Friends and family members have identified the two people who died after a mass shooting at an Orange Mound block party.

Eduard Rodriguez Tabora, 22, is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 30 after he turned down a plea deal with a lesser charge in Shelby County Criminal Court Division 1 Judge Paula Skahan’s courtroom Monday.

Tom Lee Park is expected to welcome its 500,000th visitor this month, eight months after its formal opening on the Labor Day weekend. The park closes next Sunday for the Riverbeat load-in, but will reopen partially between the music festival and the SmokeSlam barbecue contest.

“Overall, eggs fluctuate like the stock market did in 2019 – up 500, down 400,” said Jeff Zepatos, owner of Downtown’s Arcade Restaurant. “I’m not sure if we are winning at points or breaking even.”

After decades of toxic emissions and nearly two years of community pressure on the company, Sterilization Services of Tennessee is leaving its South Memphis facility. 

The Memphis Police Department conducted a “Sea of Blue” Sunday night, April 21, for Officer Joseph “Rusty” McKinney.

“Everybody got a festival celebrating their own heritage and ethnicity,” David Acey said. “So, our efforts in the early ’60s was to develop something that could get our people into their history and culture.”

Lonnie Robinson, one of the artists who worked on new stained-glass images for Historic Clayborn Temple, talks on the “On The Record” podcast about bringing images of the 1968 sanitation-workers strike to the landmark’s windows.

Organizations ranging from FedEx, MATA, Maximus Child Support and the Memphis Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center were in attendance to promote work opportunities. 

The separate I-55-Crump Boulevard roundabout currently under construction just east of the old Memphis-Arkansas Bridge got a lot of attention at the first public hearing on the new bridge, planned for just south of the existing one.

Zio Matto Gelato, the popular gelato that has been seen in grocery stores, restaurants and even FedExForum, now has a storefront on the ground floor of the Central Station Hotel. 

New bands performing this season are Fleetwood Mac tribute band Landslide on April 25, Grit & Grind Music Machine on May 30 and Memphis Soul Remedy on July 18.

The 15-year tax incentive was approved by the suburb’s Industrial Development Board but still needs ratification from Collierville’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Sisters June Taylor and Joyce Boggs first opened the Cooper-Young boutique back in 1977 under the guidance of their mother, the late seamstress Loudean Peak. 

Humes, now a middle school, is exiting a state-run turnaround district after 10 years. Its students will be reassigned to a school in a different part of the city.

The three Memphis buildings were among 26 historic properties statewide chosen for the program, which aims to encourage investment in abandoned historic buildings. 

Pizza and pasta in the park? No problem. Pizza Dis Pasta Dat will be at the Shell all year long. 

Live classical music from local groups such as the University of Memphis Lorraine String Quartet, Prizm Ensemble and the Bartlett Community Concert Band could also be heard at Art in the Loop.

More than 30,000 people are buried among the 15 acres at Zion Christian Cemetery, which was established in 1876 and is Memphis’ oldest Black cemetery.

Riverside Drive closes, as it has for decades, on April 22. But Tom Lee Park will be partially open between the Riverbeat and SmokeSlam events in May.

The Orpheum Theatre might get string lights, Hotel Pontotoc might have a new restaurant, a new construction trades space on Decatur Street and safety repairs and improvements to come at The Businessmen’s Club.

Hosted by the Memphis Area Association of Realtors Commercial Council, more than 160 people attended the event at the FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms to recognize the top commercial real-estate professionals of 2023.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones will headline the inaugural SmokeSlam barbecue contest. The lineup also includes rap, rock and funk.