Cheers to the freakin’ weekend, Memphis! It’s Friday, Oct. 21, and the Memphis Grizzlies are in Houston for a match-up with the Rockets tonight (maybe it will be filled with memorable moments like in Wednesday’s home opener win).

The 44th annual Repair Days are underway at the Metal Museum, so gather up your rusted lawn furniture and head down to the bluff. At 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, the beleaguered Memphis Tigers football team goes up against Tulane in New Orleans (cross your fingers and your toes for this one). 

Brews will be flowing at Cooper-Young Beerfest on Saturday, and Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group kicks off Day of the Dead season with altars, music and dancing at Crosstown Concourse. On Saturday evening, the Grizzlies will take on the Dallas Mavericks in Texas. You can find even more weekend entertainment in our To-Do List.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Celia Reynolds has carried the pain of her rape for 39 years. “Every single day you feel it,” she says. (Karen Pulfer Focht/The Daily Memphian file)

Rape kit lawsuit update: On Thursday, Circuit Court Judge Gina Higgins heard arguments for and against the city’s motion for summary judgment in a 2014 lawsuit accusing the Memphis Police Department of neglect in the handling of thousands of rape kits over several decades. She also heard arguments about the plaintiffs’ motion to make the case a class-action suit. An attorney for the city said the plaintiff’s claims are without merit because “there are a number of legitimate investigative reasons for not testing a kit.” Several sexual assault survivors showed up to listen to arguments, including Celia Reynolds, who was raped 39 years ago in a still-unsolved attack.

Wendy Kerley (in a file photo) administers a flu vaccine at the Cordova Shot Nurse clinic on Germantown Road. (Jim Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Nothing to sneeze at: If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, it might be time. Local infectious disease experts are predicting that Memphis may be in for a rough flu season due to decreased pre-existing immunity, an early spike in RSV cases and low vaccine uptake. Local emergency rooms are already seeing flu patients earlier in the season than normal. “We’re about to find out what happens when people get the flu after not having it for a couple of years, and that doesn’t happen very often,” said Dr. Steven Threlkeld of Baptist Memorial Health Care.

“It’s important for us to listen and to hear from you directly,” said EPA Region 4 administrator Daniel Blackman during a community meeting Tuesday at Monumental Baptist Church. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Cancer risk in South Memphis: Some residents who live near Sterilization Services of Tennessee on Florida Street gathered earlier this week at an Environmental Protection Agency-hosted meeting to learn about how the facility’s use of a certain chemical might contribute to their lifetime cancer risk. Sterilization Services is one of 23 sites on the EPA’s radar for its use of the chemical EtO to sterilize medical and dental equipment since the 1970s. Separately, the Shelby County Health Department is launching a cancer cluster study in the area.

Belz sells Shelby Oaks: Belz Enterprises has sold its 480,000-square-foot Shelby Oaks Corporate Office Park to Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital for $41 million. The office park, which offers tenants access to lakes and running trails, is home to 78 tenants, including ServiceMaster and a Perkins test kitchen. The Daily Memphian’s Jane Roberts talked to Ron Belz, president and CEO of Belz Investco GP, about how the company’s business model has changed over the years

QUOTED

“I think [the electric vehicle revolution is] probably the biggest change that’s happened in the automotive industry in its 199 years.”

— Kel Kearns, the plant manager for Ford’s future BlueOval City
Ford Motor Co. held a panel on Thursday in Jackson, Tennessee, to provide updates on its planned $5.6 billion BlueOval City electric vehicle manufacturing facility. And the panel featured a new face most recently associated with Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration.

THE NICE TO KNOW

“This city has given more to me than I’ve given to it,” Elliot Perry said at the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Parth Upadhyaya/The Daily Memphian)

And the award goes to … The Memphis Sports Hall of Fame inducted 27 local sports legends at the Renasant Convention Center on Thursday night, including the ever-so-humble former Memphis Tiger/NBA star Elliot Perry (who managed to praise everyone but himself in his acceptance speech), former Tiger/NFL star DeAngelo Williams and wrestling icon Jerry “The King” Lawler, among others. Meanwhile, at the National Civil Rights Museum, Pulitizer Prize-winning authors Isabel Wilkerson and Taylor Branch, as well as FedEx Corp. founder Fred Smith, were honored with Freedom Awards. 

Nicco Annan, from left, Brandee Evans, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Megan Thee Stallion, Elarica Johnson, Shannon Thornton and Katori Hall arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "P-Valley" Season 2 on June 2, 2022, at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles. Starz announced on Thursday that it will bring “P-Valley” back for a third season. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Pynk power: Cable network Starz has renewed “P-Valley” for a 10-episode third season. The show, created and executive-produced by Memphis native and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall, takes place in a fictional town in the Mississippi Delta called Chucalissa and follows the lives of characters associated with a nightclub called “The Pynk.” Starz said the recent season’s views “catapulted” the series into the network’s biggest show.

Memphis International Airport and the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis opened an exhibit featuring photographs of the Fayette County civil rights movement from freelance photographer Art Shay. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

New arrivals: The work of civil rights photographer Art Shay will be on view in the terminal at Memphis International Airport through next October. The exhibition, which opened on Thursday, features images that tell the story of the civil rights movement in 1960s Fayette County. The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change is co-hosting the exhibition, and executive director Daphene McFarren says she hopes the photographs help viewers “understand the significance of voting and what a hard fight that was for African Americans.”

Riyadh Elkhayyat closes the gate after touring the DeSoto County land where he plans to build a mosque. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Mosque coming to Southaven: DeSoto County’s first mosque won approval this week for an adjoining 520-plot cemetery. The Horn Lake Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the cemetery, but the mosque, which will have a groundbreaking this weekend, didn’t come so easily. The board voted against an application for the mosque last year after citizens rallied against it. That was followed by a federal lawsuit and finally consent decree allowing the mosque. “People are afraid of something new, something different,” said Southaven resident and co-owner of the mosque property Riyadh Elkhayyat.

Schilling Farms is a mixed-use development spanning 443 acres in Collierville. Marriott would like to open a TownePlace Suites location at Schilling Farms. (Abigail Warren/The Daily Memphian)

Stay in Collierville, gas up in Germantown? The Schilling Farms mixed-use development in Collierville may soon be home to a new hotel. Marriott would like to open a TownePlace Suites location at Schilling Farms, and Collierville’s Planning Commission and Design Review Commission favored the addition earlier this month. Meanwhile in Germantown, Kroger wants to add gas pumps to their Germantown store. Kroger representatives met with planning commissioners on Wednesday, and some are worried that the addition of pumps would affect traffic and parking.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

The Daily Memphian’s Keely Brewer was interviewed on NPR’s “Here & Now” on Thursday about how the Mississippi River’s record low level is affecting barge traffic and shipping rates. You can listen to that interview here.

The river is so low right now that boats at the Memphis Yacht Club are beached. Yikes!

Okay, go Grizz! Go Tigers! Have a good weekend!

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