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VOL. 133 | NO. 3 | Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Last Word
Bill Dries
Last Word: Liberty Bowl Post Mortem, Confederate Protest Plans and Absorption
By Bill Dries
As soon as it was confirmed the Tigers would play in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, there was some concern locally about the impact that would have on tourism at the holidays with only one of the bowl teams – Iowa State – being from out of town. The exact dollar figures aren’t in just yet. But the game was enough of a success out of the box that the executive director of the game is talking about a more constant presence in the bowl game for the Tigers now that they’ve made their first appearance in the 59-year history of the game which began in Philadelphia. And there is some precedent in college football for what Steve Ehrhart is talking about.
Meanwhile, the Tigers football schedule for next season is already starting to take shape starting with Mercer at the Liberty Bowl Sept. 1.
And there is still that matter of Alabama and Georgia to be settled
It’s hard to tell how much of this is social media noise and how much is a real intent to have a gathering of white nationalists in Memphis this coming Saturday at what is left of the Nathan Bedford Forrest monument in Health Sciences Park. Regardless, the possibility has the attention of City Hall, which is planning as if it is going to happen. Just what that will be is still up in the air with one group likening it to a “Unite The Right” torchlight march in Charlottesville, Virginia this summer and another saying it intends to drive by the two parks in a convoy. The Dec. 20 removal of the Forrest monument and the Jefferson Davis statue in Memphis Park a theme at Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s New Year’s Day speech along with violence in Memphis in the year past.
The new CBRE marketview for the last quarter of 2017 shows a million square feet of net absorption in industrial. And 6.3 million square feet of industrial space under construction at the beginning of 2018 – 5.4 million of that is spec. The bulk of the spec is in DeSoto County.
DHL supply chain buys 55-acres of land in southeast Memphis from Belz in a $1.6 million deal.
The latest on who has filed and who has pulled for the May county primaries.
A new wood manufacturer to open up shop in Milan is a $3.3 million investment that will mean 100 new jobs for the west Tennessee town.
Mississippi’s second report on the school achievement gap there shows there is a lot of ground to make up as the state moves toward a goal of parity by 2025.
One recurring theme in following the history of music in Memphis is that it is a history with porous borders and decisions made well outside the city have often affected the trajectory of the story. Such is the case with Rick Hall, the founder of Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 85. Rolling Stone’s story.
A preview of Justin Timberlake’s new album due next month.
Atop the Memphis Newsmakers segment, Trey Moore, the new director of Explore Bike Share talks about driving the right lane of Poplar Avenue.