Bottom’s up, Memphis! It’s Monday, April 7, National Beer Day. The weekend may be over, but you might as well order one more round. If you’re looking for ideas on where to go, we’ve got a rundown of recent-ish updates at local breweries.

And there’s a real reason to toast for this one. Unlike some random food holidays, National Beer Day falls on the anniversary of the 1933 signing of the Cullen-Harrison Act, which allowed the legal sale of beer for the first time after Prohibition.

Later this week brings a number of store and restaurant openings and closings. You can save all those dates in your calendar with This Week in Memphis.

THE NEED TO KNOW

These anti-Memphis 3.0 plan signs are in yards across Midtown. (Courtesy MidtownMemphis.org)

Midtown’s latest NIMBY fight: Yard signs that say “Don’t Let Memphis 3.0 Sell Out Our Neighborhood” are all over Midtown. But what do they mean? Some residents, led by MidtownMemphis.org, are banding together to fight the city’s Memphis 3.0 plan, a land-use guide for future growth around anchor centers, like Crosstown Concourse and Overton Square. The opposition worries that single-family areas could be rezoned for multifamily housing with absentee landlords, but the director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development (and some Midtowners who support the plan) say that’s all a big misunderstanding. 

Cars parked along Belvedere Boulevard in Midtown were stranded by heavy flooding on April 5. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Water, water everywhere: Well, we saw that generational flooding alright. As predicted, massive flooding occurred on Saturday from the 12 to 14 inches of rain that fell over the last several days. Streets flooded, the Wolf River experienced its fourth-highest crest on record, business closed and proms were canceled. Social media was also flooded (eh?) with videos of people kayaking streets and drivers tempting fate as they drove through high waters. Some businesses remain closed today as they clean up from the flood. One thing that didn’t cancel despite the wild weather: The Viper 200 ultramarathon. As most Memphians hunkered down inside their dry homes, runners from across the country battled the elements at Shelby Farms Park to run more miles than some people are even willing to drive.

Dawn Scarborough, left, and Kristian Pinckley placed photos of their son and brother Stephen Davis, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident earlier this year. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Pedestrian deaths on the rise: Pedestrian fatalities have been trending down in Memphis over the past several years, but those numbers are starting to rise. As of April 3, there have been 15 fatal pedestrian crashes in the county, up from 10 at the same time last year. One of those killed was 32-year-old Stephen Davis, who was struck in a hit-and-run while walking near the intersection of Shelby Oaks Drive and Sycamore View Road. His family is still waiting for justice in that case. So, why the rise in deaths? Memphis Police Col. Marcus Worthy said it’s a combination of distracted drivers and walkers. He also said he’s noticed an uptick of people walking on the interstate. (Yikes.)

Cars lined the BNSF Railway vehicle-storage facility at the Port of Richmond on April 3, in Richmond, California. (Noah Berger/AP)

Why your car costs more: Last week, President Donald Trump installed the largest tariffs the country has seen in nearly 100 years. That’s impacting the price of a lot of imported goods, including new vehicles and car parts. Some experts say the tariffs will increase the price of imported cars an average of $4,500, but it could be as much as $10,000. And Kent Ritchey, the majority owner of 12 Landers car dealerships in the area, isn’t too happy about that. “We’ll see what happens,” he said. The Daily Memphian’s Jane Roberts looked into how tariffs are impacting the car lots, and she talked to some financial experts with varying opinions on the long-term effect of tariffs. 

QUOTED

“XAI is the type of company ... recognizing that nuclear energy is key to the future of the energy grid in America because they are primary users.”

— Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee
The U.S. doesn’t have enough electricity to power the AI boom, and some, like Lee, say nuclear energy is the answer. Elon Musk’s xAI is currently powering its Memphis facility with natural-gas turbines and Tesla battery packs. A new substation to power xAI is being built, but there are concerns over how much more power TVA can accommodate for residential customers.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Mature oak trees engulf a row of houses in Midtown. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

It’s pollen szn: Before the rains came last week, you were probably popping allergy meds like Tic Tacs, and your car was a lovely shade of snot yellow. In his latest Ask the Memphian, our own Jody Callahan explains why Memphis’ pollen problem gets so bad every year. Spoiler: Blame it on the trees. Turns out being dubbed Tree City USA by the Arbor City Foundation has its drawbacks. But what even is pollen? The science may surprise you. 

Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane, left, drove to the basket past Detroit Pistons forward Ausar Thompson on Saturday. (Jose Juarez/AP)

Lucky No. 13: The Memphis Grizzlies beat a team with a winning record for the first time in 13 tries on Saturday night. That’s when they took down the Detroit Pistons, 109-103, without star Ja Morant, who was suddenly pulled from the starting lineup just before the game due to possible food poisoning. But no matter, because Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. stepped up. As for the former, Bane made three of the Grizzlies’ final four field goals, including a beautiful 3-pointer with 53 seconds left. The win was the second for interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo, who originally came to Memphis from Paris Basketball to be former coach Taylor Jenkins’ assistant. Coaching styles are very different in Europe, and some experts on the overseas game are weighing in on Iisalo’s performance here.

More weekend sports: The Memphis Redbirds had a good weekend, too, with a sweep against the Buffalo Bisons on Friday night at AutoZone Park. (Their Sunday game was canceled due to the flooding.) It was worse luck for the Memphis Showboats though, which dropped their second game of the season to the DC Defenders. But hey, at least they got their coach back. Memphis Tigers basketball may be over, but coach Penny Hardaway is still busy: He just recruited a former Temple guard for next season.

Theresa Andreuccetti (left) and Nikki Schroeder recently published their final edition of JabberBlabber, a children’s magazine they started in 2001. (Courtesy Nikki Schroeder)

JabberBlabber goes quiet … kind of. Memphis monthly kids’ magazine JabberBlabber, which launched in March 2001, published its last issue last month. After 288 editions, co-founders Theresa Andreuccetti and Nikki Schroeder decided it was time to retire the mag, which featured its trademark purple-and-green monster and plenty of puzzles and kid-friendly content. Longtime readers, like Kalin Mayberry, are sad to see it go, but unlike the publication, that purple-and-green monster isn’t going away.

Nick Changnon enjoyed an ice bath as part of a “fire and ice” wellness class. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Fire and ice: You’ve heard of cold plunges, but how about contrast therapy? That’s where you alternate between an ice bath and a hot sauna, a wellness trend that some say reduces stress, improves sleep, boosts the immune system, decreases pain and provides a natural high. Former Memphis City Council member Kemp Conrad is a believer, and so is former finance executive Taylor Somerville. He holds contrast therapy classes at his East Memphis home, where he has a Finnish-style wood-planked barrel sauna and some cold-plunge tubs.

THIS WEEK’S WEATHER

The clouds have parted, and the rain is finally gone! But it’s colder now, so I hope you haven’t packed up those jackets just yet.

Get outside today, and have a beer!

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