Behind the Headlines Podcast

A Reporters Roundtable on WKNO’s Behind The Headlines reviews the new agreement for Overton Park to end overflow parking on the Overton Park Greensward in two years.

On Behind The Headlines, the outgoing University of Memphis president said none of the crises were in academia. He also discussed leveraging sports to fund academic growth and said a Liberty Bowl decision is coming.

The developers of the old Northside High School say their mixed use development is complex and hopes to rekindle the Klondike area’s sense of community that relied heavily on the school in its prime and faded over time.

On Behind The Headlines, Election Commission chairman Brent Taylor and Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner talked about the return to the state’s voting rules and laws after the pandemic changed how Memphians cast their ballots in the 20202 elections. 

As the recovery effort continued one week from the day the storm hit, there is new discussion about how to cut the time of power restoration.

This week’s vote by the state Senate to expel Memphis Democrat Katrina Robinson based on her conviction on federal charges is among the topics on a reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines.” 

Shelby County Board of Education Chairwoman Michelle Robinson McKissack joined Behind the Headlines to discuss major changes in the district’s public school system, from school consolidations to a name change. 

Josh Spickler, of the criminal justice reform group Just City, said on WKNO’s Behind The Headlines that there is another side to the claim by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. The differences over the solutions to the city’s growing violent crime problem are likely to come to a head in elections this year featuring most of the elected positions that govern the county’s criminal justice system.

“Behind The Headlines” features a discussion of the year’s major events. The reporters’ roundtable found the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic crossed even those events that seemed unconnected to the global public health crisis.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris plans to offer bonuses to recruit corrections and homeland security officers in county government, he said on “Behind The Headlines.”