The Shelby County general election is less than a week away, and your host is a hopeless political junkie. So, for this special episode, Josh convened a special election roundtable with two of Memphis' top political reporters. Ryan Poe of the Commercial Appeal and Bill Dries of the Memphis Daily News have been covering elections up and down the ballot for this and many elections past. Hear what they have to say about the County Mayor's race, the new County Commission, and the impact that the Juvenile Court oversight has had on this election. Plus, a lot more!

With election season in Shelby County in full swing, we present one of two recent interviews with the candidates for County Mayor. David Lenoir has played SEC football, started a mutual fund, and served two terms as Shelby County Trustee. He is now the Republican candidate in the race for Mayor.

When recently discussing the challenges facing our community, Lenoir pointed to his faith and said this, "So, for me, it is top of mind and a real desire and passion of mine that we, as a community, come together as one. I've seen the power and benefit of it in my own personal life." Listen to our conversation with him about sentencing, pretrial detention, and what it means to be "the County's banker."

With election season in Shelby County in full swing, we present one of two recent interviews with the candidates for County Mayor. Lee Harris has been a City Councilman, a State Senator, and is now the Democratic candidate in the race for Mayor. 

A native Memphian, when asked about moving home to Memphis instead of a taking a job on Wall Street after law school, Sen. Harris said, “I’ve always been a big challenge kind of guy. Going to Wall Street is not a challenge.” He sat down with us and discussed some of those challenges - crime and punishment, public safety, and his readiness for the job he's seeking. 

Our guest for this episode is Luther Ivory. He shared some of his experience growing up in Memphis during the Civil Rights era, including a very significant evening at Mason Temple on April 3, 1968. Today, Luther Ivory is mostly retired from his job as an associate professor of religious studies and director of African American studies at Rhodes College. He has also planted and pastored multiple churches, toured the world aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer and raised a family in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. His warmth and enthusiasm were contagious, and you’ll love his stories and his passion for life. All are very apparent from this recent interview.

For more of Lu’s story, check out this 2013 opinion piece in The Christian Science Monitor.

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Our latest episode features founder and executive director of Playback Memphis, Virginia Murphy, and Memphis Police Officer Chris Street. Officer Street is former military and makes for the quintessential cop in appearance and pedigree. But the way he describes his job and his experiences as a police officer will surprise you. Virginia brings grace, thoughtfulness and delight to otherwise daunting situations. Those gifts have given her organization its staying power for nearly a decade. Here’s to 10 more years of Playback Memphis!

Homeboy Industries bills itself as the largest gang intervention program on the planet. There is little doubt that this unassuming collection of neighbors has transformed thousands of lives and saved thousands more. The Homies, as they are known, give tours, bake bread, learn trades, and generally invest in each other and their neighborhoods. Two Homies, Omar and Jason, were in town recently with Homeboy founder Father Greg Boyle, and we sat down with them for a few minutes to get the inside scoop. It was a delightful conversation that we hope you enjoy.

Learn more about Homeboy at homeboyindustries.org. Listen to a brilliant conversation with Father Greg here.

During the recent commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the community in which he was sacrificed offered symposia, galas, and more than a few bus wraps as reminders of his work and legacy. In our opinion, a few voices rose above the cacophony. Dr. Charles McKinney was one of those voices; he is an Associate Prof of History and Director of Africana Studies at Rhodes College. 

Prof. McKinney was kind enough to spend a precious few minutes with us during that very busy month. Among a few other things, he reminded us that Dr. King spoke equally about love, power and justice, but all too often we ignore the power and the justice and focus on the love. Unfortunately, this dishonest treatment of Dr. King's message informed how we marked his tragic death. In this interview, Professor McKinney vividly reminds us that, 50 years later, things are not alright.

Adam Foss founded Prosecutor Impact in 2016 with the mission to improve community safety in the United States through a better understanding of the most important actor in the criminal justice system: the criminal prosecutor. They pursue education, training, and improved access to technology for the American prosecutor, which they believe will improve public safety results in our communities.

Adam has long been a critical voice in the national conversation about criminal justice reform. His 2016 TED Talk, A Prosecutor's Vision for a Better Criminal Justice System, has been viewed nearly 2 million times and is a clarion call for the involvement of prosecutors in the work of reversing mass incarceration. Watch it and listen to our interview to find out what Adam and PI are doing to make that a reality.

Abe Fortas was born in Memphis in 1910 and would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice of the United States. His journey to the nation's highest court took him far away from his hometown, but the impact of growing up poor in the South is evident in nearly everything he accomplished. 

For this episode, we interview Tim Huebner, Professor of History at Rhodes College, who recently published a remarkable article for the Journal of Supreme Court History entitled Memphis and the Making of Justice Fortas. It is perhaps the best examination of this city's impact on the man, and it is chock full of detail and fascinating anecdotes. If you're a Memphis history buff and care about equality and fairness, you'll love our conversation. 

For our first episode of the new year, we spoke to the mayor of Gary, Indiana, Karen Freeman-Wilson. Mayor Freeman-Wilson co-chairs the committee on criminal and social justice for the US Conference of Mayors and helped produce that section of the mayors’ agenda entitled Leadership for America: Mayors’ Agenda for the Future. Read more about the Mayors' Safety and Security Plan here.

During our interview, the Mayor helped us locate Gary on a map, we talked about the importance of right-sizing our criminal justice system, and she gave us some behind the scenes scoop from her time as an Undercover Boss.

Richard Ransom has been covering the news in Memphis for more than 20 years, and recently became Weeknight Anchor and Managing Editor for Local 24 News. Shortly after beginning his new role, Richard stated “Reporting crime all the time is not a responsible or accurate reflection of life in our city, and I am proud to work with a news team that wants to inform you, not scare you.” This edition of The Permanent Record examines exactly what he meant by that and looks to a more productive and honest future of how crime and public safety can be portrayed by local broadcast news outlets.

For our third interview in Just City's continuing examination of the link between mass media and public policy, we spoke with Eric Barnes, Publisher and CEO of the Memphis Daily News and host of "Behind the Headlines" on WKNO-TV. A twenty-year veteran of Mid-south publishing, Eric describes the rapidly evolving business models that are driving the way daily print outlets report the news and the indelible effects it has on the way people think about the public safety of their local communities -- as well as the responses that local officials and lawmakers have to these perceptions. 

Tune in for our fourth and final media podcast, when we speak with Local Memphis' Anchor and Managing Editor Richard Ransom about a refreshing new perspective on crime coverage by local television news outlets.

For our second interview in a series of four episodes in which we’ll be interviewing the interviewers, and looking at the unique role that the media plays in covering the criminal justice system, we interviewed Jessica Pishko of the Fair Punishment Project. 

Jessica graduated from Harvard Law School and writes frequently about criminal justice issues, especially prosecutors and their influential role in the system. Her award-winning writing has appeared in The Nation, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Pacific Standard, and San Francisco Magazine.

We talked to Jessica about her recent article in The Nation about state district attorney associations and their resistance to almost all reform efforts and about the realities facing writers in this new era of journalism.

Make sure you listen to our third episode in the series; it's coming soon. In it, Kerry Hayes talks to Eric Barnes, editor of the Memphis Daily News about issues facing journalists in Memphis.

This interview with NPR's Carrie Johnson marks our first in a series of four episodes in which we’ll be interviewing the interviewers, and looking at the unique role that the media plays in covering the criminal justice system. 

Carrie joined NPR News in 2010. She covers the Justice Department closely and has reported extensively on its agreement with the Shelby County Juvenile Court.

Speaking from NPR headquarters in Washington, Carrie described a day in the life of a public radio correspondent, explained how things have changed for her since the 2016 election, and she even shared some of her sports allegiances. (Cubs fans beware!) We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Make sure you listen to our second episode in the series; it's coming soon. In it, we talk to Jessica Pishko of the Fair Punishment Project about the new realities in journalism and the balance between advocacy and news.