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MEMernet A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web. B EAUTI F U L B LAC K
Memphis craft breweries raised $8,662 for the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH), they announced on Instagram last week. The money came from sales of Black Is Beautiful, an imperial stout brewed locally as part of a national campaign to “raise funds for police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged.”
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P U P PY PANTRY Memphis Animal Services said on Instagram last week that it distributed more than 36,600 pounds of pet food last year through its Pet Food Pantry. The figure included about 30,890 pounds of dog food and 4,117 pounds of cat food.
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H E R O TO M LE E The Mississippi River Parks Partnership remembered civic hero Tom Lee last week on the first day of Black History Month. In 1925, Lee, who couldn’t swim, saved 32 of the 72 people aboard a steamship that capsized on the Mississippi River. E LECTR I C M I ST
Reddit user mikeclark1982 captured this image of the bright M Bridge climbing from the fog last week.
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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells
W E E K T H AT W A S By Flyer staff
Pipeline, Groove, & COVID-19 Opposition rises on project, a citywide ride-share, and the virus numbers slide. C OVI D -19 N U M B E R S Virus numbers continued to soften last week. Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — started the week with a milestone. On Monday, the number fell below 4,000 for the first time in many weeks. Friday, the figure was 3,378. Monday: new, 376; total, 83,029; deaths, 1,280 Tuesday: new, 206; total, 83,235; deaths, 1,289 Wednesday: new, 254; total, 83,489; deaths, 1,296 Thursday: new, 220; total, 83,709; deaths, 1,318 Friday: new, 414; total, 84,123; deaths, 1,348 TERO VESALAINEN | DREAMSTIME.COM
C O LLEG E C U R E? State university presidents recently Clockwise from top left: Groove On-Demand cruises into the Bluff City, and asked Governor Bill Lee to distribcurrent active cases of COVID-19 fall below 4,000 for the first time in weeks ute COVID-19 vaccines to faculty and staff on their campuses. A recent letter from the presidents to Lee expressed concil members, say the pipeline endangers the city’s famously cerns about being excluded from the vaccination queue. Tenpure drinking water and runs unfairly through several of the nessee has yet to put college faculty and staff in the vaccination city’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. line. Plans in Mississippi and Arkansas include K-12 teachers, childcare workers, and higher education employees. STATE MAY HAVE E XTR A $3B Tennessee lawmakers may have an extra $3 billion to budget PO LI C E R E S I D E N CY this year, according to a policy report from the Sycamore InLast week, the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission anstitute. State coffers declined less and rebounded faster during nounced support of a new state bill that would eliminate the the pandemic than in other states, according to the nonparresidency requirement for local law enforcement and other tisan think tank based in Nashville. This spiked tax revenue local first responders. The bill would abolish all existing, local collections above projections. While some of the $3 billion has residency provisions statewide and prohibit them in the future. been appropriated, much of it remains for the governor and The crime commission cited rising violent crime rates and a lawmakers to spend. shortage of officers as reasoning for their support of the bill. G R O OVE O N BYHALIA P I P E LI N E R EVI EWE D The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), Downtown A Memphis City Council committee will reconvene next week Memphis Commission, and Memphis Medical District Collabto reconsider opposition to the proposed Byhalia Connection orative have partnered to create a new transit service that will Pipeline. offer an alternative to Uber and Lyft in the city of Memphis. Valero and Plains All American Pipeline want to build the Called Groove On-Demand, the dynamically routed public 49-mile, 24-inch pipeline from Memphis to Marshall County, transit service will launch on the 10th of February. Mississippi, to connect existing lines and, eventually, run crude Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of oil through it to the Gulf of Mexico. these stories and more local news. Opponents of the pipeline, including at least two city coun-
