The 901: Memphis Police Chief’s gun stolen; new businesses open in Collierville
Good morning, Memphis, where we await tonight's Grizzlies-Golden State Warriors in FedExForum, where the hometown team is going for its 10th straight win.
But, first, we're focusing on the story on Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis’ handgun being stolen from a vehicle over the weekend.
The burglary happened Saturday while the vehicle was parked outside Ferguson Bath, Kitchen and Lighting Gallery on Macon Road in Cordova, our Gina Butkovich reports.
While inside the business, several items were stolen from the vehicle, including Davis’ gun.
"This incident is a vivid reminder that even as a police official, I am not immune to the criminal activity that occurs so blatantly in our city," Davis said.
New businesses to open in Collierville
Throughout the year, Collierville will see multiple businesses open, including a restaurant, a photo studio and home stores.
From Whataburger to photography studio VMStudio LLC, our Dima Amro lists eight businesses opening in 2022.
COVID-19 pushes Collierville High School to virtual learning
Collierville High School moves to virtual instruction due to student, teacher and staff absences caused by COVID-19 infections, our Laura Testino reports.
The school will have students learning remotely through Friday and all extracurricular activities are canceled. The district said it will send additional information to families about remote learning, Laura reports.
"Moving to remote delivery will allow regular classroom teachers, including those who are quarantined, to provide high quality instruction to their own students in real time,” district Superintendent Gary Lilly said.
Omicron COVID-19 variant sparks staffing crisis in Tennessee hospitals
As the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread throughout the state, many major hospitals in Tennessee are beginning to see shortages of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.
If COVID-19 cases continue to soar, and healthy staff keep dwindling, hospitals could be overwhelmed, despite a milder virus, before the current surge reaches its peak, our Brett Kelman reports in his story for subscribers.
“We are still overloaded,” said Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, medical director of the infectious disease program at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. “We are still overloaded with very tired people taking care of all those patients.”
TV anchor Janeen Gordon to run for Juvenile Court Clerk
Janeen Gordon, currently traffic anchor and host of WMC Action News 5’s lifestyle show “Bluff City Life,” hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps by seeking the position of Shelby County Juvenile Court Clerk, our Katherine Burgess reports.
“I got to the point where I thought you probably need to stop asking and need to start doing," Gordon said. “Here I was this television host and not really doing what we always asked other people to do, and that’s how I got to this point.”
CA responds to county commissioner’s allegation of harassment by reporter
Mark Russell. executive editor of The Commercial Appeal, responded to County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr.’s allegations of “physical intimidation" by CA reporter Katherine Burgess.
Ford filed a report with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office in early December regarding an alleged instance of “physical intimidation” that took place in early June , our Micaela Watts reports.
Russell said the complaint filed by Ford "completely mischaracterizes" Burgess' actions.
"I am here to support Katherine, who was doing her job in the incident referenced in the police report," he said. "Katherine covers the commission and she will continue to do so without fear or favor."
Grizzlies, Morant get national praise as team's win streak continues
National sports commentators are gushing about the surging Grizzlies and star Ja Morant, and our Mark Giannotto writes in this column that the adoration will not fade anytime soon.
Here's an excerpt:
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins compared Ja Morant to Michael Jordan. LeBron James said Morant has “rockets in his calf muscles” after the chasedown block of the year in Sunday's game. Justin Timberlake tweeted for the first time in more than four months to campaign for Morant to be an All-Star.
Desmond Bane is suddenly feuding with music superstar Halsey because he had the audacity to talk trash to James. Skip Bayless and Michael Wilbon are using the Grizzlies to skewer the Los Angeles Lakers. Another ESPN commentator suggested the Grizzlies as a new version of the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder teams that were smaller market NBA championship contenders not long ago.
That was just in the past few days, and nobody seems to think it's outlandish anymore.
The 901 was written by Ray Padilla, the digital producer for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at raymond.padilla@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Ray_Padilla_.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The 901: MPD Chief C.J. Davis' gun stolen; Collierville businesses open
