The AM/DM

We get into the Memphis Tigers' last SEC football game (for a while, at least), where you can see hot air balloons take flight and why you might want to hit the Totally Rad Vintage Fest. Also, editorial director Mary Cashiola and newsletter Bianca Phillips talk about the real reason we don't always touch on what's happening with sports.

Plus:

• Competing rallies demonstrate a partisan divide over the National Guard deployment
• Ramblin' Joe's on Sam Cooper opens on Sunday
• MLGW takes a step toward buying a Cordova property
• Council members push Governor Bill Lee to reject the National Guard deployment
• Main Street will soon get new banners
• An xAI subsidiary subleases 550+ acres for a solar panel project

The Peabody Memphis — the city's most iconic hotel — has unveiled a $19 million makeover of its guest rooms. It's part of a 30-year effort to update the property, which is being funded by a special tourism development zone approved specifically for the hotel and the large-scale renovations.

In this episode, editorial director Mary Cashiola and business reporter Dima Amro talk about the sneak peek Amro got into the new rooms, what other upgrades are planned and the hotel's numerous nods to duck decor.

Plus:

• Local business owners are to share their journey on a small business panel today
• The Tennessee Supreme Court sides with the police union again
• Collierville is to consider two more liquor stores
• A Southaven park gets a renovation
• The Arlington Planning Commission approves a road realignment and a new roundabout
• The midtown Chick-fil-A on Union Avenue reopens

In the wake of Tyré Nichols' death, the Memphis Police Department decided it had an absence of supervision in the field, and set out to fix that problem by creating a new position — the second lieutenant. But that solution caused a string of other problems. At the heart of this conflict are 100-plus police officers who could be demoted. Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and enterprise reporter Sam Hardiman try to sort through the situation.

Plus:

• D.C. federal law enforcement efforts could inform what happens in Memphis
• Wiseacre's OG location is opening an in-house sandwich shop
• The latest on Google's West Memphis data center
• The most recent Tops Bar-B-Q fire is suspected as arson

A new convention center hotel and a major convention center expansion are beginning in North Mississippi. Late last month, ground was broken on the Landers Center's $85 million expansion, which includes a unique hotel-convention center project. Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and North Mississippi reporter Brandon LaGrone talk about how it could represent a brand new chapter for the area.

Plus:

• President Trump sheds light on plan for Memphis
• Good Fortune Co. made it to the finale in "The Great Food Truck Race"
• Control of MATA's money goes to a city trust
• New federal charges target Ghost Mob again
• Memphis International Airport begins a $700 million upgrade
• Breakfast chain First Watch will open a Gemantown location in late September

Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips and columnist Chris Herrington talk about the week ahead, which includes The Daily Memphian's upcoming anniversary. And just ahead of B.B. King's 100th birthday, Herrington dives deep into the blues legend's impact on the Memphis music scene.

Plus:

• The National Guard is coming to Memphis
• The Memphis Police Department may soon have to demote more than 200 2nd Lieutenants
• Memphis-Shelby County Schools struggles to hire certified educators
• 8Ball and his son launch a local nonprofit
• Collierville Schools is to improve cell service at the high school
• Two major retailers plan to open locations in Millington
• Michael Dunavant's appointment to return to the position of U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee cleared the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee
• St. Jude announced a second Advanced Research Center
• Germantown will not pursue an outdoor sports complex

Newsletter editor Bianca Phillips and digital producer Kelsey Bowen talk about the weekend ahead, which is ripe with events that hearken back to the dot-com era.

Also, we tell you where to find The Daily Memphian booth at the Cooper-Young Festival and why it matters. (Spoiler: There's a prize wheel!)

Plus:

• A Bartlett officer is injured in a fatal shooting of a drug suspect
• Lakeland looks for ways to pay for special education
• A West Tennessee ICE facilty has receieved its first detainees
• Mayor Paul Young says the National Guard could be deployed to Memphis

Out of all Shelby County's municipalities, Germantown may have the least available land left to develop. The city is landlocked, its boundaries set, but there are 33 acres of what could be prime real estate just west of the popular Saddle Creek shopping center.

Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and suburbs editor Clay Bailey talk about the land known as the "Arthur property" and what it might mean for the bedroom community.

Plus:

• A former officer convicted in Tyre Nichols' death is released from federal custody
• Methodist grows the Neuroscience Institute
• Memphis Police Department touts that overall crime is at a 25-year low
• Tennessee Shakespeare Co. is putting on two free series of shows

For more than a decade, DeAndre Brown was one of Memphis' most visible advocates for giving people leaving prison a second chance. Through his nonprofit, Lifeline to Success, he and his wife, Vinessa, built a model that combined job training, anti-blight clean-ups, and mentorship for hundreds of former inmates. But now, that story has taken a dramatic turn.

Today, editorial director Mary Cashiola and longtime reporter Bill Dries talk about how the Browns went from running a celebrated reentry program to facing felony charges.

Plus:

• Riverside Drive has reopened
• Shelby Farms opens a permanent food truck park
• Google confirms a West Memphis data center

Potential school closures at Memphis-Shelby County Schools have been a topic of conversation for years now, but it's been almost just as long since district leaders have actually closed a large number of schools.

But that's changing soon, or seems to be. Interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond's administration is expected to produce a list of schools to close or consolidate later this month, and at least one board member said there's no need to keep kicking the can down the road.

What's more, those potential closures are just the beginning.

Plus:

• The old Bayer building could become a campus for kids aging out of foster care
• An embezzlement case leaves a high school band short on funds
• A new pecan brand is rooted in family
• Hotel Napoleon's bar reopens with a different operator
• Riverside Drive reopens with changes
• Trees are disappearing on Wolf River Boulevard
• Memphis school students have been diagnosed with a highly contagious illness
• Wing Guru closes its final Memphis partner location
• Frontier Airlines is to add a nonstop route between Memphis and Atlanta

Editorial director Mary Cashiola and newsletter editor Bianca Phillips discuss the week ahead, and the week ahead signals the beginning of fall festival season. Cooper-Young Festival is on the horizon, along with the Friday night 4-miler, and a new hummingbird festival is alighting on Southaven.

Plus:

• Memphis Tigers won against the Georgia State Panthers on Saturday
• Questions surround the new trial for the former officers convicted in Tyre Nichols' death
• The judge in the police union vs. City of Memphis case recuses herself
• A new plan for the Arthur property in Germantown is on the table
• The Memphis Zoo expands the Free Tuesdays program
• Ballet Memphis names its first executive director
• Memphis area home sales are down