MLK50: Justice Through Journalism

City of Memphis bracing for winter after historic city shutdown in January

The Hernando DeSoto Bridge as seen during the January 2026 winter storm. Photo by Brad Vest for MLK50  Memphians have faced multiple severe heat warnings ...
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Power and Prejudice: How a little-known Tennessee law convicts Black children for murders they didn’t commit

his is a story about 104 children sentenced to die in prison by the state of Tennessee. Each was convicted of a murder — even though some had not killed anyone. In several cases, the children had been ...
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Does your Memphis home need repairs? You may qualify for these assistance programs

Water damage created a hole in Ms. Carolyn’s dining room ceiling that she has been trying to get fully repaired for a few years. Photo by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report For America ...
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Mayor avoids talk of Trump’s task force during ‘State of the City’ speech

Memphis Mayor Paul Young delivers his State of the City address at First Baptist Church Broad in Binghampton on Tuesday. Photo by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report For America Memphis ...
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Ordinance attempts to limit juvenile isolation, but county has no way to enforce it

Jerri Green, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and director of the Shelby County Department of Corrections Anthony Alexander answer questions during a press conference in June 2025. Photo by Andrea ...
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Our story

It’s easy enough to denounce racial injustice and socioeconomic inequality. The real challenge is committing to the work it takes to eliminate them. MLK50: Justice Through Journalism is a different ...
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He was hit by a cruiser at an anti-ICE march. THP hasn’t released video of the incident.

The front of a Tennessee Highway Patrol cruiser makes contact with KB and a safety marshal trying to stop it from driving into the crowd behind it at the ICE Out For Good protest on Jan. 11.
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Nashville stripped Memphis of its voice in Congress. Memphians still demanded to be heard.

Rachael Goodwin Spriggs and other Tennesseans protested during a House committee meeting that was a part of the special session on May 6. Photo by Andrea Morales / MLK50 They sang, chanted, cried and ...
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Lethal injections are more likely to be botched, experts say

Ricky Bell, warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., gives a tour of the prison’s execution chamber in 1999. AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File When the Tennessee Department of ...
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No school, no fresh air and isolated

David spent eight months incarcerated at the Youth Justice and Education Center. Center portrait by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report for America; Image of the Shelby County Youth and ...
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Section 8 tenants left in limbo by Memphis Housing Authority voucher problems

Jerricia Harris sits for a portrait at her home on Mar. 5. Photo by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report For America Right before Jerricia Harris’ mother passed away, she had a vision. “I ...