As snow, sleet, ice, and rain fall again on Memphis, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) outlined what motorists should do if they get into a non-life-threatening collision on slick roads.
Under the MPD’s Inclement Weather Crash Policy, drivers should:
• Exchange names, addresses, phone numbers, insurance information, and tag numbers of the vehicles involved
• Take photographs of the damage and tag number of vehicles involved
• Within five working days, both drivers should call the nearest Memphis police station or the Memphis Police Traffic Office to report the accident.
An officer or Police Service Technician will then complete a crash report or a non-investigated crash report
Some of the wall decor from the second Elwood's Shack location at 4040 Park Avenue (Credit: Tim Bednarski)
Get ready for a second location of Elwood’s Shack, home of those mouthwatering steelhead trout fish tacos as well as mouth-watering barbecue, pimento cheese and, well, you name it.
Elwood’s Shack Park is going to be at 4040 Park Avenue, site of the old Consignment Music, says owner Tim Bednarski. The restaurant will be “right across the street” from the Loewenberg College of Nursing, he says.
And it’s going to be “five times bigger” than the Elwood’s Shack at 4523 Summer Avenue, Bednarski says. That location is 1,100 square feet. This one is 5,000 square feet.
Elwood’s Shack Park, scheduled to open March 1st, will seat between 90 and 95 people as opposed to about 25 or so at the other restaurant.
“Roger Sapp from Central BBQ bought it (the building) two years ago. We talked about doing something off and on.”
And, Bednarski adds, “He approached me about six months ago to put a second Shack location there.”
Like the other location, Elwood’s Shack Park will feature breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “We’ll do the exact same menu as the Shack, but also have a high-end barista coffee bar.”
They also will feature items from Bednarksi’s old Elwood’s Shells restaurant in Cooper-Young. These will include desserts.
“This is a great location,” Bednarski says. “Audubon Park is under construction. They’re about to begin a new tennis center, a new clubhouse next to Dixon (Gallery and Gardens).”
And, he says, “I used to live in the neighborhood behind this location. I lived on Graham. It’s the first place I owned a home 30 years ago. I’m excited to come back to this neighborhood and revitalize it.”
Bednarksi hired Reuben Skahill as managing partner for Elwood’s Shack Park. “I think he’s fabulous for our business. Fabulous for our brand.”
Elwood’s Shack will continue to expand, Bednarksi says. “I have a location in Texas I’m working on currently. I don’t have it open.”
He’s also planning “maybe a fourth location in Mississippi. We’re talking a couple of years.”
Bednarksi had a deal to open one in Southaven, but it got canceled during the pandemic. “I’d like to go back there.”
Laura Beth Davis and Tyler Benitone were at the 20<30 reception. (Credit: Jeffrey Goldberg)
I was one of the judges decades ago of Memphis Press-Scimitar’s Teenager of the Year event. The late Hugh Frank Smith, Mary Allie Taylor, and I would pore over a year’s worth of Teenager of the Week recipients from the now defunct afternoon newspaper to come up with the winner. No small task.
During the award ceremony/luncheon, our editor, the late Milton Britton, referred to all the Teenagers of the Week assembled, as “the best and the brightest.”
I think of that each year when I look at the 20 young people who comprise Memphis Flyer’s 20<30 Class of 2023. They were featured in the January 25th Flyer and also honored at a reception that night in the Central Station ballroom.
The headline on the story says it all: “Meet the leaders who will be shaping our future.”
Fred Griffin at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Sean Cherry and Ana Vazquez-Pagan at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Frederick Griffin, Elvis Galloway, Justin Griffin, Annie Y. Griffin, Adriona Horton at 20<30Moth Moth Moth at 20<30 reception (Credit: Chris McCoy)Lily K. Donaldson and Jeffrey Goldberg at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Grace Kigaita and Kareem DaSilva at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)L. Denton, Tori Denton, Brenda McKinney, Amber Sherman, Tekita McKinney at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)
As Chris McCoy writes, “Every year, the Memphis Flyer asks our readers to tell us all about the outstanding young people who are doing their best to make the Bluff City a better place. This time, we had a record number of nominees, and narrowing it down to just 20 was more difficult than ever. Speaking to an immensely talented 20 never fails to fill us with hope …”
Oakley Weddle, 21, founder of Jubilant Communications, probably spoke for all the recipients when he says, “I am completely honored to be a 20<30. Being born and raised in Memphis, I just really love my city. I’m proud of its legacy and future, which I hope to be a part of both.”
The honor was “particularly special,” Weddle says, because of the work he has done on a foundation he started in 2020 to honor his brother, Peyton Weddle, who was killed in a car accident in 2016. Recipients of the PEY it forward foundation are people who “resemble the kind of person he was. A very kind person, very helpful to the homeless community of the city.”
His foundation raises money for scholarships to the University of Memphis. They prioritize “people who are active in their city and can’t afford higher education.”
The foundation’s goal is to “spread kindness to strangers and also on digital spaces.”
Their job as 20<30 recipients isn’t over after the accolades are given, the shrimp and other appetizers are eaten, and the ballroom is empty. “While this award is an incredible honor, I feel the pressure is on to live up to it,” Weddle says. “It honors achievement, but it’s also a prediction and a bet that these young people will be the future here in Memphis. And it’s time to get to work.”
Mikki Weddle, Ellie McLeod, Oakley Weddle, Hunter Weddle, Dan Weddle at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Wanda Shea and Henry Turley at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Chris McCoy at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kayla Myers at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kaylon Bradford, Rebecca Dailey, Anna Worhman, Anna Thompson, Laura Beth Davis, Caleb Fowler at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Trip Fountain and Kirsten Desiderio at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Bridget Sisney, Albert Crews, Shanice Dowdy, Darry Dowdy at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Nick Cherry and Kate Perkins at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)Brittany Hein, Matthew Hein, Samuel Cicci, Gunter Gaupp at 20<30 reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)We Saw You
They lack the predictability of a Beale Street Big Ass Beer. Memphis lacks the topography to thread winter sports into our tourism package.
But here we are. We can’t count on them but they have become more frequent.
Memphis woke to another winter weather event Tuesday with more ice promised Wednesday. These events followed a quick freeze late last month that broke water mains (which brought a boil water warning), cut power to thousands, and made driving a hazard. That followed at least one major winter weather event in Memphis each year for the past few years.
It’s not enough to add snow and ice as a Memphis hallmark. But it is enough for Memphians to wonder just what is going on and if weather patterns are related to climate change.
For answers, we asked Mike Johnson, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service Memphis. —Toby Sells
Memphis Flyer:Are these winter weather events normal and we just forgot? Are we in a new place? Where are these events coming from?
Mike Johnson: We selectively remember the big things. There’s always some bias to that.
But the overarching theme is that we, as an agency, have noticed that extreme weather events are becoming more likely than they were in the past.
Now, if you want to relate that to, say, the ice storm last year, or the double, heavy snow event that we had in 2021, it’s really hard to do that. These extreme events have always happened. Attributing any single one of them to any kind of climate change perspective, you just really can’t do that. You have to look at it from a 30,000-foot view, through the big lens.
MF:When you and your colleagues are sitting around the National Weather Service office, what conclusions do you come up with?
MJ: We focus on the MidSouth. We have 55 counties of responsibility here. Our forecasts at the local level don’t go out beyond seven days. So, anything within about two weeks is really what we care about and what we talk about for the most part.
We all have an atmospheric science degree or a meteorology degree, or something along those lines that all ties in.
Nobody in this office is a climate expert. They all work the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration – NOAA] level or the headquarters level. So, some of the stuff that you’re asking are questions that we have as well because we don’t necessarily deal with the climate like that day in, day out.
So, with my background not really being a climatologist … I’m not completely comfortable with my own ideas regarding how climate change works because I just don’t know. I would love to be able to say this is getting worse and it’s going to keep happening for the next 10 years. That may very well be the case but again, I just don’t know.
MF:I’m not trying to push you in any direction on climate change at all.
MJ: We’re the weather experts. But we’re not the climate experts. They are very closely related but they are not the same.
The research does show that extreme events are more intense and they tend to be longer lasting and larger in scale than they otherwise would have been.
The one thing that jumps out at me constantly is that it seems like for the last 10 years, out West has been just one big wildfire. We’re talking about a third of a continent with this drought that just will not go away.
MF:So, for these winter events in Memphis, is it just polar air that gets pushed down here? Did something change? What’s going on here?
MJ: We’ve always gotten air cold enough to support winter storms. But maybe not to the degree of these zero-degree readings that we had last year and I think even earlier this year. We don’t always get that cold, but we always have temperatures that are subfreezing.
A lot of times when we get those temperatures coming in, that’s when all the moisture is moving off to the east because the cold front’s through the area and the timing was just off. So, we got rain and we got cold.
But some of these events set up right where the moisture is in place, the cold air comes in and undercuts it and — voilà — there’s our snow.
This is also our third year of La Niña. El Niño and La Niña are a depiction of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures. You’re thinking, what does that have to do with the price of eggs, right? Scientists have found that these drive global weather patterns.
So, it’s not always like this. If we’re in an El Niño pattern, we get these southern stream systems that move across Mexico, affect Texas and, and then swing across the Deep South.
When we get into a La Niña pattern, which is where we’ve been for the past three years, these storms tend to take a little more northerly course. If it’s just right, it may actually detour north of Memphis.
That’s what happened this summer, and that’s why we dried out and the river level became what it became. We’ve triple dipped into this La Niña. They typically last for a year or two, and then they kind of go neutral and then they’ll go the opposite direction.
El Niño is a cooler temperature. La Niña is a warmer temperature. Again, we’re in this third year of it. So, it’s just building and building. But we are expecting it to dissipate here over the next several months and go into a neutral phase and possibly even an El Niño as we get into the latter part of the year, which will change our weather pattern from what we’ve seen in the past few years.
MF:Will that have an effect on our winter next year?
MJ: It very well could. But one ill-timed system can really destroy the argument that people want to make.
The problem is that our sample size with things like winter storms is so small here in the MidSouth that it’s really hard to draw conclusions based on a global pattern like that.
We just haven’t had enough of these winter storms to be able to compare them to each other. We don’t have enough of them on record to really draw a strong conclusion.
MF:In general, Memphians will sometimes blame weird Memphis weather on what they call “The River Effect” or “The Bluff Effect.” Is there anything to this at all?
MJ: No, there’s no indication to believe that neither the river nor the bluff have anything to do with the evolution of storms as they approach the Memphis area.
The Public Safety Institute at the University of Memphis and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission have used preliminary data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to release 2022 crime figures.
Officials said while still higher than previous years, the number of reported major violent crimes has gone down. These crimes saw a 5.1 percent decrease compared to 2021 in Memphis, and 5.0 percent countywide. Reported major violent crimes include murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assault.
According to Bill Gibbons, executive director of the PSI and president of the Crime Commission, this decline is the result of reduced reports of aggravated assaults, both in Memphis and countywide.
“Aggravated assaults make up some 80 percent of reported major violent crime. The number of reported aggravated assaults drives the violent crime number,” said Gibbons.
While violent crime numbers have decreased, there has been an increase in major property crimes, specifically vehicle thefts. Reported burglaries, vehicle thefts and other felony thefts are considered major property crimes.
Memphis saw a 29.3 percent increase in major property crime compared to 2021 numbers, while vehicle thefts “skyrocketed” with a 113.1 percent increase in Memphis and 107.9 percent increase countywide. There was also a 12.3 percent increase in reported burglaries in Memphis and a 9.6 percent increase countywide.
Officials also reported that the number of guns stolen from vehicles also saw a drastic increase. According to reports from the Memphis Police Department, 2,441 guns were reported stolen in 2022. This is a 19 percent increase compared to 2021 (2,042), and a 750 percent increase compared to 2011 (287).
Tennessee needs to invest more than $9 billion in its K-12 education infrastructure over five years, an increase of nearly 9 percent from an assessment done a year earlier, a new state report says.
Of that amount, about $5.4 billion is needed for renovations and technology improvements, while nearly $3.6 billion is needed to build additions and new schools, according to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
The report, approved Thursday by the commission, comes as local and state officials grapple with how to cover the soaring costs of school construction, which have doubled in the last decade due to rising material and labor costs.
Meanwhile, years of research shows that fixing school buildings can improve student learning, health, and behavior. One study in Tennessee shows a direct connection between student achievement and the condition of school buildings. Another study from New York found that poor building conditions can lead to higher rates of chronic absenteeism.
In Tennessee, cities and counties pay for most of their school facility needs with property and sales tax revenues. But some state lawmakers are looking for ways to ease that burden.
Last year, one legislative proposal would have directed tax revenues from Tennessee’s new sports betting industry toward local school facility costs. But the measure fizzled in committee as legislators opted to keep most of that money — at least for now — for higher education scholarships, such as the state’s popular HOPE and Tennessee Promise programs.
This year, new legislation to eliminate state mandates on class sizes — if approved — could slow the need for new schools and additions.
But many local officials would prefer a new state revenue stream to help them repair or replace aging schools.
Miska Clay Bibbs, a former school board member in Memphis who was elected last year to the Shelby County Commission, said a broader conversation is overdue. At least 33 Memphis schools were built before 1950.
“Not only is Memphis-Shelby County Schools the state’s largest school district, but most of our school buildings are some of the oldest,” said Clay Bibbs. “These buildings don’t mirror the greatness of the students, teachers and families that these schools represent.
“It makes for a difficult learning environment,” she said.
The inventory compiled by the state commission, which reports directly to the legislature, serves as a yearly reminder of Tennessee’s billions of dollars in unmet capital construction needs — from schoolhouses and roads to bridges and water lines. The report has been compiled every year since 1998 and has become an important tool to identify critical needs and set state priorities in the budget-making process.
The latest needs list tallied $63 billion in all, with education ranking second again, behind transportation and just ahead of health and safety infrastructure needs such as clean water, law enforcement, fire protection, and public health.
In the education category, college campuses saw a decrease in their infrastructure needs after several years of new investments, while K-12 public schools saw their needs increase.
To keep on track, local officials reported needing to build 70 more schools across Tennessee, at an average estimated cost of $42 million each. That amount can vary widely, however, depending on the school’s size, location, and purpose. For instance, Sullivan County’s new high school cost $75 million, while a new K-8 school in Lincoln County came in at $17 million.
Rep. David Hawk, a Republican from Greeneville, said his local school district is staring at a $50 million price tag to build a new middle school in Upper East Tennessee. He added that something has got to give.
“Brick and mortar for education is one of the largest costs to local governments, which go into substantial debt to build schools to meet state mandates,” said Hawk.
For much of his 20-year legislative career, Hawk has looked for a way to direct state funds to build schools, and he sponsored last year’s failed bill to use sports betting revenue for that purpose. He doesn’t plan to file a similar bill this year but says he wants to continue to “push the envelope.”
“We can and should do more,” Hawk said.
Sen. Jon Lundberg says infrastructure challenges aren’t the impetus for his bill this year to eliminate Tennessee’s maximum class size requirements of 25 students in kindergarten through third grades, 30 students in grades 4-6, and 35 students in grades 7-12.
“My goal is not to create larger class sizes; it’s just to give localities more discretion when there are extenuating circumstances, such as when a classroom has teacher aides,” Lundberg said. “The state would still put out best practices on optimum class sizes.”
But the Bristol Republican, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, acknowledged that such a change could also have the unintended effect of lessening pressure on local governments to build new schools or additions as their student populations grow.
“It’s possible,” he said. “My expectation is that locally elected leaders will do what’s right.”
Last August, the collapse of a school library ceiling at one school — when school was in session — underscored the importance of addressing longstanding capital needs in Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
No students were in the library at the time at Cummings K-8 Optional School, but the school librarian and two other staff members were injured. All students will finish out this school year at a neighboring school pending repairs and the outcome of a structural review.
According to the state’s latest breakdown of local needs, Memphis-Shelby County Schools needs to address school infrastructure projects totaling more than $464 million, at a cost of $3,450 per student, by mid-2026.
Interim Superintendent Toni Williams is compiling a new capital improvement plan to bring before the commission this year. But Clay Bibbs, who chairs the Shelby County Commission’s education committee, says relief from the state could expedite improvements.
“Imagine if we had more dollars to take on more projects. Change could happen faster,” she said.
Tennessee received over $4 billion from three federal COVID relief packages, but Gov. Bill Lee and GOP leaders encouraged school districts to use at least half of their portions on programs and resources to help their students catch up academically from the pandemic.
Districts spent much of the early funds on technology upgrades like digital tablets. Some used part of their later funds to upgrade ventilation, heating, and air conditioning systems in school buildings. However, much of that spending was not captured in the latest state report, which gives a snapshot of infrastructure needs as of July 2021.
“We might see a drop in some of those areas next year,” said Tyler Carpenter, the commission’s research manager and the report’s co-author.
The governor has said he’ll prioritize Tennessee’s transportation infrastructure backlog this year. He is expected to unveil his proposed state budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year on Feb. 6.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
From L to R: Robert Long, JaMichael Sandridge, and Michelle Whitaker. (Credit: Memphis Fire Department)
Three personnel from the Memphis Fire Department (MFD) have been fired for failure to “conduct an adequate patient assessment” of Tyre Nichols.
According to a statement released by the MFD, EMT-Basic Robert Long, EMT-Advanced JaMicheal Sandridge, and Lt. Michelle Whitaker were fired for violating “numerous MFD policies and protocols.”
The Memphis Police Department called the Memphis Fire Dispatch on January 7th at 8:31 p.m. to “respond to a person pepper sprayed at the intersection of E. Raines Road. Responders were dispatched at 8:32 p.m., and arrived at the scene at 8:36 p.m.
“Our investigation has concluded that the two MT’s responded based on the initial nature of the call (person pepper sprayed) and information they were told on the scene and failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” said the statement.
“After their initial interaction with Mr. Nichols, they requested an ambulance to respond. Emergency Unit 28 was dispatched at 8:46 p.m., arrived on the scene at 8:55 p.m., initiated patient care and transported Mr. Nichols to St. Francis Hospital at 9:08 p.m.
“After concluding our internal investigation, it was determined that EMT-B Long, EMT-A Sandridge and Lt. Whitaker violated numerous MFD Policies and Protocols. As a result, EMT-B Long, EMT-A Sandridge and Lt. Whitaker have been terminated from the Memphis Fire Department.”
Nichols died on January 10th, three days after his encounter with the Memphis Police Department on January 7th.
Memphis is bracing for another possible ice storm.
Winter weather warnings were initially only for areas north and south of Memphis.
MEG issues Winter Weather Advisory valid at Jan 31, 12:00 AM CST for Alcorn, Coahoma, Lafayette, Panola, Quitman, Tippah, Union [MS] and Hardin, McNairy [TN] till Feb 1, 12:00 PM CST https://t.co/tDuInrSbFcpic.twitter.com/WFacdEGT9R
But an Ice Storm Warning was later updated to include the entire MidSouth.
Ice Storm Warnings (dark purple) are in effect now, Mid-South! Freezing rain may start as early as this afternoon, continuing through the overnight hours Tuesday night. Be extremely careful on the roads and prepare for power outages 🧊⚠️ pic.twitter.com/IdccJBiYsA
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Memphis then predicted possibly two rounds of ice. The first round would come through Monday evening and into Tuesday morning. The next round would come Tuesday evening.
NWS Memphis Lead forecaster Michael Hill explained it all here:
The Mid-South is gearing up for significant ice tonight that will cause problems on the roads and likely result in power outages. But the ice doesn't stop tonight. More from @NWSMemphispic.twitter.com/cmmr26HK9g
NWS Memphis warned the storm could cause “power outages, travel difficulties, and tree damage.”
Here is a model depiction of how the radar **may** look over the next 48 hours. We are expecting two rounds of mostly freezing rain.
This is going to result in significant impacts across the Mid-South, including power outages, travel difficulties and tree damage. pic.twitter.com/xkopHGjgbk
Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) said Monday afternoon that it was preparing for severe weather.
“Impacts to the MLGW service area may include power outages, tree damage, and travel difficulties,” MLGW said in a statement. “MLGW crews and additional contract crews are ready to respond to any local damage or outages.”
For all of this, the Facebook page The Damn Weather of Memphis issued a Liquor Store Warning to be in effect until Wednesday morning. It also said the storm is a “solid 6.3 on The Holy Shit Damn Scale.”
(Credit: The Damn Weather of Memphis/Facebook)
“Don’t be a dumbass,” the page said. “The roads will simply look wet, then you come up on an overpass and see an Infiniti on its roof.”
Ibex Clone is vocalist and guitarist George Williford, bassist Alec McIntyre, and drummer Meredith Lones. The Goner Records artists are releasing their second album, All Channels Clear, on February 3.
For their first music video, director Noah Miller broke out the super-8 film. “Our friend Noah filmed this in the middle of last summer’s heatwave,” says Williford. “The sun was beating down so hard it was hard to tell if everything was brimming with energy or verging on death. This song and video are about all kinds of cycles.”
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
A sixth Memphis police officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols has been relieved of duty.
According to a statement released by attorneys for the Nichols’ family, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty on Monday, January 30th.
“Officer Preston Hemphill can be seen on video violently pulling Nichols from his car while hitting him on the ground with a Taser, later saying ‘I hope they stomp his a**’ after Nichols ran away.”
The statement also said that Hemphill has not been terminated or charged. It also said that Hemphill was “reportedly relieved of duty weeks ago.”
“Why is his identity and the role he played in Tyre’s death just now coming to light,” the statement said. “We have asked from the beginning that the Memphis Police Department be transparent with the family and the community — this news seems to indicate that they haven’t risen to the occasion. It certainly begs the question why the white officer involved in this brutal attack was shielded and protected from the public eye, and to date from sufficient discipline and accountability. The Memphis Police Department owes us all answers.”
The five other officers Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and Desmond Mills Jr. have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of official misconduct and official oppression.
