On Sept. 15, President Donald Trump announced — from the Oval Office, no less — that he was sending a federal presence to Memphis. The 13-agency task force was to include members of the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, ICE and the National Guard. Today, members of The Daily Memphian’s metro team — Aarron Fleming, Sam Hardiman and Laura Testino — sit down with Mary Cashiola to talk about what we know, what we don’t know, how we’re tracking data and what we’ve been able to ascertain.

With colleges around the country facing what’s known as the enrollment cliff, it’s been a challenging time in higher education. 

In Memphis, most of the colleges and universities have seen small enrollment dips this new school year. Christian Brothers University has seen a particularly large percentage drop. On the other hand, LeMoyne-Owen College has seen a bit of an increase. 

Today, host Mary Cashiola and reporter Jody Callahan talk about the reasons why. 

A car drives into a restaurant patio. A mechanical issue catches several restaurants on fire. A kitchen employee is injured in a grease fire.  Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and food writer Ellen Chamberlain are talking about local restaurants that had to close after some sort of calamity and how they can come back from it all.

This week marks the beginning of the Memphis Grizzlies’ pre-season, with three games at home.  Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips and editorial director Mary Cashiola discuss the upcoming season as well as other things to watch out for this week.

It’s another music-filled weekend in Memphis, with Mempho Music Festival returning to the Memphis Botanic Garden’s Radians Amphitheater, the 50th anniversary tour of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” coming to the Orpheum Theatre and the Pink Palace celebrating Taylor Swift’s new album (all weekend-long).  Editorial director Mary Cashiola and newsletter editor Bianca Phillips discuss it all.

After two popular fast food restaurants — Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s — challenged the town’s parking regulations, Collierville is looking at changing its maximum number of spaces for restaurants. Today, the town’s Planning Commission is expected to decide what changes it will recommend to the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen. If the maximum is increased, the change could potentially reshape parking for future and existing restaurants.

Editorial director Mary Cashiola and suburbs reporter Abigail Warren discuss. 

Plus:

• "Ja & Jaren" enter their seventh year together
• An Uptown brewery heads to the Great American Beer Festival
• Memphis Botanic Garden begins entry courtyard renovations
• MSCS is to sell two buildings
• The first National Guard deployments are expected within two weeks
• A former officer involved in Tyre Nichols death wants to be released from custody

 

Seven years ago, a new startup began in Memphis to bring people local news. Staffed by longtime local journalists, The Daily Memphian began September 17, 2018, with morning and afternoon emails and a design that felt very reminiscent of a physical newspaper — but there was no actual print component. Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and CEO Eric Barnes talk about the past seven years, why the site is a nonprofit and if print will ever make a comeback. 

Plus:

• Mulan permanently closes Cooper-Young location after fire
• A Brownsville factory expected to be part of Ford's BlueOval City supply chain is canceled
• The Regional One Health rebuild team has been announced
• Changes are coming to MSCS elections
• AngelStreet Memphis plans a youth-first recording studio
• Some documents in the Tyre Nichols civil rights lawsuit could become public

Memphis’ native lizards, known as skinks, generally prefer a natural, wooded habitat, away from people. But more Memphians are finding lizards near — and at times in — their homes. They crawl out of fireplaces, skitter across porch lights and hide in cracks. Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and reporter Jody Callahan revisit a question about why there seem to be more lizards in the Mid-South now as opposed to many years ago. 

Plus:

• Fire breaks out at a Cooper-Young restaurant
• Hive Bagel is opening a new location in East Memphis
• Taco Prime offers an authentic experience in Bartlett
• A Collierville educator is Tennessee's Teacher of the Year
• A prominent Midtown yoga studio is closing after 12 years
• Memphis Safe Task Force begins this week

Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and newsletter editor Bianca Phillips talk about the week ahead, including Richard Smith joining the FedEx board and new plans for Whitehaven’s Peppertree Apartments. 

Plus:

• Former Memphis councilman Myron Lowery has died
• DNA links a Texas murder to a 1997 rape of a Memphis girl
• Memphis police shoot and kill a man
• Ja Morant discovered his international fame
• The Memphis Tigers beat the FAU Owls
• A children's book teaches kids about stormwater
• A historic Cordova school is for sale
• The new Monopoly: Memphis edition debuts
• Edmund Ford Jr.'s federal trial is pushed back

This weekend’s fun includes the Mid-South Fair, Gonerfest, a yoga festival and Shakespeare. Editorial director Mary Cashiola and newsletter editor Bianca Phillips talk about all of that on The AM/DM podcast this morning. And former Daily Memphian food writer Joshua Carlucci is expected to be back in town and at Novel Saturday for the launch of the latest issue of The Pinch.

Plus:

• A new police shift targets speeding, reckless driving and drag racing
• Bartlett plans major upgrades to sewer and water treatment systems
• Collierville selects a team to create a roadmap to 2050
• Memphis-Shelby County Schools recommends closing five schools