Memphis Morning News With Ditch & Tim

Ditch and Tim are joined for the first time by the Governor of Arkansas (and youngest governor in the country) Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of legendary Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, as she discusses everything from data centers to Socialism to religious freedom. 

Ditch and Tim are joined by TN Representative Tim Burchett to weigh in on the debate over the legality (or lack thereof) of Flock Cameras. 

Ditch and Tim are joined by Naomi Fabricant from The Scars Foundation to discuss the history and impact her nonprofit has had on assisting those struggling with suicide.  No matter what your scars are - abuse, mental illness, disabilities, bullying, addiction - none of them are defects, but a part of your unique story.

Ditch and Tim are joined by Bill Gibbons from the Memphis-Shelby County Crime Commission to discuss the positive statistics for safety in the Bluff City. 

Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright responds to the recent audit of Memphis Shelby County Schools. 

Ditch and Tim are joined by TN Secretary of State Tre Hargett to get a summary of the overall business condition of Tennessee, data centers, and "Focused Bachelor's Degrees." 

Ditch and Tim are joined by TN US Senator Bill Hagerty to discuss everything from the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham, the SAVE America Act, to the potential elimination of Daylight Savings Time.   

A brother and sister were trying to make a few extra bucks in a Boston, MA neighborhood when two suspects approached them with a gun and stole the cash drawer with about $50 bucks. 

Congressman David Kustoff says a bill passed in the US Senate under reconciliation to pay border patrol and ICE and will be sent to the House for a vote this week.   Federal debt has surpassed the size of the U.S. economy and more voters are starting to show real concern.  Mr. Kustoff says he's hearing more and more concerns about the national debt than he used to and people are truly worried about the mounting debt. 

Cheif economist at Heritage Foundation, EJ Antoni says that the good news in the economic numbers that is not being discusssed, is the government jobs number.   "You have to go back to 1966 to find a time when there are fewer fedral bureaucrats than there are today. Six decades of growth (federal jobs) this President has been able to undo". According to the numbers, on average one federal job created, requires about 80 private sector jobs to fund. 

Lin Neal "The Real Deal" shared the news this morning that Darana Memphis Motorsports Park plans have changed. The IHRA Midsouth Team Finals from October 15–18, and the IHRA Sportsman Bracket Racing World Finals from October 22–24 are no longer on the IHRA schedule.   The organization that purchesed the abandoned track had announced plans to return it to active racing in late September and October.  All events have been removed from the calendar.  The BIG question for race fans in the Mid-South is, WHY?    What happened after demo of the structures began?  Why the sudden stopage and no return to renovations?  Discouraged fans on our facebook post showed frustration-  "A lot of hype that had race fans in the area very excited" - J. Saddler.   "I was there the day they started taking down the old concession buildings and was so excited" - Jimmy, Raleigh.   "I knew it was too good to be true, a pipe dream I guess" - Shirley, Atoka No official word has been given on rrestarting the renovations at the facility. 

Former Shelby County Commissionor Terry Roland told Ditch & Tim during Memphis Morning News that the county is broke and a forensic audit needs to be performed on Mayor Lee Harris administration.   Terry also says that the state takeover of Memphis Shelby County Schools will be overturned after a federal court looks at it. He explains that one body is appointed and the other is elected. 

Our air travel and aviation expert, Jay "The Fly Guy" Ratliff says one airline has a new policy- leave your robots home because they aren't allowed in the cabin or in cargo department.   Plus, TSA is trying a bold new plan to get passengers through security more efficiently. 

County Commissioner Amber Mills - District 1, gave an example of how some of the mayor's grant pool money is used by commissioners.   Commissioner Brooks presented an item for $65,000 to be granted to a friends consulting firm with no volunteers, no employees for the non-profit listed on the request.  Mills says that Brooks brought the item back up a 3rd time and suddenly there were two volunteers listed and the requested amount was $32,000 and miraculously the grant request passed. 

Do you consider yourself a luddite?  Are you fighting the use AI as the answer to furthering civilizations?  Ditch, Tim & Producer Max took a few minutes to opine on "neo-luddism" and the idea that questioning the rapid advancement of AI may not categorize someone as a luddite.  Elon Musk's xAI supercomputer Grok calls Memphis home. The facility, Colossus 1 as it's known, was built in an existing Electrolux factory. Colossus 2 is being constructed in Southaven, MS and is part of the massive data center construction boom.    A "gargantuan" data center has been approved in Utah that would encompass a 62 square mile space and would double the state's electricity consumption. 

Ditch and Tim are joined by Andreas Johansson, owner of the Mid-South Monarchs, a new minor league hockey team that is set to debut at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi, in October 2026.

Ditch and Tim are joined by TN Representative Andy Ogles to discuss everything from redistricting, the man behind the President, and how he hopes to serve ALL Tennesseans, regardless of party or any other such affiliations. 

Leslie Taylor and Ron Walker from Memphis Crime Beat provided and update with all new data set on the Shelby County Justice system.  Comparing Memphis justice data to other cities in Tennessee. Memphis & Shelby County justice data is leading in some, not so good, categories. 

Memphis Morning News is joined by Tennessee's 9th Congressional District Candidate, Charlotte Bergmann to discuss what she calls, the "bad marriage" that people in Shelby County have been in with Democrats for yeats and how she's hoping to improve lives by freeing people from that bad marriage.  

Ditch and Tim are joined by Representative David Kustoff to discuss redistricting in Tennessee.   

Ditch and Tim are joined by Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett to discuss everything from "man bun bureaucrats," "little green men," and redistricting. 

As written in Section 2 of The Voting Rights Act- "this law does not entitle people to proportional representation".  Former Federal Election Commission member and voting rights legal expert, Hans Von Spakovsky detailed the interpretations in the past of the Voting Rights Act and how the justices were interpreting it wrong.  "The current Supreme Court said, if you're looking at proving a violation of The Voting Rights Act based on intentional racial descimination against black voters, you've got to base it on current events, current descrimination, not based on discrimination that occured decades ago."  That was an important part of the decision by SCOTUS in the Louisiana case, Hans told Ditch & Tim during his call on Memphis Morning News

Ditch and Tim are joined by Republican Shelby County Mayoral candidate John DeBerry, as he discusses his vision for nurturing the growth he knows is possible for Memphis and Shelby County.   

Tennessee State Rep. Mark White spoke on the re-districting special session and the fight by Shelby County Commission to stop the state takeover.  White told Ditch & Tim during his call-in on Memphis Morning News that he doesn't support the redistricting in Tennessee at this time.  "I'd like to govern in a different way, I understand the issue between blue states and red states nationwide, but I think there are ways to go about it" .  Regarding Memphis Shelby County Schools, Representative White repsonded to comments about corruption in the school disctrict-  "we've heard these stories for many, many years and the forensic audit, which will be complete June 30th, is pointing that out".   

Ditch and Tim talk with TN Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti about Mayor Lee Harris' intent to prevent a state intervention of Memphis Shelby County Schools.   

Radio voice of the Memphis Grizzlies, Eric Hasseltine talks NBA Draft, hotels and some advise for players complaing about Memphis. 

Carl Davis of Memphis Allies says that [gun violence] it's starting to be normalized. The outreach team is usually members of the community, former gang affiliated and are now trying to show guys that this is not normal and they don't want people to becoome numb to the gun violence. The research shows that typically, 1 shooting results in 4 additional shootings. Memphis Allies works to be the stop gap.  Accountability is key, says Carl. Accountability with opportunity.  

Memphis Crime Beat founder, Leslie Taylor and statistician Ron Walker addressed accusations by DA Steve Mulroy that the watchdog group is "sloppy with statistics".   Mulroy claims that the December rate of 75% of convicted Criminal Court defendants recieved no jail time is "just flat wrong".  Jail and prison are seperate from one another. One follows a judges decision after conviction while the other is waiting for a trial to even begin. These numbers were exstrapolated and concluded accordingly by Ron Walker with Memphis Crime Beat. 

Jenn Bennie, a Veteran who flew the SH-60-Bravo Seahawk helicopter during deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, stopped by the Memphis Morning News studios to share some of her experiences and training in SERE.  Bennie now hosts Walk With History on Youtube and hosts a podcast Talk With History. 

Congressman and gubinatorial candidate, John Rose says he supports deployment of the Tennessee National Guard and doesn't think it's the regular, sustainable way to safety in any community. 

She's the Memphis mom that simply thanked President Trump for sending the law enforcment surge to Memphis in September, 2025.  Shortly after, crime began to drastically drop and Delisia Balinger posted a TikTok thanking the President for The Memphis Safe Task Force. That video went viral and the threats towards Dee Dee began. The "resistance" wasn't going to stand for a mom in Memphis giving any credit to President Trump and his administration. After more than 7500 arrests, over 150 missing kids returned, hundreds of illegal firearms taken out of the hands of thugs, more than 700 known gang members removed from the streets and their affiliated gangs left unorganized and running from law enforcment, the overall crime numbers have decreased 43%.   President Trump announced he wanted to come to Memphis to thank the multiple agencies who make up the Memphis Safe Task force for their work and hear the Memphis Mom's story and Dee Dee was invited to speak at the Presidential Round Table.  She called Ditch & Tim to share her experience. 

National Security Analys, Fmr: Bridgewater Associates, Pentagon, IC, U.S. Army, @NorthropGrumman | Iraq & Afghanistan.   Alex Plitsas on Memphis Morning News with Ditch & Tim, says Kurds in Iraq have been armed and were planning to cross the border into Iran. The US has a long standing relationship with a sector of Iraqi Kurds. Alex gives context to our relationship with the Kurds and why they may be mobilizing on the ground in Iran. 

As state party leadership has removed candidates from the primary ballots, there are questions about the process.  Executive committee member Terry Roland called Memphis Morning News to discuss and challenge "to give back money".  

It's personal for John DeBerry.  Former Democrat and senior advisor to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee told Ditch & Tim during a visit to Memphis Morning News that running for Mayor of Shelby County is personal.  If voted in as Mayor of Shleby County, he wants to leave it better than it was when he got in office. DeBerry also spoke to his principles that got him kicked out of the Democratic Party. 

Congressman from Tennessee's 6th district and gubernatorial candidate, John Rose told Ditch & Tim - "we don't need a Governor who will use this as a trophy or a retirement job"

Bartlett, TN Alderman David Reaves proposes a different way to collect money other than property taxes.  The alderman called to discuss the city fee idea with Ditch & Tim on Memphis Morning News. 

US Senator from Tennessee, Bill Hagerty called in to Memphis Morning News to share the progress in winter recovery efforts,  the National Guard in Memphis, the Memphis Safe Task Force and threats made by Democrats to shut down the government unless law enforcment and FEMA are defunded. 

For college football fans who've wondered if the sport will ever return to asemblance of yesteryear with school loyalty a priority over the almighty dollar, Nick Douglas starts from the begining.  Understatnding the decisions that got us here and what happens next for college football. He discussed all of this and his book, Where Did Our Game Go, Inside College Football's Billion Dollar Transformation. 

Courtney The Zoo Lady details the process of pregancy tests for orangutans and other wild zoo news!

Founded in 1957, Harwood Center serves children ages 18 months through 6 years who have developmental delays and autism. Our nationally accredited services are include specialized educational classrooms and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy.   Aimee Joyner stopped by the Memphis Morning News Studios to share more about the center's work and needs in 2026. 

Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti called Memphis Morning News' Ditch & Tim with his response to the county Mayor's lawsuit to stop the Tennessee Guard from being deployed in Memphis as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force.  The question remains - who is paying for this lawsuit?  If the taxpayers didn't ask for it to be filed on their behalf, then who get's the bill from the lawyers representing Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Commissioner Erika Sugarmon, Commissioner Henri Brooks, City Councilman JB Smiley Jr. , Representative GA Hardaway, Representative Gabby Salinas and Senator Jeff Yarbro. Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward argued this case for the plaintiffs.  Perryman is a self-proclaimed visionary behind a team of lawyers and D.C. policy communication "experts" that take on issues like the "climate crisis" and access to "reproductive healthcare" post-Dobbs (abortion).     

Dee Dee from Memphis found out how quickly people can turn on you for simply saying "thank you Trump".  The Memphis Safe Task Force is a 13 plus federal agency effort to stop violent crime from controlling neighborhoods around the city.  After two weeks, the task force brought a very noticeable calmness to residents of Memphis and Dee Dee from Memphis posted a TikTok with a simple message- "I feel safe, thank you Trump". Those words set off some people who have lashed out at Dee Dee, but she says she is not backing down because the task force's efforts have brought calm and quiet to her neighborhood. 

Congressman David Kustoff on Memphis Morning News warns about Democrats playing games until the "no kings" protests.  Will the lemmings bend after this weekend's no kings gatherings and vote to open the Govt. next week?

Jay Jones stopped by the studio this morning to share his new song and video- "Where The Dirt Road Ends" . Watch the video at Jay Jones Headbanging Country 

Judi Perry from Abounded Antiques in Millington called Memphis Morning News encouraging people in Millington and all of West Tennessee to pray for and support Law Enforcement and The National Guard.  

With the Memphis Safe Task Force in place, Memphis is now a city with zero tolerance and some people forgot what that means.  Memphians, trained by weak and overly tolerant city council members & leaders, got used to living by the simple rule of "that's not legal, but it's ok" .  Pushing for resolutions eliminating "pretextual stops" for operating a vehicle with safety deficiencies like no tail lights, expired or fake drive out tags, the city council created a lawless culture in Memphis. Speeding and reckless driving, smoking weed while driving and other crimes were handled with "look the other way" policies because of a soft on crime DA, city council and leadership.  It's taken federal agencies to step in and correct this mess.  The old city motto - "That's not legal, but it's ok" has been thrown out because THP does not answer to Memphis City Council and other leadership.  And thank God!

Congressman David Kustoff called in during Memphis Morning News to share his stance on the Memphis Safe Task Force. He also commented on the efforts of a couple of local TV stations that are calling for activists / viewers to locate, film and send in the task force photos and videos so the station can assumingly use during broadcasts and on social media.  "...that is one reason the rating for some of these newscasts continue to go down, because people don't trust 'em" 

This morning on Newstalk 989's Memphis Morning News with Ditch & Tim, Senator Bill Hagerty spoke on the breaking news that he and other Republican Senators were spied on by Biden's special council in the DOJ under the rule of Jack Smith. "Bill Hagerty the Eagle Scout and father of four being investigated by abject criminals that operated out of the FBI...."

Ditch & Tim spoke with Fredrick Jones about his viral TikTok on The National Guard and crime in Memphis. "Don't let the headlines hustle you" says Jones. Rather than focusing on the fear, pay attention to the transformation that's happening in Memphis. 5 years. 

Bill O' Reilly confronts evil in his new book- Confronting Evil, The Worst of The Worst.