Good morning, Memphis! It’s Tuesday, Nov. 10, and I know I sound like a broken record, but the Memphis City Council is talking about data centers again.

Downtown’s Center City Revenue Finance Corp. will consider a refinancing request for The Citizen, the Midtown apartment building that’s also home to Cameo. And the undefeated Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team will play Vanderbilt in an away game.

THE NEED TO KNOW

“When I heard that they were proposing for a PILOT, I told them, ‘Don’t bring it because I’ll have to veto it because we don’t want to give a PILOT for data centers,’” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

No tax breaks for data centers? Memphis Mayor Paul Young blocked a new data center from receiving a tax incentive. And he says that should be the way forward for all AI and other manufacturing projects with heavy environmental impacts. Young said Monday that he played a role in data-center company 5C Group not getting a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) deal from the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County. The company then restructured its program to pay full taxes. Young’s comments came during his monthly media availability, when he also said he had no idea why much of the city smelled like poop on Monday. (Did y’all smell that? Yuck.) 

Libertas, the public Montessori charter operator, is a rare success story from the Achievement School District. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

New school: The former Georgian Hills Elementary will soon become a Montessori high school. Memphis-Shelby County Schools approved the $1 million sale of the old school to charter operator Libertas last month. Georgian Hills was one of five schools closed by MSCS last school year. The sale leaves three vacant campuses from those closures, but one will be demolished soon to make way for new athletic fields for the new Frayser-Trezevant Community School. 

Gov.-elect Sen. Marsha Blackburn spoke at an election night event Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Nashville. (George Walker IV/AP)

Blackburn’s final four: Now that Marsha Blackburn is the incoming Tennessee governor, someone has to fill her U.S. Senate seat. And there are four guys at the top of the list. There’s former Knox County mayor/former pro wrestler Glenn Jacobs, folksy Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett, Tennessee Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and Tennessee Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter. You know who’s not on the list? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said the Tennessee Election Commission should conduct its own review of votes made outside of voting hours and “consider what action is warranted.” (Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP file)

Voting outside of voting hours: A group of students in Memphis was allowed to cast ballots outside of early-voting hours, and now the Tennessee secretary of state wants something done about it. The 25 voters were mostly 18-year old students casting their first votes at a pre-arranged time at Glenview Community Center, according to Shelby County Commissioner Carlissa Shaw. Now, Secretary of State Tre Hargett is calling on the state Election Commission to investigate. 

QUOTED

“All of the humanity, history, despair and triumph that constitutes Elvis’ identity was stolen ...”

— from a lawsuit against AI music generator Suno
Elvis Presley Enterprises and 13 other plaintiffs are suing Suno for violating the ELVIS Act (which protects musicians from AI deepfakes) and committing copyright infringement. Suno allows users to create similar songs to those of popular recording artists, like Elvis. The new suit is the second filed in two weeks against AI companies over Elvis copyright issues.

THE NICE TO KNOW

The Memphis Grizzlies' Quinten Post, bottom, held his head as he lay on the court during the first half of the game against the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 9. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

‘Prime Jerami Grant’: The Memphis Grizzlies got their mojo back Monday, thanks in large part to wing Jerami Grant. In the 118-102 Memphis win, Grant made two 3-pointers to halt a late Toronto Raptors push in the fourth quarter. And he scored 17 points off the bench for a second-half Grizz lead. “You saw prime Jerami Grant tonight. … When he’s playing like that, it unlocks a different level for us,” said guard Ty Jerome, who also killed it with his team-high 27 points. Oh, and rookie Cam Boozer posted another triple-double. The game was a homecoming for Canadian Zach Edey, who said Monday that he really wants to play on Canada’s team in the FIBA World Cup next summer.

Hayes McPherson, left, and Amy McPherson own Comeback Beverage, which produces sparkling waters, canned coffes and more. (Sophia Surrett/The Daily Memphian file)

Do call it a comeback: The Memphis Art Museum is opening and operating a new cafe that pairs custom roasts from Comeback Coffee (now called Comeback Beverage) with pastries from Bob’s Bakery. It’ll be called First Draft, and Bob’s Bakery will also making hand pies and grab-and-go lunches. (First Draft would be a great name for a bar, but here’s hoping they’ll at least have Comeback’s coffee sodas on draft.)

ButterYolk’s Big Bacon sandwich comes topped with chives, plus two sauces of your choice. (Sophia Surrett/The Daily Memphian)

Pure fluff: A Southaven breakfast pop-up has cracked the code on fluffy eggs. ButterYolk, which pops up at Dvour Desserts in Southaven Tuesdays through Sundays, serves fluffy scrambled eggs on sandwiches and burritos. The Daily Memphian’s food writers Sophia Surrett and Jennifer Chandler stopped in to see just how fluffy these eggs are. They’ve got a few recommendations, including a bacon-and-egg sammy with lemon aioli. 

AI jobs in Mississippi: If you need a job, like, right now, head to Byhalia. Florida-based manufacturing company Jabil Inc. started doing on-site, walk-in interviews this week for more than 300 jobs at its AI manufacturing plant in Byhaila. The company bought its 1.5 million-square-foot building at 800 Gateway Global Drive earlier this year with plans to hire up to 2,200 people. 

Dressing is a must-have at every Southern Thanksgiving table. This is Bianca’s plant-based version, which is adapted from her mom’s original non-vegan one. (Bianca Phillips/The Daily Memphian)

Turkey lurkey time: Don’t let the Christmas creep overshadow the most wonderful time of the year: Thanksgiving. (That’s my opinion anyway.) It’s a holiday when the only stuff you have to buy are the ingredients for your menu. And we’ve got some ideas for that menu in our Holidays in Memphis Thanksgiving guide. There you’ll find the late Jennifer Biggs’ turkey recipe, my family recipe for cornbread dressing and Jones Orchard’s pumpkin pie. Plus, we’ve got all the details on holiday lighting exhibitions opening soon. 

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

On Sunday, 91 Goats, the slap noodle concept from the team behind Good Fortune Co., popped up at The Liquor Store in East Memphis. My friends and I stopped in and sampled almost everything on the menu. 

The slap noodles are wide, hand-stretched (or, well, slapped) noodles coated in chili oil and served with your choice of protein. Mine was the vegan version with seitan, but beef was also available. The thick and chewy noodles were the ideal vehicle for the spicy sauce and wheat-based “meat.”

91 Goats will probably be popping up again somewhere soon-ish, so follow them on Instagram to learn more.

Now, start planning those Thanksgiving menus!

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