It’s already Friday, Memphis. Gotta love a short holiday work week. If you’re looking to get into a DIY home project this weekend, come to my house get to the grand opening of Habitat for Humanity’s new ReStore location. Also opening today (Sept. 6): Emerald Theatre Co.’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, the perfect, quick night out for the gal or guy on the go.

Saturday brings the second grim anniversary in a week’s time: On Monday, we remembered Eliza Fletcher, who was killed on a run in 2022. And on Saturday, we’ll remember the three people killed during a citywide shooting spree just days after Fletcher’s death. 

Saturday also brings the Memphis Tigers’ second football game of the season, a home match against Troy. And on Sunday, you can peek inside some of Midtown’s fanciest homes during the annual Central Gardens Home Tour. Included on this year’s tour is the Depression-era, art-deco Kimbrough Towers, best known for the liquor store on the ground floor. For more weekend ideas, check out The To-Do List.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Memphis Tigers Coach Penny Hardaway pointed from the sidelines in the finals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament in March 2023. (LM Otero/AP file)

Understanding the Tigers mess: The Memphis Tigers basketball program is in a pickle. This week, we learned that an anonymous letter alleged NCAA rules violations related to big payouts for basketball player commitments, among other accusations. And we learned that Coach Penny Hardaway made some major changes with his coaching staff. So, what does it all mean for the future of Tigers basketball? The Daily Memphian’s Tim Buckley offers this explainer. And for possibly even more, tune into ESPN’s “The Geoff Calkins Show” later this morning to hear Calkins interview new Tigers athletic director Ed Scott. In better Tigers news, Scott has hit the ground running on fundraising for the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium renovations, raising a couple million in just over a month.

A neighborhood market could replace the vacant Walgreens at the corner of Highland Street and Summer Avenue. (Courtesy Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development)

Memphis Light and Gas: Walgreens’ old “corner of happy and healthy” slogan could become the “corner of gas and light” for one former location of the pharmacy chain. A neighborhood market and gas station is being proposed for the long-vacant Walgreens at the corner of Highland Street and Summer Avenue. According to the plan, the store would sell fresh produce, as well as coffee and fresh baked goods. But that’s not all: This one-stop shop would also offer a convenient way to pay your light bill. If you ask some of our commenters though, it would seem the new plan is actually trying to gaslight all of us. 

The Edwards Research and Innovation Center was dedicated on Thursday. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

If you build it, will they come? The University of Memphis just dedicated a new $45 million wing of engineering classrooms with labs for earthquake engineering, cyber security, advanced manufacturing, big data, AI and robotics. But behind the scenes, the Herff College of Engineering is working against the odds to improve dwindling enrollment. Between 2019 and 2023, the college lost nearly 20% of its enrollment, and now some local companies are looking outside of Memphis to hire engineering grads. So, what’s the problem? It seems that it may start with the local school districts, which aren’t churning out enough students with high ACT scores.

MEET MEMPHIS

Thanks to his impressive social media following, Southaven barber Chris Newson is a sought-after public speaker, frequently flying to other cities to talk about his life and his business. (Courtesy DeSoto County Tourism)

Oasis Grooming Barbershop owner Chris Newson was reluctant to upload a video of himself onto TikTok for the first time. That was in 2019, when on a family trip to Gatlinburg, his wife encouraged him to talk about his barbershop on social media. Despite his reservations, Newson racked up a combined million followers across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Now, he speaks at events around the country, and customers come from all over to visit his shop in Southaven’s Silo Square. So, what’s the draw? “There’s so many other things going on behind the chair. We’re barbers … but we’re also counselors,” said Newson. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

At Bain Barbecue, you get your choice of one or two smashed and crisped Home Place Pastures beef patties, covered in melted American cheese, teetering atop shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion and slightly sweet bread and butter pickles. (Joshua Carlucci/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Gangsta’s paradise: The old Carolina Watershed has been up for sale since March, but without any buyers yet, its owners, Tandem Restaurant Group, decided to put it to good use. On Thursday, they opened a limited-time concept called Memphis Original Gangsta Fried Chicken, serving fried chicken coated in sambal, sriracha and other spicy stuff, plus fun Southern sides like Kool-aid pickles and Mississippi mud pie. Read more on that and new menu items at Amelia Gene’s in Food Files. And in this week’s $10 Deal, food writer Joshua Carlucci tells us why science makes smash burgers better than “fat boys,” and then he tells us where to find one for a decent price.

Community members attended a Reimagining Victorian Village Park event on Thursday, Sept. 5, in the park across Adams Street from the Shelby County Juvenile Court. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Plan like it’s 1852: There was a party last night in Downtown’s Victorian Village, home to Memphis’ most impressive collection of 19th-century mansions. And at that party, guests envisioned the future for Victorian Village Park, a football-field-sized city park where five mansions were demolished during the 1960s urban-renewal craze. The City of Memphis is planning to expand protected bike lanes down Jefferson Avenue, past the park, and longtime Victorian Village leader Scott Blake wants to see the park become more than just a few worn benches. Several ideas were tossed around, including one for walking tours that would start at the park.

Renderings of Boyle’s Morrison Village include retail, residential and live-work components. (Courtesy Boyle Investment Co.)

Speaking of Villages ... The Collierville Planning Commission gave the thumbs up to Morrison Village, a proposed mixed-use project that would resemble Berry Farms in Franklin, Tennessee (which, from the pic on its website, resembles the set of “Schmigadoon!”) The project will bring 100 new apartments, eight live-work buildings and new retail to Houston Levee north of Tenn. 385 and south of Shea Road. Les Binkley of commercial real estate company Boyle thinks that could bring more business to nearby Carriage Crossing. 

GOT GAME?

University of Memphis players took the field during an Aug. 31, game against North Alabama. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

The Memphis Tigers got off to a smashing start in last week’s blowout win over North Alabama. Can they do it again tomorrow against Troy? We hope so! And maybe you can win, too, by completing this week’s Jigsaw.

Last Sunday was 901 Day, when Memphis celebrates all things Memphis. But shouldn’t every day be 901 Day? Make it so with this week’s very Memphis-themed Crossword.

Or maybe you don’t have time for all that. That’s okay! We also have a smaller 5x5 Crossword. And this week’s was inspired by Alcenia’s owner BJ Chester-Tamayo’s 70th birthday.

And finally, Pronto Pup season has arrived now that fairs and football games are underway. Memphians love their long corn dogs dogs on a stick, but it shouldn’t take you long to finish this week’s Word Search. 

Speaking of long, I’m taking another long weekend, so Chris Herrington will be waking up with you again this Monday morning. See you Tuesday!

.....