Good morning, and happy full blood moon lunar-eclipse day! It’s Tuesday, March 3, and the total lunar eclipse was most visible here from 5 to 6 a.m., so here’s hoping you caught a glimpse.

The Memphis City Council meets later today, and they’ll be discussing how to crack down on Airbnb parties. The Memphis Grizzlies, fresh off a two-game winning streak, are playing the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight. Is winning really losing right now? Who is to say?

THE NEED TO KNOW

Matthew De’Marcus Williams, 22, was shot and killed while attending a community violence-intervention program on April 9, 2025. (Courtesy The Cochran Firm Mid-South)

Family sues Youth Villages: The family of Matthew De’Marcus Williams, who was killed during a Memphis Allies violence-intervention meeting last April, has filed a $35 million lawsuit against Youth Villages, which organizes the program. Williams died after someone opened fire into the glass windows of the Hickory Hill location where the meetings are held. His family’s attorneys alleged Youth Villages ignored “red flag after red flag” before the shooting. In a statement, Youth Villages said, “Armed security was present that day, as they are every day.” 

Members of the Memphis Safe Task Force, led by the U.S. Marshals, debriefed before a mission to apprehend a fugitive in South Memphis on Nov. 26, 2025. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Opinions are like … well, we can’t say. But it seems like everyone’s got one about the Memphis Safe Task Force and immigration-related arrests. According to a new Memphis and Shelby County Crime Commission poll, a majority of residents think the Task Force has been a success, but the majority also believe immigration arrests haven’t made Memphis safer. The opinions were largely divided along racial and geographic lines.

Wounded MPD officer released: Oscar Torres-Molina, the Memphis police officer who was shot last week, has been released from the hospital following a surgery for his injuries. The suspected shooter, Danell Maxwell, remains on the loose, but an acquaintance of Maxwell’s told police Friday that he was in West Memphis.

The proposed Tennessee Civics Education Act adds a civics test to teacher licensing. (Allen G. Breed/AP file)

Teaching to the test: A bill making its way through the General Assembly would require teachers to take a civics test before they can get licensed. The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Brent Taylor, says the test, which would pull questions from the citizenship test that immigrants take, would ensure educators understand American democracy. But opponents say it would just add another hurdle for those who want to teach. (Considering how many of us learned civics from a high-school football coach in the 1980s and 1990s, could any of us even pass that test?)

MEET MEMPHIS

Dr. Jessica Snowden

Dr. Jessica Snowden has a big, fancy job title: vice chancellor for research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. But years ago, she was just a smart kid from a rural Louisiana town who became the first in her family to go to college. Snowden started med school at age 19 and went on to do a pediatric residency and an infectious-disease fellowship. In late 2024, she landed in her current role at UTHSC, where she’s got big plans for ways the university can work better with kids and fight some of the region’s serious medical problems. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

Dog & Bone will open in the historic Griffin House in Overton Square. (Sophia Surrett/The Daily Memphian)

Fancy a pint? A new British pub is opening this summer in Overton Square. Dog & Bone will open in the long-vacant Griffin House, where Robata Ramen and Yakitori Bar used to be. One of the owners, Steve Minter, is an English ex-pat, and he’s teaming up with friend Jay Bauder to recreate the community feel of a real British pub. But don’t expect Union Jack decor all over the place.

Warby Parker opened 47 new stores last year, bringing its total store count to 323 at year end. (Courtesy Warby Parker)

Better to see you with: High-end eyeglasses store Warby Parker is trying on the Memphis market. The company, known for stylish frames that may make your friends who don’t wear glasses wish they did, is looking at a space near the Trader Joe’s in Germantown. And in other retail news, if you eat too much from Sushi Kingdom’s all-you-can-eat menu (been there, done that), you can probably find some drawstring sweatpants nearby when U.K.-based athletic-clothing store JD Sports opens in Eastgate Shopping Center. 

Kyle Ross (left) with Topnotch Management and Memphis Mayor Paul Young (right) attended a press conference announcing a new professional women’s tennis tournament on Monday, March 2. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

We’ve been served: The Women’s Tennis Association tour is coming to the Leftwich Tennis Center this summer. Called the Memphis Classic, the entry-level pro event is moving here from Cleveland, and it marks the first WTA event held here since 2019. As our own Geoff Calkins writes, this doesn’t exactly make up for us losing the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to Cleveland years ago, but it’s still a big sports win at a time when most Memphis sports are a big loss. 

The Rhodes College men’s basketball team had a NCAA selection-show watch party on Monday, March 2. (Drew Hill/The Daily Memphian)

Good basketball news! Speaking of sports wins, it seems there will be March Madness in Memphis, after all. The Rhodes College men’s basketball team is headed for the NCAA Tournament in a year when it looks like the Memphis Tigers don’t stand a chance. Sure, it’s Division III ball and not Division I (like the Tigers), but as Rhodes forward Jack Dempsey put it, “We all put in the same hours as they do.”

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

In case you missed it ...

See y’all tomorrow!

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