undertaking,” she says.
Also in 2025, Esco will lead digital radio, podcasting, and TV broadcasting programming for the recently reopened Lowery Communication Center at LeMoyne-Owen College. “This is a full-circle moment for me because I started my media career as a senior, and now I’m back at my alma mater, seeing the students in this particular subject matter, so I’m just blessed. I am really blessed.”
In September, she’ll host the PodBox Memphis Podcast Festival, an annual event with industry experts, panels, mixers, and more. She’ll also host quarterly meetups with established and potential podcasters throughout the year.
Find Esco on social media @enaesco. Verbally Effective, in addition to being available for streaming, is aired on WXYR on Tuesdays at noon. — Abigail Morici
Cemetery Row
A deep and ominous bell tolls over the cold, lonely, windswept graveyard.
It’d be pretty scary, but the hosts of Cemetery Row are there to hold your hand and tell you it’s all okay. Then they start telling you the stories of some of the folks buried there and — before you know it, champ — you’re starting to have fun.
“Cemeteries are not scary places,” says Sheena Barnett, one of the podcast’s three hosts. “They’re not sad places. They can be, obviously if you’re going to where a loved one is buried. But I see them as places of love, places full of stories, places that need to be preserved.”
The sentiment is shared by hosts Lori Pope and Hannah Donegan. The trio of “spooky girls” met as Ole Miss journalism students, kept tight after school, and wanted to stay that way when Donegan moved to Chicago. Barnett volunteered at Elmwood Cemetery cleaning headstones and told the others about all the great stories out there. Cemetery Row became a way for them to connect and to hone their haunted proclivities.
Pope’s dad would tease her about “Rosie the ghost,” who was said to roam an old family cemetery on her grandparents’ farm. Barnett grew up on Unsolved Mysteries and going to cemeteries with her mother and grandmother. A “Jane Doe” headstone mystified a younger Donegan when seen in a graveyard in plain view of her Olive Branch Middle School.
That ominous bell really does toll to open each episode of Cemetery Row. The hosts introduce themselves, banter, connect, tell a few inside jokes, and they cuss … like a lot. The meat of the show, though, is true stories of the dead.
“Just like most people from history, she has parts of her life where she’s a total relatable badass, and then there’s parts where she kind of sucks a little bit,” Donagen says of occultist, ceremonial magician, and novelist Dion Fortune in an October episode called “Occultists, Psychics, and Cryptids.” “She was a rich, white lady in early 20th-century England. So, what are you gonna do?”
That episode also featured the stories of Simon Warner, a psychic and crime doctor, known as The Seer of Shelbyville (Tennessee), and some spooky tales from Idaho (a bit outside of the cemetery, strictly speaking, but right next door).
The hosts laugh, bomb each other with bon mots, and keep things casual. But they flex those journalism degrees in well-researched stories, written with a straight-ahead newspaper eloquence. Not every episode has a theme but some have featured athletes, LGBTQ folks, Black excellence, and more. One featured people named Dick.
Dial up Cemetery Row wherever you find podcasts. Pope, Doengan, and Barnett will have you skipping through the headstones in no time. — Toby Sells
Night Classy
Have you ever been curious about the deep intricacies of society that our history books never dreamed of covering? You know, like the 1950s quiz show scandal that unearthed rigging and resulted in congressional hearings? Or have you or a loved one been approached by a charming Nigerian prince who only needs your entire life savings to help him out? If you’re looking to dive more into his origin story (and the many ways he presents himself), or just looking to satiate your hunger for obscure knowledge, class is in session on the Night Classy podcast.
Hayley Madden and Katja Barnhart are two educators by day, taking their aptitude for knowledge from the classroom to the mic. Both women met through Teach For America (TFA) and bonded over The Office — facilitated by the “TFA experience,” which Madden explains is like an “extension of college.”
Katja Barnhart and Hayley Madden host Night Classy. (Photo: Alec Ogg)
Madden says the podcast was originally Barnhart’s idea, which she says stemmed from her “obsession” with podcasts, and after moving to a new place, this seemed like the perfect new hobby to take up. Barnhart remembers thinking, “This is it; this is going to be good.”
The podcast’s future was further solidified when Barnhart met her longtime boyfriend Alec Ogg, who’s a podcast producer by trade and offered to produce the podcast.
As a child, Madden says she liked to experiment with different things such as making mud pies and catching frogs. “Maybe not researching like I do now as an adult, but just getting into things is something I’ve always been into,” she adds.
Barnhart says she’s always been obsessed with history, always finding herself engrossed in historical fiction. She then found herself obtaining a history degree, but ended up teaching math.
“[I] didn’t really have an outlet to read about the kind of things I wanted to aside from my spare time, so the podcast has been a good way to scratch that itch,” Barnhart says.
During each episode, the hosts pick two stories that they’ve each researched with detailed notes about topics that can be defined as “oddities and curiosities you’ve never learned in school.” As they approach their 250th episode on their main feed, the ladies have covered brain eating amoebas, the lore of America’s Next Top Model, and the Ant Hill Kids Cult to name a few.
“It had to be something we wanted to research,” Madden says. “If it’s not fun on the front end, then it’s not going to be fun for us to actually do, execute, and listen to later.”
Barnhart also adds that they didn’t want to limit themselves to true crime, paranormal, and reality TV. While they’re interested in all of these things, diversifying their content keeps the experience fresh.
“I feel like if you have to read about it every single week, you’re going to hate it,” Barnhart explains. “We wanted options.”
“We were like, ‘What’s our hook?’” Madden adds. “Well, we’re teachers.” — Kailynn Johnson
Sonosphere
Sonosphere is more than just a podcast, and had been even before it became a radio show on WYXR (every Monday at 4 p.m.). More than most podcasts, perhaps, it was founded with a mission: fostering more appreciation of unconventional music in Memphis. As co-founder Amy Schaftlein says, the goal of Sonosphere was “highlighting the sort of experimental bands that don’t really fit into a genre, but have always brought intriguing and interesting sounds. Not everybody could tell if they liked or not. You know, like when you try a new food, you’re kind of like, ‘I don’t know if I like that.’ But you might start to like it a lot more as you try it in different ways.”
Realizing this would take more than a mere podcast, Schaftlein started the nonprofit Sonosphere Inc. with then-fellow president/CEO Christopher Williams in 2017, intent on programming live performances and lectures, music festivals, and audio documentaries. Thus, right from the beginning, Sonosphere the podcast had a parallel production series known as Sound Observations. “A lot of the Sound Observations series that we brought to Memphis back in 2017, ’18, and ’19 highlighted experimental artists like Wu Fei, who plays a very ancient Chinese instrument.”
Amy Schaftlein and Jenny Davis of Sonosphere (Photo: Amy Schaftlein)
At the time, Schaftlein says, Crosstown Arts had not yet leaned into the kind of adventurous programming that they’re now known for. But as Crosstown Arts evolved, with Memphis Symphony Orchestra flutist and Blueshift Ensemble member Jenny Davis taking on music programming for a time, there was less of a need for the Sound Observations series, and Sonosphere the podcast came to the fore. When Williams moved away, Schaftlein, after hosting solo for a while, thought that Davis would be the perfect partner.
“Jenny worked with Chris and I on our Sound Observations when she was at Crosstown Arts,” says Schaftlein. “And she also created the Continuum Fest [a local celebration of New Music and avant garde classical compositions], which she invited Sonosphere to ‘sponsor’ — which really meant we covered it for them — and we came up with some content for the fest. We’ve always worked with Jenny through Crosstown Arts, and so she’s been a part of the podcast, tangentially, for a while. And so it just seemed like a really good fit.”
This was also a good way for Davis to keep her hand in experimental music as she moved on to become the executive director of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program (MYSP). A recent episode of the podcast, for example, focused solely on last year’s Continuum Fest, staged at the Beethoven Club.
Meanwhile, the podcast evolved into a radio show when WYXR began broadcasting in October 2020. And while that slowed the podcast production a bit, it’s really all of a piece. Indeed, as Schaftlein says, “I actually worked for WEVL when I was in college and I had a show on the station. That’s part of what prompted Sonosphere. I really wanted a radio show on WEVL, and they took a while to get back to me, and so I just kind of started it. I was like, ‘We can do this from home!’ You know, podcasting was a thing. It wasn’t as big as now, but it was still a thing then. So we just went ahead and did it ourselves.” — Alex Greene
For your listening pleasure:
Astronomica Join a group of nerds as they crew the definitely-not-piloted-by-a-rogue-AI ship The Admiral Grace in a science-fiction OSR actual play podcast using the Stars Without Number RPG system.
Black Is America Dominic Lawson highlights little-known African-American figures and stories.
Champions of the Lost Causes Marvin Stockwell talks to folks across the country about their success and setbacks.
Got Points Podcast Ashling Woolley and Tiffani Denham teach listeners how to build up travel points quickly, how to keep a high bank of points, and how to use these points to maximize every benefit.
Grits and Grinds: Memphis Grizzlies Keith Parish covers the Grizzlies year-round with in-depth analysis.
Like You: Mindfulness for Kids Noah Glenn uses breathing, affirmations, music, and imagination to support social-emotional health and mental wellness for kids.
Memphis Flyer Video Podcast Oh, hello, that’s us! Each week, Chris McCoy and a co-host take you through the paper and give you insight into the madness that goes on at the Memphis Flyer.
The Permanent Record Just City’s podcast features conversations about the criminal justice system and how individuals can work to make it smaller, fairer, and better for everyone.
State and local groups are denouncing the recent distribution of racist flyers promoting white supremacy groups in Memphis.
The flyers have been seen around the city in the past few days, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and The NAACP Memphis Branch. They allegedly show anti-immigrant images and are similar to ones seen recently in other Tennessee cities, Ohio, and Virginia.
CAIR said one flyer promotes the Ku Klux Klan. Another promotes “another white supremacist group.” Such flyers for Patriot Front have recently surfaced in other areas.
Public images of the flyers online are scarce. Some that were posted on social media were removed for their content. This was the case for the Ludlow (Kentucky) Police Department that said, “after some discussion we have decided to take down the flyer because it serves no real purpose but we will keep this post up.”
“We are aware and have already taken one report for this disturbing and disgusting KKK propaganda that is being passed around our community,” the agency said on Facebook. “This hateful garbage has been turning up in other cities as well.”
One flyer from the KKK shows Uncle Sam kicking people with the phrase, “Leave now. Self deport.” Another shows Uncle Sam with his foot on a cage full of people with the same phrase and, “Americans on guard. Help us protect our homeland.”
The NAACP described the distribution of the flyers as “cowardly acts.” Those responsible party’s “attempt to divide us will not succeed.”
Credit: NAACP Memphis Branch
“These actions are deeply offensive to the values of equality, unity, and justice that our community hold dear,” said NAACP Memphis Branch president Kermit Moore. “The circulation of such vile propaganda under the name ‘The Ram of the Knights’ seeks to intimidate, sow fear, and divide our city at a time we must come together to address critical challenges and uplift one another.
“The reprehensible act reminds us of the ongoing presence of hatred and racism that we must confront and dismantle with unwavering resolve.”
The group asked local leaders and agencies to condemn the flyers and asked local police to investigate the matter.
CAIR has condemned similar racist and white supremacist activity in Tennessee and around the country in recent years. The group echoed the sentiment of the NAACP.
“This type of hate propaganda will not succeed in intimidating or dividing the communities of Memphis or any other American city,” said CAIR national communications director Ibrahim Hooper.
Community organizer Keedran Franklin (left) speaks at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2015. A federal order known as the Kendrick Consent Decree prohibits police from gathering political intelligence on activists engaged in lawful dissent. (Micaela Watts)
This story originally appeared on the Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis website here.
Critics fear a judge’s decision last week will weaken a long-standing federal order that bans the Memphis Police Department (MPD) from spying on citizens.
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Jon McCalla modifies an order known as the Kendrick Consent Decree by replacing a private attorney who monitors police activities with two lawyers employed by the city of Memphis and assigned to the MPD.
The measure is endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN), which successfully challenged MPD and the city of Memphis in federal court for illegally surveilling activists involved in protests against police abuse and other lawful dissent.
But Bruce Kramer, the lawyer who first sued the city in 1976 for MPD’s illegal political intelligence gathering, says the ruling is not in the public’s best interest.
Bruce Kramer
“It’s not as bad as putting the fox in charge of the hen house. But the history of this is that the city has never liked this consent decree and has wanted it to end. This is just one more step towards that process,” Kramer said.
Rev. Elaine Blanchard, an activist who was followed by police and placed on a “blacklist’’ that banned her and scores of others from entering Memphis City Hall without a police escort, said the development is worrisome.
“I don’t believe the police have changed any,” Blanchard said. “I feel that they need oversight. Not from within themselves, but from outside of themselves.”
City officials were not able to immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCalla’s ruling approved the “Kendrick Consent Decree Sustainment Proposal,” filed as a joint motion by ACLU attorney Stella Yarbrough, city outside counsel Bruce McMullen and independent monitor Ed Stanton, a former U.S. Attorney in Memphis now in private practice with the Butler Snow law firm.
The 15-page sustainment proposal emphasizes that Stanton’s 2018 appointment was never intended to be permanent but “was meant to be temporary.’’ It contemplates a transition period ending between July 1 and Sept. 30 when Stanton will be replaced by two compliance officers on the city’s payroll.
“During this transition period, the city will designate at least two employees to serve as Consent Decree Compliance Officers,’’ the proposal says. It recommends two staff attorneys to fill these roles: MPD legal advisors James Thomas and Rosalyn Dobbins.
“Additionally, the Chief of Police has authorized the designation of an additional member to assist the Compliance Officers. The ideal candidate for this position is a current MPD officer with a law degree who will serve at the direction of Ms. Dobbins and Mr. Thomas,’’ the proposal says.
As a safeguard, the proposal calls for the compliance officers to receive “oversight and guidance” from three outside subject matter experts. The proposal recommends three individuals already on Stanton’s monitoring team: Rachel Levinson-Waldman, managing director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program; David N. McGriff, former deputy commissioner and chief of staff of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security; and Dr. Theron L. Bowman, a former Texas police chief and president and CEO of The Bowman Group police practice consultancy.
Judge McCalla’s ruling followed a hearing last week when the city, the ACLU, the monitor and the subject matter experts all expressed support for the proposal.
The Kendrick Consent Decree was first entered in 1978 and modified five years ago following new revelations that MPD was again spying on political activists.
The initial decree in 1978 followed revelations that MPD had set up a special unit that used a network of informants and direct police surveillance to gather information on civil rights and Vietnam War protestors and others engaged in lawful political dissent. Created at the height of the Cold War with direct assistance from the FBI, MPD’s Domestic Intelligence Unit was one of a number of police “Red Squads” established across the U.S. in the 1950s and ’60s when many Americans feared the country was vulnerable to communist insurrection.
The unit was exposed after a Vietnam War veteran learned police were keeping a file on his personal and political activities, prompting legal intervention by Kramer and the ACLU in 1976. A judge issued the Kendrick Consent Decree two years later after finding MPD routinely violated First Amendment guarantees protecting free speech and peaceful assembly.
Activist Theryn C. Bond signs her name to a list at a rally at Memphis City Hall in 2017 protesting a “blacklist” created by city officials that designated number of activists, journalists, and critics of Memphis police as threats to public safety. (Micaela Watts)
In 2017, the public learned that MPD was surveilling a new generation of activists after The Commercial Appeal first reported evidence of a “blacklist” that included Blanchard and other private citizens who had no prior interactions with the criminal justice system. Blanchard and three others sued the city, and the ACLU intervened as a plaintiff.
The resulting federal investigation exposed additional digital surveillance that MPD used on activists and journalists who reported on local government.
In 2020, Judge McCalla sided with the ACLU, approving a binding agreement that established new ground rules for the use of surveillance technology. MPD would have to operate within these revamped guidelines under the watch of Stanton and a monitoring team, McCalla ruled.
Kramer said Stanton and the monitoring team “have done a fine job.” But he worries that the two city-employed compliance officers won’t have the same view.
“They’re only going to see what the city wants to give them. It’s not the same as having a real advocate or adverse party reporting deficiencies,” Kramer said.
The proposal approved by Judge McCalla creates a “transition period” that will begin immediately. Stanton will stay on board to evaluate the current duties Dobbins and Thomas already have with MPD and whether they have the capacity to take on the newly created roles.
Following completion of the transition period, a “sustainment period” will begin and run for as long as 24 months. However, the city could move to terminate the sustainment period after 18 months, effectively ending oversight.
Kramer is betting they will.
McCalla could deny what Kramer feels is an inevitable request from the city, but Kramer asks, “Who’s going to contest it? With all respect to the ACLU, which covers the entire state, this isn’t at the top of their priority list.”
Stanton could not be reached for comment. Prior to Wednesday’s ruling, ACLU attorney Yarbrough issued a statement to the Institute for Public Service Reporting acknowledging the eventual conclusion of outside monitoring.
“While the consent decree remains in effect to safeguard free speech rights, the ACLU-TN, the city, and the Independent Monitor will continue to ensure the city’s compliance,” Yarbrough wrote. “The conclusion of outside monitoring in the coming year reminds us that the work of protecting Memphians’ First Amendment rights is ongoing.”
The items proposed for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s special session, scheduled to start next week, carry a price tag of nearly $917 million, with his school voucher plan alone costing $424 million in its first year.
The session is set to only cover three major issues: Lee’s school vouchers, relief for Hurricane Helene victims in East Tennessee, and readying the state to conform to President Donald Trump’s immigration plan, which could include mass deportations.
A proposed law to pay for all of it (called an appropriations bill) has been filed in the Tennessee General Assembly ahead of the session to start Monday. Check it out here:
Here’s a basic breakdown of the costs from the bill:
Education Freedom Scholarships (aka the school voucher plan)
• $225.8 million every year
• $198.4 million just this year
• Total: $424.2 million
Hurricane Helene response:
• $210 million for the Hurricane Helene fund and the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund
• $240 million for TEMA disaster relief grants
• $20 million to rebuild Hampton High School in Carter County
• $6.2 million for affected schools in Tourism Development Zones
• $17 million for incentives for school systems to get more than half of their schools to get an “A” letter grade
The spending bill does not propose spending any money (yet) on Trump’s immigration enforcement plan.
Also interesting is that the bill pays for the special session itself. But no price tag was flashed on that one. Instead, it vaguely covers the whole thing.
“In addition to any other funds appropriated by the provisions of this act, there is appropriated a sum sufficient to the General Assembly for the sole purpose of payment of any lawful expenses, including, but not limited to, staffing, per diem, travel, and other expenses, of the First Extraordinary Session of the One Hundred Fourteenth General Assembly,” reads the bill.
So, Tennesseans are footing the bill for legislators to return to Nashville (travel), eat and drink while they are there (per diem), pay their staff members to help them, and pay for any other “lawful” expense lawmakers may have while conducting Lee’s business.
The Memphis In May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (MIM) is adding steak to its competition list with a top prize of $3,000.
MIM announced the addition of the Steak Cookout Competition Thursday morning. It’s a partnership with the Steak Cookout Association and a first for MIM.
“For 47 years now, the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest teams have continued to bring excitement and immense competition during the Memphis in May International Festival celebration,” said Mack Weaver, MIM president and CEO. “We are thrilled to partner with the Steak Cookoff Association (SCA) to expand opportunities for our teams to earn more cash and notoriety.”
The total purse for the steak contest is $6,000. The prize money is broken down like this:
• 1st place – $3,000
• 2nd place – $1,500
• 3rd place – $1,000
• 4th place – $500
Winners also earn an automatic entry into the Steak Cookoff Association World Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.
“It’s long been a goal of ours to have an SCA Cookoff at Memphis in May,” said SCA founder Ken Phillips. “The cooks and judges are very excited about the opportunity. I look forward to a long and successful collaboration.”
The Steak Cookoff Competition will take place during the Memphis in May International Festival on Thursday, May 15, 2025, at Liberty Park. Cost for teams to compete is $150.
