Month: January 2017

Categories
News News Blog

Two Anti-Abortion Bills Up for Consideration in Tennessee

CREDIT: Micaela Watts

Micaela Watts

Anti-abortion proposals are nothing new in the Tennessee legislature. The past three years alone have seen considerable efforts to criminalize abortion, as well as ample public pushback.

Two anti-abortion proposals will be considered by Tennessee lawmakers in this year’s legislative session.

Reviving her controversial bill that she ultimately scrapped last year, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver filed a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, though most abortions in Tennessee are performed well before the 20 week mark, according to multiple organizations that track abortion statistics, including the National Abortion Rights Action League.

Rep. James Van Huss has filed an equally controversial anti-abortion bill, one that would ban abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected and would require fetal heartbeat testing prior to the procedure.

As of press time, neither bill has been assigned to committee or has picked up a co-sponsor.

CHOICE’s executive director, Rebecca Terrell isn’t remotely surprised at this year’s crop of anti-abortion proposals.

“However individuals might feel about abortion at different points in the pregnancy, a women’s health — not politics — should drive this very important medical decision,” said Terrell, who added that Tennessee has a “very anti-woman legislature”.

The theme of non-medical professionals trying to wield influence on a complicated medical procedure such as abortion is a recurring one in Tennessee. Neither Rep. Weaver nor Rep. Van Huss hold any certifications in obstetrics and gynecology. In fact, the Tennessee General Assembly website lists Rep. Weaver as a “singer, songwriter, and small business owner” and Rep. Van Huss as a web programmer.

If you want to track the bills, you may do so here for the “Heartbeat” Bill, HB108, and here for the 20-week abortion ban bill, HB101.

Categories
News News Blog

DMC: Dreaming of a Downtown Grocery Store

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Toby Sells

The Downtown Memphis Commission met for its annual board retreat Thursday.

What’s the hottest topic of discussion among those thinking about and working for a better Downtown Memphis?

That’s right. A Downtown grocery store.

Alright, maybe that’s not completely accurate. But the topic was the hottest and longest-discussed during a panel session Thursday during the Downtown Memphis Commission’s (DMC) annual board retreat.

Most members of the DMC and its affiliate boards gathered at Alfred’s on Beale for a day of presentations and team-build-y/trust-fall-y type stuff.

But they also listened to and asked questions of an impressive panel that included luminaries in different fields. Memphis Police Department director Michael Rallings was there. So was Regena Bearden, chief marketing officer for the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, Josh Pogue, CEO at Poag Shopping Centers, and Carol Coletta, senior fellow with the Kresge Foundation’s American Cities Practice.

That group and members of the audience covered topics like security, jobs, tourism, and more. But nothing – nothing – captured time and imagination like the idea of a Downtown grocery store. 


What kind of store should it be? Where should it be? Where would they park the cars? Would it be more convenient than the Kroger on Union? Is the supermarket concept on its way out? What about food halls? All of these questions were raised.

How much time was spent on the notion you ask? Have a look at our handy-dandy (and pretty close-to-the-minute) chart:

DMC: Dreaming of a Downtown Grocery Store

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Randy Boyd, John Calipari, and the Tennessee Governor’s Race

CREDIT: JB

JB

Commissioner Randy Boyd at Chamber luncheon

Randy Boyd, the soon-to-be former state Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, is widely considered a likely Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2018, and, speaking to a breakfast of the Greater Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce’s small business council on Wednesday, he unveiled what could be a telling secret weapon in his campaign.

In the course of extolling teamwork as the means whereby Tennessee could out-distance other, more resource-rich states in economic growth, Boyd, a Knoxvillian, broke off from a recitation of relevant statistics to exclaim, “How about that Kentucky loss last night!” He referred to the UT basketball team’s Tuesday night 82-80 upset in Knoxville of coach John Calipari’s #4-rated Kentucky Wildcats. And when the Chamber audience responded appreciatively, Boyd said, “I guess we share an antipathy to Calipari.”

(The Kentucky coach, formerly idolized in Memphis for his successful reign as coach of the University of Memphis Tigers, became highly unpopular here after he abruptly decamped for Lexington in 2009, taking his highly prized recruit class with him and leaving the Tigers in the lurch for an NCAA rules violation during his tenure.)

When an interviewer suggested, after the speech, that an anti-Calipari platform would go over well with Memphis voters, Boyd replied, “I think it will go well in Knoxville, too.”

The Commissioner, who will depart his state government post on February 1 to resume the chairmanship of the Knoxville-based Radio Systems Corp., was moderately coy about his gubernatorial announcement plans: “Sometime in February I’ll decide what I’ll do next. When I get back to Knoxville with my home and my dog and my wife, we’ll see what the world looks like from that perspective.”

Boyd, who in 2013 was named special adviser on higher education to Governor Bill Haslam, was named to his Commissioner’s post in January 2015 and has been praised by the Governor for being the major force behind such educational innovations as Tennessee Promise, which offsets the cost of attending community college and Drive to 55, an initiative to increase the number of Tennesseans holding post-secondary degrees or diplomas.

He is also credited with statistical leaps forward in industrial growth and job creation, subjects which were the major focus of his remarks in Memphis.

Categories
News News Blog

State Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition Denounces Trump’s Immigration Orders

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) has denounced two executive orders on immigration set forth by President Donald Trump.

The orders will increase militarization and detention on the Mexico border as well as scale up deportations and immigration enforcement across the United States. The President is expected to issue further orders that will suspend refugee resettlement and ban Muslim migration to the country.

[pullquote-1]“After less than a week in office, the president has issued extreme orders that fundamentally challenge who we are as a nation,” said Stephanie Teatro, the co-executive director of the Coalition. “Today’s executive orders and those we are expecting tomorrow to ban Muslim migration and suspend refugee resettlement amount to a closing of our doors as a nation, a denial of the founding principles of this country and the promises inscribed on our Statue of Liberty.”

Teatro said the Coalition fears this is the first of many steps President Trump will take “that will discriminate against people based on where they are from or how they worship,” and that Tennesseans “must join together to mount a defense against these attacks on our core American values.”

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies 101, Raptors 99: Three Thoughts

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Larry Kuzniewski

Marc Gasol scored a career-high 42 points.

The Grizzlies won a two-point game without scoring a single field goal in the final six and a half minutes against the Toronto Raptors last night, and this morning that feels like the miracle of miracles. A winnable game turned into another trademark Grizzlies nail-biter as Toronto made it a close game and the Griz offense collapsed in a heap of ashes, but the home team prevailed on a night which saw James Ennis and Zach Randolph (!) in the starting lineup against a Toronto team that’s currently sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference.

Larry Kuzniewski

In Which Marc Gasol Transcends The Boundaries Of Space, Time, And Bad Offense

Marc Gasol set a new career high last night with 42 points scored. Gasol was 14 of 25 from the floor, including 5 of 10 from long range (that’s 50%, for those of you who slept through math class), and 16 of those points came in the first three minutes of the game, during which Gasol cus through the Raptors’ interior defense (a loose application of that term) like a Sawzall when he wasn’t busy bombing threes over a bewildered Jonas Valanciunas. Gasol attacked the Raptors with a ferocity rarely seen from him in a game Mike Conley actually played in, and when he finally forced Toronto to call a timeout it seemed like all things were possible.

The lead didn’t hold, of course, because these are the 2016-17 Grizzlies, who are allergic to leads, but it was interesting that in a starting lineup featuring James Ennis and Zach Randolph in place of Chandler Parsons and JaMychal Green, Gasol sensed that he needed to activate his ability to take over a game right from the opening tip, and set a tone for what was to follow.

[jump]

One of the under-told stories of this season is the way in which David Fizdale has slowly turned Gasol into a leader, and that manifests itself most obviously on nights like this, when effort has been an issue lately, so Gasol decides to set the tone all by himself. Toronto gave the Griz all kinds of problems on the defensive end, and later in the game the offense sputtered to a complete, unwatchable halt, but for those first few minutes (and really for much of the rest of the game) Gasol was electric.

In Which Zach Randolph Should Probably Not Be A Starter Anymore

I know that for some reason this has continued to be A Thing this year–if only because Randolph himself has told a long cavalcade of media people that he thinks he should still be a starter–but Zach Randolph (1) should probably win Sixth Man Of The Year this season and (2) should probably come to terms with the fact that Sixth Man is the role to which he’s best-suited at this point.

Last night’s game was a good reminder of why, if you were looking for it. In 40 minutes against the Raptors, Z-Bo did what he usually does in 25, even though Toronto’s frontcourt was anchored (to the extent possible) by Patrick Patterson and Valanciunas, who was mostly on Gasol. That’s a bench-level guy to guard Z-Bo, and Z-Bo did about what he usually does. His defensive weakness–the real reason I think he’s got to come off the bench going forward–was on display, too, as the Grizzlies’ bigs in general (save for Deyonta Davis, blessedly returned from injury to save Memphis from having no rim protection at all) struggled mightily to contain penetration, defend in any sort of space, or deal with the pick and roll.

I understand why both Randolph and Grizzlies fans are having trouble with this transition. Z-Bo’s a proud guy with a long established tradition of being the Grizzlies’ alpha dog, even beyond the point that he probably should have been. Likewise, Griz fans have (rightfully) elevated him into the pantheon of Memphis legends. When a guy like that hits the point in his career that he starts to fade away, that can be a bitter pill to swallow. But nobody thinks Randolph should be done playing; he’s clearly got a great deal of utility left as the Grizzlies’ primary second-unit scoring option. But that’s not what he wants to be. It’s a delicate situation, but last night he started, and only served to further prove that maybe what he wants to be shouldn’t matter so much.

Larry Kuzniewski

Tony Allen scored the Grizzlies’ last field goal with 6:24 left in the game.

In Which Everything Was Horrible And Nothing Worked

I want to return to something I addressed earlier: the Grizzlies somehow won last night despite almost blowing a double-digit lead by not scoring a single field goal in the last 6:24 of the game, when Tony Allen made a layup (insert joke here) to make it 97-87 Memphis. It’s not like the Griz were taking good shots and missing them, either; the offensive execution down the stretch of last night’s game was some of the worst I’ve seen all season long out of this group, and if the defense hadn’t held somewhat steady (and had Marc Gasol not figured that he needed to get to the free throw line ky any means necessary) this is a different recap about the blowing of an unconscionably large lead.

It’s easy to blame the lack of execution on conditioning, and I do think that’s a factor; Toronto plays a very aggressive offense that gets the ball up the floor very quickly. But that’s not all that was going on. The Griz reverted to what they’ve done all season long in these situations: the stagnation of running Conley/Gasol pick and roll until something miraculously opens up, with three guys helping into the paint so there’s no opportunity to dump it off to Z-Bo.

At this point in the year I’m not sure what else to say about this. Other that until it stops, the Grizzlies will be extremely limited, and the stagnation of these sets no doubt contributes to the Grizzlies’ poor numbers with Gasol and Conley on the floor together. Last night, along with one of the worst officiating decisions I’ve ever seen (which awarded Toronto a timeout and the ball even though they clearly didn’t have possession), almost cost the Griz a close game that should’ve never turned back into one.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Good Signs, Bad Signs

Last week, the Flyer threw a party to celebrate its 20<30 Class of 2017. It was held at the Old Dominick Distillery on Front Street, yet another old downtown building being beautifully and creatively retrofitted. Three hundred folks showed up, most of them young and full of sass, hope, and dreams.

And Memphis has a lot to be hopeful about, if these young people are an indication of the talent pool living here. I was blown away by the diversity, the brains, and the ambition on display in that room.

And then I met Senator Brian Kelsey. I’m kidding. Well, not about meeting Brian Kelsey. We did meet, and it wasn’t as awkward as either of us probably expected, given that I have written some less than complimentary things about the man’s politics. I congratulated him on his work with fellow senator — and Democrat — Lee Harris on behalf preserving our Memphis Sand aquifer, and we chatted pleasantly for a few moments with a mutual friend.

And that gives me hope, too. I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of reasons to criticize Kelsey’s politics in the future, but it’s always a good thing when political opponents can find common ground — or water, in this case. That’s the way things used to work, before we all got funneled into our ideological information silos, before the era of fake news and “alternative facts.”

A couple days later, on Saturday, the Memphis Women’s March brought hope to thousands more people in downtown Memphis. It was a cathartic and energizing demonstration, one that was replicated all over the globe, as women and their allies served notice they wouldn’t quietly surrender to the forces of regression that have taken power in the nation’s capitol.

It’s easy to discount the power of protests, but people taking to the streets drove President Lyndon Johnson into retirement — and eventually ended the Vietnam War and helped bring down Richard Nixon. Change can happen from the bottom up. Sometimes we forget that.

Now we have a president who lies like others breathe. I don’t think it’s a moral failing in Donald Trump’s case; I think it’s a mental illness, a crippling narcissistic disorder. How else to explain his going into CIA headquarters and trying to gaslight intelligence workers? Who does that? Trump told them he hadn’t attacked or disparaged them. A lie. He said his Inauguration crowd was the largest in history. A lie. He said he’d been on the cover of Time magazine more than anyone else. A lie. He even lied about whether it rained while he was giving his Inaugural speech.

He left thinking he’d won them over, but post-speech interviews with CIA leaders and workers revealed that he’d done just the opposite. People, this president’s disconnect with reality is a serious liability for all of us — liberal and conservative. He doesn’t have any discernible principles, except self-aggrandizement. Spouting alternative facts doesn’t work when you’re running a country. This will come to a head. It may take weeks. It may take months. But this level of madness won’t stand for four years.

There is precedent. In December 1973, conservative Republican Senator Barry Goldwater wrote a private note that said, “I have reason to suspect that all might not be well mentally in the White House. This is the only copy that will ever be made of this; it will be locked in my safe.” In 1974, after nearly two years of investigations and hearings, it had become clear that Nixon had ordered the Watergate break-in to Democratic headquarters and tried to cover it up. Goldwater led a delegation to the White House to tell Nixon it was over, that he’d lost Congress and needed to resign. I will not be surprised if history repeats itself.

For the country’s sake, I hope it’s sooner than later. I don’t agree with Vice President Mike Pence on much, but I’d much rather have a president with whom I disagree politically than one who is of questionable sanity.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Forward, March

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived downtown Saturday morning. I had some reservations but decided to attend the march at the last second. I didn’t even make a sign. If I had, it would have said something like “Oh, FFS.” Or “Meryl Streep Is Properly Rated.” Or “Make America Read Again.” There’s always next time. Believe me, there will be a next time.

It wasn’t my first rally or protest, but it was definitely the biggest. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of such a large group of women before. But if it was truly a “woman’s march,” the crowd should have been much larger. I say this because it was about as diverse as an East Memphis yoga class.

People get defensive when this is brought up, and I don’t mean to sound dismissive. Yes, people of varying ages, races, and genders showed up. I’m proud of the thousands of marchers who gave their time to stand up for women.

It was a good first step. The next step is intersectionality.

As I was leaving, I overheard a conversation between two black women.

“This was good. I needed this.”

“Me too, but I wish I’d seen this many people out for MLK Day.”

“Yeah … Wonder why that is?”

This is where I wanted to butt in and say “Because racism,” but I am pretty sure it was a rhetorical question. As King wrote, the white moderate “prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

I feel bad if women of color didn’t feel welcome or included in last Saturday’s march, but I can’t exactly blame them.

Justin Fox Burks

Women’s March in Memphis

Justin Fox Burks

Why should they trust white women who keep siding with white men? Fifty-two percent of us voted for a candidate who openly boasted about “grabbing them by the pussy” without their consent. Four years prior, more than half of us voted for a guy who counted women by the binder-full in a debate. Too many white women either don’t vote with their own interests at heart or are counting on everyone else to get it right. Now we’ve got a mess to clean up.

The day after the march, I attended a friend’s birthday brunch. I didn’t know everyone at the table, which is always a bit of a social landmine for me because I have no poker face. Here’s what happens: Someone says something with which I disagree. I am physically unable to supress an eyeroll. People I know either engage me or move along. People who don’t ask if there’s something I’d like to say. Cue rant, followed by debate or awkward silence.

We were talking about safe topics like football (well, not safe in the literal sense, but you know what I mean) and work. Everything was fine. And then a woman at the other end of the table said “So, like, these — air quotes — marches. What are they protesting exactly?”

That’s when the room started spinning and everything went dark. All was silent but for the echo of her voice. What are they protesting? Really? And what’s with the air quotes?

I should have told her people protested for Black Lives Matter, gun control, criminal justice reform, and a whole slew of issues that are important to them. I should have told her I can’t speak for anyone else, but here are a handful of the reasons I went:

Because the new president needs to be reminded at every turn that he is accountable to the entire country, not just the people who voted for him.

Because the Affordable Care Act insures millions of people, and if the GOP has a better idea, well, what’s the holdup?

And if we can’t have health insurance for all, we need Planned Parenthood more, not less.

Because our bodies belong to us, and we’re smart enough to make choices for ourselves. We want to be able to start our families on our own terms with affordable reproductive care and child care.

Because Idiocracy wasn’t supposed to be a documentary.

Because democracy doesn’t end the day after the election. Or the inauguration. You don’t have to agree, but this is how I feel. And this is America, and it’s our right.

But I didn’t want to ruin my friend’s brunch, so I bit my tongue and stared at my plate. Yes, that’s right. In less than 24 hours I went from “We won’t be silenced” to “I don’t want to make it weird.”

That approach won’t work anymore.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

On the ground at the Washington women’s march — a transformative experience.

As I boarded the plane and wiggled my bags into the overhead compartment, the girl sitting in my row said, “I had mine laminated so it would be easier to carry on the plane.”

Our eyes lit up, and we immediately began to chatter.

She had noticed my rolled-up poster board, which I had no time to Sharpie before my departure from Nashville. I got into D.C. after midnight, so I never really got the chance to write something that would sum up in a few clever words exactly why I decided to miss work, spend all of my savings, risk weeks of pain from my disability, lose (lots and lots of) sleep, and be away from my dog for three days — because I have a problem with a sexual predator — who could and probably will be diagnosed with Psychopathic, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and who thinks it’s okay to sexualize his own daughter, insult a female reporter doing her job by dishonoring the fact that she menstruates, and not just gloat about but also carry out the act of grabbing women “by the pussy” — holding one of the highest offices in the world.

Turns out, my sign wasn’t really necessary. More than a million (the numbers keep coming in) women, men, and transpeople of all races, classes, and abilities turned out in Washington, D.C., the day after the psychopath’s Inauguration, in pink pussyhats — knit toboggans with cat ears — and in resourcefulness, acumen, and potency.

It was an endless sea of pink and signs: “A Woman’s Place Is in the Resistance,” “Um, It’s 2017 …,” “Sex Offenders Can’t Live in Government Housing” (with a drawing of the White House), “Grab ‘Em by the Patriarchy,” “I Am Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing,” “Keep Your Tiny Hands off My Rights,” “Don’t You Dare Tell Me to Smile,” “Patriarchy Is for Dicks,” and on and on and on.

Chants such as “We want a leader, not a creepy tweeter” were heard from all directions. Throughout the day, it was wave after wave of rally cries, every 10 minutes, and every time, a surge of electricity would course through my every cell. We the people, five million and counting, across the globe, on seven continents (yes, Antarctica), gathered in a collective spirit of resistance.

I got to hear Gloria Steinem say, “Thank you for understanding that sometimes we must put our bodies where our beliefs are. Sometimes pressing ‘send’ is not enough.” I heard Angela Davis say, “We dedicate ourselves to collective resistance. Resistance to the billionaire mortgage profiteers and gentrifiers. Resistance to the health-care privateers. Resistance to the attacks on Muslims and on immigrants. Resistance to attacks on disabled people. Resistance to state violence perpetrated by the police and through the prison industrial complex.”

I’m a little salty (well, a lot), and I felt a significant pull toward Ashley Judd, who recited a poem by Middle Tennessean Nina Donovan: “I am a naaaaasty woman. … I am not as nasty as racism, fraud, conflict of interest, homophobia, sexual assault, transphobia, white supremacy, misogyny, ignorance, white privilege … your daughter being your favorite sex symbol. … Yeah, I’m a nasty woman — a loud, vulgar, proud woman. … We are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty.”

Did I march? Sort of. There really wasn’t room to “march.” The parade route was not big enough to hold the multitude of people who showed up. Rumors were that there were people who could

n’t even exit the Metro. There was nowhere for them to go if they surfaced.

It was a solar flare of people that will have ripple effects for years. And I put one foot in front of the other at a snail’s pace and joined 5 million of my fellow humans in saying this is unacceptable and we are going to change things.

This is power. This is a movement. This is just the beginning. Perhaps my favorite sign was, “This Is Not Normal.” And this is my pledge. I will wake up every day remembering that this is not normal, no matter if a third of the population is willing to believe “alternative facts.” And I am going to be vigilant, and I am going to continue to donate my energy to a collective people of all genders, races, and action to do as Angela Davis said: “The next 1,459 days of the Trump administration will be 1,459 days of resistance.”

I am woke AF. I am lit AF. And I am nasty AF.

Lesley Young is a copy editor and food columnist for the Flyer and a Memphis-based freelance writer.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Unfinished Shelby County Business: Aquifer, EDGE, and Weed.

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

The issue of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s drilling wells into the Memphis Sand aquifer may not be a done deal, after all. Though TVA’s application to complete four wells into the aquifer to acquire water to use as coolant for its forthcoming natural-gas plant was seemingly given the go-ahead in November by the Shelby County Board of Water Quality Control, concerns remain in important political places — on the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission — and in the Tennessee General Assembly.

A bipartisan duo of state senators from Shelby County — Democrat Lee Harris of Memphis and Republican Brian Kelsey of Germantown — last year made a point of expressing solidarity with local environmentalists on their fears of possible contamination of the aquifer and the need to resist the TVA drilling. On Tuesday, in tandem with a media contingent, they began a “fact-finding trip,” which began at the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research at the University of Memphis and included stops at MLGW’s Sheahan Pumping Station,and the current coal-burning TVA plant on President’s Island and TVA’s soon-to-be natural-gas plant there.

Jackson Baker

Ward Archer and state Senators Lee Harris and Brian Kelsey at site of new TVA plant

 • The final form of the Shelby County Commission’s legislative agenda, to be presented to the General Assembly by the county’s lobbyists, was achieved on Monday, with the unanimous approval of a brief addendum, apropos the city-county EDGE board, which is responsible for making industrial-development decisions. The resolution called for “a member of the governing body of the municipality where the Industrial Development Board (IDB) was created to serve as a voting board member of the IDB.” Currently, the city council and county commission each have a non-voting member on the EDGE board.

Conspicuously absent from the final legislative agenda, due to unresolved discord, was a previously floated item calling for approval of medical marijuana and a “second chance” policy for persons arrested for possession of minor amounts of pot. The General Assembly is expected to take up the issue of legalizing medical marijuana.

Put off again were two resolutions having to do with the Shelby County Board of Education’s efforts to balance its books. One resolution was to receive and file the board’s first quarter report for the year ending June 30th. Another would ratify and approve amendments to the board’s budget for fiscal year 2017, adding on expenditures of $217,389. Neither had achieved any consensus from the commission’s education committee last Wednesday.

• Citing what he said was a “critical need” for infrastructure improvements in the county and its municipalities, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell endorsed Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam‘s  proposed seven percent increase in the state’s gasoline tax in an appearance at the commission’s Monday meeting. The proposed tax hike would enable work to begin on a backlog of $10 billion worth of infrastructure projects that Haslam and Commissioner John Schroer of the Tennessee Department of Transportation deem long overdue but undone for lack of funding. 

Along with new fees on electric vehicles and rental cars, the proposed tax increase would pay for an overhaul plan, which the governor has given the name “The IMPROVE Act” (“Improving Manufacturing, Public Roads, and Opportunities for a Vibrant Economy”). 

The governor’s proposal calls for the gasoline-tax increase to be accompanied by a half-cent reduction in the state sales tax on groceries, by $113 million in cuts to the state’s business taxes, and by cuts to the Hall Income Tax.

Luttrell said that Haslam’s proposal called for more than $9 million to be spent in Shelby County and in the county’s several municipalities. “There will be some opposition to it in the General Assembly,” Luttrell cautioned, adding that he would be coming back to the commission seeking “a more formal resolution for support” once the proposed measure was in its final form.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

This week: Soup Sunday and Latte Art Throwdown.

CREDIT: Courtesy of Youth Villages

Youth Villages, a private nonprofit which finds mentors to build relationships with children in foster care, is hosting its annual Soup Sunday event January 29th at the FedExForum.

The event is now in its 28th year and has grown to boast 42 presenters from area restaurants and nearly 3,000 attendees.

Danny Sumrall, owner of the Half Shell, teamed up with longtime Youth Villages supporter Mike Warr to come up with the idea of a soup tasting in order to bring the restaurant community of Memphis together and to support a good cause.

“We are happy to be their cause,” Youth Villages development coordinator Amanda Mullen says.

Over the years the event has changed venues, setting up at the Pyramid or at Woodland Hills Event Center, and grown to include more than just soup.

It wouldn’t be a Soup Sunday without the Half Shell’s lobster and shrimp bruschetta. One year there were so many gumbo offerings that event planners held a gumbo competition.

Each year there are also winners of best soup, best bread, best dessert, and best specialty item, as well as a Souper Spirit Award, offered to the restaurant that brings the most energy and spirit to the event.

“Last year, one restaurant had a cornhole game, which really got the patrons involved,” Mullen says. “We’ve had restaurants where the entire booth dressed in gowns and tuxedos. It’s really cool when the restaurants get into it and bring the competition with them.”

Proceeds from the event go toward Youth Villages’ mentoring program. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for ages 6-12 prior to the event. Prices will slightly increase the day of the event, which will run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, to donate, or to become a mentor, visit youthvillages.org.

When I order my occasional almond-milk, double-shot latte (I’m more of a short, double-shot Americano girl, myself), terms such as “free pour,” “flow rate,” and “a 2-2-1 halo-topped tulip” don’t pop into my head.

But when it comes to lattes, those terms do exist, and Memphis is about to get a fun lesson in latte culture.

The first Latte Art Throwdown in Memphis will go down Friday, January 27th at 387 Pantry on South Main.

The idea is to bring the Memphis coffee community together and to put Memphis on the coffee map.

“It’s a statement to the coffee world that Memphis is not a stop but a destination,” said the event’s coordinator Lance Hedrick.

Memphis is in good hands with Hedrick leading the charge.

He’s competed in latte art world championships and gave up pursuing a PhD in philosophy in Canterbury to pursue coffee full-time. He will also be head barista in charge when Dr. Bean’s opens its doors on Madison later this year.

“It’s a friendly competition that brings the coffee community together and brings cohesion between the shops and creates a deeper customer-barista relationship than just across the bar,” Hedrick says.

It’s $5 to enter, and prizes including $400 for first place, $100 for second, and $50 for third will be awarded to the baristas who come up with the best “Rosetta” or “Tulip.”

Though this is Memphis’ first Latte Art Throwdown, newbies shouldn’t be intimidated. All are welcome, and it’s an opportunity to exchange information and skills.

High Cotton will provide two kegs, Monkey Train Grazing Co. food truck will provide the food, and several coffee shops will provide the coffee, including French Truck, Ugly Mug, J. Brooks, and Dr. Bean’s.

And yes, the artfully designed lattes will be for consumption at no charge. The event, which is from 6 to 10 p.m. is free to attend.

Latte Art Throwdown at 387 S. Main, Friday, January 27th, 6 to 10 p.m.