Welcome back to The Memphis 10, the only place where you'll find Marsha Blackburn and the Oblivians hanging out together.

Really unique is really not. Memphis is.

Gambling 2.0, in the form of legal sports betting, and soon Gambling 3.0 – a state lottery – have come to Mississippi, which means they’ve come to neighboring Memphis and Shelby County as well. Mississippi will soon be the only state in the country with sports betting and a lottery and both commercial and Indian casinos.

If you believe the polls, Republican Bill Lee is steamrolling toward victory in the Tennessee governor’s race.

As developments across the Downtown Memphis landscape compound, desire for consumption by and connectivity between people is a universal sentiment. Our investors, architects and developers, funders and supporters believe that attracting people is the greatest indicator of a vibrant center city.

(This was my first column some 400-plus columns ago. I was looking for a word that most aptly describes Memphis. Just one word …)

The heritage of Hi Records brackets this first weekly list, with the sound of Al Green and the image of guitarist/songwriter Teenie Hodges making unexpected appearances. Elsewhere, our criminal justice system bears watching, next year’s mayor’s race gets weird, and our food trucks get some pub.

Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is doing all she can to nationalize her race for the U.S. Senate.

By some accounts, Democrat Phil Bredesen narrowly leads Republican Marsha Blackburn in what may be the nation’s most important contest in determining which party will control the United States Senate for the next two years. Democrats in Tennessee are right to rejoice at the prospect that the popular former governor has at least an even chance to represent the state in Washington come January.