Good day, friends! Are you caffeinated yet? If not, pour a cup because today — Sept. 29 — is National Coffee Day. Maybe you could check out the new location of Belltower Coffeehouse, which is now open at Shelby Farms Park. 

You’ll need that caffeine to make it until tonight when Mempho Music Festival opens at the Memphis Botanic Garden. If you’re looking for something a little more family-friendly this evening, the Mid-Autumn Festival is back at Crosstown Concourse with a magic show, a lion dance and lots of Vietnamese food. And the annual Bartlett Festival at W.J. Freeman Park kicks off tonight and runs through Saturday with live music and a 40-team barbecue contest.

Saturday is the last day to vote early in the Memphis city election. In the afternoon, the Memphis Tigers take on the Boise State Broncos at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. After the game, stop by Memphis Made Brewing Co. to celebrate 10 years of beers.

If you live in unincorporated DeSoto County or newly annexed areas of Olive Branch, take note: Your new trash and recycling contracts start on Sunday. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

A suspect has been arrested in the shooting that happened at FedExForum on Sept. 7. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

FedExForum shooting suspect arrested: Kevin Young, 22, has been arrested and charged in the shooting at a Sept. 7 Lil Baby concert at FedExForum. A man, who has not been identified, was sent to Regional One Health following the shooting. Young is an alleged gang member and had previously been arrested for first-degree murder in 2017 and again in 2019 for aggravated assault. Earlier this week, FedExForum instituted a new clear bag policy for guests, but the venue did not say if the policy resulted from the shooting.

Assistant DA suspended from practicing law: Monica Timmerman, an assistant Shelby County district attorney who was arrested for driving under the influence last year, has been temporarily suspended from practicing law. Timmerman was charged with a DUI after crashing into a utility pole at Poplar Avenue and East Parkway following the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office holiday party. The Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility said Timmerman failed to comply with the Tennessee Lawyer Assistance Program, which helps people in the legal field who are struggling with substance abuse and other issues. Timmerman, who has reportedly been sober since the incident, said she was not able to afford the required treatment at TLAP-approved facilities.

Former Memphis Tigers point guard Kendric Davis (3), seen here in March, has signed with Golden State. (Karen Pulfer Focht/AP file)

Kendric is a Warrior: Former Memphis Tiger Kendric Davis is officially playing for the other side now. Davis has been signed by the Golden State Warriors (arch rivals to the Memphis Grizzlies) after playing for the team in NBA Summer League. In other Tigers news, our own Frank Bonner II and John Martin discuss this weekend’s football game against Boise State in Tiger Talk. Says Martin: “This is the type of matchup the Tigers have to win.” Speaking of winning, Bonner offers this look back at the Tigers football team’s 2003 season (the one with NFL pro DeAngelo Williams), which ended a 30-year drought. For even more Tigers football talk — in your ear holes — listen to our latest Memphis Tigers podcast with discussions on the Boise State game, running back Blake Watson and more. And finally, in other Tigers sports news, it might be time we start paying attention to the women’s soccer team, which just celebrated its sixth straight win.

Second bank robbery in two days: On Thursday, three suspects robbed a bank employee at the Independent Bank located on Union Avenue. The employee was putting cash into an ATM outside the bank when he or she was approached by three people with handguns. The robbery came one day after someone robbed the Wells Fargo branch at 6445 Poplar Ave. in East Memphis. Asked if the two robberies were connected, a Memphis Police Department spokesperson said, “It’s an ongoing investigation.”

QUOTED

The low waters of the Mississippi River on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

“Unfortunately, we are watching a movie sequel that none of us want to watch.”

— Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition
For the second year in a row, the Mississippi River has reached near-historic lows, which is slowing down shipping and driving up costs for everyone from barge companies to grain elevators. And the lows have come during harvest season when barge companies need to ship corn, soybeans and grains downriver. Some experts say, due to climate change, the low levels may become an annual problem, and now the industry is grappling with what to do.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Portraits of local civil rights leaders adorn the new stained-glass windows at Clayborn Temple in Downtown Memphis. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Remembering 1968: Tributes to the local civil rights movement and its leaders adorn new stained-glass windows at historic Clayborn Temple Downtown. On Thursday, the nonprofit Historic Clayborn Temple organization offered a glimpse at the windows to mark the end of the church’s $6 million second phase of restoration. The windows paint a picture of 1968 with images of striking sanitation workers along with images of garbage trucks and Black families. Other windows feature portraits of Memphis Branch NAACP executive secretary Maxine Smith, pastor James Lawson, activist Cornelia Crenshaw, labor leader T. O. Jones and other civil rights leaders.

The start of the school day at White Station Elementary School in 1978. (Courtesy Special Collections Department, University of Memphis Libraries)

The legacy of Plan Z: In the final installment of our six-part series on busing, we look at the effect of busing on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools system 50 years after Plan Z, the 1973 plan aimed at integrating Memphis schools. The Plan Z order was finally vacated in 2009, and most of the people we talked to agreed that busing didn’t do what it was supposed to do. Between white flight, riots and Black kids being forced to leave schools they were familiar with, the plan had unintended consequences. But if you ask Bill Dries, who lived through busing and put together this oral history project, “the risk was worth it, and the view of my hometown has never been the same since then.”

The a la carte jerk chicken from Mango’s Caribbean Grill is smoked and charred on the grill, lathered in a sweet and spicy scotch bonnet sauce and star-studded with fresh chiffonade parsley. (Joshua Carlucci/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Gas station gourmet: You might not think that food served in a gas station parking lot could be luxurious. But food writer Joshua Carlucci might beg to differ. He found top-notch Jamaican eats — some for under $10 — at the Mango’s Caribbean Grill truck in a Marathon gas station parking lot. The a la carte jerk chicken came in at $10.75, a little over the limit for our $10 Deal. Carlucci said the chicken’s thick scotch bonnet sauce has just the right amount of heat and sweet. Though the food tasted gourmet, Carlucci said you might just want to eat it right away, off the hood of your car in the parking lot.

A preliminary rendering for DeSoto County’s new emergency operations center. (Courtesy Shafer Zahner Zahner)

For emergencies: DeSoto County is designing a new emergency operations center to replace the facility it’s outgrown in the Nesbit area. The new center would house emergency management, fire coordination and a Homeland Security task force team. And it would be built to take a direct hit from a tornado. The current facility is only about 22 feet by 35 feet, and things can get hectic when emergencies arise. “Imagine 50 people or more in a very small room … everybody’s on their cell phone talking … all you hear is just babblings,” said Supervisor Lee Caldwell. 

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

It’s definitely fall, but this weekend won’t feel like it. We’re looking at highs in the 90s through Sunday.

If it were up to me, summer would last all year. You’ll find me outside this weekend soaking up the sun. 

.....