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A downtown culinary glow-up, a historic gut check, and a community scare that does real good—this week packs it all. We open with the long-awaited news: an authentic Italian restaurant is moving into the old Main Street Thai spot, directly across from The Commercial Dispatch. From there, we turn to Franklin Academy, the oldest public school in Mississippi, now vacant and looking at an estimated $23 million bill just to stabilize and weatherize. The heart of the debate isn’t whether Franklin matters—it does—it’s how to secure a capable, well-capitalized development partner who can honor the building while making it viable for decades.

We unpack two competing approaches: a targeted, expert-driven search for developers who can play at this scale versus an open call that risks attracting underfunded ideas and short-lived tenants. Drawing on local preservation history, we talk about what happens when big, fragile buildings sit too long.

Then we tackle the Trotter Convention Center fee proposal, including the eyebrow-raising $125 ice charge. Finally, Lt. Rhonda Sanders joins us to share the “Horror at the Fairgrounds,” a haunted house and hayride that funds thousands of holiday turkeys, brightens foster families’ Christmas, and directs concession proceeds to four local families facing cancer. 

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