City of Memphis
With latest $50M gift, Smith family goes big
“... To receive a single $50-million-dollar commitment from a single family is just unheard of. Not just in Memphis, but anywhere.”
Samuel Hardiman
Reporter
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise reporter who focuses on government and politics. He began his career at the Tulsa World where he covered business and K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development.
There are 729 articles by Samuel Hardiman :
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July 2026
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City of Memphis -
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City of MemphisFedEx founder’s family sets up office to manage fortune, donations
A little more than a year after the death of FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith, his family is becoming more strategic with their investments and philanthropy, said Richard Smith, FedEx executive, director and son of the late magnate.
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Metro SpaceXAI has built another Memphis data center
Elon Musk appeared to acknowledge that the company had built a new data center, known as “Minihard.”
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Metro SpaceXAI buys 10 acres in Southaven
The company’s sprawling campus stretches across the Tennessee-Mississippi state line and includes three data centers.
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Metro SpaceXAI agrees to remove Mississippi turbines
SpaceXAI said Thursday, July 30, that it and the State of Mississippi had entered an agreement for winding down some of the company’s sprawling power plant operations in Southaven.
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Metro SpaceXAI agrees to emissions monitoring for MS power plant
SpaceXAI now has a clear regulatory roadmap for retiring the 69 natural gas turbines it operates without air emissions permits in Southaven.
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Metro SpaceXAI contractor said company owes it $570M
The CEO of an Ohio-based industrial contractor said SpaceXAI still owes his company about 40% of its roughly $1.5 billion total bill.
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August 2026
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Business Something big could become Colossus’ neighbor
A real estate company is looking into building something big on undeveloped land near SpaceXAI’s Colossus data center.
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MetroSpaceXAI made a lot of news last week. Here’s a breakdown.
Two days last week brought a dizzying array of headlines about SpaceXAI’s operations in the Mid-South. So let’s catch up and break down why it all matters and how it fits into the bigger picture.
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City of Memphis City of Memphis looks to save money on interest
The City of Memphis is looking to refinance about $150 million in debt.
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City of Memphis SpaceXAI could have a lot more data centers this time next year, Musk says
The company operates four data centers in the Mid-South. Three of those data centers are powered, in part, by a controversial power plant the company built in Southaven.
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2026 elections
ElectionsBrent Taylor wins Republican nomination for 9th District, will face Pearson
State Sen. Brent Taylor continued his political ascendance Thursday night, winning the 9th Congressional District Republican nomination.
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2026 elections
ElectionsMolder to face Hatcher in 5th District
Also, two Memphians — Heidi Kuhn and Marquita Bradshaw — quickly secured Democratic nominations Thursday, Aug. 6.
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Business SpaceXAI sues contractor, alleges overbilling and fraud
SpaceXAI alleges that Darana Hybrid and its CEO engaged in a practice of overbilling to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Shelby County Lowery looking inside and outside county government to assemble cabinet
Shelby County Mayor-elect Mickell Lowery said that while he doesn’t think 25 days is enough time to assemble a team, he will be deliberate on appointments.
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Business Memphis City Council to consider data center moratorium
Memphis, a city known nationwide for SpaceXAI, may take legislative steps to pause data center development. All of Elon Musk’s existing local data centers are in industrial districts and are unlikely to be affected by an ordinance.
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SpaceXAI once again said it will restart work on water plant
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City of MemphisCouncil committee passes data center pause
The proposed Memphis data center moratorium would block the issuance of building permits or site plans for new data centers in the city, according to a copy of the ordinance.
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City of Memphis Piece of Grizzlies’ funding moves forward
Memphis Light, Gas and Water has amended an agreement to send funds annually to the City of Memphis.
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MetroSpaceXAI asks for more power — this time from TVA
SpaceX’s artificial intelligence division asked TVA to directly supply more electricity to its Colossus II campus, which stretches between Memphis and Southaven.
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City of Memphis Data centers could soon pay full cost of power infrastructure, TVA CEO says
Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Mike Skaggs said the change would, in his opinion, put TVA ahead of other utilities in the country in charging data centers for their costs.
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Metro TVA hikes electric rates on Memphis data centers
Data centers across the Tennessee Valley, including SpaceXAI’s sprawling Memphis operations, will soon face steeper electric bills and must pay far more to access the broader electric grid.
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Metro Saturday’s storm ‘wreaked havoc’ on the MLGW system
Memphis Light, Gas and Water CEO Doug McGowen said the storm that blew in Saturday evening was the 7th most destructive by outage minutes in the utility’s history.
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600 employees and contractors working on power restoration, MLGW says
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BusinessWhat we do and don’t know about TVA’s data center rate hikes
When the TVA Board of Directors approved the new rate class for data centers in Memphis on Aug. 20, it held back some important information.
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Metro SpaceXAI removes 11 controversial turbines from Southaven
At its peak, the company’s non-permitted turbine count was 69, according to federal court documents and Mississippi state records.
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September 2026
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Downtown MLGW to keep chipping in on FedExForum costs
Memphis City Council’s Memphis Light, Gas and Water committee gave the utility the green light to keep paying the city $2.5 million a year towards the arena.
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