Good morning on this Wednesday, Jan. 31, the last day of what feels like the longest month ever. The plus side of a never-ending month: There’s still time to start on that New Year’s resolution to get fit. A new county initiative is offering free fitness classes at participating gyms.

The Shelby County Commission is having a busy week. Their regularly scheduled committee meetings are today, after holding a full meeting Monday that was postponed during Snow Week. Marious Ward and Brandy Rucker, the two charged in the November death of St. Jude researcher Alexander Bulakhov, are due in court today. And this evening, the struggling Memphis Tigers take on the Rice Owls at FedExForum, and they need to win this game if they want any hope of going to the Big Dance.

THE NEED TO KNOW

At the corner of Ross and Raines roads on Jan. 7, 2023, law enforcement officers tell Rodney and RowVaughn Wells their son Tyre Nichols has been taken to a hospital. (Screenshot)

New Tyre Nichols video footage: Newly released police recordings from the night that Tyre Nichols was beaten by five Memphis Police SCORPION unit officers reveal disturbing new details. The City of Memphis released more than 21 hours of additional footage on Tuesday, assembled from cruiser dashcams, mounted neighborhood cameras and body cameras. Among the new details: footage of officers talking to Nichols’ parents after the beating, and video of the officers now charged with Nichols’ death laughing after the incident.

“Prolonged discussion on items like benefits for part-time council members is a distraction,” Memphis City Council member Jerri Green said. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Health benefits for council members? The Memphis City Council is expected to take a final vote on a controversial ordinance that would extend city health insurance benefits to council members after serving two full terms, or eight years. The ordinance, which breezed through two of its three readings in December, could face some opposition from the newer council members, including Jerri Green, who told The Daily Memphian the “proposal wastes time and erodes public trust.” If approved, you and I, the taxpayers, would be footing most of the bill. In an opinion piece for The Daily Memphian, former council member Kemp Conrad, who hasn’t been on the council since 2019 and would qualify for the benefits, said the plan is “as ludicrous as it is audacious and offensive.” 

Take-backsies: The public got an accidental sneak-peek at Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed Education Freedom Scholarship Act legislation on Monday, after a draft was inadvertently made public and quickly withdrawn. If approved, the program would extend the state’s private school vouchers statewide to 20,000 students in the 2024-25 school year. Half would be reserved for low-income students, but the rest would be available regardless of a family’s income. Among the notable findings in the accidentally released document: There would be no testing requirement for participating students or other accountability measures for private schools.

Latarus Williams with the Public Works Department unloaded a trailer as motorists lined up along Florida Street during a 2019 tire redemption program by Memphis and Shelby County. (Jim Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Plan to re-tire: After years of working with a national tire recycling company, Shelby County has a new contract with a locally based business. Memphis Tire Recyclers was approved for the contract at Monday’s Shelby County Commission meeting. Co-owner Corteney Mack approached the commission before it renewed its contract to ask for a chance to bid. He has a theory on why so many tires are dumped across the city, and now he hopes his company can turn more of those into building material, fuel or crumb rubber.

MEET MEMPHIS

“John Duncan not only changed our economic landscape in Collierville, he completely changed our workplace culture,” said Jennifer Casey, Collierville’s public information officer. Duncan (pictured), Collierville’s economic development director, will retire this week. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

After 20 years as Collierville’s economic development director, John Duncan will retire on Feb. 1. Duncan came to Collierville with a background in sales and marketing for Johnson & Johnson, Mobil, ALSAC and the Memphis Chamber of Commerce. And when he took on the new role, his job became selling Collierville to prospective businesses. Over the years, he helped retain the FedEx World Technology Center and worked to bring major food chains, like Whataburger and Chick-fil-A, to Collierville. As for the days ahead, Duncan plans to spend more time with his family, but his work with the suburb isn’t completely done.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Louis Connelly’s, located in the former Printer’s Alley Bar & Grill space, will officially open on Saturday, Feb. 3. (Joshua Carlucci/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Where to have fun and make friends: The long-closed Printer’s Alley in Midtown will soon reopen as a new dive bar with a whimsical name: Louis Connelly’s Bar for Fun Times and Friendship. The official opening date is this Saturday. And owner Louis Connelly has a lot of ideas for what a dive bar should be, down to the decor and the regulars, which he says should include “old men that give you unsolicited but sage advice.” No word if those old men will make an appearance this Saturday, but you will find a full menu of beer, cocktails and a “swath of drunk-food options from Coney Island hot dogs to street tacos,” according to food writer Joshua Carlucci.

The funeral service for Jackson Hughey will be held at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Covington tonight. Visitation will held be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the funeral service to follow. (Submitted)

In memory of a No. 1 Tigers fan: Jackson Hughey, 20, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2017 before his freshman year at Covington High School. Since then, he endured 50 to 60 rounds of chemotherapy, roughly 60 rounds of radiation, three stem cell transplants and surgery to remove a 13-inch tumor. But throughout all of that, Hughey and his family took breaks — even postponed rounds of chemo — to attend Memphis Tigers games, which brought some joy and normalcy to their lives. Hughey’s last game was the Tigers-Vanderbilt match-up in December; he died this past Sunday. The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins offers this remembrance of a young man who knew about “seizing the joy that is in front of us.”

The Memphis Grizzlies have signed two more players via 10-day hardship contracts: forward Tosan Evbuomwan (left) and center Trey Jemison. (AP)

G League takeover: If nothing else, this injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies season is giving some G League players their break into the big league. The Grizzlies, who had more injured players than healthy ones for Monday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings, have signed two more 10-day hardship contracts with G League players Trey Jemison (of Capital City Go Go) and Tosan Evbuomwan (of Motor City Cruise). That was after their last-minute, 10-day contract with the Memphis Hustle’s Matthew Hurt, ahead of Monday’s game. 

The Germantown Municipal School District launched in 2014, and Jason Manuel has been superintendent since its inception. He was honored for his 10 years in the role on Tuesday. (Brad Vest/The Daily Memphian file)

In the ’burbs: The list of applicants for an open school board seat in Collierville has shrunk from 19 to eight after the suburb’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen named finalists on Tuesday. They’re vying for the spot vacated when former board member Keri Blair resigned after a shoplifting arrest. Meanwhile, in Germantown on Tuesday, the suburb’s school board honored their first and only superintendent, Jason Manuel, who has served in the role since the district was founded 10 years ago. And in Southaven, the city’s new police chief, Brent Vickers, was sworn in. Over in Arlington, the town’s second hotel is preparing to open on Valentine’s Day.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

The first 3,000 fans at tonight’s Memphis Tigers game will get throwback Memphis State shirts and Penny Hardaway posters designed to look like the 1986-87 media guide cover from Coach Larry Finch’s first season as head coach. If you squint hard enough, you might even be able to convince yourself the FedExForum is the old Mid-South Coliseum.

Good riddance, January! See y’all next month.

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