Memphis Grizzlies beat Pacers; Manual Duran wins asylum

Good morning, Memphis, where the Grizzlies, whose 30-point win over the Pacers on Thursday showed that no matter which combination of players is on the floor, the outcome will likely still be a W.

Memphis police arrest Manuel Duran, the reporter for Spanish-language media during a Memphis protest this week. The original chargers behind the arrest have been dropped, but Duran remains in jail on an immigration hold, his defense lawyer said.

But, first, the political asylum case of Manuel Duran, the Memphis Spanish-language reporter who was arrested at a 2018 immigration protest has finally ended, our Micaela Watts and Daniel Connolly report.

Immigration court Judge David Russo ruled in Duran’s favor Wednesday, clearing a path toward long-term legal status in the United States. 

For years, Duran had faced the threat of deportation to his native El Salvador and had argued that if he were deported, he could be killed. Duran had been free on bond since 2019 and continued to work for his online news outlet, Memphis Noticias.

“I feel happy,” Duran, 46, said in a Spanish-language interview Thursday. “It’s a great victory and what can I tell you — I’m grateful for the work of the team of lawyers that represented me.” 

Peter Buckley is the new chancellor Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2022, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

UTHSC’s new leader

Peter Buckley is just a few months into his tenure as the new chancellor at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. Earlier this year, our Laura Testino sat down with Buckley in his Memphis office.

“They’re in the trashcan,” Buckley, said about the Zoom meeting background he’d chosen. In the artwork, he was explaining, the boy had jettisoned the usual superheroes, Batman and Spiderman. 

“Instead,” Buckley said about the boy in the artwork, “he has a nurse.”

A new artwork by street artist Banksy hangs in a hallway at University Hospital Southhampton in southern England, May 7, 2020.

The nurse, wearing a superhero cape and N95 mask, is soaring, waving to the boy in overalls making her fly.

Buckley said he has quickly appreciated Memphis’ vibrancy, rich culture and community. Here, he’s bringing his appreciation for his Irish heritage and Great Danes and is poised to guide UTHSC’s influence across the state and into rural areas, as the field balances heightened interest but greater burnout, all while attempting to sustainably increase its diversity so more patients have more doctors who look like them. 

A hay bale painted with a Ford emblem sits outside the Haywood County Courthouse in Downtown Brownsville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. The town square sits about 15 miles from the site of the Ford's Blue Oval City project, a $5.6 billion electric vehicle plant which the auto manufacturer expects to create nearly 6,000 jobs.

Making Blue Oval City a success

Implementing the correct comprehensive planning process — ideally, a regional one — for Ford’s Blue Oval City is crucial to the $5.6 billion project’s success, our Omer Yusuf reports.

That was the message from a planners panel at “The West Tennessee Megasite/Blue Oval City Next Steps” conference held all-day Thursday. The Memphis Area Association of Governments hosted the in-person conference at the Halloran Centre with Kudzukian broadcasting the event on Facebook Live and YouTube.


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