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Feeling stir crazy yet? It’s Tuesday, Jan. 27, and there’s a good chance you’re still stuck at home. Schools are closed again today, and a planned Memphis-Shelby County Schools board meeting was postponed. Plenty of other places are closed, too. Check our snow day week blog for all the deets.
The Memphis City Council is still on, but the meeting is going virtual. And it’ll be earlier than usual. On the agenda is a final vote on whether the Land Use Control Board and council should get final say on where jails and prisons can open.
THE NEED TO KNOW
 “There has been no collaboration with ICE on immigration,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young said in a social media video. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
‘No collaboration with ICE’: That’s what Memphis Mayor Paul Young said on Instagram Monday in response to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s comments about Memphis’ collaboration with the feds. Young said he wanted to be “very clear” that while Memphis has been cooperating with the feds on reducing violent crime through the Memphis Safe Task Force, the city’s police officers are not working with ICE. Over the weekend, Noem contrasted Memphis with Minneapolis in her defense of an ICE agent shooting an ICU nurse there.
 Winter mix remained on Downtown streets on Monday, Jan. 26. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
Stay home: That’s what city and county officials are saying, given our current wintry conditions. And while we may be having flashbacks to 2020, at least there’s an end in sight when the ice melts. Memphis Mayor Paul Young issued a state of emergency for the city last Friday before the storm, and he urged people to stay home for a couple more days on an Instagram video Monday. Millington Mayor Larry Dagan also issued a state of emergency over the weekend, which he points out is a great opportunity to catch up on your shows — and maybe finally watch “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” In other winter weather news, we’ve got a look at how some local farms are faring.
 Sen. Brent Taylor (left) and Rep. John Gillespie (right) are using the heavy federal law-enforcement presence in Memphis to pressure Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy (center). (The Daily Memphian files)
Frequent foil: State Sen. Brent Taylor and state Rep. John Gillespie want to know every time a Memphis Safe Task Force charge is dismissed or reduced. Their Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act would require the Shelby County District Attorney’s office to report — within 24 hours — every Task Force-related felony charge that changes after it gets to his office. Mulroy called the request “incredibly burdensome.” It’s not the first time the two Republican lawmakers — especially Taylor — have tried to put Mulroy’s office under a microscope.
 Sen. Lamar London (second from left) stood alongside local government employees in Nashville, on Jan. 22. (Noah McLane/The Daily Memphian)
Is Tennessee affordable? That may depend on whom you ask. A group of the state’s Democratic lawmakers kicked off their Tennessee Affordability Tour Monday in response to rising costs outpacing wages. The tour will stop in cities across the state and offer info on TennCare, reproductive health care and other resources. Meanwhile, the state’s Republican lawmakers are like, “Nothing to see here; everything’s fine.” There is one way both sides are working to lower groceries costs though.
MEET MEMPHIS
 Lt. Evertina Halfacre will soon be retiring from the Memphis Police Department, where she works with motorcycle unit. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
Evertina Halfacre was the first female Memphis Police Department motorcycle cop. She joined the MPD in 1986 because she just needed a job, but she quickly found her way into the motorcycle unit. Bikes had “always been in my blood,” she said. Her grandfather worked on motorcyles, and her siblings all rode them. She’s retiring now, but you might still see her out on the streets.
THE NICE TO KNOW
 Tulips grew in a patch of light at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens in March 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Tulips are coming: The yards and roads may be coated in white stuff now, but in about seven weeks, an explosion of color is coming to the Dixon Gallery & Gardens. The Dixon planted 650,000 tulip bulbs — the most they’ve ever planted — just before the winter storm hit. If you don’t know anything about gardening (like me), that might sound like a huge mistake. But Dixon horticulturalist Dale Skaggs says the flowers live for this stuff. And our own Geoff Calkins says you can learn a few life lessons from these tulips.
 Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant’s name continues to circulate in trade rumors. (Wes Hale/The Daily Memphian, file)
Stuck in the Morant Maze? It’s been weeks now since the Ja Morant trade conversation came up, and the situation seems a bit stagnant. So fans are just seizing any stray info from the internet they can. Our own Drew Hill calls that the Morant Maze. He dives into the possibilities in his Grizz column and offers a look at where the Grizzlies stand in the 2026 NBA Draft. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies — playing without Morant — are still blowing double-digit leads, like they did again last night against the Houston Rockets.
 A Lakeland home for sale by Correale Builders and Realtors. (Michael Waddell/The Daily Memphian)
Home sweet home? Memphis-area homes sales took a dip in 2025, which one local realtor blamed on higher interest rates in the post-pandemic era. Interest rates were around 6% in December, but they were even higher several months prior. And that’s a big contrast from the low rates during the pandemic. But things may be looking up: Fourth-quarter sales improved, as mortgage rates and home prices fell.
 Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville has doubled its ICU capacity with a new $11 million expansion. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
ICU expands: If you’re having a medical emergency, Collierville is probably a good place to be. Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville recently doubled its intensive-care unit beds. The new beds include a couple set aside for seniors and a Zoom room for patients isolating with an infectious disease. For the expansion, the ICU unit moved outside of Baptist’s emergency room, and that means the ER can now expand, too.
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
Anyone wanna go skiing? Honestly, if your yard has any slope to it, you can probably ski without leaving home with the way this ice is packed down.
Hang in there!
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