Natalie Wallington

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

Jaw-dropping investigation out today from my colleague Rebecca Cadenhead:

Children as young as 13 are being held in solitary confinement for weeks or months in Shelby County's juvenile detention center. And the adults involved, from the court to the state, know about it.

mlk50.com/2025/10/01/n...

Very weird vibes in Memphis this week as the National Guard's arrival looms. No one quite certain what to expect. One friend described it as "like the day or two before a hurricane when everyone is taping up their windows." Another compared it to the early days of COVID, pre-lockdown. Eerie, quiet.

National Guard + other federal agents will "begin operations" in Memphis next week, per mayor Paul Young.

New page says NG "will be deputized by the U.S. Marshals" but "will not make arrests or issue warrants." These seem to contradict each other; we're looking into it.
memphistn.gov/safeandclean/

Wheat paste poster that says the all the world is dying and the new world struggles to be born now is the time of monsters. There's a picture of Elmo

Morning walk

The country "Eswatini" is misspelled here

A new city ordinance would allow Memphis to tear down ‘blighted’ buildings. How will it choose which to tackle? A blight listening session was held inside the Lester Community Center on July 30. Photo by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report For America A

A new Memphis ordinance would allow the city broad discretion in identifying and tearing down "blighted" buildings.

But critics worry low-income homeowners could be targeted while out-of-town slumlords get off the hook. I took a look with my colleague Katherine Burgess:

mlk50.com/2025/09/22/a...

Overheard at the pharmacy:

"I'm really sorry about that mix-up."
"It's okay. I'm really sorry about my attitude before."
"It's okay."

Taking this as a reminder to give people grace & hopefully receive it in kind.

I humbly ask that as the National Guard arrives in the coming weeks, don't let national news outlets tell you what's happening on the ground in Memphis.

Please get your news from the people who actually live here and are part of the community. Whether that's my outlet (@mlk50.com) or others.

YouTube video by Action News 5 Gov. Bill Lee gives insight on upcoming National Guard deployment in Memphis

"The way we attack crime in Memphis is about to change forever"

Watch the condensed interview here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfzV...

"These National Guardsmen will actually be military police" -TN Gov. Bill Lee on @actionnews5.com

He says they are expected to arrive in the next two weeks-- shorter than the 3-4 week timeline Memphis' mayor has been sharing with community members in recent days.

this devin kelly poem was (re)posted over on twitter yesterday by @reiilly.bsky.social and so now I've been thinking about it again for the last 24 hours

www.havehashad.com/hadposts/all...

This poem just knocked me on my ass. incredible work

These Memphis mobile home residents are fighting for safe and accessible common spaces While some repairs have been made to the streetlights at Wheel Estate, parts of Josibpet Lane remain in the dark. Photo by Diana Azcarate Barreto for MLK50 Editor’s Note: MLK50: Justice Through Jou…

“Citations for minor issues like parking violations and overgrown lawns aren’t handed out uniformly... management seems to enforce community rules more strictly for some residents than for others.”

mlk50.com/2025/08/07/t...

By @mlk50.com @narwhallington.bsky.social

#housing+ #urbanism+ #urbanism

These Memphis mobile home residents are fighting for safe and accessible common spaces While some repairs have been made to the streetlights at Wheel Estate, parts of Josibpet Lane remain in the dark. Photo by Diana Azcarate Barreto for

POV: It's Friday. It's a slow morning at work. As you scroll Bluesky, you find a juicy longread about a makeshift union of Memphis trailer park residents fighting for better living conditions. Now you have something to read while you sip on your second cup of coffee:

mlk50.com/2025/08/07/t...

Thank you for using the term "pregnant people"!

Turns out this is a parody, as are a handful of other sites linked at the bottom of the page!

Update: per the Internet Archive, this site has existed since 2021 but has looked like this at least a few times since 2023 (I didn't go through all the snapshots) 🤔 so perhaps less of a hack and more of an ongoing parody!

Missouri ballot measure would ban abortions. But the question doesn’t say that Abortion rights advocates argue the language of the upcoming ballot measure is misleading and written in a way to encourage voters to approve a new abortion ban.

New: When Missouri voters head to the ballot box next year, they will decide whether to reimpose an abortion ban.

But the question that voters will see makes no mention of banning abortion or the fact that it would strike down last November’s historic vote. www.kansascity.com/news/politic...

Memphis is out of utility assistance money — and it’s unclear when program funds will return Renee needs $166 to keep her lights on. Money has been tight — her son graduated from high school this spring, and her mother was recently diagnosed with

Utility assistance in Memphis is doled out by a patchwork of programs, all with different funding sources.

Now, the three major programs that help Memphians avoid shutoffs are turning away new applicants-- right as summer temperatures soar.

My latest for @mlk50.com:

mlk50.com/2025/07/03/m...

Wow, this is really cool and totally unexpected! Thank you so much to @wigleaf.bsky.social for this, and congrats also to Maureen, Hannah and Thora! 🤩 ❤️

Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.

What a treat to see both Sarah Ritter and Bill Lukitsch, formerly my colleagues at the KC Star, with bylines on A1 of this edition!

Thank you so much for reading!!

The coming days will bring the federal sentencing decisions for the officers who killed Tyré Nichols in 2023.

Just a reminder to my fellow reporters that Tyré's name is spelled with an accent over the E-- thank you to the RCFP & the Daily Memphian for adopting this correction already 🙏
#SayHisName

as someone with an extreme fear of flying this has not been a good year for me so far 🫠

I've been keeping this under my hat for a while-- so proud to share that I have a flash fiction piece up today in @wigleaf.bsky.social, one of my all-time favorite online literary magazines!!

The Southern Environmental Law Center is petitioning the U.S. EPA over ozone exposure in the Memphis area, exposure they say is only worsening as xAI and other groups utilize methane gas turbines. mlk50.co/3HsHgaS

*describes pangaea to explain the history of the human race*

Patriot Front led a march through the Crossroads neighborhood of downtown Kansas City today. Several photos / videos are going around instagram, including this one: www.instagram.com/reel/DKDQ29R...

A DOJ investigation of Phoenix and its PD was the first to find a pattern of violations against homeless people, including throwing away their possessions. “You guys are trash and this is trash," one officer said, per the DOJ. This week, AG Bondi said the DOJ has abandoned efforts to reform the PD.