Hi, Memphis! It’s Election Day again. Well, kind of. Today — Thursday, Nov. 16 — is the day to vote in the Memphis City Council runoffs if you live in districts 2, 3 or 7. Our own Bill Dries has a look at each candidate. And you can find everything you need to know to vote today in our Ballot Basics guide.

Also today, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Carol Chumney is expected to issue a verdict on whether the Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant can use Tennessee’s “stand your ground” law to claim immunity in a lawsuit filed by former high school basketball player Joshua Holloway.

THE NEED TO KNOW

False confession? Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft should rule soon on whether he believes one of the defendants accused of killing former Greater Memphis Chamber President and CEO Phil Trenary in 2018 falsely confessed to the crime. Lawyers for defendant McKinney Wright argued on Wednesday that he gave a false confession during a Memphis Police interview. Lt. Ma’Hajj Abdul-Baaqee allegedly told Wright during that interview that video showed him approaching Trenary just before the killing, but Wright’s attorney Jason Ballenger said that wasn’t true. “Simple things like telling him ‘Hey, you’re on video doing this’ can be enough to render his statement coercion,” Ballenger said. In other criminal justice news, three men have been indicted on charges for their alleged roles in a mass shooting at Prive restaurant and bar in Hickory Hill back in March.

Why college life was better in the 1990s: Yesterday, our own Jane Roberts reported on a chaplain-led BDSM workshop planned at Rhodes College that was canceled after word made it to the college higher-ups. And that reminded our own Chris Herrington of his college days at the similarly small liberal arts school Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. There, some students had proposed a “naked floor” of the dorm after the school began to allow “special interest communities” to live together in student housing. Much like Rhodes, Macalester put the kibosh on that plan. But the difference: Since Herrington went to college in the “pre-internet-as-we-now-know-it days” of the 1990s (ah, the good old days), the “naked floor” was just a blip, not a big story covered by media outside of the college paper. Herrington says the Rhodes BDSM brouhaha should have been a blip, too.

The way forward? Memphis Light, Gas and Water President and CEO Doug McGowen is making the case for a 12% rate hike on electricity over the next three years. If approved by the Memphis City Council, it will mean council members have raised power rates by a total of nearly 20% over the past four years. That’s due to a previous rate hike in 2020. So, what did we get for that last rate increase? McGowen pointed to one example, from the utility’s Way Forward infrastructure plan, that involves replacing 74 miles of failing underground cable. That project is set to wrap up by the end of next year.

Back in politics: Former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer will run against incumbent General Sessions Court Clerk Joe Brown next year. Sawyer, who served on the commission from 2018 to 2022 and unsuccessfully ran for Memphis mayor in 2019, announced her candidacy on Wednesday and spelled out how she’d be different from Brown.

MEET MEMPHIS

Nuha Abuduhair, the owner of bakery 17 Berkshire in Overton Square, is both a Memphian and a Palestinian. Abuduhair’s father moved to the U.S. in the 1970s to study at Mississippi State University. He opened a store off Jackson Avenue in Memphis after college, and he died when Abuduhair was only 10 years old. Though she was born here, she is torn as war rages on her family’s homeland of Gaza, where her aunts still live. “I’m promoting the holidays, which is one of my favorite times to bake, and my heart just isn’t in it … I know my family [in Gaza] doesn’t have access to water or food, and here I am promoting cakes and cupcakes,” she said. “My aunts are there and suffering. There is a lot of guilt.”

THE NICE TO KNOW

‘All I Really Want’ for Christmas: Forget Hallmark holiday films; here’s a Christmas show you won’t want to miss. The “Christmas at Graceland” holiday special, which was filmed inside the mansion, airs on Wednesday, Nov. 29, on NBC and Peacock and features Alanis Morissette (queen!), John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Post Malone and others paying tribute to Elvis Presley.

How Tigers women’s soccer is kicking butt: The Memphis Tigers women’s soccer team is absolutely killing it this season. They’re ranked 19-1, and they’ve won 16 straight games, the longest winning streak in the country. But success is nothing new to the team; in the past 17 seasons, they’ve been to the NCAA Tournament a dozen times. That’s more than the men’s basketball team in the same timeframe. Yet, the program isn’t in some fancy Power 5 conference, and the locker rooms are “the worst in the country,” according to coach Brooks Monaghan. So, how did Monaghan build a winning team? Monaghan shared a few of his “secrets to greatness” with The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins. Turns out, we can thank Canada.

Turkey every day: One week from today, we’ll be sitting around our respective family tables dining on the traditional Thanksgiving turkey (or meatless roast alternative for me), dressing (never stuffing; this is the South) and various other casseroles. But for many, turkey is a bit of an afterthought for the other 364 days of the year. Our food writers Chris Herrington and Joshua Carlucci think turkey deserves a little more love, and they’ve recommended eight Memphis menu items that you can gobble year-round, including turkey nachos and a pulled-turkey sandwich. And in Turkey Talk — ahem, Table Talk — Herrington imparts his six-part turkey treatise, which details the bird’s role in the overall meal. (“It’s more Steven Adams than Ja Morant,” Herrington says.)

More fun coming to Bartlett: The Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the first reading of an ordinance this week that would allow alcohol to be sold in public parks and city-owned facilities during special events. That includes private events, like weddings, and concerts at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center. (Can you imagine getting through a friend’s wedding without a drink?) The BMA also approved the second reading of an ordinance allowing food trucks, but there are a few stipulations around waste disposal and how long a truck can be parked in one place. The food truck ordinance will get a final vote on Nov. 28. 

More apartments for Collierville: A plan for 196 apartments spread over 25 acres in Collierville won approval by the suburb’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen this week. Springs at Ashby will be located on Maynard Way east of the Walmart Supercenter. Some Collierville residents have questioned the number of new apartments approved in the area, but since rights were granted to the developer years ago, a disapproval would have opened the town to litigation.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

I worked at Crosstown Concourse for several years, and they are not wrong.

Here’s a little Crosstown Concourse secret: Head to the seventh floor for ample seating and a quiet work space. Have a great day!