VOL. 126 | NO. 122 | Thursday, June 23, 2011
Regulators have announced a roughly $200 million settlement with Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. in a fraud case several agencies brought against the firm last year.
Mayors cite need for economic inclusion on final day of MMBC fair
The Memphis Minority Business Council wrapped up its fourth annual Economic Development Fair at the Memphis Cook Convention Center with a roundtable featuring the mayors of Memphis, Shelby County, Germantown, Bartlett and Collierville discussing the role of minorities and women in local economic development.
Former Memphis City Council member Barbara Swearengen Ware has taken diversion in the official misconduct case that led to her suspension from the council late last year and her resignation from the council effective Wednesday.
The Orchards of Collierville – a 226-unit apartment community at 400 Orchard Circle W. – has sold for $15.7 million.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. of Memphis has reached a contract agreement with its new president and CEO, Sean Menke.
FedEx Corp. beat expectations with its fourth quarter and year-end earnings report on Wednesday, June 22, as founder, chairman and CEO Fred Smith struck a decidedly optimistic tone about the economy.
While the Memphis City Council left the city property tax rate at $3.19 as it ended the budget season Tuesday, June 21, it added 18 cents to the tax rate on a one-time basis with a separate resolution.
The dust is still settling from this week’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Although Memphis is often labeled by local and national media as a leader in violent crime and one of the nation’s most dangerous cities, the crimes that make up those rankings are spread across the entire Memphis metropolitan area.
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. told a minority business forum his administration will begin questioning those who want to do business with the city about their use of minority and locally owned businesses in general.
Memphis City Council member Barbara Swearengen Ware resigned Wednesday, June 22, from the district 7 council seat she held since Dec. 1994.
Brian Faughnan sees his law practice as a window to just about every other area of the law. The special counsel at Thomason Hendrix Harvey Johnson & Mitchell PLLC focuses his practice on ethics as well as first amendment law, media law and business litigation.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
Philip Martin, columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, began his Sunday piece awhile back with a quote from “The Winner’s Manual: For the Game of Life” by Jim Tressel:
Mid-South restaurants and bars are having a tough time in this economy making ends meet. Fewer people are eating out, and when they do, they watch how much they spend. Owners are looking to cut costs wherever they can. Some may be tempted to cut down on costs by cutting the guaranteed money they pay their wait staff. Any owner so tempted should resist that temptation, because the ramifications could be disastrous.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) – Gov. Bill Haslam doesn't plan to stand in the way of proposed tuition hikes at Tennessee's two higher education systems.
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (AP) – Industrial chemical maker Eastman Chemical Co. signed a deal to buy Sterling Chemicals Inc. for $100 million in cash, boosting Eastman's market share in more environmentally friendly plastic products.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) – Gov. Bill Haslam wants Tennessee lawmakers to file 700 fewer legislative proposals next year.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Hedge funds will face closer scrutiny under rules approved Wednesday that seek to protect investors from excessive risks and prevent another financial crisis.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday that the economy is growing more slowly than it expected. But it said it will complete its $600 billion Treasury bond buying program by June 30 as planned and announced no further efforts to boost the economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says some of the problems that are slowing the U.S. economy could persist into next year.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The financially troubled Postal Service is suspending its contributions to its employees' pension fund.
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new report says that the national debt is on pace to equal the annual size of the economy within a decade, levels that could provoke a European-style debt crisis unless policymakers in Washington can slam the brakes on spiraling deficits.
HEALTH CARE
NEW YORK (AP) – This may come as no surprise to residents of New York City and other big urban centers: Living there can be bad for your mental health.