Howdy, Memphis! It’s Wednesday, Feb. 11, and the Memphis Grizzlies play the Denver Nuggets tonight. Will they lose again? I’m guessing they secretly hope so. 

But you won’t lose if you buy tickets for our upcoming Women & Business seminar. It’s Thursday, Feb. 26, at Memphis Botanic Garden, and it features celebrity chef Gina Neely, restaurateur Karen Carrier and marketing exec Shannon Briggs. Tickets are on sale now.

THE NEED TO KNOW

“Rest in peace,” one customer said about IKEA Memphis. “We have to come back before May.” (The Daily Memphian file)

Later, Lövbacken: Say goodbye to affordable, minimalist furnishings with names you can’t pronounce and some assembly required. Ikea announced it will close its Memphis store on May 3, due to low the store’s performance and cost concerns. But with the closing a few months away, you still have time to stock up on Huvudroll (Swedish meatballs) from the frozen section. The Daily Memphian’s Sophia Surrett talked to customers at the store Tuesday, several of whom had traveled from out of town since the Memphis Ikea is the only one in Tennessee. As for what’s next in that spot, one real-estate guy joked that it would make a good Buc-ee’s.

“If we cannot get the state to pay the bill that it owes ... we will be working hard to avoid a significant tax increase,” Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

States owes for inmates: The state Department of Corrections hasn’t been paying Shelby County to house nearly 1,000 inmates held at the Corrections Center at Shelby Farms. And County Mayor Lee Harris says that could lead to a “significant tax increase” for residents. Harris says it costs about $110 per day to house those inmates, but the state offered far less, leading to a contract dispute. The state was even told to come get their prisoners, and when they failed to do so, the county sued. 

Angela Christopher’s 20-year-old daughter Ava was killed in a hit-and-run in 2023. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Guilty plea in CY hit-and-run: Julio Hernandez, 21, pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing 20-year-old Ava Christopher in a 2023 hit-and-run at Cooper Street and Central Avenue. Hernandez, who was charged with vehicular homicide, allegedly sped through a red light in a stolen car when he collided with Christopher’s car. In other criminal-justice news, a judge ruled that former DeSoto County youth pastor Lindsey Whiteside’s house-arrest sentence is legal and should stand. Last year, Whiteside was sentenced to house arrest for sexual battery of a minor. 

Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, spoke from the Senate floor during a special session of the legislature Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Nashville. (George Walker IV/AP file)

For the moms: Did you know pregnancy can delay a divorce in Tennessee, even in cases of neglect or abuse? It’s shocking, but true. And a new bill, co-sponsored by state Sen. London Lamar of Memphis, is looking to change that. It’s one of a slew of new bills aimed at making life easier — and safer — for moms and moms-to-be. The Daily Memphian’s Noah McLane has a rundown of mom-centric bills from both sides of the aisle.

QUOTED

“It would have been more acceptable if he had said, ‘We’ve had problems with ICE and I’m working on that.’ Not acknowledging that just seemed ... a bridge too far.”

— Rev. Keith Caldwell, MICAH executive director
Caldwell was referring to Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s State of the City address Tuesday night. Throughout his speech on city goals and crime reduction, protesters heckled the mayor and called for him to take a stand against ICE working with the Memphis Safe Task Force.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Maurice and Pamela Hill, owners of Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, have expanded their cookie empire to Atlanta. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Butter cookies in the Big Peach: Memphis-based Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies has expanded out east — like way out east. The newest location is in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs, and the owners have brought a touch of Memphis with them. The decor includes photos of Memphis musicians, and even the address screams Memphis. In other food news, the new menu at Park + Cherry at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens is taking inspiration from the art on the gallery’s walls.

Chris Loveland (right) and Jimmy Dumas (left) posed for a photo. (Courtesy Alisha Dumas)

Sheets for the Streets: The late Chris Loveland, an outgoing Downtowner who died in late January, was “the kind of person that would give you anything, really, the shirt off his back,” said his friend Jimmy Dumas. That might sound cliche, but Loveland really did give the shirt off his back — or, rather, the sheets off his bed. Loveland regularly gave his personal bedding to people in need. Now that he’s gone, his friends and family are honoring him with Sheets for the Streets, an organization that distributes bedding to the city’s homeless residents. Here’s how you can help.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay attempted a free-throw during the second half of a game against the Sacramento Kings in Memphis on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. (Danny Johnston/AP file)

Grizzlies bigshot: The buzzer beater — those game-winning shots taken with no time left on the clock — is a rare and precious thing in the NBA. There have only been 868 such plays since 1946, and former Memphis Grizzly Rudy Gay was responsible for three of them (actually four, if you count the one he made after he went on to play for San Antonio). And that’s why Gay is Chris Herrington’s 10th favorite Grizzlies player of all time.

Electrician Anthony Sawicki worked on underground wiring at the then-soon-to-be finished apartments at the old Marine Hospital on Oct. 22, 2020. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Changing of the guard: French Fort’s Marine Residences, the apartment building that was once a creepy, long-vacant Marine hospital, may soon have a new owner. Developer Jeffrey Little is working to buy the 71-unit property. So, on Tuesday, Downtown’s Center City Revenue Finance Corp. reassigned the Marine Residences’ payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal as part of the process. The CCRFC also updated a tourism surcharge to fund renovations at the Hyatt Centric hotel on Beale Street. 

“Wuthering Heights” takes on Emily Brontë’s 18th century English romance. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star. (Courtesy Warner Brothers)

Second chance: “Sentimental Value,” the Norwegian family drama that’s up for nine Oscars, played for a very limited run in Memphis theaters during the snow times — that long 10-plus day stretch when many of us were prisoners in our own homes. So, you might have missed it. But there’s good news: It’s back for a full run this week. Movie buff Chris Herrington has positive reviews of that one, plus a look at “Wuthering Heights” and a Canadian mockumentary sitcom with a time-travel plot.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

From Vittskår patio furniture to vampire costumes. It’s only a matter of time.

RIP, Ikea. I’ll miss your vegan plant balls. 

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