VOL. 126 | NO. 245 | Friday, December 16, 2011
FedEx Corp.’s earnings rose significantly during the quarter ended Nov. 30, spurred by a jump in e-commerce during the Thanksgiving weekend, the company has announced.
Downtown hoteliers eye strong 2012 as occupancy rates improve
Recovery continues in the local hotel market, fueled in part by several Downtown luxury hotels that have experienced healthy business in 2011 and anticipate an even stronger performance next year.
The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis has awarded $329,338 in grants, most of it to help 20 nonprofits upgrade their technology and make other internal improvements to their organizations.
The Shelby County Election Commission Thursday certified 16 candidates in the two sets of primaries for four county offices and one independent candidate who advances automatically to the Aug. 2 county general elections.
A Memphis-based tubing supplier is renewing its lease and more than doubling its space in a distressed Hickory Hill industrial park.
Perched on a stool and wearing a blue-and-gray Memphis Tigers Santa hat, one-man-band Jeff Hulett led a group of preschoolers in singing “Feliz Navidad” Wednesday, Dec. 14, at Perea Preschool, located inside Klondike Elementary School in North Memphis.
Memphis has more passenger air service per capita than its population, said Arnold Perl, the chairman of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board.
Smith & Nephew is the latest medical device maker to cut Memphis jobs in what’s proven to be a formidable year for the industry.
Memphis Area Legal Services Inc. is expanding its annual fundraising drive in both its amount and who the nonprofit is seeking donations from.
It’s been a rough week for Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The regional air carrier – in an age of capacity cuts by major airlines targeting regional carriers – saw its common shares drop to $1.02 per common share Tuesday at the end of the trading day. The stock closed Wednesday at $1.18, but was back down to $1.05 at close Thursday.
MEMPHIS STANDOUT
Photographer Amie Vanderford spent her birthday last year in Nepal. She was thousands of miles from Memphis, but it was in some ways like she was right at home.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
AW, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE. REALLY. Last week, I suggested we all look around for very merry Memphis things to give family and friends this year. I would be remiss if I didn’t also recognize a few of those folks who’ve been giving it to us, good and proper, all year long.
Editor’s note: Part one of a two-part series Which is more important: efficiency or innovation? Consolidation or diversity? Are the values and metrics of the private sector the same as those of the nonprofit sector? Should funding flow to institutions and organizations that demonstrate the greatest impact and serve the greatest numbers?
SPORTS
Whether Josh Pastner has a firm grasp of how to best use the tremendous athletes at his disposal is up for debate.
If you can’t be a little naïve and overly optimistic before the season starts, then when can you?
WASHINGTON (AP) – Proponents of a college football playoff are launching a new national campaign aimed at taking down the BCS, and Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee is among the supporters.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The NCAA has agreed to a $500 million deal with ESPN to broadcast the championships in many of its sports through the 2023-24 school year.
NASHVILLE (AP) – Titans coach Mike Munchak says he is assuming Matt Hasselbeck is playing Sunday at Indianapolis until he sees otherwise. That's even though his veteran quarterback only watched practice Wednesday.
MEMPHIS AREA
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Temple-Inland Inc., which Memphis-based International Paper Co. in buying for $3.7 billion, faces a federal criminal investigation over an August spill that killed thousands of fish in the Pearl River south of its Bogalusa, La., paper mill.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) – Tennessee's unemployment rate in November dropped 0.4 percent to 9.1 percent, the lowest since January 2009.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) – Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey on Thursday floated the idea of holding a special legislative session next winter if it's still necessary for Tennessee to come into line with requirements set by President Barack Obama's health care law.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) – The outlook for the job market is looking brighter.
DALLAS (AP) – American Eagle, the regional-flying affiliate of American Airlines, may furlough 223 Texas-based pilots and flight attendants in February as the company cuts costs under bankruptcy protection.
NEW YORK (AP) – With the final Christmas countdown begun, the nation's largest retail trade group has upgraded its holiday sales forecast reflecting growing optimism that much more spending is to come.
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. manufacturing output fell in November for the first time in seven months.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) – Bipartisan agreement is near on a massive $1 trillion-plus year-end spending package and should be reached in time avert a possible government shutdown this weekend, lawmakers said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The endgame at hand, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders expressed optimism Thursday at prospects for swift compromise to extend Social Security tax cuts, keep long-term jobless benefits flowing and avoid a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says a new bipartisan Medicare proposal would cause the health care program for seniors to "wither on the vine."
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama says there is no reason for the government to shut down over Congress' struggle on how to extend a payroll tax cut.
HEALTH CARE
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.
TECHNOLOGY
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) – A cellphone application that tells residents when the next bus is coming is the winner of a competition held by the Federal Communications Commission to help Americans access government services.
SEATTLE (AP) – With the holiday shopping season in full swing, online retailer Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it has been selling more than 1 million of its Kindle devices each of the past three weeks.