Good morning. It’s June 9, and while Shelby County and several of the suburbs may be saying “no new taxes,” the Memphis City Council could swing the other way. Council members have tossed around the idea of a 1-cent property-tax increase, and they’ll be talking budget stuff today.

THE NEED TO KNOW

An officer at Memphis Animal Services was arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals on Friday. (Benjamin Naylor/The Daily Memphian file)

MAS officer charged with animal cruelty: An animal control officer with Memphis Animal Services has been arrested after police found 17 abused or severely neglected dogs at his home. Isaiah Bethany, 30, was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, and police found evidence he may have been involved with dogfighting. The dogs were discovered as police raided Bethany’s home on a narcotics warrant. He’s since been fired by MAS.

Members of the Memphis Safe Task Force arrested a fugitive with a warrant in South Memphis last November. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Halo effect: Four Memphis residents are suing over the Memphis Safe Task Force’s use of Tennessee’s “Halo Law.” That law makes it a crime to come within 25 feet of a law-enforcement officer after receiving a warning, and the plaintiffs say it’s infringing on their First Amendment rights as they attempt to record the Task Force’s actions. The lawsuit claims Task Force members have physically intimidated those trying to record them by swerving vehicles toward them, shining bright lights into cameras and even tailing residents to their homes.

WK Kellogg Co., which makes Corn Flakes, is laying off more than 100 people in Memphis. (LM Otero/AP file)

Cereal killer: WK Kellogg Co. is cutting a whole bunch of Memphis jobs. The cereal company will lay off more than 100 people at its local facility near Airways Boulevard. The company, which makes Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops, is decreasing production here as part of a supply-chain modernization plan. About 200 employees will be left to make cereal in Memphis.

QUOTED

“Law enforcement being proactive has maybe caused some people to think, ‘Wow. We have a whole lot of these pedophiles in DeSoto County.’”

— Matthew Barton, DeSoto County district attorney
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, it would seem like DeSoto County has a child-predator problem. Three people have either been arrested or sentenced over child-sex crimes in recent few weeks. But the numbers show such crimes are actually trending down in DeSoto. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

Outdoors Inc. announced in May 2026 it was closing operations after 52 years. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

Prime real estate: If Poplar Avenue was an ocean, you could buy a prime piece of beachfront property. The two Outdoors Inc. buildings on Poplar in East Memphis are now listed for nearly $2 million. Outdoors Inc. closed in May after 52 years. Co-owner Joe Royer said business was “just fine,” but he and his business partner were looking to retire. The site, which sits between Corky’s and a Mattress Firm, sees more than 29,000 vehicles a day.

Memphis head football coach Charles Huff attended the Tigers on Tour event on Tuesday, May 12, in Lakeland. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Creative accounting: Memphis Tigers football coach Charles Huff is playing a bit of Tetris with payments for his players. When Huff was hired last December, former coach Ryan Silverfield had already spent $5 million of the team’s budget. And that meant Huff only had $2 million left to pay his new recruits until the end of June. After this month, the new fiscal year means another $5 million will be available, but until then, students are having to settle for smaller paychecks. In related news, Huff says proposed new rules over college player eligibility would be good for the game.

“We’ve got to be a movement,” civil rights attorney Walter Bailey told Sunday’s Souls to the Polls rally. (Bill Dries/The Daily Memphian)

Freedom Summer 2.0: Organizers of a new get-out-the-vote campaign are taking inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement. Local religious leaders from churches across the city are behind the new Souls to the Polls movement to both register voters and make sure they turn out to vote. It’s a response to the Tennessee Legislature drawing new U.S. House district lines that stand to dilute the Democratic vote, as the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act. “You can redraw the district lines. But you cannot erase the determination of the people who believe,” said Bishop Ed Stephens of Golden Gate Cathedral Church of God in Christ.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

The city’s new minor league football team, the Memphis Hound Dogs, are looking for some help. (And yes, memphishounddogs.football is a real URL.)

And that’s a wrap! 

.....