Morning, Memphis. It’s Thursday, March 5, and tonight is your last chance to see the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team play at FedExForum this season. They’ll face South Florida in their home-game finale.

If the Tigers don’t make it to the American Conference Tournament next week, some speculate this could also be your last chance to see Coach Penny Hardaway leading the team. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

Questions continue to swirl around University of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway after his Tigers have posted 17 losses. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Last days for Hardaway? Could Memphis Tigers Coach Penny Hardaway’s days be numbered? Plenty of fans think so. He’s wrapping up one of the worst campaigns in the program’s 100-plus-year history. But as our own Geoff Calkins points out, Hardaway is a civic icon, and firing him would be uncomfortable — and expensive. The Tigers’ poor performance is already costing the University of Memphis though. On Wednesday, it was revealed that fewer fans buying tickets has created a $1.2 million deficit between the school’s budgeted and year-to-date revenue from ticket sales and parking for basketball games. In more Tigers news, the athletic department is looking into a new way to retain players in the name/image/likeness era.

“The timing is surprising since the resolution passed at the end of 2024 and this is now just coming out,” said Tony Salvaggio, who has announced his intention to run for Germantown mayor. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

You have one job: If Germantown voters decide their mayor should work full time, it could mean the new mayor can’t have a second full-time job. The question goes to voters on May 5, after Germantown’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the ballot referendum in 2024. The prohibition on additional employment wasn’t spelled out in that resolution, but language around the new rules appeared on the city’s website last week. Alderman Tony Salvaggio, who plans to run against Mayor Mike Palazzolo, owns two companies and calls the update “surprising.”

Collierville cop arrested for DV: David Haley, a police officer in Collierville, was arrested and charged this week with domestic assault after a fight with his girlfriend in Fayette County. The Collierville Police Department has placed him on paid administrative leave. A fight between the couple apparently got physical in the wee hours of Monday morning.

The xAI data center is seen May 7, 2025, in Memphis. (George Walker IV/AP file)

Power play: Memphis-based xAI and other AI companies pledged at the White House Wednesday to develop their own power generation as a way to avoid rising electricity costs for Americans. But it’s unclear if the commitments, which are likely not enforceable at the federal level, will actually prevent higher electricity prices, which have already climbed 6% in the past year. During the meeting, the president of SpaceX (which just merged with xAI) touted its large Tesla Megapack battery installation that helps run xAI and maybe alluded to a second water-recycling plant at its second data center. 

MEET MEMPHIS

Michael Drake

Michael Drake was still learning the ins and outs of health care when he joined Christ Community Health Services’ board in 2022. Now, he’s the CEO. Christ Community’s board recently chose Drake with the hope that his background in finance and IT will help the nonprofit health provider as it keeps growing. Christ Community offers health care to underserved and low-income populations, and many of its patients don’t have insurance. Patient numbers have quadrupled since its founding about 30 years ago. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

This rendering shows a proposed apartment building on Riverside Drive Downtown. (Courtesy Cnct Design)

Room with a view: One of the last vacant pieces of Downtown land with an unobstructed river view could soon be, well, obstructed. NCE Realty LLC is seeking a tax abatement for a new, five-story apartment building on a long-vacant parcel on Riverside Drive, next to The Artesian. (The Artesian is that once-vacant high-rise that loomed over the south side of Downtown for years after the original project went bankrupt in 2009.) In other development news, a Jonesboro-based company is moving ahead with plans to turn the old Murdock Printing building into a new mixed-use project with office space and maybe a restaurant or brewery. 

Shayne Diaz will soon open Kuya restaurant in the former Bedrock space. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Can see your halo-halo: Filipino bar Kuya is officially opening this Friday. Chef Shayne Diaz’ new restaurant, in the former Bedrock Eats & Sweets, will start with an eight-item menu of reimagined Filipino dishes, including an adobo rice bowl, lumpia (like Filipino spring rolls), pancit noodles (Kuyu’s version looks to be vegan!) and, of course, the colorful shaved-ice dessert halo-halo. Kuyu is awaiting its beer and liquor license, so until then, you can BYOB or try a mocktail. In this week’s Table Talk, writer Ellen Chamberlain pays a visit to East Memphis staple Patrick’s Neighborhood Bar & Patio.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. handled the ball during a game against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 25 in Memphis. (Brandon Dill/AP)

Is Pippen the new David Goggins? Scotty Pippen Jr. played basketball with a chipped bone in his left foot for years. “I was able to play through the pain,” he said. Tough, but maybe not the smartest move, so naturally, it got worse. Pippen finally got the surgery, rested up and got back to the court. But now with a glut of Grizzlies guards, his future is uncertain. In other Grizz news, the team has signed two-way forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper to a standard contract. And Propser showed his gratitude by scoring 17 points and six rebounds in last night’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. After the game, he made it clear he’s happy to be here and wants to stay.

Baptist Memorial Health Care and Arkansas Methodist Medical Center of Paragould finalized plans to merge on Feb. 28. (Courtesy Baptist Memorial Health Care)

Westward expansion: Memphis-based Baptist Memorial Health Care now owns 25 hospitals, after it completed a merger with Arkansas Methodist Medical Center of Paragould. The merger pulls in a 129-bed hospital, a 91-bed assisted living facility and eight medical clinics in Paragould, Arkansas, a small city just north of Jonesboro.

Arlington vice: If you want to open a vape shop in Arlington, you’ll have to wait a while. The town’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted this week to issue a 12-month moratorium on vape shops while they look into new state regulations for Delta-9 and other synthetic cannabis products, which are commonly sold at vape shops. So, you may have to wait on your fake weed, but Arlington town leaders are getting ready for a second liquor store. 

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Y’all, Marcus Smart just said Memphis Grizzlies fans are ugly. 

Those are fighting words, and the comments on this post are priceless.

You’re beautiful, Memphis!

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