VOL. 126 | NO. 175 | Thursday, September 8, 2011
The developers of a roughly $8 million apartment development planned for Mud Island are scheduled to go before the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. Tuesday, Sept. 13, to apply for a nine-year tax freeze for the project.

First Downtown Museum Day intended to lure locals to attractions
Cruise by Sun Studio any day of the week and you’ll see tourists from every corner of the globe taking photographs of its famous brown brick façade and queuing up for a ticket to the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll.
Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz will be the special guest of U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn at President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress Thursday night, Sept. 8.
It took Shelby County Commissioners nearly 10 hours Wednesday, Sept. 7, to interview nearly 100 contenders for seven appointments to the countywide school board that takes office Oct. 1.
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Wednesday announced that it will break ground on its new Olive Branch, Miss. hospital at the southeast corner of U.S Highway 78 and Bethel Road on Wednesday, October 19 at 3:00 p.m.
The next step in the schools consolidation process is the appointment of seven members to the new countywide school board that takes office Oct. 1.
After the Shelby County Commission fills seven positions on the new countywide school board next week, it will then consider a vacancy in its own ranks.
Mueller Industries, the Memphis-based company whose Wynne, Ark., factory was heavily damaged in a fire Tuesday, Sept. 6, has had a busy Labor Day weekend.
U.S. District Judge Bernice Donald came back from the Labor Day holiday to a busy Tuesday.
When Danny Van Horn left Memphis in 1990 to pursue his undergrad degree at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, he swore he would wind up anywhere but back home where he started.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
Ray’s Take: As the Boomer generation ages, more and more retirement communities are in development. They are an attractive option to many, with choices ranging from permanent cruise living to college-based communities to developments with traditional apartment amenities. But before you start packing, there’s a lot you need to investigate to protect your physical, mental and financial future.
“A man made the bet of a horse that another could not say the Lord’s Prayer without a wandering thought. The bet was accepted.” So begins a fable. Halfway through the prayer, the one praying looked up and asked, “Do you mean the saddle also?”
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) – Tennessee's Civil War Driving Trail has received a grant of $819,000 for further work.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Companies in July advertised the most jobs in three years, and layoffs declined – a bit of hope for a weak economy. Still, many employers are in no rush to fill openings.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Despite the turmoil that shook the financial markets last month, the Federal Reserve says its 12 bank regions grew modestly this summer because consumers spent more in most parts of the country.
NEW YORK (AP) – American homes are more cluttered than ever with devices, and they all need power: Cellphones and iPads that have to be charged, DVRs that run all hours, TVs that light up in high definition.
NEW YORK (AP) – General Electric Co. said Wednesday that it will vigorously defend itself against a lawsuit filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency over $549 million in mortgage-backed securities the company sold to Freddie Mac in 2005.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Government policies to increase domestic energy production could create up to a million jobs over the next seven years, the oil industry said in a report issued a day before President Barack Obama delivers a major speech on jobs.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Working-age America is the new face of poverty.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) – A pipeline bill offered by House Republicans on Wednesday would block some safety reforms and ignores other recent safety recommendations made by accident investigators in response to a deadly gas explosion last year near San Francisco.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) – The powerful new congressional panel assigned to tame the deficit will have to squeeze Medicare and Medicaid for any chance of success. But health care industries that depend on those programs have invested millions over the years to woo its members.
Fewer Medicare prescription drug plan enrollees are falling into a coverage gap known as the doughnut hole in which they bear the full cost of their prescriptions, according to a study from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.