Good morning, friends and neighbors. Today is Thursday, Dec. 17, and your Memphis Grizzlies will take on the Atlanta Hawks tonight in a preseason game at the FedExForum (and the team will at home for almost two weeks).

We’ve also got New Ballet Ensemble’s “Nut Remix” at the Malco Summer Drive-In, Baptist-Memphis hospital on Walnut Grove expected to receive its first doses of the coronavirus vaccine, and the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority meeting, with concessions on its agenda. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto Intensive Care Unit head nurse Haley Griffiths gives a thumbs up after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine shot Wednesday. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Shots, shots, shots, shots ... everybody! Yesterday, Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto in Southaven dispensed its (and the area’s) first COVID-19 vaccines. About half of the hospital’s 1,800 employees have signed up to get the vaccine; the hospital currently has 975 doses and will administer them to employees for several weeks. Said one radiation oncologist who got the vaccine: “I’m glad to have this vaccine and I am dreaming of my next vacation.” To which I say: Us, too.

Raising the stakes: The Shelby County Commission has been considering ways to give the Health Department more teeth in its enforcement efforts — and the latest idea is to allow the department to issue citations with a $50 fine attached for every violation of the directive. The proposed ordinance wouldn’t target individual citizens but it would allow businesses to be fined. And, at $50 a pop, a crowd eschewing their masks could get pretty expensive.

Chris Bishop is manager of FedEx’s shipping and delivery station at 1885 Appling Road in Cordova. (Ziggy Mack/Special to the Daily Memphian)

A peek into peak: Chris Bishop has been with FedEx through multiple peak seasons — as an employee at the hub, as a courier in Tupelo, Charlotte and Memphis, and now as a manager of a FedEx Express Delivery Station on Appling Road — and he’s “never seen the amount of volume” the company is doing now. Today, Wayne Risher offers us another sort of peek, into what’s being called Shipathon, with an interview with Bishop. “Every day you come in and you figure out what are we looking at today. How are we going to handle the volume?” Bishop said. “It can get exhausting, but you just go with it.” 

MEET MEMPHIS

New Memphis Redbirds investor Randy Boyd speaks at a Dec. 15 press conference at AutoZone Park. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

When Randy Boyd was the state’s economic and community development commissioner a few years ago, he came to Memphis almost every week. But now that he’s president of the University of Tennessee, he’s actually gotten even more invested in Memphis … literally. Boyd joined the Memphis Redbirds ownership group earlier this week; his company owns and operates minor league baseball teams in Knoxville, Johnson City, Greeneville and Elizabethton (and one of them, like the Redbirds, is affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals). And he knows next season may be an interesting one: “It’s kind of like an amusement park; every year they have a new ride, a new something. … We’ll be constantly looking at ways to improve.”

THE NICE TO KNOW

University of Memphis forward DeAndre Williams holds up three fingers in celebration after a teammate hits an open three during a Dec. 4 game. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

A new hope: With newly eligible DeAndre Williams on the court, the University of Memphis Tigers squeaked past Tulane, their first conference rival, 80-74. Williams made his debut with the team last night after the NCAA approved a blanket waiver for all transfers to be immediately eligible, and his presence “injected the Tigers with an immediate burst of energy, not just by way of his 10 points and six rebounds but from the moment the team bus pulled up to Fogelman Arena.” It’s an energy that Geoff Calkins says the team really needs, and “not just energy, but joy. Enthusiasm. Belief in each other and in the larger enterprise.” Because, even if Williams was clearly the most impactful player on the floor, the team still seems to have some serious issues. 

The Pride of Memphis: Country music superstar Charley Pride died of COVID complications in Dallas this past weekend, but before he made it in Nashville, he spent multiple stints in the ’50s playing for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League. He was from a town just 60 miles south of Memphis and even met his wife here. Today, Chris Herrington talks about Pride and how his story is perfect for the big screen, how it almost made it there and how it still could. He also dips into the discussion about policing, farmers markets, pizza and how maybe we should lower our expectations (just generally) for Tiger basketball.

Alcenia's owner BJ Chester-Tamayo is buying the Downtown building where her restaurant resides. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Owner/occupier: After renting the same North Main building for more than 20 years, the much-beloved owner of Alcenia’s restaurant is buying the space. Betty Joyce “BJ” Chester-Tamayo is buying and renovating 317 N. Main St., with help from the Center City Development Corp., River City Capital Loan and the Memphis Medical District Collaborative. And though she’s already made a name for herself with locals and tourists alike, Chester-Tamayo is now “determined to work 10 times harder to prove” she’s worth the investment.

Heavy is the head: The Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County just got a bite. EDGE approved tax incentives to lure a California-based dental lab — Crown World — to Memphis. The company is considering buying a vacant office building on Airways Boulevard, where it would house its dental labs, call center and shipping and receiving department and employ, at least to start, about 25 people. 

WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

The passing of a local radio personality ... 

Have a good rest of your Thursday, and join us again tomorrow morning, bright and early. 

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