VOL. 126 | NO. 236 | Monday, December 5, 2011
A one-time pay bonus for county employees the same year that jobs were cut in county government tops the Monday, Dec. 5, agenda of the Shelby County Commission.
Council moves vote on city's Overton Square involvement
Memphis City Council would have voted Tuesday, Dec. 6, on whether it would fork over about $16 million in funds for public infrastructure improvements in Loeb Properties Inc.'s redevelopment of Midtown’s Overton Square.
The Plough Foundation has awarded Literacy Mid-South a $200,000 grant to help update its Adult Learning Program and re-establish the Smart Memphis Coalition, a literacy outreach program that provides training and technical assistance to more than 100 literacy organizations in the Greater Memphis area.
Eric Trump, the son of business magnate Donald Trump and executive vice president of Development and Acquisitions at The Trump Organization, traveled to Memphis Friday to present a $1 million check from his nonprofit Eric Trump Foundation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The interim General Sessions Court clerk has pulled a qualifying petition to run for the office in the March Democratic primary.
A procession of red rice paper sky lanterns delicately floated into an orange sky over Tom Lee Park in Downtown Memphis Thursday, Dec. 1, as the sun descended on the Mississippi River.
Over the past several days, eerily similar messages have come from a pair of economic forecasters who spoke at the Thursday, Dec. 1, meeting of the Economic Club of Memphis, the most recent forecast from a local investment firm and the latest economic snapshot from the Federal Reserve.
Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman told the group fashioning the plan to consolidate Shelby County’s two public school systems by the late summer of 2013 that the state wants to help.
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
APG Office Furnishings has seen substantial growth since moving to Memphis in early 2009. The recently opened Downtown location at 100 S. Main St. offers an upgrade from the company’s old Shelby Drive store, as well as the benefit of pedestrian traffic.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
You may have tried to sell off some of your unused stuff without success or deciding it wasn’t worth it. That does not mean you can’t do better renting out things you are not using much.
Last week, we spotlighted The Soulsville Charter School, which is dedicated to preparing students for success in college and life in an academically rigorous, music-rich environment. This week, with the holiday shopping season in high gear and a focus on preventing the traditional, corresponding rise in crime, let us review some helpful tips to protect your family and friends, as well as your coworkers and businesses.
THE MEMPHIS NEWS
Large crop helps local cotton market remain vibrant despite recent price dip
The Mid-South region is on track to produce 4.8 million bales of cotton this year, the largest crop of the fluffy white fiber since 2007.
Christmas came early for Memphis sports fans. It arrived the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Now is not the time to cross staffers at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, which has a massive exhibition of weaponry, armor, and related artwork on display through March 11.
A restaurant people still mourn for is Buns on the Run, which had an 11½ year run in an old frame house on Elzey, just east of South Cooper, before closing in November 2008. In that cozy establishment, Pam Hardin and Sharron Johnson served the most comforting of comfort food, along with sublime baked goods and a sunny, welcoming attitude. Buns on the Run put the “home” in home cooking.
Most people who have a smattering of knowledge about wine understand that the cabernet franc grape plays third fiddle to cabernet sauvignon and merlot in Bordeaux. There’s another wine region in France, though, where as a red grape cabernet franc reigns supreme, and that’s in the central Loire Valley appellations of Chinon and Bourgueil. Chinon is the better-known, both as an area and as a wine, and with thoughtful treatment, the cabernet franc grape here may achieve extraordinary levels of intensity and purity.
MEMPHIS AREA
MEMPHIS (AP) – Shipping company FedEx says it will increase shipping rates for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery by a net average of 4.9 percent in January.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) – The Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. says ticket sales in November were the most of any November since the game's inception in 2004.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) – Former state Republican Party Chairwoman Robin Smith said Friday she won't make another run for Congress next year.
NASHVILLE (AP) – The Tennessee Supreme Court has a new website designed to help people who cannot afford legal representation.
NASHVILLE (AP) – The Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville has opened an exhibit about cemeteries.
REGIONAL
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Majestic Star Casino, which owns Fitzgeralds Casino Hotel in Robinsonville, Miss., has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
SEARCY, Ark. (AP) – The apparent winning bids for the recipes of bankrupt Yarnell's Ice Cream Co. were turned down and awarded instead to a Chicago company as part of its overall bid for much of Yarnell's assets.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Small businesses and startups that were skittish about the economy this summer started hiring in bigger numbers this fall, helping drive the unemployment rate down to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest in two and a half years.
NEW YORK (AP) – Railroads have cleared a major hurdle as the industry averted a looming strike, paving the way for growth ahead, analysts said Friday.
DALLAS (AP) – Major U.S. airlines are again trying to raise prices on many domestic flights.
TOKYO (AP) – Honda Motor Co. is recalling 304,000 vehicles globally for air-bags that may inflate with too much pressure in a crash, send metal and plastic pieces flying and cause injuries or deaths.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House signaled Friday that President Barack Obama will take a hard line in ongoing negotiations over a $900 billion-plus catchall spending bill that's needed to keep the government running through next September.
WASHINGTON (AP) – In an ambitious gesture to their business allies, House Republicans passed legislation Friday that critics say would prevent the government from protecting Americans at their workplaces, in their homes, and when they want a breath of fresh air.
WASHINGTON (AP) – In a potent political pairing, President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton evoked a more prosperous time in America Friday as they jointly pushed a green jobs program that Obama said harkens back to the Clinton administration when "we were firing on all cylinders."
WASHINGTON (AP) – Facing criticism from industry and lawmakers, the Obama administration on Friday proposed easing rules aimed at reducing toxic air pollution from industrial boilers and incinerators.
SPORTS
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The New Orleans Hornets will play two preseason games against the Memphis Grizzlies.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) – Hoping to harvest some fresh cash, the online game company behind "FarmVille" said Friday that it plans to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering of up to 100 million shares.
NEW YORK (AP) – For anyone who needed official word, a new study confirms that many of us – and the majority of young adults – go online for no good reason at all.
NEW YORK (AP) – Research In Motion Ltd., the struggling maker of the BlackBerry phones, is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets, since it has to sell them at a deep discount.
NEW YORK (AP) – Cable companies Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks are giving up on their dreams of creating their own wireless network, opting instead to resell Verizon Wireless service.