Information provided to Action News 5 by Bobby King.

100-year-old Peabody Elementary is getting a makeover thanks to a newly formed group of neighborhood residents and businesses.

The Friends of Peabody Elementary are planning a "Flip This Schoolyard" event on the last two Saturdays in July. The group is hoping that volunteers will turn out July 24 and 31, from 7:00 - 10:00 a.m. each day, to execute a major upgrade to the landscaping at the School. The hope is that many hands will transform the nondescript landscaping at the entrance of Peabody Elementary into a showcase for the entire Cooper-Young Neighborhood.

By Lori Brown - bio | email

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Republican Mark Luttrell has a slight lead over Democrat Joe Ford in the race for Shelby County Mayor, according to a Yacoubian Research poll released Monday.

According to the poll, which was co-sponsored by Action News 5:

• 46 percent of likely voters say they want Sheriff Mark Luttrell to be Shelby County Mayor.
• 41 percent of likely voters say they want Shelby County Interim Mayor Joe Ford for the job.
• 13 percent are still undecided.

Click here to download the poll. (PDF)

This press release was provided to Action News 5 by MBAA:

The Arts-A-Fire Youth Theater Troupe will present its first Summer Production with the comedic children’s drama  “Amazing Grace” on  Friday, July 23, 10 a.m. and Saturday, July 24, 7 p.m. at The Evergreen Theater (formerly Circuit Playhouse), 1705 Poplar Ave. at Belvedere.  Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults and $7 for MBAA members.  For ticket more information, call 901-948-9522 or visit the website at www.memphisblackartsalliance.org.
Adapted by Shay Youngblood from the best-selling picture book by Mary Hoffman, “Amazing Grace” is about a little girl who loves acting out stories, those told and read to her by her grandmother as well as ones she reads on her own.  She also makes up her own stories, acting out the most exciting parts.  When Grace is in her playworld everything to her is real.  In her imagination, she becomes the characters:  Anansi the Spider; Joan of Arc; Mowgli, Hiawatha.  She is a pirate with a peg leg and a parrot, an explorer and a theatre director of a production of CINDERELLA in which she casts a boy in the title role.  When Grace is told by two of her classmates that she can’t be Peter Pan because she is a girl and because she is black, she shows us that she can indeed do anything she sets her mind to.  The story is told with songs, rhythm and repetition and offers young people a bit of folk wisdom.