Former federal Judge Bernice Donald will lead a team of nine local task force members, including Toney Armstrong, former director of MPD. 

Also happening this week: Michalyn Easter-Thomas provides a Chelsea Greenline update, and Evergreen Presbyterian turns guns into garden tools. 

The affordable housing market in Memphis continues to show investors competing with first-time homebuyers for starter homes. 

Last year, xAI agreed to lease 552 acres from the Economic Development Growth Engine. For months, it has been unclear what plans xAI had for the land. 

Temperatures in the area are expected to plunge into the teens Thursday. The high temperature on Friday is predicted to hover near freezing.

The Memphis City Council addressed MATA funding, Uptown parking, the Cleveland TIF, a blight fee and whether or not the Mud Island amphitheater is safe to use.

The Memphis City Council voted Tuesday to allocate $80 million in cash — supplied by the state — for repairs to outdated infrastructure at FedExForum and potentially reimburse the Grizzlies for work already done at the publicly owned arena. 

The city filed a motion on Monday, Feb. 17, to dismiss the suit, just like it did in 2023 when the lawsuit was filed. 

In addition to competing, barbecue teams will have the opportunity to sell select menu items to attendees. 

The Memphis City Council will return to the proposed city sale of land to a subsidiary of xAI, and up for a vote Tuesday, Feb. 18, is a $10.5 million budget amendment, including $5 million in emergency funding for MATA.

Also happening this week: The five officers charged in the Tyre Nichols case are back in court, and MRPP celebrates Tom Lee’s birthday.

After the ribbon-cutting for the adult wellness crisis center, Alliance Healthcare Services broke ground on the neighboring $11 million children’s wellness center.

On Thursday, xAI’s plans to use natural gas turbines in the long term became public after The Daily Memphian received the company’s recent application to the Shelby County Health Department for an air-emissions permit.

Several employees confirmed to The Daily Memphian that two paychecks appeared in their accounts on Friday and late Thursday.

CTC Property, a subsidiary of xAI, applied for air-emissions permits for its fleet of natural gas turbines in January.

The City of Memphis confirmed Thursday, Feb. 13, that payday is coming a tad later than normal for some of its 8,000-plus employees after a clerical error. 

MAS Interim Director Mary Claire Borys said the outbreak might never have happened if not for the inadequacies at the city’s nearly 14-year-old animal shelter in Northeast Memphis.

Art Davis, the interim executive director of the Memphis River Parks Partnership, has been an accountant, a construction overseer and even Santa Claus during his time with the organization. 

Also happening this week: Bartlett’s BMA votes on new RV parking rules, and a new crisis center opens in Binghampton.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water would lose revenue if a water-recycling plant is built. The utility’s CEO still says it’s “what we have been looking for.”

The three-day festival was “paused” in 2024, Memphis in May officials said at the time, largely due to issues regarding the reconfigured Tom Lee Park that led to a less-than-successful 2023 installment of the event.

The return of the Shelby Farm Parkway proposal comes two years after it was removed from the city’s list of road projects. The Greater Memphis Chamber is pushing for its return.

City Council members said Tuesday they still need a financial accounting of how MATA spent past city funding before a new board was installed in October.