Memphis' request to remove Confederate statue denied

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Historical Commission has denied a request from Memphis officials to remove a statue of a Confederate general from a city park.

The Commercial Appeal reports city officials plan to appeal the decision within 60 days. City officials are trying to remove a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The former Confederate general was influential in Memphis' growth later in his life, but early on he a slave trader and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He later renounced the group.