By Thomas Sellers Jr.
My beloved hometown of Memphis has been in the news this past decade for more bad than good.
From the infamous death of Tyre Nichols to the goofiness of Ja Morant to the tragedy of Eliza Fletcher, Memphis had a negative spotlight across the world mostly since the turn of the new decade.
Toss in the Young Dolph murder and Memphis 901 leaving the Bluff City, we had more to frown about than to make us smile. The year 2025 continued with a lot of bad news coming out of the Southwest corner of Tennessee, but there were signs of hope.
The future is always uncertain and has its doubts. But there were a few glimpses of good and a changing mindset toward positivity throughout Memphis and the Mid-South.
As for recapping the top news stories of 2025 from the Greater Memphis area, sadness still dominates the headlines.
10. Wider Summer Avenue
This story is an illustration of the hope for Memphis. If we are to grow as a city and build stronger infrastructure, we’re going to need better ways of getting around.
Although it is inconvenient at the moment, the construction on Summer Avenue near I-240 is necessary. The Tennessee Department of Transportation announced in late spring the start of the Summer Avenue Widening Project, aimed at improving traffic flow and enhancing safety for all users of this vital transportation corridor.
The project began on June 8 and traffic was reduced to one lane in each direction. For the next few years there will be temporary lane closures, traffic shifts, and weekend intersection closures throughout the project.
The 1.8 miles from near I-40 to east of Sycamore View Road was awarded to Bell & Associates for $69.4 million. Key features of the project include widening Summer Avenue from two lanes in each direction with a turn lane to three lanes in each direction with a turn lane. The project will also replace bridges over the Wolf River and Fletcher Creek. The road will be expanded to accommodate additional lanes, reducing congestion and improving travel times. The estimated completion date is June 30, 2028.
9. Record Snowfall
Winter made its presence felt yet again in Memphis back in January 2025. The 10th day of the year all residents and visitors of the Bluff City woke up to the ice, white stuff all over the ground. Memphis set a new snow record and there was more to come. The old record of 3.6 inches was set in 1997. The new benchmark is 6 inches.
8. Scary Spring Night
A few nights in May were stormy, but the evening of May 20 had several who still had power glued to their televisions and smartphones tracking the dangerous storms. Thousands were without power when the predicted ‘Enhanced Risk’ came to fruition. Tornadoes, strong winds and hail left its mark across Memphis and the Mid-South that night.
7. Kelly sentenced to Life
Back in August, Ezekiel Kelly found out his fate from his murderous spree. Kelly was accused of going on a killing spree for several hours on September 7, 2022.
Almost three years later, Kelly changed his plea to guilty in a deal accepted in court in Downtown Memphis. Kelly was accused of multiple shootings and carjackings across Memphis that left four people dead and three injured. The incident, which was partially livestreamed by Kelly. That was the night of my 41st birthday. That infamous Wednesday had many residents of Memphis in fear and staying inside. Ironically, it was a Wednesday when attorneys entered guilty pleas on 28 counts. Kelly was sentenced to three life sentences served consecutively with no parole, plus 221 years. The deal took the death penalty off the table.
6. Uninvited Guest
This story made it to Yahoo, CNN and other major national outlets. A man was accused of trespassing at the home of Memphis Mayor Paul Young. Back in June, Trenton Abston, 25, was charged with attempted kidnapping and stalking. According to the police report, the suspect had a taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his vehicle at the time of his arrest.
Abston allegedly admitted to going to the mayor’s home to confront him about crime in Memphis. The suspect was apprehended and charged after police investigated “suspicious activity” in Mayor Paul Young’s neighborhood. Surveillance footage showed that the individual went directly to the mayor’s residence upon scaling the wall and did not approach any other home in the neighborhood, according to the Memphis Police Department. His face was “clearly captured” in the Ring footage, according to the affidavit.
5. Musk to Memphis
Fresh off making headlines with the freshly minted 47th President of the United States Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk moved from making headlines in D.C. to the M-Town. Back in February, months after xAI put its operations in Memphis, Elon Musk finally announced why he chose the Bluff City. Musk brought his company, which is the world’s largest artificial intelligence supercomputer, to Memphis. It was timing because he was able to get the xAI up and running in less than 125 days because he used an abandoned building instead of taking the time to start from the ground up.
“So we found an Electrolux factory in Memphis. That’s why it is in Memphis. Home of Elvis,” said Musk. “It was a very nice factory, for whatever reason, Electrolux left. That gave us shelter for the computers.”
The Memphis City Council approved selling additional land to xAI, where the company will use the land to build a water recycling facility to cool its Colossus supercomputer and two nearby industries.
4. Historic Church Fire
The images were shocking and breathtaking. In the background was a symbol of the new era in the City of Memphis with FedEx Forum. In the foreground was the burning of the historic Clayborn Temple in downtown Memphis. That spiritual structure was a landmark with ties to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement. The fire occurred on April 28 and sent shockwaves throughout the city. Officials said they received a call about 1:30 a.m. about a church fire at the intersection of Hernando Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
Those who are old enough and historians of the city knew what the flames were destroying as news cameras captured the images. Clayborn Temple was the launching point for a march for sanitation workers’ rights that brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis in 1968. The iconic “I Am A Man” signs used in the march were printed there. In 2018, the National Trust for Historic Preservation officially named the church a national treasure. In 2023, a $6 million restoration of the temple was completed and is the site of the I Am A Man Plaza.
3. Feagins ousted
The calendars were barely reading 2025 when the city was rocked by the tension from the leaders of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools. The Board voted to terminate Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins’ contract with the school district in mid January. The decision effectively fired her as the district’s top educator.
MSCS Transformation Officer Dr. Roderick Richmond was appointed as interim.
Now Feagins might run for Shelby County Mayor and there has been a shake up in the term limits for the Board members. The hostile night has had ripple effects on all involved and I am praying good will come from all of this to benefit the children of Memphis.
2. Violent Spring vs. Children
To summarize how bad April got for area children, a 19-year-old faced charges in a shooting in Orange Mound that left a 2-year-old dead. I think this period of time in April motivated officials in Washington D.C. to target Memphis as one of the cities that needed a task force.
April was one of the worst months for gun violence against Memphis children ever with 14 children shot. From parks to festivals and even in front of schools, our children were not safe. The final count in April, 7 children died from gun violence.
April 2025 rivaled November 2023 as one of the most deadly months for children in Memphis.
The number of Memphis children shot has increased sharply over the past decade, per Regional One Health and LeBonheur Children’s Hospital data. In 2009, doctors at Le Bonheur treated 23 children for gunshot wounds. In 2012, they treated 40 children. In 2017, they treated 88. Finally in 2023, they treated 180.
1. Task Force in Memphis
It was talked about most of the year and it finally took place in the early fall. A task force ordered by President Donald Trump was deployed to Memphis. On the surface, the mission was to make Memphis safer and reduce violent crime.
By late November, the task force made thousands of arrests. Since late September, hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel tied to the Memphis Safe Task Force have made traffic stops, served warrants and searched for fugitives. More than 2,800 people were arrested by Thanksgiving and more than 28,000 traffic citations have been issued in the same time period.
The task force, which includes National Guard troops, is supported by Gov. Bill Lee and others who hope the surge reduces crime in a city that has grappled with violent crime, including nearly 300 homicides last year and nearly 400 in 2023.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Legacy Media. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to thomas@legacy-media.net
