January
• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee rejected money that would have provided free summer meals for up to 700,000 Tennessee children.
• We told you how to get around Tennessee’s then-new porn law. The story would remain in our Top 10 most-clicked web stories almost every month of the year.
• Lee called a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly to pass his school voucher plan.
• Lee said he’d use the National Guard to deport immigrants if President Donald Trump wanted it.
• Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Superintendent Marie Feagins was fired.
February
• GOP lawmakers wanted to ban undocumented students from schools.
• TACOnganas employees were taken by federal immigration agents.
• Alliance Healthcare Services opened its new 24/7 Crisis Wellness Center in Binghampton.
• State GOP applauded Trump’s “Gulf of America” change.
March
• The woman who sought to steal Graceland from the Presley family pleaded guilty to fraud charges in court.
• Opposition grew to the Memphis 3.0 plan.
• xAI bought the 1 million-square-foot former Electrolux facility in Whitehaven.
• Death row prisoners in Tennessee challenged the state’s the use of pentobarbital in executions, as it could lead to a “tortuous death.”
April
• The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) announced a hearing on xAI’s air permits.
• Lawmakers banned THCA products.
• The Mississippi River was named the “most endangered” in the country.
• A bill that would have allowed the state to take over MSCS failed to pass.
• Fire gutted Clayborn Temple in Downtown Memphis.
May
• Three officers involved in the Memphis Police Department (MPD) killing of Tyré Nichols were found not guilty on all state criminal charges by a Chattanooga jury.
• The Trump-led U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) closed its Biden-era investigation of the MPD’s use of excessive force and more.
June
• NAACP officials urged officials to stop the xAI project completely.
• Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church unveiled a $310-million plan to transform its Midtown campus.
• Memphis Pride turned 50.
• Lawmakers accused MSCS officials of destroying documents.
• Consultants running the Memphis Area Transportation Authority (MATA) asked the Memphis City Council for $45 million in funding, a $15 million increase.
• City officials released independent testing that found no dangerous pollutants related to xAI.
• Celtic Crossing Irish Pub closed temporarily after a car crashed into its patio.
July
• Tennessee tourism saw a record-breaking $31 billion spend for 2024.
• The SCHD approved 15 permanent natural gas turbines for xAI’s power backup needs.
• A plan was announced that could move riverboat operations a mile upstream into the Wolf River Harbor.
• Greater Memphis Chamber officials lauded xAI environmental steps and financial impact.
• Grok, xAI’s artificial intelligence, spewed hate against Jews (and more) from its artificial brain in Memphis.
• The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed an appeal to xAI’s air permits.
• The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) sued the city of Bartlett after elected officials there denied a permit to build a mosque.
• The city of Memphis was sued by a law student who claimed the city restricted access to police disciplinary documents.
• An audit found a host of financial problems at MATA.
August
• Groups demanded change from Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner after an inmate died at Shelby County Jail.
• Governor Lee mobilized the National Guard to help with Trump’s mass deportations.
• Thabo, the Memphis Zoo’s male lion, died at age 16.
• Lee readied the National Guard for D.C. to help Trump.
• Tennessee and Arkansas officials said “Kings’ Crossing” would be the new name of the new bridge spanning the Mississippi River.
• Lee said he was not ready to send National Guard troops to Memphis.
• MATA canceled its search for a new CEO as city leaders said they’d appoint a trustee.
• A new trial was ordered for the three MPD officers convicted in the police killing of Tyré Nichols as the original judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Mark Norris, was found to have made disparaging remarks about the MPD.
September
• Trump threatened to pull funding from Tennessee school unless gender identity was pulled from sexual education classes.
• Trump told Fox News he’d send National Guard troops to Memphis.
• Trump introduced his “Memphis Safe Task Force” in a memo. It included 13 federal agencies and the Tennessee National Guard, and would target everything from immigration to traffic violations.
• Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the task force was not his call.
• Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris claimed Lee did not have the constitutional right to send National Guard troops into any Tennessee community.
• Regional One Health announced plans to build a new hospital campus on the site of the former Commercial Appeal building.
October
• Shelby County led the state in firearm deaths from 2019-2023 with a reported 1,849 firearm deaths.
• The Memphis-area Latino community was in paralysis over racial profiling from the Memphis Safe Task Force.
• Lee said Trump’s task force in Memphis could “last forever.”
• Mayor Harris declared a state of emergency over task force arrests.
• Seven Memphis-area elected officials sued the state over the constitutionality of the Memphis Safe Task Force.
• Major crime numbers slid from 2024.
• Lawmakers worked to keep SNAP, the federal food assistance program, funded as a federal shutdown loomed. Governors in other states rushed to help constituents; Lee toured Asia on a state business trip.
• Lee provided Tennesseans with a website listing resources for those possibly affected by the looming SNAP cuts.
• Leaders announced that the Memphis Art Museum Downtown will open in December 2026.
November
• A new trail in Overton Park’s Old Forest opened and a fence around it came down.
• Lee announced $5 million for food banks to help those affected by the SNAP cuts.
• SNAP benefits were restored after weeks of uncertainty.
• A judge temporarily blocked the National Guard presence in Memphis, though they remained here as the state had time to appeal.
• Leaders announced that the Baron Von Opperbean immersive experience on Mud Island will open in March 2026.
• Southaven residents complained about the noise from xAI’s energy plant there.
• ICE targeted immigrants in Tennessee traffic courts.
December
• Doctors and faith leaders urged Lee to halt the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols. His execution marked the state’s third for the year.
• Businesses suffered amid task force presence.
• Ford pivoted to making gas trucks at West Tennessee’s BlueOval City.
• Chamber officials announced that two full blocks of Downtown Memphis are slated to become an “innovation district” in a project called the “Neural Nexus.”
• Memphis International Airport officials said the airport would officially become Fred Smith International Airport.
• Arguments on the National Guard presence in Memphis were set to be heard in March.
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