The Early Word: Old Temple Israel will go, and so will Tigers basketball exec
Hi there, Memphis. It’s Thursday, June 5, and Tyré Nichols, who died in 2023 after he was beaten by five Memphis police officers, would have been 32 years old today.
There’s a birthday party and community rally this afternoon at I Am a Man plaza, next to what’s left of Clayborn Temple. That starts at 5 p.m. There will be birthday cake and a march to the Tyré Nichols Sunset Canopy at Tom Lee Park.
Earlier this week, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church unveiled an ambitious, $310 million plan to build a new church, more than 600 apartments, a hotel, a health-and-wellness center, a parking garage and a grocery store on its Midtown land. Pastor J. Lawrence Turner said Wednesday that the plan was 12 years in the making, and the church will be a partner in the development, rather than just selling its land to a developer. But the historic Temple Israel building, which sits where the church’s future sanctuary will go, will apparently be a casualty of the new development.
The Memphis to Murray State connection just keeps getting deeper. Memphis Tigers director of basketball operations Jordan VerHulst is leaving Coach Penny Hardaway’s staff for a new job at Murray State. That’s Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant’s alma mater, and it’s where where Ryan Miller (former Grizzly Mike Miller’s brother) is now head coach. VerHulst had been a member of Hardaway’s staff the past four seasons.
Plus, a Germantown church will expand, U of M will cost more and The Daily Memphian gets a new restaurant reporter.
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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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