VOL. 126 | NO. 246 | Monday, December 19, 2011
New York-based investment firm Maxim Group LLC initiated coverage of the stock of Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. on Monday with a “sell” rating, and in a note to clients said the company has a “high probability” of ending up in bankruptcy.
Companies find value in Memphis’ distressed properties
In a local commercial real estate market where prices have plunged as much as 40 percent from 2007 peaks, special service companies are taking advantage of opportunities for buying distressed debt.
MEMPHIS (AP) – International Paper Co. said Monday, Dec. 19, that it reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to extend the regulatory review period for its pending $3.7 billion acquisition of smaller rival Temple-Inland Inc. until Jan. 27.
An Arabic-language professor at the University of Memphis and a Memphis-area Islamic religious leader have filed a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines Inc. and a partner airline over being kicked off a flight departing Memphis earlier this year.
Five days is a long time in politics. That’s the gap between the Monday, Dec. 19, meeting of the Shelby County Commission and the special meeting of the commission last Wednesday.
Metropolitan Bank has solidified its long-planned foray into Nashville with the announcement of its first office location in the city and the hiring of a senior managing director for the Nashville area.
The Plough Foundation will put up $1.5 million over five years toward improvements to Overton Park and operations of the Midtown park by the Overton Park Conservancy.
Back in August, the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, which serves Shelby County children who are victims of severe physical and sexual abuse, put out a plea to the community to donate teddy bears for its then-empty wall of bears.
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 West Tennessee Solar Farm in Haywood County is connected to the Chickasaw Electric Cooperative, a milestone in the development of the solar array bordering Interstate 40 that will generate 4.5 megawatts of electricity.
The information was there somewhere on the www.shelbyvote.com website, Shelby County Election Commission staffers insist.
Recent headlines shouted “Chicago Blues Great Hubert Sumlin Dies at 80.” The stories released about the death of Hubert Sumlin were almost correct, but the headlines should have read “Memphis Guitar Great Hubert Sumlin Dies.”
GOVERNMENT AGENDA
The Shelby County Commission will meet Monday, Dec. 5, at 1:30 p.m. in the Shelby County Administration Building, 160 N. Main St. Click on the meeting icon for a full agenda.
SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
Part of the experience that often goes hand in hand with packing ballparks and swarming stadiums to watch two sports teams clash is the need to keep some memento of the occasion.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
When I was young, neighborhood friends and I would get together to play football, baseball or other games. Often we would play all day, and sometimes we would still be playing when dinnertime rolled around.
It wasn’t all that long ago that virtually every deal the Memphis Grizzlies did was tagged with the phrase “financial considerations.” And when queried why the Grizzlies did a particular deal, Vice President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Chris Wallace answered, “cap space” – as in, room beneath the NBA’s salary cap to make further personnel moves.
THE MEMPHIS NEWS
High fares, fewer flights, lost business undermine airport’s changing facade
In the aviation industry, Memphis International Airport is considered a fortress hub, an airport where a single airline – in Memphis’ case, Delta Air Lines Inc. – handles 70 percent or more of the passenger flights.
For all the improvements at Memphis International Airport – most notably the air-traffic control tower that just opened and the ground transportation center under construction – the picture inside MEM isn’t as uplifting.
Tennessee Shakespeare Co. will celebrate the holidays by proving that it’s not a one-horse rodeo.
Duncan Aiken has loved pizza his whole life, though pizza, as he has found out, can be a harsh mistress. It took years to develop a recipe for the kind of crust he favors, years of studying, traveling, working and, of course, eating.
The small production wines of Cimerone Vineyards are available in limited quantities in a few states and by mail order only in California, and the winery does not offer a tasting-room. Pretty exclusive stuff, but because of a friendship between owners Roger and Priscilla Higgins and a local wine retailer, some cases of the Cimerone wines can be found in Memphis.
MEMPHIS AREA
MEMPHIS (AP) – The United States was still a young nation when three major earthquakes rocked the central Mississippi River valley in the winter of 1811-1812.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) – An administrator of the state's employment security system was appointed to the post while under indictment in Ohio.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumer prices stayed flat in November, further evidence that inflation has cooled off.
NEW YORK (AP) – Delta Air Lines Inc. is boosting its flying out of New York's LaGuardia airport, adding routes that target American Airlines and put it in a better position to compete against United.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Lawmakers in Missouri had the chance, after two buses packed with high school band members slammed into a freeway wreck caused by a teenager who was sending a flurry of text messages, to impose tougher limits on driver cellphone use. It got filibustered.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has passed a $1 trillion-plus catchall budget bill paying for day-to-day operations of 10 Cabinet departments and averting a government shutdown, while Senate talks on renewing a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits reached a critical phase.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans in the U.S. Congress are flipping the dimmer switch on a law that sets new energy-savings standards for light bulbs.