Tennessee’s Governor is working with the Trump Administration, though they don’t need the National Guard to police Memphis.
The Boring Co is taking core rock samples before starting Tunnel Work. Samples are usually taken a year in advance.
More news from Tennessee and the World from NPR.
onday, September 15, 202587° ☀️ / 66° ⛅️Marianna Bacallao
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the National Guard to several American cities, including Memphis, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. inspired widespread protests.
In 2020, President Donald Trump deployed the guard after the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed.
Now, Trump is deploying the guard to Memphis, when overall crime is at a 25-year low.
WHAT TO KNOW
Gov. Bill Lee. Photo: Marianna Bacallao / WPLN News
Republican Gov. Bill Lee, a longtime ally of President Trump, told reporters last month that there was no need to send the guard, citing a report that found crime in Memphis had dropped 15% year-over-year.
“We’ve made significant investments toward public safety in Memphis. $150 million in intervention grant funds and vast expansion of troopers there,” Lee said.
On Friday, Lee released a statement, saying that his office has been in “constant communication” with the Trump administration and that he will be meeting with the president to “work out details.” Lee stressed that the guardsmen will operate in tandem with existing efforts to combat crime.
“We are working closely with the Trump Administration to determine the most effective role for each of these agencies to best serve Memphians,” Lee said. “As one of America’s world-class cities, Memphis remains on a path to greatness, and we are not going to let anything hold them back.”
Lee’s office did not answer WPLN’s questions asking whether the governor had requested that Trump mobilize the guard or what the guard’s official duties will be.
State senators who represent Memphis have decried the decision. Like Lee, they point to statistics that show crime in the city is at a 25-year low.
“Memphis is not a war zone — it’s a city making progress,” Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, said in a statement. “When the troops leave, crime issues will come right back because Trump is choosing cheap political theater over the hard work of strengthening a community.”
Lamar called on Trump to restore the federal funding he cut from police and crime prevention programs in April.
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Have Metro Parks shifted toward more of a focus on conservation and nature? There was a time when the majority of parks in our city were about ball fields and band shells, but now the four largest parks in the system are mostly given over to nature. Plus, the local news for September 15, 2025, and NPR’s Pod Corner.
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MORE TO KNOW
- WPLN environmental reporter Caroline Eggers has been keeping a close eye on Elon Musk’s Boring Company as it begins construction on a planned tunnel between downtown and the airport. She found that last Tuesday afternoon, the company dug underground at its worksite on Rosa Parks Boulevard for a future utility pole. At the same time, the company sampled the city’s rock. That is not typical. Companies and government agencies usually do geological studies at least a year, or multiple years, before breaking ground on large construction projects in Middle Tennessee for planning purposes. Read more of Caroline’s Boring Co. reporting.
- Disaster survivors — including in Tennessee — are waiting longer to get aid from the federal government, according to a new Associated Press analysis of decades of data. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it took, on average, less than two weeks for a governor’s request for help to be granted. That rose to roughly three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. It is now taking more than a month in Trump’s current term. This year in Tennessee, it took Trump’s office 63 days to approve disaster aid after a string of April tornadoes. Residents have received $8 million in relief. The Trump administration says it is reviewing disaster requests with more rigor.
- Untreated sewage was illegally routed into Nashville’s wastewater system and has now led to federal indictments against two men. Prosecutors say the men conspired to defraud the EPA and violate the Clean Water Act. They were working together for the private company Onsite Environmental when authorities say they told employees to bypass treatment processes in 2022 and 2023. They’re also charged with tampering with a sampling device that monitors the liquids that the company hauls. The company has previously admitted to the discharges and the two men face potential prison time and fines.
FROM WNXP
Photo by Carly Butler
Mei Semones is one of a kind. Blending Japanese pop with bossa nova and indie production, the New York based singer-songwriter has carved out a unique space in the city’s prominent music scene.
The Berklee College of Music grad is a guitar savant and her musical arrangements are even more impressive. With lyrics in both English and Japanese, Semones’ music is a cultural hodgepodge that doesn’t just work — it’s awe-inspiring. Her debut album Animaru is master class in musicianship and genre blending.
Watch Mei Semones perform “Tora Moyo,” “Itsumo” and “Kurayami” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral.
FROM THIS IS NASHVILLE
ICYMI: This past spring, Durham, N.C., hosted a sprawling roots music festival called Biscuits & Banjos. For the thousands of attendees, it had some similarities to a lot of folk music events around the country. But one major thing set it apart: Nearly every featured performer was Black.
The event is just one part of a Black folk music revival sweeping the country that’s rescuing lost traditions and challenging stereotypes that for generations have influenced things like who gets to play the banjo in America.
The festival included the reunion of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and its lineup gathered Black folk musicians who inspired the Chocolate Drops, and many more who were inspired by them.
This episode is part of a collaboration between WUNC North Carolina Public Radio and WPLN Nashville Public Radio.Listen now, or find the episode wherever you get your podcasts. CLICK FOR TICKET GIVEAWAYS
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