Last week was a wild one in Memphis with Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins narrowly avoiding being fired by school board members. The termination proceedings are set to continue at the end of January. Meantime, Feagins’ attorney Alan Crone — a familiar name in the local legal and political landscape — told The Daily Memphian’s Laura Testino that his client “absolutely” wants to continue leading the district.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority Board of Commissioners voted to consider installing three consultants to lead the bus system and returning Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin to her previous role as deputy CEO at a cost of $1.3 million. The board still has to vote on the contract between MATA and consulting firm Transpro to make the leadership changes official; there’s no firm date for that vote yet.

Outside of MSCS and MATA leadership tumult, Rob Moore reported on the investigative reports of the 2023 plane crash that killed four members of Harvest Church in Germantown. The reports’ hundreds of pages include official interviews, expert accounts on the aircraft and wreckage and more. Samuel Hardiman wrote that the city plans to hire former federal judge Bernice Donald as a monitor of sorts for MPD, following a recent federal investigation that alleged the Memphis Police Department was violating some residents’ civil rights.

And Jody Callahan penned a charmer about an African red-billed hornbill’s sudden burst of fame following Hollywood sound designer Watson Wu sound recordings from the Memphis Zoo for “Mufasa: The Lion King.” Sadly, Pilar isn’t around to celebrate her star status; she died in July 2022 at the zoo shortly after she was recorded in April that year.

— Metro editor Jane Donahoe

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However, the termination proceedings will continue into the new year and be decided in the board’s business meeting at the end of January. 

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