Got a recommendation for you from the City Market grab & go case: Mediterranean Quinoa & Grilled Chicken. I took it home last night. It was so delicious that I could have devoured the entire thing. However, about halfway through, I thought, I bet there are 35 grams of protein in here. The body can’t use that much at one time, so I put the rest in the refrigerator and saved it for this morning. Give it a try if you’re looking to eat healthy without sacrificing yumminess.
22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman stole the show yesterday at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris:
Gorman was so captivating that Morgan State University offered her a job as poet-in-residence. You can pre-order her books Change Sings and The Hill We Climb on Amazon. Both have already attained bestseller status.
The cocktail lounge going in at 631 Madison in The Edge District has a name now: Inkwell. The CCDC threw its support behind Inkwell and two other projects in The Edge yesterday. Interesting: There are four apartments behind Inkwell that connect to the former Spectrum/Six-1-Six nightclub. Never knew that.
The state legislature, with the support of Gov. Lee, is considering a measure that would endanger Shelby County Schools students, teachers, and employees: Require 70 days of in-classroom learning this year and 180 next year, or risk losing state funding. That measure actually threatens not only those involved with the schools, but the entire county community, as it would increase the spread of COVID-19.
Speaking of COVID, let’s take a look at James Aycock’s COVID-19 mid-week report. Reported cases are down 29% over one week, although more testing is still needed. The positivity rate has dropped from 17.8% to 12.5%.
Job news for number crunchers: There’s a Night Audit part-time position available at Hilton’s new Canopy Hotel Downtown.
CodeCrew, a Memphis nonprofit that helps kids and adults develop coding skills, has received a $300,000 grant from Niantic, developer of Pokemon Go.
Tigers on national TV alert: Penny and the team host Wichita State at FedExForum tonight at 6. Catch the game on ESPN2.
Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day. There’s certainly no shortage of opportunities to observe that holiday Downtown.
The Grizzlies had to postpone their game at Portland last night. Due to COVID-19 contact tracing, the team did not have the required 8 team members available at the start of the game.
Health Directive 17 has been formally issued. Note that Health Directive 16 ends at 11:59 PM Friday and Health Directive 17 is effective at 12:01 AM Saturday. Know what this means? We have a minute without a health directive, at midnight Saturday, to party like it’s 2019! SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS
Meaning shots of liquor, of course. In Memphis it’s necessary to clarify.
If you previously followed the @POTUS account on Twitter, you need to re-follow it if you want to keep seeing its tweets. Its followers were reset to zero when Biden became president.
Get to know Vice-President Kamala Harris in this podcast series by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Action News 5 has new safety guidelines you’ll need to follow at attractions reopening when the Safer at Home order ends Saturday.
I probably won’t watch the COVID-19 press conference at noon. We already know what’s going to be in the health directive. I will keep an eye on @shelbytnhealth around 10 for the daily case number and @local24brad at noon for press conference coverage.
Excited about my first full day living in a democracy since January 19, 2017. Back tomorrow with more news.