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Morning, Shelby County. It’s Wednesday, Sept. 11, and this Patriot Day marks 23 years since the 9/11 attacks. There are commemorations all over the region, including a clean-up of veterans’ headstones at Memphis National Cemetery this morning.
Also today, the Southern Heritage Classic festivities kick off with an exhibition on the football game’s 35-year history opening at the National Civil Rights Museum.
THE NEED TO KNOW
 The Memphis City Council voted down a proposed gas station at 4471 South Third St. in Westwood that would replace this car wash. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Out of gas: The Memphis City Council voted down two gas stations on Tuesday, one proposed for Outland Road in southeast Memphis and another proposed for South Third Street in Westwood. Both projects have drawn opposition from neighbors, and at Tuesday’s meeting, even two rival gas station owners claimed the Outland station would attract more crime to the area. Memphis City Council member Yolanda Cooper-Sutton agreed, claiming the “gas stations that are in our Black communities” sell more “dope papers” for rolling joints than gas. In other council news, Midtowners will have to wait to learn whether a Whataburger will come to Union Avenue.
 Since 2020, Head Start officials have found instances of Memphis-Shelby County Schools preschool teachers hitting, kicking and jerking students, prompting multiple deficiency notices. (The Daily Memphian file)
Maybe not getting a Head Start? Memphis-Shelby County Schools could lose $30 million in federal preschool funding after Head Start officials found instances of teachers hitting students and committing other violations since 2020. In the recent past, the funding has supported 3,200 seats at MSCS preschools for students from low-income families. But now, because of the violations, MSCS is being forced to re-compete for the 2025-2030 grant funding. At this point, it’s not clear how much competition MSCS could face.
 U.S. District Judge Mark Norris is presiding over the trial against three former Memphis police officers for the death of Tyre Nichols. (Jim Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Nichols jury sworn in: The two-day jury selection in the federal trial over Tyre Nichols’ death wrapped up around dinner time on Tuesday. Four Black women, two Black men, two Asian men, four white women and four white men were sworn in as jurors, but four of them will be chosen as alternates. They were selected after 18 people were dismissed on Tuesday. Opening statements are expected to begin today, and we’ll be on the scene. You can stay up on all the action on our live blog.
QUOTED
“No one knew that there was a deficiency coming down the pipeline? ... Someone is lying ...”
— Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, Memphis City Council member
On Tuesday, MATA’s interim CFO told the Memphis City Council that the agency grew the city’s bus system during the pandemic with one-time federal funding. And when that funding ran out, the city’s bus system couldn’t sustain itself financially. And that apparently led to MATA’s recent staff and route cuts. MATA Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin claimed she and the board had no idea how bad things were under former CEO Gary Rosenfeld. Cooper-Sutton wasn’t buying it.
THE NICE TO KNOW
 Smith & Nephew’s office campus at 7135 Goodlett Farms Parkway is up for sale. (Courtesy Smith & Nephew)
Want to buy a giant office campus? That’s a tough sell in the age of hybrid work schedules. But hey, if you’re looking for a 300,000-square-foot office on 56 acres, Smith & Nephew has just the thing. After more than 20 years in its Cordova office, the medical device company is selling. And the space comes with some perks we certainly don’t have at our Daily Memphian office, including a restaurant-grade kitchen and a park-like campus with streams and walking paths. (If you’ll recall, Memphis Light, Gas and Water briefly entertained the idea of moving there in late 2023). Read more about what the property has to offer in Inked.
 The opening of Asaderos Mexican Grill in Germantown has been delayed. (Abigail Warren/The Daily Memphian file)
Taco ’bout a delay: If you’ve been waiting for the new Asaderos Mexican Grill to open in the long-closed Mesquite Chop House in Germantown, you may have to hold your horses just a little longer. Owner Abraham Valenzuela, who also owns two Chukis Mexican delis and a Rancho Grande Restaurant, hoped to open his Germantown spot in May, but as tends to happen with new eateries, the project is taking longer than expected. The Daily Memphian’s Abigail Warren offers up a timeline so you can pencil a future Taco Tuesday onto your calendar.
 Actor James Earl Jones died this week at age 93. (Chris Carlson/AP file)
James Earl Jones’ Memphis connection: Darth Vader died this week. Or, well, his voice anyway. Iconic movie star James Earl Jones died on Monday at age 93. And though Jones’ last final role was in Craig Brewer’s “Coming 2 America” in 2021, Jones was in another Memphis-connected movie from 1996 that our own Chris Herrington highly recommends. Read all about that in Memphis Movies This Week, plus Herrington’s review of Brewer’s new Peacock crime heist series, “Fight Night” with Kevin Hart and Samuel L. Jackson.
 The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket known as Polaris Dawn lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday, Sept. 10. (John Raoux/AP)
Spaced out: SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, with a mission to conduct the first commercial spacewalk and travel to the highest altitude that humans have reached since 1972’s Apollo moon mission. And all of that sounds very cool. But the Polaris Dawn is also doing some good down here: The five-day mission is raising funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital — and you can help by eating Doritos.
Lakeland to Nashville: The Lakeland School System will likely be pushing for preschool funding in the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act, the state’s new school funding formula. That was one of several priorities the school board laid out in a Monday meeting that focused on the system’s legislative priorities. The agenda hasn’t been finalized yet, but the board’s legislative liaison suggested they might want to defend public-education funding in the face of Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed, controversial school-voucher program.
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
Now here’s an idea for the ol’ Liberty Hole. This city is big enough for two Pyramids, right?
Enjoy your Wednesday, and we’ll meet back here bright and early.
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