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Good mornin’, good mornin’ Memphis. (Debbie Reynolds voice.) 

It’s Monday, Feb. 17, and it’s Presidents Day, which means government offices are closed. And also there’s no garbage pickup today. If Monday is your typical day, you can expect pickup tomorrow.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln get most of the shine on Presidents Day, and, hey, they earned it. But I’ll take this opportunity to tip a cap to John Adams, who followed Washington and was a founding father who fought, with ideas if not with a musket, for the new nation to be a republic, not a monarchy, for it to be, in Adams’ words, “a government of laws, not of men.” 

A government of laws, not of men. Good stuff. 

If you want to get a jump on things going down in the days ahead, check out the latest installment of our This Week in Memphis column.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Manuel Duran was held in detention in Louisiana for nearly a year and a half after an arrest on immigration charges. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Noise and nuance on immigration enforcement: Remember Manuel Duran? The Memphis journalist and native of El Salvador was arrested while covering a local immigration protest in 2018, the start of a more than year-long imprisonment at detention centers in Louisiana and Alabama. Jody Callahan catches up with Duran, now free and granted asylum in the U.S., and talks to Memphis attorneys about exactly what’s likely to happen to someone after they’re arrested on immigration charges in Memphis. This adds some context to the current moment, in which three workers at a Memphis food truck were detained by federal agents, perhaps part of the Trump administration’s stated goals of more aggressive immigration enforcement. It’s probably safe to label this a chaotic moment in American politics, on a number of fronts. Bill Dries checks in on what local and state officials have been saying. 

Gov. Bill Lee visits Emerald Academy, a charter school that opened in 2015 in Knoxville under the oversight of Knox County Schools. It’s one of more than a hundred charter schools in Tennessee. (Courtesy State of Tennessee)

Meanwhile in Nashville: Gov. Bill Lee is pushing to allow charter school operators to bypass local school boards and apply directly to a state commission. New rules in the Tennessee House of Representatives will have the effect of putting more restrictions on the number of bills that Democrats in the body can introduce. 

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office gave a tour of 201 Poplar to members of the media on Tuesday, Feb. 11. (Courtesy Shelby County Sheriff’s Office)

Inside 201: What’s a place everyone in Memphis knows but where no one wants to go? 201 Poplar, the literal address and the colloquial moniker for the Shelby County Jail in Downtown Memphis. Four inmates have died at the jail in recent weeks, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s office recently took a group of journalists to tour the deteriorating facility. Aarron Fleming gives us a look inside. 

MEET MEMPHIS

Laura Wegner is the new owner of Rawgirls. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

There’s a new “Rawgirl” in town. Former chef-turned-nurse Laura Wegner purchased the vegan, raw foods-based Rawgirls brand from founders Amy and Hannah Pickle, and now she’s expanding the menu and working to make it more accessible. Wegner honed her culinary skills at Karen Carrier’s Beauty Shop and other restaurants. But when her grandmother got sick, she decided to pursue a nursing career. She spent more than a decade working in perioperative services, but all the while, Wegner focused on helping patients take better care of their health through better lifestyle choices, so the transition to owning Rawgirls was a natural fit. — Bianca Phillips

THE NICE TO KNOW

Harrison Downing (from left), Cole Jeanes and Schuyler O’Brien pose for a portrait at Hard Times Deli Feb. 11, 2025. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Hard Times, good eats: Hard Times Deli opens in the Edge District on Tuesday, a collaboration of three young veterans on the Memphis food scene. The sparse menu will focus on “classic deli sandwiches” with their own “weird twists,” says co-owner and “executive sandwich artist” Harrison Downing. Hard Times will locally source many ingredients, including bread baked daily from nearby Hive Bagel & Deli, and will smoke meats in-house and make sauces from scratch. In other recent food news, longtime Memphis Creole/Cajun restaurant Owen Brennan’s is changing ownership, but staying in the family. The ownership group behind Side Porch Steakhouse is opening a new coffee shop in Bartlett. And 17 Berkshire owner Nuha Abuduhair discusses her recent James Beard award nomination on our Sound Bites podcast. 

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, right, drives to the basket as Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. defends during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)

Hey now, you’re All-Stars and Rising Stars: Memphis was well-represented in San Francisco for NBA All-Star weekend. Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. was there as a two-time All-Star and rookies Jaylen Wells and Zach Edey were on the Rising Stars team. And our Drew Hill was there too, where he found that Jackson was pretty busy off the court as well. Speaking of courts: Luke Kennard’s hometown in Ohio recently named its court after him. Hill flips through some of Kennard’s Ohio back pages. 

Memphis guard Tyrese Hunter sits on the court after his team lost to Wichita State in overtime of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in Wichita, Kan. (AP Photo/Travis Heying)

Tigers taken down: The University of Memphis men’s basketball team took a Top 15 ranking on the road to Wichita State for a nationally televised game on Sunday, and they’re bringing home an 84-79 overtime loss. So it goes. That shouldn’t matter too much for a team with this many good wins, but even before this loss the then-14th-ranked Tigers were left out of the NCAA Tournament committee’s initial Top 16 teams. John Martin says the Tigers’ American Athletic Conference gets no respect, and the University of Memphis should be looking to get out of it, as soon as possible. 

THIS WEEK’S WEATHER

You thought you were out, Memphis, but Old Man Winter is pulling you back in, with some sub-teens temps and “overnight snow” on the forecast. (Closed circuit to MemphisWeather.net: Is the exclamation mark necessary? Rubbing it in? Settle down, pals.)

Look ma, we made it. End of the Early Word. Bianca Phillips will take the wheel again tomorrow.

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