Howdy, Shelby County. It’s Wednesday, May 29, and Memphis City Council member Michalyn Easter-Thomas’ rescheduled ethics hearing is set for today. The ethics complaint stems from concerns over her employment at Memphis River Parks Partnership, which the city pays to run several parks. 

Also happening today: The newly renovated Riverview Community Center in southwest Memphis opens, and the Shelby County Commission meets for their biweekly committee sessions.

THE NEED TO KNOW

“There’s the [crime] suppression, there’s the intervention and there’s the prevention. But often times people want to know about suppression — how are we going to capture the people? What things are we going to do?” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young at a town-hall meeting Tuesday night. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

How Young wants to fight crime: Memphis Mayor Paul Young outlined a few of his ideas for crime suppression during his “One Memphis” town-hall meeting on Tuesday night in Raleigh. Among them: get better cameras that can identify specific activities, like, for example, when someone is breaking into a car; add civilians to police investigative teams; and enforce the city’s youth curfew. That last one depends on finding a place to transfer kids who are out after hours, and that could be a bit of a challenge if history is any indication.

Speaking of fighting crime ... State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, wants to bring in help from New York City. (Read “New York City?!” in your best 1994 Pace salsa commercial voice.) Taylor is calling on Gov. Bill Lee to hire former New York Police Commissioner William Bratton to study the city’s crime issues. In a letter to Lee, Taylor declared Memphis “a war zone” where “businesses are closing, leaving or never opening because of rampant crime.” Bratton is best-known for his focus on fighting petty crimes in the 1990s, which then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani touted as a success. But his strategies also had plenty of critics.

Former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley, left, and his lawyer Michael Stengel entered the Odell Horton Federal Building on Nov. 14, 2023. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Arguments over ’shrooms, credit cards: Lawyers for four former Memphis police officers charged in Tyre Nichols’ death have alleged psychedelic mushrooms and stolen credit cards were found in Nichols’ car. And they want those things admitted as evidence at the officers’ federal trial. But government prosecutors say the allegations are a character attack against Nichols and shouldn’t be allowed, especially considering that police body-cam footage seems to verify those items weren’t found in his car on the night he was stopped. Attorneys for the officers also want charges against them to be dismissed for being “unconstitutionally vague.”

MEET MEMPHIS

Kimberly Shaw is the new principal of West Collierville Middle School. (Submitted)

West Collierville Middle School will have a new principal when school starts back in the fall. New Collierville Schools Superintendent Russell Dyer has named Memphis native Kimberly Shaw to lead the school. She most recently worked as assistant principal from Schilling Farms Elementary School, but she has past experience as a principal at two Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

THE NICE TO KNOW

This rendering shows plans for a rejected Chick-fil-A in Collierville. (Submitted)

Chick-fil-nay? The Town of Collierville believes a lawsuit over its denial of a Chick-fil-A location was filed too late. The suburb’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen denied Chick-fil-A’s preliminary site plan for a location on Poplar Avenue west of Bray Station Road on Jan. 8, due to traffic concerns. And Bob Cartwright, the trustee for the proposed Chick-fil-A site, filed a suit on March 22 — more than 60 days after the denial — contending that Chick-fil-A met the town’s requirements. At issue is whether the BMA’s initial rejection or its approval of the minutes started the clock on the statute of limitations.

Principal Vincent Hunter attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new STEM lab at Whitehaven High School on April 3. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Rain on one’s graduation: Some Whitehaven High School parents were incensed after the school’s mid-May graduation ceremony was moved indoors at the last minute due to rain. The planned outdoor ceremony at the school’s football stadium could have seated 7,000, but the school’s auditorium only seats 1,640. That meant students and parents were forced to cut down their invite lists. Since then, Whitehaven High’s principal, Vincent Hunter, said in an email that angry parents have been blowing up his phone. And he’s blaming the decision to move indoors on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools district.

Memphis Tigers assistant coach Andy Borman (left) worked with forward DeAndre Williams (right) at practice during media availability at the NCAA tournament on Thursday, March 16, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Bye, bye, Borman: Memphis Tigers basketball Coach Penny Hardaway has parted ways with assistant coach Andy Borman. He joined the coaching staff ahead of the 2022-23 season, after working as director of a grassroots basketball program in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League. The change comes as Hardaway works to reshape the team following a disappointing 2023-24 season that saw the Tigers miss the NCAA Tournament. It’s one of many staffing changes during Hardaway’s tenure, and columnist John Martin speculates the frequent turnover might be contributing to the basketball team’s underwhelming results.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ new superintendent Marie Feagins spoke while touring Melrose High School on Monday, April 1. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

In the super’s shoes: New Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins has only been in the district’s lead role for about two months, but she’s been gearing up for this role for a long time. In 2020, she published a doctoral dissertation on the challenges for Black women in getting hired as superintendents. “Every superintendent I’ve ever had or seen has been a man, and a man that didn’t look like me,” she recently told a Grandview Heights student. But now that Feagins is in charge, she’s already shaken up top leadership with plans to cut positions. Just who is this new leader over Tennessee’s largest school district? Chalkbeat’s Laura Testino takes a deep dive into Feagins’ education experience and her early steps to rebuild trust in MSCS.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

The Boston Celtics are going to the NBA Finals, and that means former Memphis Grizzly Xavier Tillman Sr. is going to the NBA Finals. And if there’s anyone who deserves that, I think we can all agree it’s X, right?

And that’s all the news for now. Here’s hoping you have a great day!

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