In his piece on John Calipari at theringer.com, writer Jordan Ritter Conn makes the case that the former University of Memphis coach is the best recruiter in college basketball history. His evidence includes this statistic: Since coming to Kentucky in 2009, Calipari has landed 30 McDonald’s All-Americans and sent 33 players to the NBA.

2. Lots of Noise, But Few Results in Legislature - Thursday, April 12, 2018

Just when you think the Tennessee Legislature is going off the deep end, someone will throw them a bungee cord. Maybe a rope made out of hemp would work better because a bungee cord leaves people bouncing, never quite reeling them in.

3. Who Starts on Defense? You’ll Have to Wait - Friday, April 6, 2018

Jeremy Pruitt hasn’t been afraid to change things around during his first spring practice as Tennessee’s head football coach.

4. Signing Class Disappointing, But Groundwork Laid - Friday, February 16, 2018

Tennessee football fans are hoping for a better National Signing Day in 2019. This year’s was a relative dud.

New coach Jeremy Pruitt, hired on Dec. 7, signed six players on Feb. 7 but whiffed on several high-profile recruits he and his staff were pursuing. He had signed 14 players during the first-ever early signing period Dec. 20-22.

5. Tennessee Bill Would Limit Licensing Denials of Ex-Offenders - Wednesday, February 14, 2018

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A bill in Tennessee would limit the ability of state licensing boards to deny occupational licenses based on the criminal history of applicants.

Republican Sen. Kerry Roberts of Springfield, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Lee Harris of Memphis and Republican Rep. Jeremy Faison of Cosby announced the "fresh start" legislation Monday.

6. Tennessee Funeral Home Fined for Reusing Caskets - Wednesday, August 9, 2017

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A Tennessee funeral home and its director have been fined more than $3,000 for reusing caskets without reupholstering them after they were rented.

WMC-TV reported Monday the Tennessee Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers found that E.H. Ford Mortuary Services violated state law by not changing the lining.

7. View From the Hill: House Leaders Still Figuring Out Sexual Harassment Policy - Thursday, March 2, 2017

In a case of déjà vu all over again, Democratic state Rep. Bo Mitchell isn’t willing to give Republican House leaders a break on their handling of former Rep. Mark Lovell’s resignation for alleged sexual misconduct.

8. Harwell: Lovell Investigation Handled Correctly - Friday, February 24, 2017

NASHVILLE – An investigation into now-former Rep. Mark Lovell started a day after he allegedly had inappropriate contact with a woman and lasted two to three days, House Speaker Beth Harwell says.

9. Harris: House Leaders Took Right Action With Lovell Probe - Tuesday, February 21, 2017

NASHVILLE – A Memphis legislator critical of the initial reaction to former Rep. Mark Lovell’s resignation is “somewhat satisfied” with the conclusion of a House investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

10. Democrats Want Investigation of Lovell’s Resignation - Thursday, February 16, 2017

NASHVILLE – A day after former Rep. Mark Lovell resigned abruptly, House Majority Chairman Ryan Williams says he asked Lovell to step down, but only if accusations of sexual misconduct against him were true.

11. Tennessee Lawmakers Could Raise, Lower Taxes This Session - Thursday, January 5, 2017

The 110th General Assembly is set to convene on Jan. 10 with unfinished business from previous sessions likely to dominate debate.

Here’s a look at some of the hottest topics expected to arise.

12. New Year, New Resolutions for Legislators - Thursday, December 29, 2016

Some Tennesseans recall the days when the state Legislature met every other year and wonder if it should revert to that schedule. Considering the General Assembly pushes most of its work into 3 1/2 months, it might be worth a try.

13. State Rep. Feels Heat From Staffer’s Firing - Thursday, October 13, 2016

Like sands through the hour glass, these are the days of our Legislature’s lives.

When General Assembly candidates run for office, they talk of high ideals such as reforming education, creating jobs, saving tax dollars and stifling sexual offenders, even restricting abortion, adopting a state rifle or making the Holy Bible Tennessee’s state book.

14. Looks Like 10-2, SEC Title Game, Orange Bowl for UT - Monday, September 5, 2016

Editor’s note: Nashville sports correspondent Dave Link has been accurate in predicting season outcomes for the Tennessee Vols in recent years. His 2016 season predictions, released just before press time, culminates with an SEC Championship appearance. Here’s his take on the season…

15. Last Word: Pastner's Georgia Tech Post-Season, Who Filed and Greensward Invitations - Friday, April 8, 2016

Not so fast with the off-season. There is a Memphis post-season after all.

And the Grizz found it Thursday like a light at the end of a long-tunnel where a lot of people slipped and fell and can’t get up.
The light was Houston flaming out at home to Phoenix without the Grizzlies having to make a basket.
It’s all about the math. Stay in school, young people.

16. Last Word: History As Geology, Beyond the Greensward and City Hall's HR Director - Thursday, February 4, 2016

History can be like geology once you get it in something that isn’t in the form of a book.
There are layers on top of layers that you may not ever see or miss until a site is wiped clean for the next present that used to be the future and will eventually become the past.
That’s the case with the city’s historic Medical Center where much has come and gone several times over as our city’s considerable investment in medicine and health approaches the end of its second century.
Health Sciences Park used to be the site of a hospital. You would think something as massive as the tower of Baptist Memorial Hospital’s central campus on Union Avenue would be missed. Yet even those of us who grew up with its presence drive past it every day without a thought of what was once there.
The same with the site of Russwood Park on the north side of Madison Avenue and the old bus barns where Beale used to run further east than it does now.
In recent years, new facilities have arisen as the medical center makes itself over in a kind of economic regeneration without a comprehensive plan.
There is now an effort to come up with a comprehensive plan for the area that is more than different ventures buying or leasing land and making plans for their needs.
Eight of the institutions in the area have hired a consulting firm to develop a master plan that includes not just facilities but residential and retail areas.
It’s a significant step for an area that remains intriguing for those of us trying to remember what was where and how long some of the survivors have been holding out in much different streetscapes than were there when they arrived.
The Masonic lodge at the dead end of Dunlap into Union Avenue is a survivor. It’s where the funerals were held for some of those killed in the 1925 river disaster in which Tom Lee rescued so many others.
The lodge at one time had an earth-shaking pipe organ that I had the rare privilege of hearing at a concert following its restoration in the 1980s – the ancient 1980s.
And I still wonder about the tiny medical textbook storefront and how it endures at a time when students rent books and others use digital versions.
There are still remnants of the porous border between the medical center and the Union Avenue auto row that used to exist and arose around the old Ford plant.

17. Last Word: New Minority Business Numbers, The House Affair and The Heights - Friday, January 29, 2016

The recently revived discussion on minority business in Memphis is about to go back on the front burner again. Fueling the intensity are new U.S. Census numbers. They show the percentage of business receipts in Memphis produced by black-owned businesses has dropped since the 2007 census numbers showed a 1.08 percent share of those receipts by black-owned businesses. That in a city whose population is 63 percent African-American.
The drop to below one percent is even though the overall receipts in 2012 were higher than they were in 2007.
Madeline Faber is the first to report the new numbers as part of a cover story in our weekly, The Memphis News, that will be on the streets and in the racks Saturday, on-line Friday afternoon.
The numbers are such a telling story and such an important indicator that we broke it out as its own story in advance of the cover story.

18. Last Word: Kroger Disses Clarence Saunders, Mud Island Plans and The Australians - Tuesday, January 26, 2016

What is old has become new again. And judging by your reaction to Andy Meek’s story on the Kroger plans for online ordering of groceries, what is old has gone viral as well.
Here are the basics:
You order from a list of items and Kroger fills the order and has it waiting for you to pick up.
When you think about the idea of supermarkets, which originated here in Memphis with Piggly Wiggly, it’s enough to make the Piggly Wiggly founder himself, Clarence Saunders, spin in his grave.
Before he came up with the idea of taking store shelves from behind the counter and putting them out there for you to get your own stuff from them, you would tell your grocer what you wanted and he would write it down on a paper bag and get it for you, wrap it up and present it to you.
Saunders changed all of that as you know if you’ve seen the Pink Palace’s child-sized replica of a Piggly Wiggly store from the start of the 20th century.
A century later, no paper bags and you can still walk among the shelves if you wish.
Perhaps this isn’t that extreme. Maybe this is simply a swing of the pendulum, back toward the middle ground.
Saunders tried to push it even further with his Keedoozle stores that followed Piggly Wiggly. In those stores, the items were lined up in what amounted to vending machines with shoppers releasing an item from the vertical row with a key.
Here Saunders went too far. He mashed the bread.

19. Reverb Coffee Truck Coming in October - Saturday, August 8, 2015

Jeremy Harris is preparing to add a coffee truck to the ranks of Memphis’ food truck community this fall.

20. Reverb Coffee Truck Coming in October - Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Jeremy Harris is preparing to add a coffee truck to the ranks of Memphis’ food truck community this fall.

21. Reverb Coffee Truck Coming in October - Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Jeremy Harris is preparing to add a coffee truck to the ranks of Memphis’ food truck community this fall.

22. Redbirds Manager Shildt Understands the Job - Monday, August 3, 2015

The best part of being a Triple-A manager is obvious: You get to tell players they are going up to the major leagues.

First-year Redbirds skipper Mike Shildt has had the privilege of doing that many times this season. He says it’s never sweeter than telling a player, for the first time, that he’s going up to the St. Louis Cardinals.

23. Brewing Opportunity - Saturday, December 13, 2014

When Memphians like Jimmy Lewis are leaving established careers to remake themselves as coffee roasters, it’s one sign that coffee culture in Memphis is abundant with opportunity and steadily coming into its own.

24. Avenue Coffee Hoping to Make Difference in City - Monday, January 13, 2014

A new coffee shop is opening near the University of Memphis soon, and the founders have a multipurpose mission for it.

Avenue Coffee is opening at 786 Echles St., two blocks south of the university. Once it’s up and running, the founders want Avenue to do everything from supporting local artists to championing social causes as well as serving a high quality cup of Joe.

25. Memphis Made, Reverb Unite for Coffee Stout - Saturday, January 4, 2014

A partnership between a small production brewery in Memphis and a micro coffee roastery hints at new developments for each venture in 2014.

Memphis Made Brewing Co., which launched in mid-October and is based in Cooper-Young, has teamed up with Reverb Coffee Co. to produce Reverberation, a Belgian-style coffee stout.

26. Memphis Made, Reverb Unite for Coffee Stout - Friday, January 3, 2014

A partnership between a small production brewery in Memphis and a micro coffee roastery hints at new developments for each venture in 2014.

Memphis Made Brewing Co., which launched in mid-October and is based in Cooper-Young, has teamed up with Reverb Coffee Co. to produce Reverberation, a Belgian-style coffee stout.

27. Reverb Micro Coffee Roastery Gaining Steam - Thursday, August 1, 2013

Reverb Coffee Co. is a new micro coffee roastery launched in Memphis by a coffee connoisseur with big ambitions for his small startup.

28. Burton Promoted to PR Manager at inferno - Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Ashley Burton has been promoted to public relations manager at inferno. Burton joined the agency in 2005 and most recently served as a public relations account executive.

29. Events - Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Lipscomb Pitts Breakfast Club will hold a Female Business Leader Lunch Thursday, Feb. 16, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Napa Café, 5101 Sanderlin Ave., suite 122. The lunch will allow business leaders an opportunity to network and discuss ideas. To R.S.V.P., email Jeremy Park at jeremyp@lpinsurance.com.

30. Sanon Joins Agape As Director of Operations - Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Julie Sanon has joined Agape Child & Family Services as director of operations.

Hometown: Leesburg, Fla.

Education: Psychology major from Oklahoma Christian University of Science and Arts

31. Fentress Joins Harris Shelton - Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Susan Fentress has joined the Downtown offices of Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh PLLC. Fentress concentrates her practice in the areas of intellectual property and biosciences.

32. Blockman Joins Keller Williams - Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Harold Blockman has been named the new vice president & principal broker of the Memphis Central Market Center for Keller Williams Realty.

Blockman serves as director of the board of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors and was selected for the 2007 Community Service Award by MAAR. Blockman is also president of the Tennessee GRI Association and a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Club.

33. UTHSC's Netland Honored by American Academy of Ophthalmology - Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Dr. Peter A. Netland will receive the Senior Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology at its annual conference this fall.

Netland, a Siegal Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), is the director of the Glaucoma Service and vice chair for academic affairs for the UTHSC Department of Ophthalmology. He is also the site leader in Memphis for the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus.