On this week’s WKNO/Channel 10’s Behind the Headlines, Eric Barnes hosts a journalist roundtable with MLK 50’s Katherine Burgess and Daily Memphian reporters Bill Dries and Mary Cashiola to discuss a new Downtown tech proposal, the Memphis Safe Task Force, growing concern over conditions inside the Shelby County Jail, plus more.
The show opens with an announcement made at a Greater Memphis Chamber luncheon regarding a multi-billion-dollar project called "Neural Nexus." This project will be developed on two underutilized blocks near Union and Danny Thomas, an area formerly known as Union Row and later The Walk, located just south of AutoZone Park. The Houston-based developer, Legacy Power Capital, is proposing a mixed-use development featuring advanced technology infrastructure. Plans include a 125,000-square-foot innovation center, 200,000 square feet of retail space, an 800-room hotel, and 700 residential apartments.
Cashiola notes that Greater Memphis Chamber events are often used to roll out major announcements, but the track record of such projects is mixed. She says journalists have to treat these moments with cautious optimism, “We trust them, but we verify.”
From there, the panel turns to the Memphis Safe Task Force and the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s traffic-stop initiative in Memphis. Burgess describes MLK50’s reporting from neighborhoods like Hickory Hill and Berclair, where “a simple traffic stop for something like a tail light out can lead to an immigration detainment.” She notes that the consequences of these stops can extend well beyond a citation, including drug charges, immigration holds, and jail time.
The discussion then shifts to the Shelby County Jail, where long-standing problems are being exacerbated by the task force’s increased arrests. Cashiola highlights reporting that the jail capacity is about 2,400. Still, the population has hovered around 2,800 for roughly 18 months, with people stuck in intake for days in spaces never meant for extended stays. People who have been jailed before told reporters that current conditions are far worse than what they previously experienced, with overcrowded intake areas, limited seating, a single toilet, and reports of filthy water and bugs.
Burgess notes that deaths and neglect at the jail have been documented for years and says what’s different now is the sheer number of people being held.
The panel also discusses the efforts by Memphis Public Library employees to transition from appointed positions to civil service status. This change is essential to their unionizing with the Communications Workers of America, and it is currently under consideration by the city council.
The conversation closes with a look ahead to 2026, which Dries calls a significant election year. Beginning with the county primaries in May, all nine seats on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board are expected to be on the ballot, along with central county offices, including mayor, sheriff, clerk, trustee, and assessor. All 13 county commission seats are up, with seven guaranteed to have new members due to term limits. State and federal races will follow in August and November. It is, Dries says, “a big election year locally,” setting the stage for significant political turnover in the year ahead.
