Welcome to the first weekend in December, Memphis. It’s Friday, Dec. 1 — World AIDS Day — and the Shelby County Health Department’s Ryan White Program will remember those whose lives were lost to HIV and AIDs with an event at the Cadre Building.

There’s lots going on from Crosstown to Collierville this weekend. Crosstown Concourse flips the switch on its massive holiday lighting installation tonight, and Collierville hosts its annual Christmas parade. On Saturday, WYXR hosts the Raised by Sound music festival with Cat Power at Concourse, and Collierville allows the first-ever booze sales at the Harrell Performing Arts Theatre during a production of “Elf: The Musical.”

On Saturday morning, more than 20,000 runners (myself included) will take to Downtown and Midtown streets for the annual St. Jude Memphis Marathon (and half, 10K and 5K races). See here for a list of road closures.

As for sports, the Memphis Grizzlies play the Dallas Mavericks tonight and the Phoenix Suns on Saturday. And the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team plays Ole Miss on Saturday. On Sunday, the Tigers football team will learn which bowl game they’ll be assigned to play, and there’s a chance it could be the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

THE NEED TO KNOW

McKinney Wright, left, talked with his lawyer on Nov. 20, 2018. (Jim Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Trial for Phil Trenary’s killing delayed (again): McKinney Wright’s trial over the 2018 shooting death of Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Phil Trenary has been delayed for a third time. It was supposed to start on Monday, Dec. 4. But on Thursday, at the conclusion of two days of hearings on what evidence and which experts would be allowed at the trial, the prosecution requested a delay because they were unable to locate a witness. Before granting the delay, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft ruled that a local psychologist will be able to testify in the trial that Wright is intellectually disabled and more susceptible to being manipulated by authority figures. Wright’s lawyers say he was coerced by police into confessing to the killing. In other news of court delays, Miguel Andrade, who is charged in the 2022 death of Rev. Autura Eason-Williams, showed up to court for a plea agreement on Thursday with a new lawyer. The judge reset his plea date for January.

Mikey Williams is shown here in court on Friday, Oct. 27, in El Cajon, California. He pleaded guilty Thursday to one felony charge. (Orlando Ramirez/AP file)

Mikey Williams accepts plea deal: Memphis Tigers signee Mikey Williams reached a plea agreement in his shooting case that could mean no prison time and a return to the basketball court. Williams was in the other kind of court Thursday to plead guilty to one count of making criminal threats over a March 27 incident, during which he allegedly shot at an occupied vehicle outside his San Diego-area home. Eight felony charges related to that incident were dismissed as part of the deal. The lone felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor if Williams completes anger management and gun safety courses and meets several other stipulations.

Attorney Blake Ballin, left, spoke with Eric Otten, middle, in Collierville Court Thursday, Nov. 30. (Abigail Warren/The Daily Memphian)

Collierville double homicide heads to grand jury: Collierville Judge Lee Ann Pafford Dobson ruled on Thursday that there is probable cause for two counts of murder against Eric Otten, who is accused of killing his wife Jenni Otten and another person, Mark Cross, in September. Otten’s case will now head to the Shelby County Grand Jury. New details emerged during Thursday’s preliminary hearing: One witness, Joshua Kuehn, testified that Otten had borrowed his car on the day of the shooting to take pictures of Jenni Otten and Cross to help with a divorce case.

QUOTED

Dignitaries prepared to break ground during the 100 N. Main groundbreaking ceremony. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

“[100 N. Main] is going to welcome visitors to Memphis and show them that we can do things like other great cities.”

— developer Billy Orgel
Orgel, of 100 N. Main Development Partners, spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the redevelopment of Downtown’s tallest building on Thursday. Once complete, 100 N. Main will be home to apartments, a hotel, restaurants and retail, and Orgel compared the redevelopment to Crosstown Concourse. “I think it’s going to draw people together,” he said.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Construction will begin in 2024 on new apartments at the University of Memphis’ Park Avenue campus. (Courtesy/LRK)

Home away from home: New apartments for 540 students are coming to the University of Memphis’ Park Avenue campus by the fall of 2026. That should offer some relief, as there’s currently a waiting list for campus housing. The apartments will be located near the university’s soccer and baseball fields for the convenience of athletes, but any U of M student can live there. In a deal with The Annex Group, based in Indianapolis, the university will provide the land for construction, and the company will own the facility until it is paid off or the university chooses to buy it.

(Left to right) Current Bartlett Director of Engineering John Horne, previous Director of Engineering Rick McClanahan, Mayor David Parsons, State Sen. Brent Taylor and former Bartlett Mayor A. Keith McDonald at the ribbon-cutting for Bartlett’s New Brownsville Road opening. (Michael Waddell/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Time to hit the road: Drivers in Bartlett have a brand-new route following the official opening on Thursday of a four-mile, five-lane stretch of New Brownsville Road. The $20 million project, which was more than 25 years in the making, runs from Austin Peay Highway to Kirby Whitten Road. “For those folks coming off of Austin Peay trying to get this way, it will be a lot easier than weaving through Bartlett,” Alderman and Vice Mayor Jack Young said. 

Gyoza, takoyaki, and a spicy tuna roll at Subarashi. (Joshua Carlucci/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Drive your Subaru to Subarashi: In Japan, an izakaya is a bar that serves drinks and small snacks, but you don’t have to go to Japan to find one. Just head to Subarashi on the Highland Strip, and you’ll find an assortment of affordable small plates, including gyoza (potstickers), takoyaki (battered balls of octopus) and, of course, the ubiquitous sushi rolls. Food writer Joshua Carlucci stopped in for this week’s $10 Deal and found all of the above for less than $7. In other food news, meal-prep catering company Stud Muffin is opening a third location in Cordova. We’ve got more on that, plus details on the long-awaited reopening (by me, anyway) of Farm Burger in Crosstown Concourse, in Memphis Food Files.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Injured Memphis Grizzly Marcus Smart’s harsh pep talk during the team’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this week evidently worked, because the Grizzlies finally broke their home-game losing streak on Wednesday night. Couldn’t we all use a little tough love from Smart? 

Speaking of Smart’s impassioned speech, our own Drew Hill looks at the good cop/bad cop approach from teammates Smart (obviously, the bad cop) and center Bismack Biyombo (who oozes positive vibes). 

Here’s hoping the Grizzlies can keep it up this weekend. And good luck to all the St. Jude runners! I’ll see you on the course.

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