Hump day is here again, and it’ll be the weekend before we know it. It’s Wednesday, May 15, and the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest starts today at Liberty Park. If you’re planning to attend the four-day competition, you might want to consult our Battle of the Barbecue guide before you go.

In less festive news, the Shelby County Commission dives into County Mayor Lee Harris’ budget proposal today. And Downtown’s Center City Development Corp. considers a grant request for a proposed Exchange Building convenience store whimsically named Dream Magic Daily Market. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert plans to seek dismissal of her ouster petiton. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

No, no, no, no, no, no way: Cue Jennifer Holliday’s “Dreamgirls” hit because Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert is telling us she’s not going. Halbert plans to fight an ouster petition filed against her by special prosecutor Coty Wamp earlier this month. Halbert’s attorney said an ouster must involve willful misconduct: “Mere negligence because you don’t like how I run the office is not enough grounds for an ouster.” Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said he was shocked by Halbert’s statements.

Body cameras will cost the City of Memphis up to $54 million in debt over five years. (Jim Mone/AP file)

What’s in the police budget? The City of Memphis is willing to go into debt to ensure the Memphis Police Department has enough body cameras, video storage space and up-to-date technology for the cameras. The police budget unveiled this week reflects that the city will issue up to $54 million in debt over five years just for body cams. Another police budget highlight: The MPD is putting hundreds of vacant positions on hold. In MPD-related news, the City of Memphis has subpoenaed all communications between Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy and attorneys for Tyre Nichols’ estate. Attorneys for the city believe that information could help Nichols’ lawyers in their civil case to prove the city’s police tactics contributed to Nichols’ death.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti was joined by attorneys general from 17 other states in a lawsuit against transgender protections. (George Walker IV/AP file)

Skrmetti sues over new trans protections: New rules from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission require employers to use their employees’ preferred pronouns and to allow employees to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. But Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is joining a lawsuit with 17 other states to try and stop the new rules. The move follows another Skrmetti-involved suit against new rules that protect LGBTQ+ students.

Layoffs coming at packaging plant: Graphic Packaging International will close its plant on the edge of Soulsville and lay off more than 70 workers, starting in July. The Memphis business will be consolidated into its other packaging plants. Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging has ties to Memphis-based International Paper.

QUOTED

“This is definitely about the long game. This is about the next 100 years.”

— Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris
Harris told the Memphis Rotary Club on Tuesday that he’s been talking with leaders of Baptist Memorial Health Care and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare about contributing to the rebuild of the Regional One Health campus and its transition into an academic medical center.

THE NICE TO KNOW

It was announced the week of May 13 that dozens of Red Lobster locations across the U.S. are now on the chopping block. (Wilfredo Lee/AP file)

Feeling the pinch: If you get a craving for Cheddar Bay Biscuits, you’ll have to drive to the city’s only remaining Red Lobster in Cordova. The chain’s Winchester Road location has closed along with 47 other stores across the nation. Red Lobster’s money problems apparently stemmed from its “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” deal, which cost the company big bucks over two quarters. (Guess some folks take “all you can eat” quite literally.)

This photo of Ford’s Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center assembly plant at BlueOval City shows the final assembly section of the building. (Courtesy Walbridge)

Walking the talk: The electric vehicles manufactured at the future Ford Motor Co. won’t be the only environmentally friendly thing at the BlueOval City plant. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its plans to make the entire facility carbon-neutral. Ford says it’s investing in renewable energy and that its air-emissions limits will be the most stringent of any U.S. assembly plant. The company also plans to hire local workers.

The foreclosure sale for The Lake District took place on the steps of the Shelby County Courthouse on Tuesday, May 14. (Michael Waddell/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Lake District goes to lender: The long-troubled Lake District mixed-use development in Lakeland was acquired by lender TIG Romspen US Master Mortgage LP for more than $26 million on Tuesday. Romspen acquired the property at a foreclosure sale after no bidders stepped forward. Developer Yehuda Netanel was given a second chance to obtain funding and avoid the sale, but he fell short. The 160-acre project has faced financial challenges, unpaid contractors and promises to tenants that never materialized since its inception in 2016.

Purdue center Zach Edey reacted near Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht after the team defeated Tennessee in an Elite Eight college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament on, March 31, in Detroit. (Paul Sancya/AP file)

Inside basketball: NBA Draft watchers are trying to get a feel for which teams are interested in which players after day one of the NBA Draft Combine on Tuesday. That’s when college basketball players perform drills for NBA coaches, managers and scouts. Some players, like Purdue big man Zach Edey, were talking on Tuesday (“I like Memphis,” he said.). And others, like UConn rising star Donovan Clingan, were not. But our own Drew Hill offers some insight into how some of these players could fill roles with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Sign of the times: Temporary parking spaces and curbside pick-up signs multiplied like wet Gremlins during the pandemic. And some businesses are still offering curbside pickup or installing temp spaces for other reasons. But now Collierville is cracking down on what temporary parking space signage can look like. The suburb’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen adopted new, very specific rules on Monday night that even go so far as to police what color a sign’s pole can be.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

When X user @NBAMyke asked users to post pics from Memphis without saying they’re from Memphis, the results were a trip down memory lane. Remember the days when you could rent a DVD and buy a Subway sandwich in the same Union Avenue shopping center?

If you didn’t learn to ice-skate at the Mall of Memphis, have you even lived?

And unto Union Avenue was born Seessel’s. And Seessel’s begat Schnucks. And Schnucks begat Midtown Kroger.

If you want more of a blast from the past, check out the full thread. Have an excellent day, Memphis!

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