Opinion: DeSoto County’s regional sewer project sees ‘substantial progress’
“This is a $300 million regional infrastructure project involving court oversight, multiple jurisdictions, complex engineering, and layered funding sources.”
Topic: Guest Columns
RSSThere are 248 article(s) tagged Guest Columns:
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January 2026
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Echols: Team sports make space for light to gain victory over dark
“Team sports push back on our natural inclination toward selfishness, and I celebrate and support anything that makes space for light to gain victory over dark, especially if that light involves a goal, a ball and a reversible polyester jersey.”
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Opinion: Our Afghan neighbors should be welcomed, not detained
“These Afghan immigrants are not criminals. These are our neighbors. They did not enter the United States illegally and they have not violated any of the prescribed guidelines our government has given them.”
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Opinion: For Memphis Jews, the arson attack in Jackson is painfully close to home
“Beth Israel is a place where people come to mourn loved ones and celebrate new love, to mark milestones and share meals together. Anyone who visits their church, mosque or temple for such moments can easily imagine our pain.”
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Opinion: Service is Memphis’ superpower and MLK Day is our annual reminder to use it
“In Memphis, service isn’t something we outsource. We see our neighbors as assets, not problems to be solved. We are partners in progress.”
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Opinion: XAI must power a just transition for Memphis
“Let xAI not be a monument to what was taken from Memphis but a testament to what happens when a city demands justice for its people.”
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Opinion: Building enduring peace in Memphis
“A fair justice system holds people accountable when they cause harm, and it provides swift justice for victims. True justice makes no distinction between rich and poor — white or Black, native-born or immigrant.”
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Opinion: We need to address criminal forensic priorities
“Investigations and prosecutions can take far too long as forensic test results are pending. But implementing a series of key additions to local forensic capabilities can make the justice system move faster and more efficiently.”
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Opinion: Cardiac arrest doesn’t wait. Neither should MLGW.
“As organizations set goals for the new year, there’s one resolution that belongs at the top of every leadership agenda: be ready to save a life.”
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Opinion: Why the Shelby County Clerk’s Office deserves our attention
“At its best, the Clerk’s Office is where the government meets everyday life, where efficiency, fairness and accountability translate directly into better public service.”
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December 2025
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Opinion: Hidden Christmas in a juke joint off Highway 51
“I’m not sure if Jesus would find Christmas in a juke joint off 51, but I did. And if he came back today, I like to think he would order a Bloody Mary and smile, watching the children gather unto the mic on a stand, the youth reassuring the adults that yes, Christmas was still with us.”
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Opinion: ‘Now we must get serious about second-chance hiring’
“I say as a retired police detective: If Memphis wants fewer repeat offenders, fewer victims, and stronger communities, we don’t need to look far for solutions. We just need to open the doors that lead to work.”
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Opinion: The good side of going viral
“Social media provides profound community benefits: the power to spread messages, support causes and connect neighbors.”
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Opinion: Working toward civil discourse on social media
“Growing up, many adults in school and in church impressed upon us ‘character counts.’ Today, I wonder if the messages of character, kindness and respect resonate.”
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Echols: ‘It’s weird when your kids know things you don’t’
“We can take ten thousand steps, but that last one — the moment when the wick claims the flame as its own — is always something of a tiny mystery.”
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Echols: Thinking about what’s behind our thinking
“Once you take a thought captive and lock it up tight, you must replace it with another thought. Very few of us are able to sit quietly with nothing at all going on up top.”
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Opinion: ‘The moral obligation to extend hospitality to the migrant and the stranger’
“Regardless of political affiliation or denomination, Christian people must speak clearly and with one voice that such treatment of the immigrant or cultural outsider in our midst is immoral and in direct opposition to the way of Jesus.”
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Opinion: Why is the City of Memphis treating loans as grants?
“We hear so much about the need for transparency in government; this might be a good and easy place to start. It all boils down to the people’s trust in their government.”
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November 2025
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Opinion: Protecting public safety from digital manipulation
“The internet isn’t just a separate world we visit; it is now an inseparable part of our streets, schools and homes. The ultimate safety app is awareness.”
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Opinion: The high price of the social media highlight reel
“I am a proponent of the Shelby County’s school board’s decision to ban phones from school and wish it would have been done sooner.”
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Opinion: TVA should finish the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant
“Our low energy costs, abundant land, strong distribution network, and leadership in advanced manufacturing give Memphis a competitive edge. But we’ll only keep that edge if we expand generation capacity now.”
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Guest Column: Novella Smith Arnold Cromer built a beloved community in Memphis
“In a world of widespread division, racial profiling, and individual, systemic, and institutional racism, Novella ignored all the social constructs that divided neighbors from one another.”
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Opinion: Rep. Cohen says flight reduction sparks outcry and frustrations
“I am frustrated on behalf of my constituents, whose flights to or from Memphis may be canceled or delayed, effecting untold numbers of business meetings, family gatherings, and vacations.”
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Opinion: Comparing violence intervention in Memphis to Baltimore
“Reducing violence requires ... data — credible data — which requires collaboration.”
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Opinion: Brent Taylor accuses Otis Sanford of ‘shag carpet’ hypocrisy
Otis Sanford “accuses Republicans of selective fury while practicing it himself: outraged at Trump’s pardons for nonviolent individuals but mute about Biden’s pardons for violent criminals.”
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