Happy Friday, friends! Can you believe it’s the last day of March already? March 31 is here, and it’s Transgender Day of Visibility. There’s a community discussion on trans issues at noon at The Enchanted Tea Lounge in Crosstown. 

Tonight, the Memphis Grizzlies will play the Los Angeles Clippers again at FedExForum. Maybe we’ll win this time.

On Saturday, Justin Timberlake will play a free show at Fourth Bluff Park. Okay, I’m kidding! Saturday is April Fool’s Day, and that’s not real. But the Memphis Farmers Market is opening for the season (that’s no joke). On Saturday night, Journey and Toto are really playing at FedExForum. (For those of us who watch Grizzlies games on Bally Sports, this means we’ll finally stop seeing that Journey commercial on repeat. Yay!)

On Sunday, the Grizzlies will play the Chicago Bulls. For more weekend fun, check out The To-Do List. And if you’re planning ahead, you might want to enter our Daily Memphian giveaway for tickets to see the Squirrel Nut Zippers at the Overton Park Shell on April 6. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Dozens of Memphis Police officers gathered outside Regional One Health Thursday night after two of their fellow officers were shot in Whitehaven. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Two cops, one suspect shot in Whitehaven: Two Memphis Police officers and a suspect were shot on Thursday night on East Raines Road near a Walgreens in Whitehaven. All three were transported to Regional One Health, and as of last night, both officers were in critical but stable condition. According to the Memphis Police Department, the suspect “shot at officers at close range” before officers returned fire. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting. 

Protesters walked from the legislative plaza to the Tennessee State Capitol. (Ian Round/The Daily Memphian)

Lawmakers open to red flag gun laws: Protesters, including many high school students from Nashville, flooded the Tennessee State Capitol on Thursday to demand tougher gun laws following the shooting deaths of three children and three adults at a Nashville school earlier this week. And they were joined by three Democratic state representatives, including Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis). Some Republican lawmakers said they would be open to red flag laws, which prohibit access to guns for people at risk of harming themselves or others, but promised no other action on guns. And in fact, a bill that would lower the permitless carry age from 21 to 18 could still be passed.

Two dead, five injured in Prive shooting: A shooting at Memphis rapper Yo Gotti’s Hickory Hill restaurant and bar, Prive, on Wednesday night left two people dead and five others injured. Two suspects are in custody, but the Memphis Police Department has not yet released their names, citing an ongoing investigation. The names of the victims have not been released either. Preliminary information indicates that the shooting stemmed from an altercation that began inside the bar.

Candidates who attended the mayoral forum at First Congregational Church on March 30, included (from left) Daniel Abston, Paul Young, J.W. Gibson, Frank Colvett and Reggie Hall. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Mayoral candidates discuss police chief (and sinkholes): Memphis mayoral candidates Daniel Abston, Frank Colvett, J.W. Gibson, Reginald Hall and Paul Young discussed education funding, environmental issues and the future of Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis in a forum on Thursday night. At least one candidate said that he would conduct a national search to replace Davis, while others were non-committal. Another topic of the evening: sinkholes. “We don’t need sinkholes,” Hall said. (And that, my friends, is something I think we can all agree on. I mean, have you watched “Le Brea”?) 

QUOTED

MSNBC’s Joy Reid moderated the National Civil Rights Museum’s “The Reckoning: Community Policing & Accountability” forum on March 30. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

“When you have officers that are drunk with power, it doesn’t matter the ethnicity.”

— Cheryl Dorsey, social justice advocate and retired police sergeant
Dorsey, who worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for 20 years, spoke on a panel on systemic racial violence at the National Civil Rights Museum on Thursday night. She was joined by the parents of Tyre Nichols, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and others.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Art Seessel III is the great-great grandson of Henry Seessel, who was known as the “Great Butcher of Memphis” and founder of what would become Seessel’s grocery store. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Remembering Seessel’s: When you mention Seessel’s to any longtime Memphian, you’re likely to hear stories of how much the long-gone, locally owned grocery store is missed. And soon, thanks to the generosity of the Seessel’s family, you can revel in nostalgia as you make the store’s original recipes adapted by former Seessel’s head baker John Barnard for the home kitchen. We’ll begin sharing Seessel’s recipes tomorrow, but for now, The Daily Memphian’s Jennifer Biggs goes down memory lane with former store owners Art and Jerry Seessel.

A rendering of what the new Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will look like from Front Street. (Courtesy Memphis Brooks Museum of Art)

Downtown’s ‘living room’: The new, 17,000-square-foot Memphis Brooks Museum of Art building will serve as “the living room for Downtown” and will be “the most accessible public building at the heart of our city,” according to detailed design plans. The plans include 60,000 square feet of free, art-filled public spaces, including a rooftop sculpture garden, events terrace, river amphitheater, full-service cafe and theater. The community courtyard, which will host large-scale public events, will be big enough to fit two NBA basketball courts inside.

Kwik Chek is located at 2013 Madison Ave. (Joshua Carlucci/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Fer-meant-ed to be: As a longtime Midtowner, I’m no stranger to the Kwik Check. This nondescript convenience store has all the things you’d expect (beer, cigarettes, snacks), but it also features a diverse menu of Korean fare, sandwiches and Mediterranean meals. Daily Memphian guest writer Josh Carlucci recently stopped in for the first time and found not one — but three — $10 deals. One of those was the kimchi fried rice, which he describes as “an absolute banger” that’s “lightly sweet and yet super funky from the brine of the kimchi.” This isn’t in his story, but here’s a bonus $10 deal from me: The falafel plate is one of the best in town and will run you just under $7. 

Kevin Martin disassembled a streetlight at The Binghampton Development Corp. It will be recycled for parts and scrap metal. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Light bulb moment: When Andy Kizzee, director of the Binghampton Development Corporation Business Hub, heard the City of Memphis was replacing its 77,000 streetlights with LED bulbs, he got a bright idea (pun absolutely intended). Those bulbs would typically be sent to international markets for recycling, but Kizzee came up with a plan to turn those old bulbs into jobs. Trainees in the hub’s job training program will recycle the bulbs in Binghampton, and the profits will support their wages.

The Memphis Tigers have taken initial steps in their search for a successor to women’s basketball coach Katrina Merriweather, pictured, who resigned late last week. (Sean Rayford/AP file)

Coaching up: The University of Memphis has started the process of finding a new women’s basketball coach after Coach Katrina Merriwether resigned last week. Merriweather has accepted a coaching job at Big 12-program Cincinnati, where she played throughout her college career and got her coaching start. Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch said the search is “early in the process,” but TN Report has released a short-list of potential candidates. In other Tigers basketball news, the men’s team has landed its first player of the offseason from the transfer portal — Temple forward Nick Jourdain.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

My favorite Instagram account, @artbutmakeitsports, shared this side by side of a moment from Wednesday night’s Grizzlies-Clippers game and “Pointed and Round” by Wassily.

And, inspired by @artbymakeitsports, The Daily Memphian’s very own social media maven/art expert Danielle Smith created a post comparing “The Raising of Lazarus” by Caravaggio with Jaren Jackson Jr.’s fall into Tee Morant’s lap on Tuesday night.

Speaking of the Grizzlies, is it too early to start planning our playoff championship parade inside our city? The Daily Memphian’s Chris Herrington suggests a parade route (and answers more serious questions) in his Grizzlies Mailbag. 

Be careful today as those storms move through, and have a good weekend. 

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