G’mornin’, Memphis! It’s Wednesday, March 26, and Memphis Mayor Paul Young is ready to take your burning questions at a One Memphis town hall meeting in Cordova tonight. 

Also this evening, Memphis Area Transit Authority board members will vote on a resolution to supplement service on some of those missing bus routes that the old MATA leadership lied to the public about. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Eleven days after Memphis Animal Services closed to the public due to an ongoing distemper outbreak, the facility remains shut down for the foreseeable future. (Benjamin Naylor/The Daily Memphian file)

Animal shelter closed indefinitely: If you want to take a stray dog to the shelter, well, too bad. Because Memphis Animal Services is closed to the public for the foreseeable future. The shelter closed on March 14 after the second distemper outbreak of the year led to the euthanasia of at least 100 dogs. An estimated 120 dogs were put down after a distemper outbreak in January. In his weekly newsletter, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the decision to close indefinitely was suggested by outside experts. Some services involving healthy, vaccinated dogs will continue though.

A long barge moving north on the Mississippi River in Memphis makes a wide turn near Chickasaw Heritage Park to avoid a sandbar peninsula. (Bill Dries/The Daily Memphian file)

Not just a walk in the park: Memphis Mayor Paul Young is proposing big improvements to the city’s riverfront parks, ranging from a permanent cleanup of McKellar Lake in MLK/Riverside Park to the creation of a new lake on the Wolf River Harbor’s northern end. The plans also call for a possible makeover of Mud Island Amphitheater. The Memphis City Council got an overview of those plans Tuesday. In other news, the council delayed what’s being proposed as the “first environmentally friendly truck yard in Memphis.” The yard would be near the airport, and council member Pearl Eva Walker isn’t buying the eco-friendly buzzwords. The council also approved a new task force to look into cleaning up the Wolf River Bottoms area best-known as a place to ride four-wheelers.

Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery says he’ll run for county mayor. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

One more for county mayor’s race: Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery announced a planned run for Shelby County mayor on Tuesday. Though candidates can’t file a qualifying petition until late December, Lowery is the fifth person to make a move. Four other potential candidates have already named campaign treasurers. County Mayor Lee Harris is term-limited from running again. 

New juvie may be coming: A bill that would require the Department of Children’s Services to build a new juvenile detention center in West Tennessee passed a House subcommittee on Tuesday. West Tennessee currently has 157 total beds for juvenile detainees, compared with 193 beds in Middle Tennessee and 286 in the eastern part of the state, yet 60% of juveniles detained in the state come from the west side. If the bill is ultimately approved, West Tennessee would lead the state in juvie beds. 

QUOTED

The final cost of the constructing the new Hernando High School will settle between $90 million and $93 million, according to school district officials. (Toni Lepeska/Special to The Daily Memphian)

“People just like a new school [and] will literally move to be near [it].”

— Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson
That’s the hope anyway. The finishing touches are being put on a new Hernando High School, which is set to welcome students this July. The school was built in an area that was annexed years ago, and now, Johnson is hoping for a building boom near the school. In other new school news, Collierville Schools is buying land for a future school, just in case.

THE NICE TO KNOW

The old Pancho’s building in West Memphis is currently owned by Dolly Parton. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Dolly Parton and Pancho’s: Talk about two beloved institutions, am I right? In an odd twist of fate, the Queen of County currently owns the land where the former West Memphis Pancho’s operated. (RIP, Pancho’s dressing.) But don’t get too excited: Parton isn’t planning to build a West Memphis Dollywood (which is, honestly, quite a shame because it would seem the perfect complement for the city’s coming-soon Buc-ee’s). No, it turns out the property was a gift to the Dollywood Foundation, and it won’t be in the foundation’s hands for long. 

Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane went to the basket against Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler on Tuesday, March 25, in Salt Lake City. (Rob Gray/AP)

Finally, a Grizz win: The Memphis Grizzlies got a much-needed win over the Utah Jazz Tuesday night after a series of disappointing losses. The Jazz is the worst team in the West, but they were still dominating in the first half (yikes). Thankfully, the Grizz woke up from their long hibernation and took over in the second half for a 140-103 win. Every player stepped up in this game, but Scotty Pippen Jr., who is filling in for a still-injured Ja Morant, was crucial. 

University of Memphis guard Baraka Okojie averaged 1.5 points, 1.2 assists and 1.2 rebounds per game through 31 games this past season. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Now entering the transfer portal: It’s that time of year when Memphis Tigers basketball players start bailing ship. On Tuesday, guards Baraka Okojie and Jared Harris announced they were leaving for greener pastures. And it should come as no surprise considering the Tigers’ tragic fate in the NCAA Tournament last weekend. As Coach Penny Hardaway looks ahead for next year’s team, our own Parth Upadhyaya poses four questions that will define the Tigers’ offseason. Among them: Can Memphis get PJ Haggerty to return? Not only is it transfer time, it’s also time for fans (and our sports writers) to start talking again about getting out of the AAC and into the Big 12. That’s what Tim Buckley does in today’s column, where he circles back to something athletic director Ed Scott said in his first days on the job.

“A Working Man” reunites star Jason Statham and director David Ayer. Statham plays a former black-ops soldier who leaves that career behind for a quiet life working in construction. (Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios)

Team Statham or Team Rudd? It’s a good week to go to the movies if you like shameless rehashes of action movies. Our own Chris Herrington doesn’t seem to mind them. He says the plot of “A Working Man,” starring gritty English actor Jason Statham, sounds an awful lot like that of “Taken” with gritty Irish actor Liam Neeson. “Does this mean it won’t be similarly satisfying? It does not,” says Herrington. If action films aren’t your thing (I’m with you), you might be better off watching Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega accidentally run over a unicorn.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

It’s pothole season in Memphis. That snowy winter really did a number on these streets. 

Swerve on past those potholes, and we’ll catch up later!

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