The AM/DM

30 years after Hershey arrived in Memphis, many people still don't know the factory exists. But one of the factory's leaders is hoping to change that. Today, features writer John Klyce is here to talk about his time inside the factory, what they make there and how the Hershey's plant is making itself known in the community.

Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips is here to talk about the happenings this week, including Memphis City Council, a possible sentencing hearing and a food symposium.

Plus:

• Where the money stands on Regional One's new hospital
• The deadly police chases and little transparency in the Memphis Safe Task Force's first year
• Alpha-gal syndrome is spreading
• Blackburn sues and Hagerty seeks the disbarment of Special Counsel Jack Smith
• An abortion pill debate reaches the FedEx annual meeting
• Germantown grandkids can attend the suburb's schools for free if capacity allows
• The MSCS board picks a new chair as a takeover challenge looms

Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips is here to shepherd us through the weekend.

Plus:

• Family and friends are still wrestling with the death of a loved one after he was killed by the Memphis Safe Task Force
• Christa Pike is alive a day after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her
• A Memphis warehouse raid nabs 30K packages of synthetic kratom
• A shuttered nightclub will remain closed for now
• Alo Yoga stretches to Southaven
• Collierville is considering e-bike education over regulations
• A Mississippi senator announces millions for roadway improvements in DeSoto County

As of Sept. 29, the Memphis Safe Task Force has been on the ground in the city for a year. Today, we're joined metro editor Jane Donahoe to talk about what's happened over the past year and what we expect to see in the future.

Plus:

• The Sheriff's Office fills the role of chief inspector of jail
• Zach Edey is on the mend
• Huntington National Bank is investing $300,000 in Memphis for affordable housing and career training
• The assessor sounds the alarm on the county tax base
• Germantown rejects residents' appeal of the Bodine School expansion
• Southaven homeowners near the SpaceXAI power plant haven't received offers for their land despite reports
• DeSoto deputies are cleared of wrongdoing in a fatal 2025 Nesbit shooting

The University of Memphis is in an interesting moment in athletics. Today, Frank Bonner II joins us to talk about more conference realignment, new/old coaches, the basketball team's predilection for 3-pointers and what it would take to get season ticket-holders back into seats.

Plus:

• The IKEA building has sold
• Judges deny the state's request to throw out Chattanooga's lawsuit over the airport board takeover
• The Belmont Grill building owner buys the property next door
• CBU is approved to join the NAIA
• The Memphis Land Bank fires its CEO after questionable credit card spending
• The historic Brunswick building gets new life as Brunswick Rail Yard restaurant
• FedEx brings panda-monium to Atlanta

Collierville Town Administrator Molly Mehner recently left her position with the suburb. Her departure hasn't been classified as a termination or a resignation, but it did follow a conflict between Mehner and John Selberg, then-Collierville fire chief, that then spilled over to the town's Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Today, Collierville reporter Abigail Warren is here to discuss the ongoing impact of the conflict.

Plus:

• The Memphis Hershey plant's leader is trying to get it more involved in the community
• A Minnesota artist claims their fourth victory at the national duck stamp competition
• The Grizzlies are adding 29-year-old Julius Thomas as an assistant coach
• A Texas company says SpaceXAI owes them almost $2M
• The American Conference is not looking to expand
• New stores and development signify a growing Millington

This week brings us some specially designated days, starting with Memphis Grizzlies media day on Monday and continuing through Tom Lee Day on Saturday. Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips is here to talk about those events.

Plus:

• SpaceXAI offers to buy out some Southaven residents over a lawsuit
• Collierville owes Molly Mehner more than $180K as part of an agreement
• Lindsey Whiteside pleads guilty in a federal case
• ACLU presses for immediate court intervention against the Memphis Safe Task Force
• A shooter wounded by a Task Force agent is sentenced to 18 years in prison
• A judge denies a request to restrict the Highway Patrol's immigration enforcement
• The Bodine School expansion is halted by neighbors' appeal

Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips is here to lead us through the weekend.

Plus:

• A nightclub is shut down after a history of crime
• Lee Harris said he doesn't know how much Regional One has cost
• Tigers assistant Tony Madlock left his coaching job to come home
• The battle about The Station has finally ended
• There is more 'focused-time' in the County Clerk's Office to clear the car-title backlog
• AutoZone sees 'more normalized' inflation ahead
• Most Collierville aldermen say that wouldn't have fired Selberg

Earlier this summer, demolition began at the old Commercial Appeal building on Union Avenue. The site is slated to become the home of a new Regional One hospital, which could cost more than $900 million and would replace the hospital's existing campus, some of which dates back to 1943. Joining us today is reporter Sam Hardiman, who's been trying to figure out, as this project moves forward, who is paying for it?

Plus:

• A lawsuit seeks to end Tennessee Highway Patrol and ICE collaboration
• The Federal Duck Stamp contest takes place in Memphis
• Shelby County tourism remains a $4 billion engine
• A man acquitted in the Young Dolph killing pleads guilty in other case
• Bartlett breaks ground on a new school
• Developers buy a historic Downtown Memphis building
• A teen music lab is named for late Memphis producer Tay Keith