Good morning, friends! Today is Friday, April 9, and you might find yourself out and about this weekend.
Chimes Square is continuing its spring movie nights with “Mrs. Doubtfire” tonight behind Overton Square, and Ballet Memphis is performing “Paquita in the Park” at the Levitt Shell (both tonight and tomorrow). We’ve also got the Home Show of the Mid-South back at the Agricenter through the weekend.
THE NEED TO KNOW
Vaccination is free! It’s easy! It’s ... fun? Look, I don’t want to say that local leaders are desperate for bare, unvaccinated arms but … we have tons of supply and they’re doing everything they can — short of offering free rides to the Pipkin — to get people vaccinated. Wait, no, they’re doing that, too! With our increased supply of vaccine, Shelby County could have more than half of our population vaccinated by June but, to do so, we have to show up and get our shots. Several thousand appointments went unfilled Wednesday, so now the Pipkin is accepting evening walk-ins. Plus, the site will open at 7 a.m. next week to accommodate people on their way to work, and you can even get a free ride from MATA to get there. Those moves are part of “a heck of a lot of change,” according to Memphis COO Doug McGowen, made very quickly in recent weeks as local leaders try to pivot to what works. And, we seem to have all but stamped out the Wuhan strain of the coronavirus, though we still have a growing reproductive rate of other variants. “We would be celebrating right now if the mutant strains had not arrived,” said a member of the local team.
Ashley Cash
Cash in: As Paul Young heads to the Downtown Memphis Commission, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland nominated Ashley Cash to become the city’s new director of Housing and Community Development, one of the most potentially impactful divisions (IMO) in the city. Cash is currently the city’s comprehensive planning director and led the team that developed Memphis 3.0.
Sun’s out … Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee signed the state’s constitutional carry bill into law yesterday. The measure makes it legal for most adults to carry a handgun without having a permit, background check or a training course and to do so either concealed or openly carried.
MEET MEMPHIS
When Galvin Sims Jr. was about six years old, people started recruiting him to play baseball with travel teams. His dad was a little hesitant due to the costs associated with travel ball, but then they “just kind of jumped into it and he just kept playing and playing and we’ve never looked back.” These days, Sims is a junior and a high-profile prospect from Whitehaven High School, where his dad is also the coach. Sims plays shortstop and he likes to bring a little pizzazz to the game. As he says, “If you bring flash to the game, it just makes the whole game more entertaining.”
THE NICE TO KNOW
You bet your boot: Tony Ludlow is a Marine who enlisted when he was 17 and served actively for a decade. These days, he runs a popular boot camp and he has enacted a hard and fast rule; if you want to work out with him, you have to be vaccinated. And that’s an idea that may be a little controversial. As Ludlow says of his rule, “I think of this country as a big boat. Some may be riding in steerage, others may be riding in first class. But, ultimately, we’re all on the same boat together.”
On the pipeline: Though it’s uncertain what it might mean for the planned Byhalia Connection pipeline, the local Land Use Control Board endorsed a move yesterday that would require oil pipelines in the area to be located at least 1,500 feet away from homes, schools and churches. But an attorney for the Byhalia Connection said the LUCB is prohibited by state law from creating any restrictions that completely bar legal businesses from operating — and that the 1,500-foot requirement would do exactly that.
Is Corker campaigning? Two years after leaving D.C., former U.S. Senator Bob Corker hasn’t looked back. Instead, he’s been focused on business ventures from his base in Chattanooga and told the Memphis Rotary Club yesterday that he doesn’t think he “realized how burned out” he was from his time in the Senate. But he also said he was less than two months out from some kind of return to public policy and politics.
WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
I cannot tell you how many times in the past that I have heard that Justin Timberlake was going to appear at Memphis Madness (it was always a rumor). But now Penny Hardaway has a new commitment, from current Miami freshman Earl Timberlake. Which makes this just about perfect.
Bwahahahaha! Who knows? Maybe they’ll both be there next time around.