Correction: An earlier version of this story suggested the new Lenny’s Grill & Subs would be in a Bartlett Walmart. It is actually opening in a Walmart in Southeast Memphis. 

Good morning, Memphis and the Mid-South. Today is Wednesday, Aug. 11, and former Tenn. Gov. Bill Haslam will be in town for a Peer Power Foundation kickoff.

Today is also the official start of the 2021 Elvis Week, commemorating the 44th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, with the semifinals underway tonight for the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest. The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission will hold its executive committee meeting at noon. And while we’re battling the heat here in Memphis, the Grizzlies will be battling the Heat in Las Vegas.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Students line up in the hallway at Bruce Elementary during Shelby County Schools' first day of school on Monday. (Photo by Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Concerning kids: Though the overall figure is still quite low, the number of children admitted to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital with COVID-19 has doubled within a week. “The hospital now accounts for nearly half of all the serious pediatric cases in the state, a combination of admissions from outlying areas, low vaccination rates and the density of the population,” writes The Daily Memphian’s Jane Roberts. And, unfortunately, the medical director of infection prevention at Le Bonheur says this is what we should expect to see over the next several weeks. And maybe this isn’t the right time to mention this, but residents from Bartlett and Collierville continued to protest the Shelby County Health Department’s mask mandate for K-12 schools yesterday. 

Wright woman convicted? Despite a recent ESPN special, the ex-wife of NBA star Lorenzen Wright no longer wants the guilty plea she entered in connection with his death to be thrown out. Sherra Wright was in a Memphis court yesterday because she filed a request to overturn her guilty plea earlier this year. She’s now changed her mind, but her attorney would not say why. However, in doing so, her 30-year sentence stands and she is not allowed to ask that her plea be overturned again.

Attorney Ben Crump (middle) leads family members of Alvin Motley Jr. to the podium for a press conference at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Family speaks out: After an altercation at an East Memphis Kroger gas station turned deadly this past weekend, the family of the slain man is calling for justice. And they have a civil rights attorney who was involved in the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor cases at their side. Private security guard Gregory Livingston is accused of shooting and killing Alvin Motley Jr. on Sat., Aug. 7, outside the Kroger gas station near Poplar Avenue and Kirby Parkway. Surveillance video shows Motley was unarmed, according to an affidavit, and the altercation apparently began over loud music. 

Ethics feud: There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. The latest comes after Harris vetoed a new ethics advisory panel approved by the commission and mentioned an investigation into Ford in his veto. Ford responded earlier this week: “[Harris] wants to say the timing and focus on ethics is striking. But I also question the timing of his focus on ethics.”

MEET MEMPHIS

DeAndre Brown, the founder of Lifeline to Success, is now the acting head of the Shelby County Office of Re-Entry. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

At one point in his life, DeAndre Brown was pre-med at Rhodes College. It was only a little while later, however, that he was convicted of bank fraud and identity theft in connection with selling drugs. He ended up serving 25 months in state and federal prisons. Now 46, Brown is the executive director of Lifeline to Success, a nonprofit to help ex-offenders. He’s also been named the acting executive director of the Shelby County Office of Re-Entry and is a candidate for the permanent job. “I just hope that I can provide inspiration and that my story inspires somebody that is in a cell right now or sitting on a couch at home thinking it’s over,” Brown said. “You still have a chance if you commit yourself to a better way.”

THE NICE TO KNOW

Lenny’s Grill & Subs is opening in the highest grossing Walmart in the Mid-South, located at 7525 Winchester Rd. (Courtesy Lenny’s)

Lenny’s living better? There are about 70 Lenny’s Grill & Subs stores in existence right now, with 30 of those in Shelby County. And now there is going to be a new one in an area Walmart. Founder Len Moore actually started the sandwich shop in Bartlett in 1998; the story is a little circuitous but the short version is that Lenny’s relatively new owner signed an agreement with Walmart to develop eateries in several stores. Most of them have been his other Philly cheesesteak restaurant, but not this one.

Mayors united: Fearing a “perpetual state of adopting a certified tax rate” and all that comes along with that, the seven municipal mayors in Shelby County are taking a united stand against the two-year property reassessment. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and the six suburban mayors sent a letter to the state’s Board of Equalization, which has to approve a change voted on in June by the Shelby County Commission. The letter said, in part, “This will create tax rate uncertainty for current and long-range budgeting and anxiety with our residential and business customers as they monitor local tax adjustments and understand the actual value of their personal or commercial asset.”

A cluster mailbox for businesses in East Memphis is similar to what the U.S. Postal Service has mandated for apartment and single family developments. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian file)

What a cluster: Developers hate them. Builders hate them. Homeowners also hate them. And, yet, many new homes will soon have them. More than three years ago, the U.S. Postal Service mandated a new style of mailboxes for residential developments. Cluster mailboxes consolidate a neighborhoods’ mailboxes into one or several central locations, but safety concerns, logistical problems and confusion over how close they must be to residences have caused challenges. In fact, one local developer simply opted to go without mailboxes entirely for a time rather than install them. 

WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

We’re back at that place where every cold could be COVID. 

2020 has been quite the year, right? 

As always, thanks for waking up with us and we hope to see you tomorrow! Have a great day!

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