The Early Word: Bluffs’ tornado shield debunked; Mayor’s meeting heats up
It’s Monday again, my fellow Mid-Southerners. I’m Holly Whitfield, filling in for Bianca Phillips on this fine National Cocktail Day. In fact, I pulled a few cocktail recipes from our archives: Babalu’s babarita, a couple of ideas for a chai simple syrup and a mango daiquiri. Or, listen in to my interview with Bar Limina owner Josh Conley and let the pros mix one up for you soon.
Tonight at AutoZone Park, the Redbirds and the Cardinals will face off at 6:15 p.m. The Daily Memphian’s Frank Bonner II talked to the team’s president to find out why this Battle of the Birds is special. Boards of Mayor and Alderman will meet in Germantown and in Collierville tonight; the latter is set to discuss some improvements to Shelby Drive.
This Week in Memphis is a quick-read overview of what’s happening around town, including a school board meeting about the state takeover tomorrow and a surprising not-Memphis Memphis in May kickoff event.
The crystal skull won’t save you: And it turns out, the bluffs may not either. In the fourth edition of Ask the Memphian, reporter Jody Callahan finds out once and for all if the bluffs protect the city from bad weather. He speaks to meteorologists to examine if bluff size, geography and urban heat can deter tornadoes, and if some citizens’ trust in the bluff comes from historical information or just cherry-picked data.
Mayor’s meeting gets heated: Musk was the focus at Saturday community meeting at Riverside Missionary Baptist Church. As The Daily Memphian’s Samuel Hardiman reports, Memphis Mayor Paul Young faced a hostile crowd of hundreds, there to question him about the benefits and costs of Musk’s xAI investments in Memphis and the gas turbines that partially power its Southwest Memphis data center. When Young said his administration did not regulate the turbines and that the responsibility fell to the health department, that did not go over well with attendees.
Tesla protests were mostly peaceful, Kelly English serves greens at a new Midtown food truck and Daily Memphian staffers reflect on the Tigers’ premature season end.
Topics
Subscriber Only The Early WordThank 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.