Ciao, Memphis! It’s Tuesday, July 29, and cartoon cat Garfield would love this day. For one, it’s not a Monday, but more importantly, it’s National Lasagna Day. And as Garfield says, lasagna is “nature’s most perfect food.”

There are plenty of places to get a cheesy slice in Memphis, like Cocozza (for a modern vibe) or Pete & Sam’s (for a taste of old-school East Memphis). If you’re looking for plant-based lasagna, Sun of Vegan is locally famous for theirs. But their weekly lasagna special is on pause until they reach 10K followers on Instagram. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins appeared in Shelby County Circuit Court on July 22. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

What Feagins said: In a deposition filed last week, former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins revealed who attended alleged private meetings she said school board members held to discuss her firing. She said she learned of one of those alleged meetings — between board members Natalie McKinney, Sable Otey, Towanna Murphy and charter school leader Meah King — from a district employee who now says he never told Feagins about it. The deposition also addresses sexual harassment allegations against Feagins that she and her attorney denied.

The City of Memphis’ outside audit of the Memphis Area Transit Authority questioned more than $1 million in Downtown office redesign expenses and charges on MATA’s American Express card. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Money MATAs: A City of Memphis audit of the Memphis Area Transit Authority revealed the agency’s American Express cards were used for potentially unauthorized trips, $11,000 worth of food at Memphis Grizzlies games and a FedExForum suite for the 2023-24 basketball season. The audit also found that MATA had spent more than $1 million on an office redesign without going through proper procurement practices. The Daily Memphian’s Samuel Hardiman dives deeper into MATA’s “loosey-goosey approach” to spending, as revealed in the audit.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reported in its June 2025 Jail Report Card that booking and processing at 201 Poplar took an average of 72 hours last month. (Courtesy Shelby County Sheriff’s Office file)

Snail jail: It can take three days for an inmate to be booked into jail at 201 Poplar and assigned a cell, and they’re waiting in “disgusting” conditions, according to some local attorneys. Defense attorney Blake Ballin said he’s had one client stuck in intake for nearly a week. “[The inmates are] sleeping on the floor, in showers,” said Ballin, who blames the long intake times on understaffing and overcrowding at the jail. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said the state is to blame for some of that overcrowding.

The move to delay came as Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks questioned whether it is constitutional to shorten school board members’ terms. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

MSCS board shakeup postponed: The Shelby County Commission delayed a planned vote Monday on a proposal to place all nine Memphis-Shelby County Schools board seats on the 2026 ballot. Currently, school board elections are staggered on different election years. If ultimately approved, five current board members would have to fight for their seats before their terms were supposed to be over. Commissioner Henri Brooks has questioned the legality of any change, and State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, told the commission he is requesting a legal opinion. The commission heard constituent opinions Monday on both sides of the issue.

MEET MEMPHIS

Penny and Brad Behnes’ backyard garden backs up to Summer Avenue. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Like many of us, Brad and Penny Behnes started a new hobby during the pandemic. Unlike many of us, they stuck to it, growing that hobby into a full-blown passion. The couple started their backyard, organic garden with some flowers and wheat in a 50-by-50-foot yard behind their Berclair duplex in 2020. Five years later, they’re growing 32 different types of fruit and berry bushes, alongside 36 types of vegetables, and they keep backyard chickens and bees. How do they keep up with it all? AI plays a role in that. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

The prince passion tea is presented in striking teapots and placed on a warmer to keep its temperature at your table. (Ellen Chamberlain/The Daily Memphian)

Royal treatment: European high tea meets Asian fusion cuisine at Prince Tea House, a chain that recently opened its first Tennessee shop in Cordova. Our own Ellen Chamberlain stopped in for a spot of their signature, fruity prince passion tea, which had “intense fruit notes [that] hit the palate and linger from the very first sip.” Prince Tea House offers afternoon tea service with finger sandwiches, scones and the like. But Chamberlain says you should go big with a Japanese-inspired sandwich.

Sharp ears: My first job, at age 16, was at Claire’s, where I was entrusted to use an ear-piercing gun, sometimes on infants. I’m certain there are people out there with crooked piercings, thanks to me. (Sorry, really!) You’re probably definitely better off going to a professional studio, like Rowan, which hires licensed nurses to perform piercings – sans gun. And the area’s first Rowan studio is coming to Germantown. 

This season is shaping “up to be one of the most challenging and revealing seasons in (Memphis Tigers football coach) Ryan Silverfield’s tenure,” according to columnist John Martin. (Wes Hale/The Daily Memphian file)

Against the odds? The American (the new name for the AAC) didn’t release a preseason football poll, so we have to turn to Las Vegas for a look at the Memphis Tigers’ odds. Caesar’s Sportsbook projects the Tigers to finish fourth in the American next season, which doesn’t sit well with Tigers fans who are antsy for a conference title. Columnist John Martin offers thoughts on how the Tigers could prove the Sportsbook traders wrong. In other American conference news, commissioner Tim Pernetti said other basketball teams in the conference could learn a thing or two from Tigers Coach Penny Hardaway. And in more Hardaway news, the coach is planning to play in an upcoming celebrity golf tourney.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

This is obviously parody, but Wolf River Beach is definitely No. 1 here. And maybe also the one and only. 

Who needs a white, sandy beach and azure waters when you have a river silt, mud and snakes, huh?

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