WASHINGTON (AP) – Advocates for seniors say President Barack Obama is breaking his promise to protect Social Security, while conservatives say he is breaking his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class.

2. House Passes GOP Budget Plan Promising Deep Cuts - Friday, March 22, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Republican-controlled House passed a tea party-flavored budget plan Thursday that promises sharp cuts in safety-net programs for the poor and a clampdown on domestic agencies, in sharp contrast to less austere plans favored by President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies.

3. Obama Seeks to Avoid Sequester With Short-Term Fix - Wednesday, February 06, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is asking Congress for a short-term deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax revenue that will delay the effective date of steeper automatic cuts now scheduled to kick in on March 1. Obama said the looming cuts would be economically damaging and must be avoided.

4. Obama: Americans Agree With My Approach on Deficit - Monday, November 12, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama, laying down his marker for grueling "fiscal cliff" negotiations, said Friday he won't accept any approach to federal deficit reduction that doesn't ask the wealthy to pay more in taxes.

5. Mississippi Tracks Possible Misuse of Nutrition Program - Tuesday, October 02, 2012

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – State officials say 1,705 people in Mississippi were disqualified last budget year from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for making false claims and improperly taking more than $2.7 million in benefits.

6. Shelby Co. Home Sales Up 13 Pct. - Tuesday, August 14, 2012

July’s home sales report marked the seventh consecutive month with improvements over 2011 totals and the most sales filed during a single month this year, but pricing year to date is still troublesome.

7. House Leaders Wary of Farm, Postal Bill Showdowns - Tuesday, July 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate-passed bills to cut farm subsidies and food stamps and overhaul the financially teetering Postal Service have been put on hold by House Republican leaders wary of igniting internal party fights or risking voters' ire three months before the election.

8. Possession of Elvis Tour Bus Not Yet Settled - Monday, April 09, 2012

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – A two-year-old feud over who owns the so-called Elvis Bus continues in a Mississippi court.

It may be a while longer before the issue is settled.

The North Mississippi Daily Journal reports that Lee County Chancellor Talmadge Littlejohn postponed a hearing this week into a challenge to the bus' title, presently held by Bill Kinard of Tupelo.

9. Stamps Opens Realty Venture in C’ville - Monday, March 12, 2012

Local real estate professional John Stamps is investing in his home town by setting up a namesake business venture in Collierville Town Square.

10. Plan Would Lift Wages of Home Care Workers - Friday, December 16, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – Workers in the home health care industry – one of the country's fastest growing professions – would be guaranteed minimum wage and overtime protections under new rules proposed Thursday by the Obama administration.

11. Republicans Plan House OK of Payroll Tax Cut Bill - Wednesday, December 14, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House promised a veto Tuesday for a Republican bill renewing a payroll tax cut next year for 160 million workers, complaining that spending cuts that pay for the measure would whack the middle class and require no sacrifice from the rich.

12. Deficit 'Supercommittee' Struggles as Clock Ticks - Tuesday, October 11, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The supercommittee is struggling.

After weeks of secret meetings, the 12-member deficit-cutting panel established under last summer's budget and debt deal appears no closer to a breakthrough than when talks began last month.

13. No More Mail? What Would Ben Franklin Think? - Tuesday, September 13, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – Imagine a nation without the Postal Service.

No more birthday cards and bills or magazines and catalogs filling the mailbox. It's a worst-case scenario being painted for an organization that lost $8.5 billion in 2010 and seems headed deeper into the red this year.

14. MAAR: Home Sales Improve 4.6 Pct. - Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors’ latest numbers show a nice change of pace from recent residential real estate totals with a healthy 4.6 percent bump in July home sales.

The Memphis area recorded 1,289 home sales last month, up from 1,232 in July 2010, according to the association’s MAARdata property records database. The MAARdata system includes records of all property transactions in Shelby, Fayette and Tipton counties.

15. On the Right Path - Monday, August 08, 2011

Greenlines, greenbelts and greenways are already under way and are expected to grow and converge across the city in the years to come.

And while property owners should see increasing values as the Shelby Farms Greenline and other green assets become community fixtures and expand throughout the area, so far the depressed housing market is keeping all property values – no matter their location – in check.

16. Debt-Limit Votes: Senate Momentum, House Concerns - Tuesday, August 02, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House began debate Monday on the hard-bargained plan to avert a national financial default, even as the White House and congressional leaders struggled to round up enough votes to approve it. Supporters said momentum for the deficit-reduction compromise was on their side, but resistance from both liberals and conservatives made the outcome unclear.

17. Tea Party Takes its Turn in Debt Battle - Tuesday, July 19, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House weighed in with a veto threat Monday against a tea party-backed plan to let the government borrow another $2.4 trillion, a measure conditioned on big and immediate spending cuts and adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

18. Coast Guard Closes Stretch of Mississippi - Monday, May 09, 2011

MEMPHIS (AP) – The Coast Guard closed a section of the swollen Mississippi to barge traffic to protect a Missouri town from floodwaters Friday as police in Memphis went door to door urging residents to leave nearly 1,000 homes that could be swamped by the mighty river.

19. GOP Concedes Medicare Vouchers Unlikely to Advance - Friday, May 06, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The GOP plan to replace Medicare with vouchers will have to wait, party leaders acknowledged Thursday as lawmakers and the White House bowed to political realities in pursuing a deal to allow more government borrowing in exchange for big spending cuts.

20. House Passes $6 Trillion Spending Cut Plan - Monday, April 18, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Friday passed a Republican budget blueprint proposing to fundamentally overhaul Medicare and combat out-of-control budget deficits with sharp spending cuts on social safety net programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

21. Retail Sector Adding Jobs, But Not Always Careers - Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Erin Abell left a job in finance to volunteer for John McCain's presidential campaign in early 2008. She had hoped to return to the industry after the election, but by then Wall Street was on life support, and Abell had to live off credit cards until joining a friend's startup.

22. Home Sales Show Stability, Fall 3 Pct. - Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Now that the holidays are over and spring is around the corner, local real estate agents hope low interest rates and attractive sales prices will heat up the lukewarm housing market.

Shelby County saw 851 home sales in January, down just 3 percent from 881 the same month a year ago, according to real estate information company Chandler Reports, www.chandlerreports.com.

23. MAAR Installs 2011 Officers - Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors announced its 2011 officers and board of directors at its annual inaugural gala Friday.

The officers are: Leon Dickson of BenchMark at Southwind, president; John Stamps of Prudential Collins-Maury Inc., vice president; Walter Allen of Integra Realty Resources, secretary-treasurer; Carol Lott of Prudential Collins-Maury Inc., president-elect.

24. Askew to Lead FedExFamilyHouse - Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Bridgette Askew has been named general manager of the FedExFamilyHouse at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

25. MAAR Elects 2011-2012 Board of Directors - Tuesday, September 07, 2010

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors elected its board of directors for 2011-2012 at its annual meeting and election last week.

MAAR members elected six real estate agents to serve on the board during the next two years.

26. Home Sales Inch Up in Q1 - Monday, April 12, 2010

This past weekend the Memphis Area Association of Realtors hosted a citywide “open house” along with Realtor associations across the country.

The event, which spotlighted hundreds of homes for sale throughout the area, was designed to increase sales as the homebuyers tax credit approaches its April 30 deadline and also give the industry an overall spark before the busy summer season.

27. Postal Service's Emerging Model: Never on Saturday - Wednesday, March 03, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) - The post office is renewing its effort to drop Saturday delivery – and plans a rate increase – in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year.

Without drastic action, the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over ten years, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.

28. House Agrees to $1.9 Trillion More Debt - Friday, February 05, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Thursday voted to allow the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper in debt – or about $6,000 more for every U.S. resident.

The measure, approved 217-212, would raise the cap on federal borrowing to $14.3 trillion. That's enough to keep Congress from having to vote again before the November elections on an issue that is feeding a sense among voters that the government is spending too much and putting future generations under a mountain of debt to do it.

29. Schuermann Elected To Design Review Board - Wednesday, October 14, 2009

David Schuermann has been elected to the Center City Commission’s Design Review board.

Schuermann is a principal at Architecture Inc. He is active with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and currently serves on the Tennessee Board of Architectural & Engineering Examiners.

30. First Class Stamps Increase 2 Cents - Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The post office wants two more pennies for your thoughts.

The price of a first-class stamp for mailing a letter – or paying a bill – climbed to 44 cents Monday, though folks who planned ahead and stocked up on Forever stamps will still be paying the lower rate.

31. Civil Rights Museum Crowd Watches History in Works - Wednesday, January 21, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A museum dedicated to the history of the civil rights museum drew a crowd on Tuesday of people eager to see history being made in Washington.

The museum is on the site in Memphis where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, but about 700 people gathered there Tuesday to watch a live broadcast of the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

32. House Passes Economic Recovery Package - Wednesday, January 30, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House, seizing a rare moment of bipartisanship to respond to the economy's slump, overwhelmingly passed a $146 billion aid package Tuesday that would speed rebates of $600-$1,200 to most taxpayers.

33. CBO Predicts Federal Budget Deficit Will Rise to $250 Billion as Economy Weakens - Thursday, January 24, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - The deficit for the current budget year will jump to about $250 billion under Congressional Budget Office figures released Wednesday, as a weaker economy and lower corporate profits weigh on the government's fiscal ledger.

34. House Leaders, PaulsonNegotiate on Stimulus Bill - Thursday, January 24, 2008
     Top House leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Wednesday tallied the cost of measures to jolt the economy out of its slump as the three sought a swift bipartisan deal on a recovery package that could move through

35. Illegal Immigration May Help State, Hurt Some Cities, Study Finds - Monday, August 13, 2007

NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee can do little to curb illegal immigration and its costs beyond urging the federal government to enforce its laws and fund the programs it requires state and local government to provide, according to a new report from the state comptroller's office.

36. Archived Article: Memos - Wednesday, September 03, 2003
<ephoto> Greg V

Greg V. Ortega was named director of corporate product marketing for TBC Corp. Ortega previously held positions as TBCs manager of strategic marketing and manager of marketing and procurement for light truck tires. He earned...