VOL. 127 | NO. 23 | Friday, February 3, 2012
Memphis-based International Paper Co. on Thursday reported its best year in nearly 20 years with net earnings of $1.3 billion compared to $644 million in 2010.
Arts orgs bounce back, expect strong year
It may be the start of a new year for most people, but for arts organizations in Memphis, it’s a new life altogether. Tough economic years in 2009 and 2010 led to creative collaborations in 2011, which some say will bloom into financial success in 2012.
How happy are you feeling, Memphis?
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell warned the schools consolidation transition planning commission that it cannot ignore the issue of suburban municipal school districts as it draws up the blueprint for a consolidated countywide school system.
Smith & Nephew has announced it will reduce its global workforce by 7 percent over the next three years. The statement came Thursday, Feb. 2, when the London-based company reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2011 earnings, with Q4 earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region and Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee have filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville against John Dreyzehner, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health.
MAA Chairman and CEO Eric Bolton says the multifamily sector is going to be “pretty darn good” over the next few years. He offered analysts that assessment during a conference call Friday, Feb. 3, in conjunction with the real estate investment trust’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2011 earnings report.
A local electrical designer is relocating its operations from Collierville to Hickory Withe.
Two new local owners are under contract to buy and convert the former French Quarter Suites Hotel in Midtown’s Overton Square district to a Comfort Suites in a $6 million project.
Two years ago, a trio of economics professors at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, checked in on a model they built in 2008 to measure and predict the long-term effects of U.S. airline mergers on specific markets, including Memphis.
When she’s not busy tagging and tracking seals with a team of scientists in Antarctica, Memphis educator Alex Eilers is responding to email questions and sending postcards to her students and community supporters, who are following her journey online.
MEMPHIS STANDOUT
Editor’s Note: This is a Daily News series featuring past winners of the Bobby Dunavant Public Service Awards, which annually honor one elected and one non-elected government official. The 2012 awards will be presented Feb. 22.
SPORTS
Tony Allen is the middle of everything.
Every coach wins National Signing Day. Every year.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
THE VOICES IN MY HEAD MAY NOT BE REAL, BUT THEY HAVE SOME GOOD IDEAS.
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a five-part series on roles and responsibilities.
MEMPHIS AREA
MEMPHIS (AP) – Valero Energy Corp. on Thursday offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the fatal shooting of an employee of the company's refinery in Memphis.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) – The official 2012 Tennessee Transportation Map is now available.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) – Republican lawmakers are building support for a plan to wait until the end of the year to take action on state requirements set by President Barack Obama's federal health care law.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to a level that signaled a steadily improving job market. The figures came one day before the government is expected to report that January marked another solid month for hiring.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Workers were more efficient in the final three months of last year, although their gains in productivity slowed from the previous quarter. Slower productivity growth can be a good sign for hiring if economic growth picks up.
NEW YORK (AP) – Americans were shopping in January, but not every store was feeling the love.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Obama administration is taking steps to make the fees charged in 401(k) plans more transparent and broaden the options retirees have for drawing on their nest egg.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate is poised to pass a bill banning insider trading by lawmakers as well as the executive branch.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House on Wednesday voted to freeze the wages of federal workers for a third straight year and put members of Congress on record as opposing a boost in their $174,000 annual salaries.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Ben Bernanke defended the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates at record-low levels for the next three years, during a contentious hearing before federal lawmakers.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is struggling to come up with a solution to the nation's crumbling roads, bridges and transit systems, which are at the point of hindering economic growth.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) – The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell this week to a record low, the ninth time that has happened in the last year. Even with the cheapest rates in history, the housing market remains depressed.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Facebook is baring its business soul.