Jackson Baker

1 week ago | memphisflyer.com | Jackson Baker

Nothing official has occurred to signal the beginning of the 2026 Shelby County election, but the principal contest for that election — the race for county mayor — has begun all the same. Early salvos have been fired by contenders JB Smiley, the city councilman who, as council chair, challenged state disapproval of local gun-safety ordinances, and by Mickell Lowery, who chaired the county commission during a time of resolute action toward building projects.

2 weeks ago | memphisflyer.com | Jackson Baker

As the executive committee of the Shelby County Republican Party prepares to meet on Thursday night at the Great Hall of Germantown to consider the issue of partisan school board races, a longtime GOP activist weighs in against the ideaIn a letter to the Flyer, Naser Fazlullah, a recent candidate for party chairman who held the office of vice chair, condemns the idea.

2 weeks ago | memphisflyer.com | Jackson Baker

As I do every morning, I checked my phone on Monday for early-morning messages and overnight news. To say I was shocked by one piece of news would be an understatement. The venerable Clayborn Temple, where we then-serving members of the Rotary Club of Memphis shifted our weekly meetings for the run-up year to the 2018 MLK commemoration, was gone, consumed by fire. The sense of devastation and irredeemable loss was widely shared.

3 weeks ago | memphisflyer.com | Jackson Baker

NASHVILLE — For many years I would make a point of going to the state Capitol during the spring months to look in on the General Assembly. There were times when I was there almost from the opening gavel to the legislative session’s close. This was especially true during the years of the Income Tax Wars on Capitol Hill, roughly 1990 to 2001.

1 month ago | memphisflyer.com | Jackson Baker

It’s been a matter of weeks since President Donald Trump single-handedly deprived the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) board of its quorum, and the giant semi-public utility may come to figure in crucial decisions regarding Elon Musk’s controversial Colossus xAI project in Memphis. When Trump issued walking papers to two members of an already truncated TVA board, he effectively deprived the board of its ability to vote on policy shifts and other matters of consequence.