VOL. 127 | NO. 91 | Wednesday, May 9, 2012
T.S. Eliot described April as “the cruelest month” in his classic poem “The Waste Land” – but for Shelby County’s mortgage market, April turned out to be a bit more positive than that.

Ordinance looks to rid city of street, sidewalk impediments
The block of Madison Avenue between Main and Second streets hasn’t been easy for quite a while.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced Tuesday, May 8, that it will wind down its PinnPro Professional Ground Services subsidiary “over the next several months,” leaving the company’s ground operations restructured and much smaller.
A plan by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to buy two miniature helicopter drones hit some political turbulence Monday, May 7, among Shelby County Commissioners concerned about privacy issues.
The city started a pilot program last year to clean up blight by utilizing a 25-square-block strategy.
A new report released by Healthy Memphis Common Table (HMCT) – a nonprofit health care network of more than 200 community partners focused on improving regional health care – found an overall improvement in the percentage of patients receiving recommended health care in Memphis and Shelby County.
Memphis-based biopharmaceutical company GTx Inc. on Tuesday, May 8, reported an $11.1 million net loss for the first quarter, compared to a net loss of $2.6 million for the same period in 2011.
MEMPHIS NEWSMAKERS
Amanda Kiser has joined Volunteer Mid-South as community services director. Kiser’s responsibilities include mobilizing and maximizing volunteer resources, coordinating training for partner agencies, creating and leading community projects, and marketing VMS’ benefits to agencies and the public.
LOCAL COLUMNISTS
There is perhaps no greater weapon in a sales rep’s arsenal than a well-told story. There are fundamental selling skills salespeople must have to find success – the ability to uncover a prospect’s needs, formulate customized solutions, overcome objections, and ask for and close the business. You would assume those skills, coupled with proper selling tools, would equate to success.
Before we can achieve our vision of establishing a world-class education system, we must first understand the conditions of the two school districts and develop the capacity to remove any inconsistencies that exist between the current conditions and our overall goal.
REGIONAL
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) – Gov. Mike Beebe testified in federal court Tuesday that he wanted to keep the black voting-age population high in an east Arkansas Senate district, but that he and the redistricting panel he chaired had to consider all of the state's legislative districts.
TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – Five Tupelo groups have partnered to pay for a market analysis that will target the possibility of building an entertainment venue in the Fairpark District.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) – The government says gasoline will be cheaper this summer than previously expected thanks to a drop in the price of oil.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Aviation Administration has repeatedly lagged in responding to whistleblower complaints about urgent safety problems, including takeoff and landing procedures at one airport that have caused planes to nearly collide, a government watchdog said Tuesday in an unusually harsh public rebuke.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Bank of America says it has begun contacting some its customers who may qualify to have their home loans reduced as part of a multistate settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses.