The Early Word: Feagins fires back, and Mahogany exits East Memphis
Happy hump day, Memphis. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 15, and the Memphis Area Transit Authority board will have a special-called meeting today to vote on installing three consultants from Transpro at the top of the troubled agency.
The Shelby County Commission kicks off the budget season — a little early this year — ahead of Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ budget presentation.
Downtown’s Center City Development Corp. will consider a grant for a new multifamily building at the site of a blighted property on Georgia Avenue. As for basketball, the Memphis Tigers women’s team will play UTSA at home, and the Memphis Grizzlies are in San Antonio for the first in a two-game set with the Spurs.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins said accusations that she mishandled finances and had been dishonest with the school board were “false” during her statements to the school board on Tuesday night. Board member Amber Huett-Garcia also laid out her resolution to keep Feagins and work out “any pain points” between her and the board. Here’s a play-by-play of how the meetings went down, including Feagins’ responses to two of the three claims over her handling her finances. Earlier in the day, students from Bellevue Middle School staged a walkout to show support for Feagins. And in other Feagins vs. the school board news, a lawmaker from Memphis has proposed a bill that would allow school board members to be recalled. For some analysis of the whole messy ordeal, we turn to columnist Geoff Calkins, who says the board members have done such a bad job trying to fire Feagins, “they have martyred her instead.”
Mahogany in East Memphis’ Chickasaw Oaks shopping center has closed, but you can still get your upscale chicken-and-waffle fix at its newer Downtown location. Owner Carlee McCullough said Tuesday that most of their customers were flocking to the Mahogany River Terrace spot, which opened last fall on Mud Island, so she made the decision to focus solely on the one restaurant. “The traffic in [Chickasaw Oaks] is a little light. We gave it a go,” said McCullough. The remaining Mahogany has also expanded its hours.
Plus, COGIC bows out again, The Cooper becomes a first and we look at what goes wrong when the Grizzlies play the Rockets.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. She’s a diehard morning person who spends her free time running marathons and ultras. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South.”
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