Are you ready for it? Today’s sudoku is a hard one!

The Memphis Police Department conducted a “Sea of Blue” Sunday night, April 21, for Officer Joseph “Rusty” McKinney.

“Everybody got a festival celebrating their own heritage and ethnicity,” David Acey said. “So, our efforts in the early ’60s was to develop something that could get our people into their history and culture.”

Also happening this week: Loudean’s closes in Cooper-Young and Mayor Paul Young presents his first city budget proposal to City Council.

“With newfound bucks from FedEx Corp., Tigers football coach Ryan Silverfield says, ‘The bar should be set as high as it can be.’ It beats flailing along with a shoestring NIL budget in a stadium needing modernization.”

While past votes on County Clerk Wanda Halbert’s office and its problems have been unanimous, Monday’s vote may not be. The commission also tries to take a final vote on changes to Shelby County Land Bank after delays.

Far too many people, including children, in Memphis continue to end up on the streets, living in cars out of the parking lots of libraries and Walmarts and disappearing into the background of the hustle and bustle of this city.

Relying on his experiences overseas, Justin Ash is opening an Irish pub in the Old Towne district of Olive Branch.

South Main Art District pioneer Ephraim Urevbu is looking to make an art incubator for international and local artists to display their work, no matter their background. 

“He feeds the fish, he harvests the fish, he processes them, he sells it and he delivers it,” restaurateur Ben Brock said of Earl Lake. “It’s not even mom-and-pop; it’s just pop.”

“Then you find yourself legitimately considering letting someone slice open your rear to insert a TicTac made of yams that will get you closer to ‘normal,’ whatever that even means.”

Julie Pierotti, the Dixon’s Martha R. Robinson Curator, said that the show is a cross-section of art currently being made in the region.

The percentage of students who are chronically absent from schools jumped dramatically in Memphis from the 2018-19 school year to the 2022-23 school year. It’s a national trend that’s also seen in the area’s suburban schools.

Related story:

Chronic absenteeism: Myriad of issues keep MSCS students home

Arrington Maiden’s story has plenty of parallels to that of Memphis starter Seth Henigan, and the Tigers seem to love the young Texan.

In Munford, they knew Joseph “Rusty” McKinney as an Eagle Scout and a band kid. Saturday, the town honored him by assembling at the football stadium to form a giant, solemn M.

This week’s crossword puzzle features hints from The Daily Memphian’s recent story about the 901 FAFSA workshop.

Lonnie Robinson, one of the artists who worked on new stained-glass images for Historic Clayborn Temple, talks on the “On The Record” podcast about bringing images of the 1968 sanitation-workers strike to the landmark’s windows.

Today’s sudoku is rated medium.

“This morning, we are one community united by grief. We are all Orange Mound this morning,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young said Sunday morning.

Monterey Bay scored twice in quick succession in the second half to snatch all three points from a spiraling Memphis.

Three reserves battled for the backup job behind starting quarterback Seth Henigan and the running backs looked good in the Memphis Tigers’ fun-filled spring game.

DeSoto County Sheriff Thomas Tuggle, DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton and DeSoto County Youth Court Judge Craig Treadway were joined by detectives and public-safety experts for the conversation at Brown Missionary Baptist Church in Southaven.

The Memphis Showboats grabbed an early lead against St. Louis, but the Battlehawks scored 12 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 32-17 victory Saturday at The Dome at America’s Center.

Organizations ranging from FedEx, MATA, Maximus Child Support and the Memphis Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center were in attendance to promote work opportunities. 

Cooper, the Tigers’ 6-foot-1 walk-on point guard and Memphis native, faces a difficult decision this offseason.