The Early Word: A not-guilty verdict and a look into the city’s budget hole
It’s Tom Lee Day, Memphis. Today is Thursday, May 8, and 100 years ago on this date, a river worker named Tom Lee rescued 32 people from a capsized boat on the Mississippi River. If you’ve been following along with reporter Bill Dries’ exhaustive Making of a Hero series all week, you should be a Tom Lee expert by now. But if you need to catch up, here are all the stories.
You can celebrate Lee today at the Cossitt Library, where Memphis River Parks Partnership will screen a short documentary on Lee’s life. They’ll also honor the winners of the fourth annual Tom Lee Poetry & Spoken Word Contest.
Not guilty on all counts: That was the verdict from an out-of-town jury in the state trial against former Memphis cops Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith in the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols. The three were facing seven charges each, including second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. They were among five officers who were charged in Nichols’ death following a beating at a traffic stop; the other two — Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills — have taken plea deals. Local lawmakers responded to the verdict with shock and anger. Bean, Haley and Smith should still serve time though; all three were convicted on federal charges last year, and sentencing is set for this summer.
The City of Memphis has a $14 million budget hole, which is largely due to Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert’s office not collecting money from a wheel-tax hike for months after it was supposed to. But there’s another problem: event organizers are not always paying the Memphis Police Department for their time. The MPD paid officers for $1.3 million in overtime in 2024 for working special events, like concerts, festivals and races. But event organizers only paid the MPD about $355,800 for their work. And you might be surprised by one nonprofit that’s being called out for that by a Memphis City Council member.
Plus, Humes Middle could be an arts school, Oak Court could house a car dealership and Bar Limina wants to be the “space between.”
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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. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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