The year begins officially on Thursday, and we've got a list of things for you to do on Wednesday, New Year's Eve, in our guide to the holiday. Mary Cashiola and Bianca Phillips set up the week for you.

Plus:

• House GOP is set to push forward a Memphis school takeover plan with 'teeth'
• U of M is asking the state for $162 million for two projects
• A Bible education program is expanding into Germantown and Collierville public schools

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, hopefully you like music or comedy. Or both. Today, Mary Cashiola and Bianca Phillips talk about those events as well as what to do on New Year's Eve.

Plus:

• Community builder Jared Myers is to help shape Bartlett's next chapter
• School board members are set to vote on the future of Westwood in February
• Another inmate dies at 201 Poplar

Collierville is currently developing a blueprint for what its residents' hope to see in the suburb over the next 25 years. The process will replace the old 2040 plan and take Collierville into 2050, but what that will look like — and what it will mean for the town — is still up in the air. Today, suburbs reporter Abigail Warren joins us to talk about the possibilities for the town as well as what some people want to see in the historic square.

Plus:

• More than 70 would-be candidates get petitions for 2026 elections
• A DeSoto County dentist office will start 2026 with something to smile about
• A Chicago agriculture processor closes part of a Memphis facility and lays off 95
• Paulette's welcomes a new chef

In mid-December, Ford Motor Co. announced new plans to build affordable gas-powered pickup trucks at BlueOval City, instead of the electric trucks it had initially planned to build in West Tennessee. The change to gas-powered trucks also means West Tennessee isn't tied to the nation's shifting EV market.

So, what do people living near BlueOval think? Today, business reporter Sophia Surrett joins us to talk about the change and what it means for Stanton and Haywood County.

Plus:

• Southaven Intermediate School Principal April Rucker has been named the district's Administrator of the Year
• The University of Memphis has fired the head of its foundation
• Trinity Church gets donated property in Collierville
• A Downtown midcentury highrise was bought for more than $3M

This week marks Christmas and the start of the winter holidays for public school students around the entirety of Shelby County.

But today is also the day when candidates in the first of three 2026 elections in Shelby County can begin filling out qualifying petitions to run for office. And because of term limits, Shelby County will see a new mayor, new sheriff and new clerk — positions currently held by Lee Harris, Floyd Bonner Jr. and Wanda Halbert, respectively — elected in 2026.

Shelby County is also guaranteed eight new County Commissioners in the year's upcoming election. And then there are the school board races, which will have local partisan primaries for the first time ever.

Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and political reporter Bill Dries dive a little deeper into this first step of the elections.

Plus:

• Stanton neighbors welcome Ford's gas truck pivot
• Why Memphis requires liquor stores to be 1,500 feet away from a church or a school
• Coach Penny Hardaway says Tigers are struggling due to a lack of 'discipline, sacrifice and buy-in'
• The City of Memphis and the Memphis Firefighters Association are winding down litigation
• A man is sentenced for aiding a former cop in a murder cover-up
• The National Guard could be in Memphis well into 2026 after a court ruling

We're wrapping ourselves in holiday music and movies this week. Between Victorian caroling at The Peabody Memphis with Opera Memphis, and a supergroup of Memphis musicians performing the soundtrack from the 1965 animated classic, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" at Lafayette's Music Room, you're bound to at least hear the holiday spirit. And you can see 'It's a Wonderful Life' at the Orpheum Theatre.

Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and digital producer Kelsey Bowen discuss some of the fun to be had.

Plus:

• The Memphis airport is being renamed after Fred Smith
• The Alcohol Commisison postpones the decision for The Station for three weeks
• Former MSCS chief Marie Feagins opens bid for Shelby County mayor
• 15 Memphis schools could close as part of a plan to improve buildings
• Houston Levee is getting a glow-up

The City of Memphis has spent $13.7 million over the past five years to bring a hotel, apartments and an entertainment venue to Liberty Park, as a way to spark economic development in the area. But years into the project, the hotels and the apartments haven't been built, the tax growth hasn't come to fruition and the city has had to use other money to pay its debt on the project, for three consecutive years.

Today, Mary Cashiola, editorial director of The Daily Memphian, and enterprise reporter Samuel Hardiman look at what's going on with the property and why it's so important to the city.

Plus:

• Team Car Cafe may be closing but it's going out with a bang
• Memphis City Council shifts Leftwich funds to the Audubon Golf Clubhouse and Jesse Turner Park renovations
• A judge tosses a theft case against two former charter school directors
• Memphis City Council passes a firefighter pay raise
• MSCS board sues the Election Commission over shortened terms

Ethan Edwards' vision for a high-end liquor store in East Memphis — one that goes far beyond shelves of wine and spirits — has been stalled for more than a year. The Station is currently open but court rulings, denied licenses and a bitter legal fight with nearby competitors have kept the business from selling liquor. Today, Edwards is trying again.

The Station is headed back to the City of Memphis' Alcohol Commission at 9 a.m. this morning, and Edwards' hope is that he'll be granted a license today. But as those who have been following this story know, it's not yet a done deal. This morning, reporter Jody Callahan and editorial director Mary Cashiola discuss.

Plus:

• New approval gives old properties a second chance to create value for Shelby County
• Collierville opens a new fire station
• A controversial air emissions construction permit issued to xAI will stand
• No timeline on the appeal in the Nichols federal case leaves two former officers in limbo
• Collierville gets to work on a 25-year plan

Last week, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools debuted its new "Real Time Safety Center" to the public. Located in a vacant elementary school, the new safety center will serve as a training hub for school resource officers and provide round-the-clock surveillance on the district's more than 200 facilities. But the real goal is to prevent tragedy.

Today, we're talking to enterprise reporter Laura Testino about her first-hand look inside the facility and what the district hopes to accomplish.

Plus:

• Ford will now produce gas-powered trucks in BlueOval City
• Crosstown CEO Todd Richardson was dying until Adrian Garcia showed up
• Memphis' historic cobblestone landing formally opened Friday
• Charlie's Meat Market's temporary closure could turn permanent
• MICAH says the Sheriff's Office is staying in the ICE training program
• Alabama Shakes will be the first concert at the new Grind City Amp

It's the last full, holiday-free week of the year and time to get business done. The Shelby County Board of Commissioners and the Memphis City Council will have their last meetings of the year. Editorial director Mary Cashiola and newsletter editor Bianca Phillips talk about those meetings as well as Collierville starting its 2050 vision process.

Plus:

• The city is still spending on Liberty Park debt and consultants while construction remains stalled
• The Station owner is trying again for a liquor license
• Ja Morant is frustrated by the recent loss to the Jazz and team injuries
• DA Barton warns Memphis criminals to turn around
• Ford and SK On are to dismantle their battery joint venture
• An attorney splits with Feagins in a suit against MSCS
• Wild Beet is to open in the former Railgarten space