The Early Word: Mayor borrows new crime plan, Tigers rise to burn Blazers
Happy Monday morning, Memphis! I’m Holly Whitfield, Digital Director, filling in for Bianca Phillips today.
It’s National Snack Day, in my opinion one of the more underrated silly food holidays. Though this year, it might be a tough sell as grocery prices keep rising — putting the squeeze on shoppers and grocers alike.
Tonight, the Grizzlies take on the Nets, and hopefully it will be better than the weekend. On Friday, the Grizzlies had an “embarrassing” loss to Portland before blowing a 17-point lead and losing to the Trailblazers again in overtime on Saturday night.
For more happening around town this week, check out our This Week In Memphis guide, which publishes every Sunday afternoon.
Memphis 360? Maybe. The new mayor’s plan to curb crime could be based on a Nebraska initiative that started in 2007. The initiative’s founder, Willie Barney, insists that Omaha’s Empowerment Network and its gun violence program Omaha 360 gets “organizations that are doing the same work to work together,” rather than building new programs. And as Aarron Fleming reports, Empowerment Network and Omaha 360 are working. Pretty well. Can something like this decrease crime in Memphis? Mayor Paul Young thinks a “Memphis 360” style framework can. It’s worked for other cities. In other public safety news, the city’s homicide numbers are up slightly from this time last year and two concerned citizens formed the non-profit Memphis Crime Beat to gather public safety data, observe courtroom proceedings and encourage youth mentoring.
Tigers topple Blazers: From a near “soul-crushing loss” to an “emphatic victory” is how The Daily Memphian’s Parth Upadhyaya describes Sunday’s Memphis Tigers men’s basketball game, during which the other team’s coach got thrown out of the game. And that’s (the win, not the expulsion) how fans are hoping the end of this tough season will go, after the 106-87 win against old-time rival UAB in a Senior Day matchup at FedExForum, where the Tigers trailed by 22 points in the first half before roaring back to a 46-9 run for the win.
Also, the iconic Clark Tower gets a major renovation, videos show violence at Shelby County Jail and the Tigers made a comeback in their last home game of the season.
Topics
Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
Subscribers to The Daily Memphian help fund our not-for-profit newsroom of nearly 40 local journalists plus more than 20 freelancers, all of whom work around the clock to cover the issues impacting our community. Subscriptions - and donations - also help fund our community access programs which provide free access to K-12 schools, community organizations, and more. Thank you for making our work possible.
Holly Whitfield
Holly has more than 13 years of experience in publishing and digital content, including 10 years at the helm of the I Love Memphis Blog. She began her career at The Commercial Appeal and is author of Secret Memphis.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.