Month: May 2019

Categories
News The Fly-By

Group Fears Tennessee Moving Toward an Abortion Ban

Tennessee came close to being the 17th state to pass legislation this year either placing greater restrictions on abortion or effectively banning the procedure completely.

About 40 pro-choice advocates rallied here last week against those recently passed bans.

Ashley Coffield, president of Planned Parenthood for the Greater Memphis Region, said last week that 73 percent of Americans oppose banning abortion, and “we’re out here today to raise up their voices and tell the nation that we won’t stand for it.

City Hall last week.

“In Tennessee, we have Planned Parenthood and other organizations that offer abortion, and that’s a great thing,” Coffield said. “But we are under attack from our legislature right now. It’s worse than it’s ever been.”

Coffield said the Tennessee legislature was close to passing an outright abortion ban this year, but that measure failed in the state Senate. That legislation is slated to be discussed during the legislation’s summer session, meaning it could return next year.

Tennessee did, however, pass a law that would criminalize abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. That law, the Human Life Protection Act, would ban abortions except “when an abortion is necessary to prevent death” or “substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.”

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the law would make it a felony offense for doctors to perform abortions. Under the law, women seeking abortions would not be prosecuted.

“The fight is far from over in Tennessee,” Coffield said. “Our rights are at risk like they’ve never been before and this is a coordinated attack nationwide to get a case to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

Coffield said abortion is basic health care for women and making abortion illegal won’t stop abortions: “Abortion will just be unsafe, and women will die.”

Currently, in Tennessee abortion is legal throughout the first 20 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy. However, the law places restrictions and regulations on clinics that offer abortion and women seeking the procedure, according to Holly Calvasina, director of development and communications for Choices.

One of those regulations is the 48-hour waiting period, Calvasina said. Women seeking an abortion must make an appointment to see a physician on two different occasions at least 48 hours apart. According to the law, this is to “reduce coerced abortions and to allow time to carefully consider the information and resources provided by informed consent provisions.”

Calvasina said this makes abortions more expensive because women must pay for two doctor’s visits.

Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who sits on the Planned Parenthood board here, was also at the rally last week, speaking against abortion bans.

“It was more important for me to be here with you on the ground to say ‘this won’t fly for us,'” Sawyer said. “I know personally what it means to be able to make decisions about your body. No one should be able to tell anyone what they can do with their life and their future.”

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Puck Food Hall to Open

If you look way up to the top of 409 South Main you’ll see a bas relief figure of Puck, the character from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” on the facade.

That figure, which graces the early 1900s building, is the namesake of Puck Food Hall, formerly “South Main Market.” A grocery store, which also bore the name “Puck,” once was located in the building. The grocer also sold Puck Brand products in the early 20th Century.

Puck Food Hall, opens to the public May 30.

The 8,000-square foot space, which includes two levels, now is home to 10 spaces (two more are available): Bar 409 (craft cocktails and bar), City Block Salumeria (butcher and deli), Dee’lightful Bliss Bakery (desserts). DoughJo (pizza), Dr. Bean’s Coffee & Tea, Pasta 409, radical (organic, locally-sourced salads), Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co., Venga (Mexican), and Wok’n in Memphis (American Chinese).

People will be able to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Puck Food Hall, which has a bright, new look.

They “reached out to the chef community to get people’s input on starting their own concept,” says Tiffany Iriana-Hofscher, managing partner for Inconceivable Inc., the management company of Puck Food Hall, and former manager of Porcellino’s in East Memphis.

As for the space, they wanted to “bridge energy and dynamics with a timeless feel.”

They want people to walk in and “feel this has been here forever.”

Vendors served samples of their cuisine and drinks on media night, which was held May 29th.

An array of gelatos at Hugh Balthrop’s Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co. were available including “cookies and cream,” which is the favorite of Balthrop’s son, Ayinde Balthrop, and “lemon custard,” the favorite of Ayinde’s co-worker Emily Rodriguez.

Spencer Coplan from Wok’n in Memphis, served an array of dishes, including several types of dumplings.

Tacos were a favorite at Venga, says Benjamin Wilson.

The “gnocchi di spinach” was a popular dish at Pasta 409, says Daniel Masters.

All vendors must offer at least one weekly menu special, which uses at least 50 percent local ingredients.

The third-floor event venue – “409 South Main” – will continue to be operated by building owner Rebecca Dyer. Rental clients have the option of using ground floor dining establishments to cater parties, weddings and other events.

Michael Donahue

Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co.

Michael Donahue

Wok’n in Memphis

Michael Donahue

Pasta 409

MIchael Donahue

Dee’lightful Bliss Bakery

Michael Donahue

radical

Michael Donahue

City Block Salumeria

Michael Donahue

‘Puck’ atop 409 South Main

Michael Donahue

Dr. Bean’s Coffee & Tea


Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Forty Shades of Blue and Time For Ilhan

Representative Ilhan Omar in the documentary Time For Ilhan

In 2005, when Hustle & Flow won the Audience Award at Sundance, another movie with Memphis roots won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize. Ira Sach’s Forty Shades of Blue is the story of Alan James, a Sam Phillips-inspired music producer from Memphis, played indelibly by Rip Torn. Alan has a new girlfriend named Laura (Dina Korzun) who is from Moscow, and much younger. In fact, she’s roughly the age of his son Michael (Darren Burrows), which causes problems when…well, you’ll see. Forty Shades of Blue will screen tonight at the Malco Ridgeway Cinema Grille as the finale of the Indie Memphis and Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission’s Memphis in May movie series. Director Ira Sachs will be on hand to answer questions afterwards. Tickets are available here at the Indie Memphis website.

Forty Shades of Blue and Time For Ilhan

Tomorrow night at the Crosstown Theater, Indie Memphis presents the political documentary Time For Ilhan. Director Norah Shapiro and cinematographer Christopher Newberry followed candidate Ilhan Omar through her successful run for Congress during the 2018 election. The film is in the tradition of Primary, the 1960 documentary about John F. Kennedy’s presidential run that is a classic of American film. You can get tickets at the Indie Memphis website.

TIME FOR ILHAN – Official Trailer from Flying Pieces Productions on Vimeo.

Forty Shades of Blue and Time For Ilhan (2)

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Pets of the Week (May 30-June 5)

Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

Peabody Rooftop and Celebrate Memphis

Spring and summer mean The Peabody Rooftop Parties.

I’ve been going to The Peabody Rooftop Parties for years.

The Memphis Flyer, which hosts Thursday night events each season, hosted the one, which was held May 23rd. The weather was unseasonably hot, but that didn’t seem to bother guests who showed up when I did at 6 p.m.

“We’re very big on tradition here at The Peabody,” says The Peabody director of marketing and communication Kelly Brock. “One needs to look no further than Rooftop Parties, started in 1939, and the daily Duck March, which was set in motion in 1933. For 150 years now, people have been coming to the ‘South’s Grand Hotel’ to relive memories and make new ones. We have endless stories of couples who met at a Rooftop Party and are now getting married here, or visitors whose parents brought them to see the Peabody Ducks when they were young and are now continuing that tradition by bringing their own children.”

She sent some information on the hotel’s rooftop parties:

“Peabody Rooftop Parties feature live music from top local and regional entertainment acts and occasional national touring acts. The Peabody and Q107.5 FM surprise partiers several times each season with special performances by rising stars with current radio hits. Past performers include Fletcher, Drax Project, Lauv, American Authors, Icona Pop, Echosmith, Logan Henderson, Mike Posner, Hot Chelle Ray, Capital Cities, Noah Cyrus, Ocean Park Standoff, Neon Trees, Shaggy, Boys Like Girls, Katy Tiz, Owl City, Carly Rae Jepsen, MKTO, Finger Eleven, Matt Nathanson, Parmalee, Andy Grammar, and Shinedown.

“The tradition of parties on the roof of The Peabody began 80 years ago when the east end of the hotel’s roof was enclosed in 1939, creating the Peabody Rooftop and adjoining Art Deco-styled Skyway ballroom. Originally called Sunset Serenades, the parties in the new supper club became a huge success, featuring performances by showbiz greats of the era such as Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Chuck Foster, Lawrence Welk, George Hamilton (Sr.), and the Andrews Sisters. During the 1940s, the Skyway was one of just three national live radio broadcast sites for Big Band dances on CBS Radio. One such weekly program was produced by a young Sam Phillips, from 1945 to 1950, before he launched Sun Records and the career of Elvis Presley.”

Michael Donahue

The Peabody Rooftop Parties

Michael Donahue

The Peabody Rooftop Parties

Michael Donahue

The Peabody Rooftop Parties

Michael Donahue

The Peabody Rooftop Parties

Michael Donahue

The Peabody Rooftop Parties

…………….

Michael Donahue

Celebrate Memphis at Tom Lee Park

Celebrate Memphis, which was held May 25th, was a cause for celebration, says Memphis in May vice president of marketing Robert Griffin.

“The Celebrate Memphis bicentennial event was a huge success,” he says. “Not only did we welcome between 15,000 and 20,000 to our city’s birthday party in Tom Lee Park, but we put Memphis in the Guinness Book of World Records for the World’s Longest Picnic Table, uniting people from nearly every corner of Shelby County to share a meal around our 1,332 foot-long table.”

“Normally, we would wrap up the month’s festivities with 901Fest, a celebration of all the things we love about our area, but on this rare occasion of Memphis’ 200th birthday, we had to make it special and the Mid-South’s largest fireworks show certainly did that, with more than 3,400 shells exploding over the Mississippi River.”

I was a witness to that picnic table. It was so long, I had to literally step up on the bench on one side, walk across the table, and step down on the other bench to get to the other side of the park. It really was a sight.

I watched some of the exploding fireworks over my shoulder as I trudged up the hill to my car. They really were spectacular.

I wanted to stay and watch the drone show, but, no drone show occurred. “The drone operator launched successful test flights on Thursday and Friday for FAA inspectors, but on Saturday encountered issues with the signal to the drones that prevented them from flying,” Griffin says. “The FAA and MPD are looking into possible causes. However, the fireworks were so spectacular, the drone show was hardly missed.”


Some Celebrate Memphis memories:
Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Categories
News News Blog

Man Gets 10 Months for Peeing in Kellogg’s Cereal

CREDIT: YouTube

YouTube

The man who filmed himself peeing on the Kellogg’s production line in 2014 will get 10 months in prison and will pay $10,000 in restitution.

Gregory Stanton, 49, pleaded guilty to tampering with consumer products in December. At the time, he faced up to three years in prison and a fine of up too $250,000.

Stanton worked at Kellogg’s Memphis manufacturing facility in 2014. That year he filmed himself urinating on the proaction line and posted the video to YouTube.

In 2011, Stanton was indicted by a federal grand jury for tainting consumer products “with the intent to cause serious injury to the business of any person,” according to U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant. He was sentenced Friday.

“American citizens and consumers rely upon food manufacturers engaged in interstate commerce to provide them with safe and consistent products,” Dunavant said. “Unfortunately, this defendant betrayed that trust by tampering with and tainting food products.”
[pullquote-1] Acting Special Agent in Charge H. Peter Kuehl of the U.S. Food & Drug Adminstration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office, said his office is “fully committed” to prosecuting “criminals who tamper with or taint the U.S. food supply in any manner.”

“Americans expect and deserve the highest standards of food safety and wholesomeness, and the integrity of the U.S. food supply is too important to be thwarted by the illicit acts of any individual,” Kuehl said.

Categories
News News Blog

Wanna Fly? You May Need a New Drivers License Soon

CREDIT: Memphis International Airport

Memphis International Airport

The flying public will soon need a new drivers license if they hope to use it as identification to board airplanes here next year.

Signs about the new Real ID cards have gone up around Memphis International Airport and have had some wondering what they should do next. The short answer is nothing, yet.

Tennesseans can begin applying for the new drivers license in July. They have until October 1st, 2020 to get one if they want to use it to get past federal security checkpoints at Tennessee airports.
Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security

The new cards come after Congress passed The Real ID Act of 2005. That act was passed in the wake of the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001.

Proving residency seems to be at the heart of the new cards. To get one, you’ll have to provide ”proof to establish citizenship or legal presence,” “proof of your full Social Security Number,” and “two proofs of Tennessee residency.” The Tennessee Real ID website says “you should also be prepared to provide documentation of any name changes that may have occurred.”
[pullquote-1] They will look almost exactly like existing Tennessee drivers licenses with one main difference. The Real ID cards will feature a yellow circle with a star at the top right corner.

Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security

Not everyone needs to get these cards. You’ll need one to fly, enter a federal facility, or visit a nuclear facility after October 1, 2020.

You do not need a Real ID to drive, vote, buy alcohol or cigarettes, access hospitals, visit the post office, access federal courts, and apply for or receive federal benefits like Social Security or veteran’s benefits, according to the state.

Even after the October 1, 2020, deadline, the flying public can still use a long list of other, approved credentials to board planes like U.S. Passports, DHS trusted traveler cards (like Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST), border crossing cards, and more. Go here for the full list.

If you don’t get the new Real ID, the next time you renew your drivers license it’ll say ”Not for Federal Identification” printed on the front.

To get a Real ID, you have to do it in person, not online or at a kiosk. Here’s a list of the 44 driver services stations in the state. There are three around Memphis.

Wanna Fly? You May Need a New Drivers License Soon

Categories
News News Blog

Leaving TVA Could Free up MLGW Funds for Infrastructure Improvements

CREDIT: MLGW

MLGW

Switching to another power supplier could help Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) save money in one area, and invest in another, such as infrastructure, which could reduce power outages in the long run, says Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland.

After heavy storms hit Memphis on May 18th, approximately 27,000 MLGW customers were without power and some didn’t have it restored until Tuesday, May 21st. Strickland said in his weekly newsletter last week that that’s “unacceptable.”

“First, let’s talk about power outages,” Strickland wrote. “We had too many of them for too long after Saturday night’s storm. It’s unacceptable. So, how to fix it?”

The mayor said the city’s electric infrastructure is “old and in dire need of an overhaul.”

However, Strickland said that’s a “high-dollar endeavor,” and paying for infrastructure upgrades would be a challenge.

To that end, the mayor said the city is “serious about the possibility of finding major savings” that could come as a result of a switch from the Tennessee Valley Authority to a new power supplier with lower rates.

Strickland said switching could save MLGW money that would fund new infrastructure.

Infrastructure includes everything from poles, wires, transformers, and the metering system, said MLGW CEO and president J.T. Young.

[pullquote-2]

Young discussed similar infrastructure concerns Thursday during a Facebook Live discussion, but said that improving infrastructure will not reduce all outages.


Young said the infrastructure challenges that we have are to some degree significant, but that when severe weather like the May 18th storm hits Memphis, “we were going to experience outages regardless of the type of infrastructure.”

But, Young said the upgrades that the utility is planning would minimize the number and length of outages.

“I think the perception might be that nothing’s been done over the past several years with our system,” Young said. “When things break, we replace them. That costs money.”

Looking at past budgets and data, Young said MLGW has invested “quite a bit” of both capital and operational funds into maintaining the system.

“I would equate it to maintaining your car,” Young said. “You take it in every so many miles and you get oil changes and those kinds of things, but you really don’t do an overhaul of your engine or transmission or what have you, except for rare situations.”

Young said this is that rare occasion in which much of the utility’s system is in need of an overhaul.

“We’ve got some very, very old equipment,” Young said. “You can maintain equipment, which is what we’ve done and I think our folks have done a great job at keeping the system up and running, but it is certainly time to make some major investment in equipment.”

[pullquote-1]

Some of those investments will be put into automated services, underground cable repairs, and tree trimming, which will result in fewer outages, Young said.


“We just know it’s time to make some rather significant investments from a preventative standpoint, where we will not have to be reacting all of the time,” Young said. “Now it’s time to make some much needed investments so we aren’t always being reactive.”

In the meantime, as summer approaches, customers can expect more storms, Young said.

“No matter what type of infrastructure we have, we’re going to have outages,” Young said. “The resilience of our infrastructure is important, but even with the most resilient infrastructure, you will have occasional outages.”

When outages occur, Young said the utility moves “as quickly as we can” into the restoration process because “we know we don’t just deliver electricity.

“We are delivering hope. When you don’t have power, you really feel like sometimes you don’t have hope, especially the longer it goes.”

Categories
Book Features Books

Harper Lee and Casey Cep’s Furious Hours.

As a part of PBS’ 2018 program The Great American Read, Americans cast more than 4 million votes for their favorite novels. Overwhelmingly and unsurprisingly, the country voted Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the 1960 book about Atticus Finch, Scout, and “Boo” Radley, as America’s favorite novel. The abiding love for Lee and her first book may explain why fans still wonder whatever happened to her followup, not 2015’s Go Set a Watchman, but the true-crime novel The Reverend that was to be the famed author’s second book. Journalist Casey Cep, in her debut Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee [Knopf], does her best to answer the question of one of the greatest losses to Southern literature.

The subject of Lee’s unwritten crime novel, Cep explains, was to be a series of murders in a rural town in Alabama, where a so-called “voodoo preacher” picked off family members — and got rich in the process, before getting murdered himself.

The Reverend Willie Maxwell was a dapper dresser, a hard worker, and a collector of life insurance policies, Cep writes. He was known around Alexander City for his fine suits, his pulpwood business, and his voodoo spells, which he used, it was said by his neighbors, to murder two of his wives, his brother, and others. He also maintained the lucrative habit of taking out insurance policies on almost everyone he knew. That everyone he knew seemed to come to an untimely end, the reverend could neither help nor explain.

As the years went by without an arrest or conviction, it looked like Maxwell would get away with murder, and not just once. Until, that is, a murder stopped him. At the funeral of his stepdaughter, Maxwell was shot and killed by Robert Burns. When the time came to arrange for his defense, Burns turned to one of the most well-known attorneys in Alexander City — Tom Radney, the attorney who had helped Maxwell collect on all those life insurance policies.

It’s no wonder that Lee was aware of the trial of Robert Burns and the grisly circumstances surrounding it. Alexander City is only 150 miles away from Monroeville, where Lee grew up and still spent time. And in Furious Hours, Cep traces Lee’s passions carefully, laying out evidence that makes her interest in the Maxwell murders (and Maxwell’s subsequent demise) seem inevitable. From her time in law school to her early short stories, many of them explorations of morality hinging on a courtroom scene, Lee seems to have been training all her life to write The Reverend, as she planned to call her book. Lee also had prior experience with true-crime, having helped her childhood friend Truman Capote do research for the New Yorker article that would grow to become In Cold Blood.

What stopped Lee from finishing the novel is where the mystery lies, and Cep revels in unraveling the tangle of facts and rumors. Furious Hours is meticulously researched, and Cep delivers her findings with confidence and an attention that neither shies away from or dwells overlong on the disturbing parts of the story. From the godly murderer and the hometown hero vigilante to the writer who made it her mission to tell their stories, the lives entwined, in fact and in Furious Hours, share a moral ambiguity, and Cep draws out the shared theme, acknowledging complexities other writers might try to burnish away to suit their needs.

For a book that deals with a legal case and insurance fraud, Furious Hours is a page-turner. Cep’s roots in journalism are evident in the research, but her prose has a poetic quality: “Ghost bells, war cries, the clanging of slave chains: if ever a land came by its haunting honestly, it is eastern Alabama.”

Cep set a challenging task for herself with her debut, confronting the mysteries of one of America’s most secretive — and favorite — authors. The challenge makes the success of Furious Hours that much more dazzling. While the book might not answer every question it raises, it tells the story Lee couldn’t, proving Cep is a writer to be watched.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Gibson’s Donuts at U of M? Not So Fast

It was all a misunderstanding, says Britton DeWeese of Gibson’s Donuts.

It was announced earlier this month that food services at the University of Memphis would be taken over by Chartwell Higher Ed, which promised to shift focus on local food. Part of that deal would be bringing Gibson’s Donuts to the University of Memphis campus.

“I just thought they were trying to set up an account where they could get donuts regularly and just sign a ticket and get billed once a month,” he says. “[The Chartwell rep] never said anything to me about selling them on campus.”

Having someone else sell a Gibson donut is never going to happen, according to DeWeese.

The situation got out of hand when U of M president David Rudd tweeted the (fake) news. 

Gibson’s Donuts at U of M? Not So Fast

DeWeese says his phone blew up. He isn’t really hooked into social media, so his friends sent screen shots of the Rudd’s tweet.

“So that’s how we found out what they wanted to do,” he recalls.

DeWeese says Gibson’s is not set up for such a venture. And they would never allow it.

He says it just wouldn’t work. If the donuts were bought directly from Gibson’s that would mean the donuts would be handled twice, which is unappealing, and they would have to be sold for more money. This doesn’t make sense to him since the donuts are available relatively close to campus on Mendenhall.

Having someone bake their donuts themselves wouldn’t work either, according to DeWeese.

“It’s just not that kind of product,” he says. “We don’t have recipes, we don’t have a scale or a measuring cup in the donut shop. Making dough is an art form. It’s not like baking cookies. You can’t just put a pound of this and a pound of that and come out the same every time because the weather affects the dough.”

“We’ve learned through experience if you want it done right, you’ve got to do it yourself. And we can’t be in two places at once, which is why there will never be two Gibson’s. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.”

Again, DeWeese characterizes this as a misunderstanding between the parties.

DeWeese says of Rudd’s tweet, “It surprised us. I guess he kind of jumped the gun.”

Updated: A spokesperson for the U of M says that they are still in negotiations with Gibson’s.