Welcome back to a new week, Memphis. It’s Monday, Aug. 10, and the current Shelby County Commission will be wrapping up business as it prepares for newly elected members to take office Sept. 1. Among the agenda items: a vote on Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ nearly $2 billion budget.

Three finalists for Germantown’s vacant school board position will be interviewed at a special meeting of the suburb’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen today. But whoever is chosen won’t have the job for long.

THE NEED TO KNOW

The Exxon Hop-In gas station and convenience store at the corner of Poplar Avenue and Highland Street burned in January 2024 and remains closed and fenced off as of August 2026. (Andy Ashby/The Daily Memphian)

Why can’t Exxon owners step on the gas? The old, burned-down Exxon Hop-In at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street has been an eyesore for more than two years. And neighbors are starting to ask what’s the hold-up on a rebuild. Six months after a fire destroyed the station, the company that owns the land said they’d build a new Mapco there. But that project got tied up in a lot of red tape that included a bunch of required add-ons, like solar panels and EV charging stations. Reporter Andy Ashby looks into where the project stands and why it’s so hard to build a new gas station in Memphis. 

Six professors from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Department of Occupational Therapy left earlier this year over allegations that the university would not address repeated student and faculty complaints regarding another professor. (Ian Round/The Daily Memphian tile) 

Tables turned: New reports from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center vindicate the controversial professor at the center of multiple resignations from the school’s occupational therapy department. Earlier this year, six professors left the department because they believed the university failed to address abuse allegations against fellow professor Pamela Lewis-Kipkulei. A new UTHSC report found that student mistreatment from Lewis-Kipkulei was not substantiated and placed much of the blame on former department chair Anne Zachry. The six faculty members who resigned say they strongly disagree with the report. And Zachry, one of the faculty members who left, is now suing to get her job back.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, SpaceXAI alleged that Ohio-based Darana Hybrid overbilled hundreds of millions of dollars. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Money, power and fast cars: SpaceXAI is suing a contractor that helped build its Memphis and Southaven facilities for alleged overbilling and fraud. Late last month, Ohio-based Darana Hybrid alleged that SpaceXAI owed it about $570 million for unpaid work. Darana Hybrid CEO Darryl Cuttell also owns the former Memphis International Raceway in Millington that’s far behind its renovation schedule, and SpaceXAI is claiming Cuttell overbilled for its work in part “to fund his racing ambitions.”

Heavy equipment sat at the Cascades property at Miss. 305 and U.S. 78 on November 2, 2022, after the land was cleared for the mixed-use development. (Toni Lepeska/The Daily Memphian file)

A Cascade of lawsuits: Developer Marion Threatt owes millions in unpaid loans over the stalled Casades mixed-use project in Olive Branch. First Community Bank is suing Threatt over more than $11 million, and its attempting to seize Threatt’s construction equipment to cover the cost of one loan. The latest suit is one of several active legal challenges against Threatt. As for the Cascades, the property still sits vacant five years after it broke ground, but a new developer has taken over and plans to revive the project.

QUOTED

“As a country, we don’t have a healthcare problem. What we have is a funding and a payment problem.”

— Michael Ugwueke, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
By 2034, an estimated 290,000 people who rely on TennCare and the Affordable Care Act could lose coverage. That’s due to Medicaid cuts from President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill, which are impacting Tennessee pretty hard due to the way the state’s system is set up.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Participants in the sixth annual Major Taylor Juneteenth Freedom Ride celebrated at Wiseacre Brewing Co. on Saturday, June 20. (Courtesy/Major Taylor Memphis Bicycle Club)

Gang fight: A gang is planning to show up at tonight’s Collierville Board of Mayor Aldermen meeting. Or, rather, a “spandex gang.” Collierville is holding a public hearing tonight over proposed e-bike regulations, but that’s really not why a bunch of cyclists are planning to go. They’re showing up in protest of an “off-the-cuff” comment by Collierville Alderman Charles Hall, who, during a recent discussion on e-bikes said, “The spandex gang, to me, is a lot worse than the kids on e-bikes.” The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins is a self-professed member of the spandex gang, and he makes the case for his cycling community.

Historic photo of Memphis' Main Street trolley Downtown. (Courtesy Jodie Vance)

Tracking back: Downtown trolleys are set to make a comeback this fall. The trolley system was shut down in 2014 after a fire, and it’s been mostly dormant — aside from a brief comeback in 2018 — ever since. But how did the trolleys get here in the first place? In this week’s Ask the Memphian, reporter John Klyce shares the story of how the current trolley line was built to reinvigorate the Main Street Mall — and how it briefly destroyed business instead.

Jacques Louise has two donuts currently on the menu, vanilla glazed (seen here) and chocolate glazed with sprinkles. (Courtesy Jacques Louise)

Donut sleep on these: If you’re gluten-free, chances are it’s been a while since you’ve had a “real” doughnut. Like the soft and airy, fried, yeasted kind as opposed to a dense cake doughnut. But the wait is over, because Jacques Louise Gluten-Free Bakery is now serving gluten-free, yeasted doughnuts on the weekends. The Daily Memphian’s Jennifer Chandler stopped by and confirms they really do taste like the real thing. (Now, if only someone around here would make vegan yeasted doughnuts.) 

Three years after Erica Sutton began her company Boss Lady Pickles, her pickles are now sold at Cordelia’s Market through Shelf Ready, an initiative from the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Small Business Council. (Courtesy of the Greater Memphis Chamber)

Here’s the dill: Former FedEx manager Erica Sutton didn’t mean to become the pickle lady. She just made some quick pickles at home one day, and they were good. So, she started making them for friends and coworkers. And then she quit her day job to start making Boss Lady Pickles, which she sells in a dozen flavors, including the popular spicy garlic ranch. Those pickles are now available at Harbor Town’s Cordelia’s Market, thanks to the Greater Memphis Chamber Small Business Council’s Shelf Ready program for local small businesses.

THIS WEEK’S WEATHER

I have an annual camping trip this weekend, and as always, the heat will be brutal just in time. If you’re doing outdoors stuff like me this week, double up on those electrolytes!

If you’re dreaming of cooler days ahead, you’re not alone. Check out this column by my colleague Natalie Pilgrim, who is already counting down the days until fall.

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