Good morning, sweets! Today is Wednesday, Sept. 13, and two very important food holidays are converging. National Peanut Day meets International Chocolate Day, so it seems a fine time to share the late Jennifer Biggs’ recipe for homemade Peanut Butter Cups.

She published this recipe a few years back as a DIY Halloween candy feature, and spooky season is just around the corner, so there’s no better time than now to practice your skills. Plus, you get to eat the test batch, so win-win. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

(From left to right): Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith are the Memphis Police officers fired in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols. (Courtesy MPD)

Five cops federally indicted in Nichols case: The five former Memphis Police officers who are charged in Tyre Nichols’ beating death are pending indictment on federal civil rights violations. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith are facing two counts of deprivation of civil rights and two counts of tampering with a witness, victim or informant. The indictment lists several ways the officers allegedly conspired to withhold or omit information to cover up Nichols’ beating, including moving and removing body cameras to limit the capture of evidence. The charges stemmed from a criminal civil rights investigation launched by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division eight months ago. 

Memphis Police Department body and dashboard camera footage from the officer-involved shooting of Jaylin McKenzie last December was released on Tuesday. (Courtesy Shelby County District Attorney’s Office)

Jaylin McKenzie video released: On Tuesday, the Shelby County District Attorney’s office released video footage from the officer-involved shooting of Jaylin McKenzie. McKenzie was killed by a Memphis Police officer while visiting the city from Atlanta last December. The footage shows two officers on a foot chase after McKenzie ran away from a white Hyundai Infiniti. During the pursuit, one of the officers falls down, and someone can be heard firing multiple shots. Another camera angle shows a handgun underneath McKenzie’s body.

Woman missing after booze cruise: Local law enforcement is searching for 21-year-old Tamia Taylor, a Covington woman who went missing after she boarded the Island Queen Booze Cruise Downtown on Saturday. Taylor was celebrating her birthday with friends, and she was not seen after the boat returned to the dock and passengers offloaded. Police are considering the fact that she may have fallen off the boat, but Memphis Riverboats Inc. says video footage gives them “no reason to believe she could have gone overboard.”

“We are not compelled to set an affordable bond if we don’t think it sufficiently protects the public or ensures this person will be back to court,” said Shelby County’s Lead Judicial Commissioner John Marshall. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

The affordable bail controversy: The work of judicial commissioners has come under scrutiny lately since a new standing bail order took effect in Shelby County earlier this year. These commissioners review every arrest that comes into 201 Poplar, and they set initial bail amounts. But how do they decide on bail amounts? We sat down with Shelby County’s Lead Judicial Commissioner John Marshall to find out. Yesterday, we published part one of our conversation, during which Marshall explained who the 14 commissioners are and how bail-setting works. In part two today, Marshall discusses the controversy surrounding affordable bail, and he clears up a misconception over whether a new law prevents commissioners from setting bonds on violent cases.

Transmission lines and cooling towers at the TVA’s Shawnee Power Plant in Kentucky are illuminated by the rising sun. (Ryan Hermens/The Paducah Sun via AP file)

Power struggle: The Tennessee Valley Authority will need to double — or maybe even triple — the amount of power it can generate over the next 30 years to keep up with power demand. The federal power provider, which feeds electricity to 153 companies, including Memphis Light, Gas and Water, saw a 2.5% increase in power demand between 2020 and 2022 as the country faced brutally cold winters and scorchingly hot summers. And now it has plans to build 3,800 megawatts of electric generation in the next five years. Looking beyond that, the TVA has kicked off a study of its long-term power needs. (No more Christmas Day rolling blackouts, please.)

QUOTED

“Because of Tennessee’s abortion ban, I could not get the health care I needed in my home state. And the option to continue the pregnancy was a risk to me.”

— Allyson Phillips of Clarksville, Tennessee
Phillips traveled to New York for an abortion after she learned her baby had no chance of survival. She’s a plaintiff in a new lawsuit filed against Tennessee and Idaho for denying abortions despite dangerous pregnancy complications. The suit was filed on Tuesday by the national Center for Reproductive Rights. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

Collierville High School’s Jaimee Lapham (left) administerd a COVID-19 test to Brayden Mackiewicz on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Time for a boost: The U.S. Food and Drug administration authorized new COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna on Monday, and they’re expected to be available any day now for anyone older than 6 months. On the fence about getting a booster? COVID hospitalizations were up 16% across the country in August, compared with July, and one local expert who talked to our own Don Wade said the current variant will worsen as we get into winter. That same expert said the flu could be even more severe this year, so you might plan on getting vaccinated for that, too.

“I don’t understand why we try to put people in political boxes in a two-party system when it’s never black or white,” said Memphis City Council member Chase Carlisle. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Partisan politics? On Tuesday, Memphis City Council Chair Martavius Jones delayed a final vote on a proposed 2024 ballot question on whether to allow partisan primaries in Memphis mayoral and council elections. Jones, who is proposing the city charter amendment change, views primaries as a form of runoff elections, and he cites this year’s crowded mayoral race as a reason for holding primaries. Some other council members, like Chase Carlisle, feel differently: “It’s just not pragmatic politics for the way Memphis can move itself forward.” Council members also heard a surprising finding on Tuesday from a $5 million aquifer study that ended recently: Turns out the city isn’t getting all its water from our cherished Memphis aquifer.  In other council news, we’ve got a rundown of candidates vying for the two open Super District 8 seats.

Memphis Tigers running back Blake Watson ran against Bethune-Cookman on Saturday Sept. 2, 2023, at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. (Wes Hale/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Two for two: So far, the Memphis Tigers football team has two lopsided wins under its belt against inferior competition, so it may be too early to tell how the team will fare against a tough opponent. But The Daily Memphian’s Frank Bonner II and John Martin tried to make some early assessments in their Tigers Talk column. Even judging by the early success, Bonner believes the Tigers have the best defense they’ve had during his three seasons on the beat. Martin is reserving judgment: “I think we’ll find out what this team is made of in two weeks when they play Missouri.” In other news, our own Tim Buckley says it’s time for Memphis and Ole Miss to bring back a football series between the two teams that dates back to 1921.

“Right now, we can’t afford to cut police,” said Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite, defending a new millage rate increase approved in the suburb on Tuesday. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

New taxes in Southaven: The City of Southaven is raising its millage rate for the first time since 2006. The city’s Board of Aldermen voted in favor of the increase on Tuesday night to support its $69 million 2024 fiscal year budget. Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite had been calling for the increase as a way to fund street repaving and new police efforts to keep Memphis crime out of the suburb. Alderman Charlie Hoots was the sole vote against the millage increase. In other North Mississippi news, a new mixed-use development called The Collection at Getwell, promises to bring hotels, single-family housing, residential lofts and at least 20 acres of commercial space to 78 acres in Hernando.

“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” will screen on opening night of the 2023 Indie Memphis Film Festival. (Submitted)

Get the popcorn ready: The opening night film for this October’s Indie Memphis Film Festival comes from the winner of Indie Memphis’ Black screenwriter residency four years ago. Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” a “decades-spanning” look into the life of a Mississippi woman, will screen at Crosstown Theater on Oct. 24. See the trailer here. In other film news, a new documentary, “Ramblings of a Bomber Pilot,” tells the story of Arthur H. Allen Jr., the late World War II pilot from Memphis. It will screen Friday, Sept. 15, through Thursday, Sept. 21, at the Cordova Malco Cinema.

LOOK WHO’S TALKING ABOUT US

Three Memphis barbecue restaurants made Southern Living’s list of the “top 50 barbecue joints of 2023”: A&R Bar-B-Que (No. 11), Cozy Corner (No. 25) and Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous (No. 47). I don’t know the first thing about barbecue that’s not made with mushrooms or jackfruit, so I’m not qualified to weigh in. But how do all you barbecue fans feel about this?

In other barbecue news, WREG tells us that Memphis mayoral candidates Paul Young and Floyd Bonner can agree on at least one thing.

Okay, time to go eat some peanut butter and chocolate! And maybe some barbecue?

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