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Are you feeling like a boss today, Memphis? It’s Monday, Oct. 16, Bosses’ Day, so be sure to thank your supervisors. But also, here’s a chance to treat yourself like the boss that you are, even if you’re not technically in a lead role in the workplace. It also happens to be my 43rd birthday, so I’ll be celebrating “like a boss” as soon as this Early Word hits the digital newsstand.
The Shelby County Commission meets today, and they’ll discuss a plan to require a minimum wage for companies that get property tax incentives from the Economic Development Growth Engine.
Visitation services will be held this afternoon for former city parks director and former Memphis City Council member Janet Hooks, who died last week due to complications of COVID-19.
Looking ahead, The Daily Memphian’s Developing Memphis seminar is coming up this Thursday at the Memphis Botanic Garden. Register now to hear updates on development projects from Bill Ganus (Dixie Greyhound mixed-use project), Andre Jones (Malone Park Commons) and Chuck Pinkowski (Memphis-area hotels).
And finally, check out This Week in Memphis for important dates you’ll want to note for the week ahead.
THE NEED TO KNOW
 Mempho Music Festival is celebrated in the fall at Memphis Botanic Garden. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)
Mempho in May: Turns out there will be a music festival in May in Tom Lee Park after all. One day after Memphis in May International Festival announced that it wouldn’t hold a Beale Street Music Festival in 2024, the group that puts on the annual Mempho Music Festival signed an agreement to host a fest in the park from May 3-5, 2024. The still-unnamed fest won’t affect plans for Mempho, which is typically held in the fall. This recent news about Beale Street Music Festival’s cancellation is the latest chapter in the fest’s sometimes-turbulent, 46-year history.
 Melissa Boyd
Off the bench: Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd has been off the bench for nearly five months following a suspension by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct. In an interview with The Daily Memphian, Boyd said she reached an agreement with the board to step down after a series of complaints and an order of protection were filed against her by her former campaign manager, Lashanta Rudd. Rudd complained to the board about Boyd’s alleged “threatening and intimidating statements and behavior and alcohol abuse.” Boyd says she’ll be back on the bench Nov. 1, but in the interim, other already-overworked judges have been stepping in to keep up with her docket.
 Sara McKinney (center), one of the attorneys representing Gershun Freeman’s family in a wrongful death suit, stood outside of 201 Poplar on Oct. 4, 2023, the day before the one-year anniversary of his death. (Aarron Fleming/The Daily Memphian)
Excessive force at 201 Poplar: There were at least 31 substantiated, excessive-force violations involving corrections offices at the Shelby County Jail between 2018 and 2021. Details of those incidents were revealed as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the county and corrections officers by the family of the late Gershun Freeman, who died at the jail in 2022. The alleged violations ranged from pushing an inmate down steps to unnecessary uses of pepper spray. In one of the incidents, an officer was terminated after being indicted on criminal charges of felony misconduct and aggravated assault for allegedly assaulting an inmate while handcuffed.
 Memphis Police directed traffic under LED streetlights. (Ziggy Mack/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
Bright light, bright light! Memphis Light, Gas and Water is working to update all of the city’s old sodium streetlights with LEDs by the end of the year. LEDs are more energy efficient, and they last about five times longer. But some residents have noticed these new lights are, well, bright. Like really bright. “You feel like you’re under a spotlight,” said Midtowner Brett Robbs. The old lights were around 2,000 degrees Kelvin, but the new ones are 3,000 K. Some residents say they prefer the brighter lights because they provide better visibility and could serve as more of a crime deterrent. Want to see where your house falls on MLGW’s to-do list? Check the link in this story.
MEET MEMPHIS
 Dr. Kathryn Sumpter is chief of pediatric endocrinology at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and new chairman of the West Tennessee/Memphis chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. (Courtesy Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital)
Dr. Kathryn Sumpter had no family history of type 1 diabetes when she was diagnosed at age 20. She was a college student at the time she experienced symptoms. Her blood sugar was “off the charts,” she says, and her doctor immediately sent her to the emergency room. These days, she wears an insulin monitor on her arm, and she shows it to her young patients who have been recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Sumpter is chair of the local Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and she’s working to reshape the foundation’s messaging and activities for a broader audience.
THE NICE TO KNOW
 Blue Monkey Downtown server Nell Brandon (left) imported customer orders on Monday, Oct. 9. Blue Monkey is one of several area restaurants that are adding auto gratuity to customer bills. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
Tipping point: You’ve surely noticed more local restaurants are adding automatic gratuities to your bill since the pandemic. It’s trending everywhere, and National Restaurant Association stats show most restaurant operators plan to keep the fees permanently. At Ben Yay’s Downtown, general manager Nikki McCain said the fees help since fewer customers are leaving tips these days. But at Patrick’s in East Memphis, the staff voted against auto-gratuity because taxes are taken out before the servers get their share. (Personally, I appreciate service fees because I don’t have to do math to figure out the tip; for great service, I’ll typically just add a couple bucks on top of the fee.)
 Rocky Kasaftes with a framed portrait of his father at Alex’s Tavern. (Ziggy Mack/Special to The Daily Memphian)
How Alex’s Tavern has lasted 70 years: Alex Kasaftes opened Alex’s Tavern on Jackson Avenue in 1953. And today, his son Rocky Kasaftes, who, like the bar, turns 70 this year, is still flipping burgers and frying wings in the late-night hotspot. The space hasn’t changed much over the years, though Rocky Kasaftes added the bar’s famous Greek burgers and double-dipped wings (that’s one dip of Greek seasoning and another of hot sauce). What’s the secret to Alex’s success? The answer is simple: “I’m a firm believer in good music, TVs for watching sports, good food and treating your people and customers right,” said Rocky Kasaftes.
 Bald eagles are thriving in the Memphis area due to Martha and Jim Waldron’s efforts 40 years ago to band and renest fledglings in a secret cypress at Reelfoot Lake. This bald eagle is rehabilitating at the Mid-South Raptor Center. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
For the birds: Just last week, in The Early Word, I shared a Memphis Subreddit post about a bald eagle sighting in Overton Park. And sighting posts have made their way onto other social media platforms lately, too. Turns out Martha and Jim Waldron are partly responsible for the city’s healthy and thriving bald eagle population. From 1979 to 1987, the Waldrons were among a team of local volunteers who banded 23 baby bald eagles and housed them for a couple nights in their backyard. Their efforts were part of a project to renest fledglings in a secret cypress at Reelfoot Lake.
 University of Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan uncorked a pass against Tulane University on Oct. 13, at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. (Wes Hale/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Weekend sports: The Memphis Tigers football team suffered their first home loss and first conference loss of the season on Friday night to the Tulane Green Wave, 31-21. It was the first time Tulane had beat the Tigers at home in 25 years, and it was a game the Tigers very much wanted to win since Tulane is the defending American Athletic conference champ. The Tigers faced a double-digit deficit when Tulane took a 10-point, second-quarter lead, and it appeared that the Tigers might pull off another come-from-behind win. Now it’s looking like slow starts are becoming a trend for the Tigers football team. The Tigers women’s soccer team, however, is doing just fine; they beat Charlotte, 1-0, on Sunday, marking the team’s ninth straight win. In other sports news, the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Miami Heat, 132-124, in Sunday night’s preseason game. But Ziaire Williams got his chance to shine with a 19-point, three-rebound effort off the bench.
THIS WEEK’S WEATHER
Are you ready for mornings in the 40s? Because I am most certainly not.
That’s all for now. I’m taking the rest of the day off to celebrate my trip around the sun; Chris Herrington will be waking up with you tomorrow.
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