I am very, very excited to hear that a new publication, by Memphians, about Memphians, and for Memphians, will launch this fall. The Daily Memphian will feature writing by well-known names including Chris Herrington, Geoff Calkins, Jennifer Biggs, Otis Sanford, Clay Bailey, Wayne Risher and many more. This online-only publication will have new content 7 days a week and the subscription price will be $7 a month. The Daily Memphian will be somewhat unique in journalism because it will be a not-for-profit. I plan on being among the first to subscribe.
Reporter @kyleveazey tweeted that the issue of the civil rights mural at South Main and MLK Avenue made it to Mayor Strickland’s desk yesterday morning, and he was very quick to make the call that the mural will not be painted over.
Woj from ESPN tweeted that the Sacramento Kings are finalizing a trade deal with the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies get shooting guard/small forward Garrett Temple, and the Kings get Ben McLemore, Deyonta Davis, and cash. So the Grizzlies traded two bad players for one good one and got their roster down to the size it needs to be. Nice!
The Orpheum and Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts are offering tour opportunities three Mondays in August. Docents will tell you all about the history of the Orpheum, how it was saved from demolition in the 1980s, and about Mary the ghost. Then you’ll see how the Halloran Centre puts their nonprofit education mission into practice, serving 50,000 a year.
The Redbirds take the field at 7:05 tonight, and there are $1 hot dogs courtesy of Polk’s. Iowa is the opponent.
Downtown Yoga will be hosting two upcoming chakra workshops. YOGA!
The Redbirds are hiring a manager of field operations.
Somewhat lost in all the news yesterday about the Trump-Putin summit was the arrest of Maria Butina, a Russian national. Although her story is that she is in the U.S. on an F-1 student visa to attend graduate school, she is actually a Russian operative who worked to arrange a back-channel of communication between the GOP and Russia, using the NRA as a conduit, for the purpose of advancing Russian interests in the United States. She did not register with the Attorney General as a foreign agent, which is a criminal offense. The indictment (the second document embedded in this CNN article) is a fascinating read. The interesting thing is, this arrest did not happen through Special Counsel Mueller’s office.
The Daily Beast has one easily-overlooked note about the indictment: Butina’s proposal was dated March 24, 2015. Donald Trump was a private citizen at the time and was not expected to run. So their plan to infiltrate the GOP was not based on the notion of Trump running and becoming the eventual Republican nominee.
Couple of more notes about this Butina thing: U.S. Person 1 in the indictment is believed to be conservative activist Paul Erickson. Also, there’s a viral photo that claims to show Butina in the White House meeting with Trump. The woman in the photo is not Butina.
That’ll do it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.