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It’s Friday, Dec. 2, and the weekend is finally here! Tonight, Crosstown Concourse will flip the switch on its massive holiday lighting installation, and Collierville will host its annual Christmas parade. Also tonight, the Memphis Grizzlies will take on their old teammate De’Anthony Melton, who now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The St. Jude Memphis Marathon will take over Downtown and Midtown on Saturday morning. (See road closures and course maps here.) I’ll be out there myself, running the full marathon (any and all donations of salted potatoes or Fireball shots on the course will be accepted, thanks). If you’re stopping by the race expo today, check out the St. Jude patient art display at the Renasant Convention Center.

Also on Saturday, WYXR (our radio partner) will host its “Raised By Sound” music festival with free performances (and more) all day at Crosstown Concourse. On Saturday night, the Memphis Tigers play Ole Miss at home, and on Sunday, the Grizzlies will be in Detroit to take on the Pistons. For more weekend fun, check out The To-Do List.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Financing is incomplete for developer Tom Intrator’s two signature pieces, the massive remake of The Pinch district, seen here in a rendering, and the Dream Hotel at 122 S. Main St. (Courtesy designshop/LRK Inc.)

Interest rates could slow Intrator’s projects: A Memphis architect has filed four liens against Downtown properties owned by New York-based developer Tom Intrator. The developer owes nearly $600,000 for work completed months ago on South Main Street. Meanwhile, Intrator holds seven payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTs) on an estimated $713 million worth of Downtown development. And financing isn’t complete for Intrator’s signature projects: his $1.1 billion remake of The Pinch district and his $99.4 million, 181-room Dream Hotel at the site of the old Royal Furniture store. With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to combat inflation, some are questioning whether his development projects will get put on the back burner.

The new Shelby County Clerk’s office at 3785 Riverdale Road had a Dec. 1 target date to open to the public, but it was not open on Thursday. (Bill Dries/The Daily Memphian)

Nobody’s home at the new clerk’s office: The new Riverdale Road branch of the Shelby County Clerk’s office was supposed to be open by Dec. 1, according to a target date Clerk Wanda Halbert set for Shelby County Commissioners back in October. But The Daily Memphian’s Bill Dries stopped by the office on Thursday to find the office closed and no one on-site. A peek through the windows revealed office equipment hooked up and plugged in at several desks, suggesting the office is close to opening. (Is it just me or does the clerk’s name in giant letters on the outside of the building seem like a bad branding move?)

Lorna McClusky (right) and Rob Gowen, who each have 24 years of experience working as defense attorneys or public defenders, are spearheading the new Justice Review Unit from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. (Julia Baker/The Daily Memphian)

What’s new at the DA’s office: Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy seems to be making good on his campaign promise to diversify the DA’s office. His office announced a new round of hires this week with six new assistant district attorneys, a director of communications (the first Black female in that role) and its first-ever grants coordinator. Since Mulroy took office on Sept. 1, he has hired close to 50% minorities. In related news, Mulroy’s new Justice Review Unit, which will review wrongful sentences and convictions in felony cases, launched on Thursday.

According to a new timeline, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board expects to find a superintendent to replace former Superintendent Joris Ray by February or April 2023. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Super search: Memphis-Shelby County Schools has moved up its deadline to find a new superintendent. The district launched a new website detailing the search process, and a timeline on the page outlines a goal of naming a new superintendent between February and April 2023. MSCS was initially shooting for July. Former Superintendent Joris Ray resigned in August amid an investigation into allegations of his misconduct. In other MSCS news, the school board has given the green light for expansion to two charter schools.

MEET MEMPHIS

Priya Tummalapalli, a Rhodes College graduate, now works as a global alliances coordinator for St. Jude Global. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Priya Tummalapalli, a global alliances coordinator for St. Jude Global, arrived in Memphis when she was 15 months old, as one of three siblings from India adopted by a single mother. But her adopted mother died suddenly just three days before Tummalapalli entered her senior year at White Station High School. Carrye Holland, then-vice principal of White Station High School, encouraged Tummalapalli to start running as an outlet for her grief, and Holland helped Tummalapalli navigate her U.S. citizenship so she could attend Rhodes College. Now 22, Tummalapalli is an avid runner, enthusiastic gardener and community volunteer.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Madonna Learning Center trainees Elisabeth Ann Neel and Rachel Krug pack gift bags of toffee at Bluff City Toffee. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

This is sweet: Trainees from the Madonna Learning Center have been busy as elves this holiday season, whipping up fresh toffee to be sold as is or added to popcorn, macadamia nut candies and butter toffee cookies. The learning center’s Continuing Education Class prepares special needs adults ages 18 to 47 for an independent life, and one of the many projects in their program involves making and selling toffee at the East Memphis Bluff City Toffee retail store. You can try it for yourself by visiting the store or stopping by the Shoemaker Financial Christmas Pop-up Shop today.

A rendering shows the proposed Orgill development west of Bailey Station Road and east of South Houston Levee Road. (Submitted)

Orgill moves ahead: The Collierville Planning Commission unanimously endorsed a request from hardware industry distributor Orgill for a large planned development just east of its headquarters in the suburb. Orgill plans to build a 513,000-square-foot building that would include a showroom, conference center and office space. In other Collierville development news, the Planning Commission also endorsed a rezoning request for a previously controversial, mixed-use project that would include 67 homes, 20 townhomes and 20,700 square feet of retail on Maynard Way.

Evan Lebaroff (left) and Darnell McCurdy install the “Evicted” exhibition at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. The exhibit was inspired by “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” a book by Matthew Desmond. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Evicted: Shirley Bondon, Black Clergy Collaborative’s executive director, called Memphis an “eviction capital.” Her organization is part of a partnership behind The Greater Memphis Housing Project, which is bringing an art exhibition focused on eviction to the Benjamin L. Hooks Library. The exhibition, which opens this weekend, features both local data on Memphis’ current eviction crisis alongside audio interviews and photography from evictions in other parts of the nation.

Panda Garden has been on Summer Avenue since 2004, housed in the place where Formosa was for 27 years before that. (Jennifer Biggs/The Daily Memphian)

A bear-y good deal: If you’re looking for inexpensive American-Chinese food, look no further than Panda Garden on Summer Avenue. The Daily Memphian’s Jennifer Biggs has relied on Panda Garden for years when she needs a quick dinner of entrees priced at $10 or less. On a recent visit, she tried the mapo tofu (just a note to my vegetarian friends: this contains pork) and a hot and sour soup that she says is the best in town (and doubles as a throat clearer).

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

More than 20,000 race participants from all 50 states and 75 countries are expected in the St. Jude Memphis Marathon this year, including astronaut Jared Isaacman. Isaacman is the mission commander of the planned Polaris Dawn spaceflight, which is expected to launch in March 2023 and carry private citizens in an orbit around the Earth while also benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Good luck, runners! Maybe I’ll see you out there. Have a great weekend.

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