Cheers, Memphis! It’s Wednesday, Oct. 15, and Downtown’s Center City Development Corp. will consider a grant to fund a beer garden (with a dog park!) at Soul & Spirits Brewing. 

Tonight, the Memphis Grizzlies are on the road for a preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets. Since the Grizzlies had their “best preseason loss” yet in Saturday’s game, maybe they’ll finally deliver a win. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, right, is considering legal action against the Memphis Safe Task Force. Harris cited anecdotal information from Colton Bane of the Community Legal Center, left, and Carlos Ochoa of Vecindarios 901, center, among others. (Bill Dries/The Daily Memphian)

Harris may sue Trump task force: Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said Tuesday that he believes the Memphis Safe Task Force is making unlawful and unconstitutional arrests and traffic stops, and he could take legal action. He also said the National Guard’s deployment to Memphis is illegal and could include that in a lawsuit. During a press conference, Harris and immigration advocates specifically pointed to instances where the task force may have racially profiled immigrants. Harris said he didn’t object to “a surge in some resources. But we want to make sure we follow the Constitution.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Memphis Mayor Paul Young spoke at a news conference on Tuesday morning. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Forever ever? Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force might last forever. But he did say the surge, which currently includes more than 1,500 federal personnel, “will diminish at some point.” The National Guard seems to be operating separately from the task force with “no law enforcement arrest power.” But the U.S. Marshals Service has been stepping it up in Memphis with a focus on hunting down fugitives. Still, traffic stops are the thing most Memphian see from the task force, and they say they’re looking for speeders and other traffic offenses. 

“The sentence that was handed down [Monday] is actually an illegal sentence,” said DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton of Lindsey Whiteside’s sentence. (Brandon LaGrone II/The Daily Memphian)

DA challenges youth pastor’s sentence: DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton says the house arrest sentence for a former youth pastor convicted of a sex crime is “illegal.” And now his office is challenging the court over Lindsey Whiteside’s sentence. On Monday, Whiteside was spared prison time for a sexual battery charge stemming from her relationship with a teen member of her church’s youth group. But Barton contends that her charge is not eligible for the house arrest program under Mississippi law. 

QUOTED

Downtown Memphis was teeming with college football fans during the live broadcast of ESPN’s “College GameDay” from Beale Street on Nov. 2, 2019. (The Daily Memphian file)

“I won’t talk one bit about [College GameDay] because it has nothing to do with ... what we are about this week.”

— Memphis Tigers football Coach Ryan Silverfield
Memphis Tigers athletic director Ed Scott said Monday that Memphis is “under consideration” for visit from ESPN’s College GameDay, a pre-game show broadcast that hasn’t filmed here since 2019. But the Tigers are no shoo-in yet, and Silverfield said Monday that he’s just focusing on this week’s game.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Prospero Place Tower at 50 S. B.B. King Blvd. is next to AutoZone Park. (Courtesy CBRE)

Office space: Hotel developer Nick Patel, who owns Hu Hotel and is behind the Dermon Building’s redevelopment, is buying another Downtown property. His Knoxville-based real estate firm was approved for a change of ownership Tuesday for Prospero Place Tower and its neighboring parking garage. Both properties are next to AutoZone Park. Patel plans to keep Prospero as an office building, but it’s badly in need of some new tenants. 

Inside the new building, Orgill has examples of different kinds of stores with shelves of supplies. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Dealers’ choice: If you own a hardware store, the $70 million Orgill Innovation Center in Collierville may be your new Disney World. The building, which is larger than Chicago’s Wrigley Field (but smaller than Crosstown Concourse), is filled with all the supplies you need to run a hardware store, including booths with top brands like Milwaukee and Black & Decker showcasing the latest tools. Orgill, an independent hardware distributor, has long roots in Memphis, dating back to the pre-Civil War days.

American workwear brand Carhartt opened a store in Ridgeway Trace in Memphis. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP file)

Yogis out, hipsters in: California-based YogaSix will close its Downtown studio next week, but first, the studio will offer some free community classes. But when one door closes, another opens: American workwear brand Carhartt — equally popular with mechanics and hipsters — opened its first Memphis store in Ridgeway Trace last week. Read more on both stories in Inked, plus news of a new HIV clinic in Whitehaven.

”After the Hunt” stars Ayo Edebiri, left, and Julia Roberts. (Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios)

What to watch this week: “After the Hunt,” a drama about cancel culture in academia, definitely has the highest-profile cast of any film opening this week (Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield). But our movie buff Chris Herrington says the sequel to a 2021 abduction thriller will likely get the most views. Read more on those films and more, including a kids’ movie called “Pets on a Train” (which Herrington says “sounds like a safer situation than “Snakes on a Plane.”) He also offers up watch list ideas to honor the memory of Diane Keaton.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

If y’all really want ESPN’s College GameDay here, it sounds like y’all need to go to this weekend’s home football game.

Go sports!

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