Advance Auto Parts Sells for $1.1 Million

An affiliate of Escondido, Calif.-based Realty Income Corp. has paid $1.1 million for the Advance Auto Parts store at 9811 U.S. 64 in Arlington.

Realty Income Properties 18 LLC bought the 6,708-square-foot retail store in a Dec. 7 special warranty deed from Advance Stores Co. Inc. of Roanoke, Va.

Built in 2005, the Class A facility sits on slightly less than an acre along the south side of U.S. 64 west of its intersection with Canada Road in the Houston Levee Trails Planned Development Fourth Amendment.

The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2012 appraisal is $1.2 million.

Advance Stores bought the property from the developer, VDS Development LLC, in 2006 for $1.2 million.

Realty Income, a publicly traded real estate company, owns 25 properties in Shelby County and 133 properties in Tennessee totaling 1.1 million square feet.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Rep. Todd’s Hearing on DUI, Gun Charges Delayed

A delay in state Rep. Curry Todd’s court case on drunken driving and gun charges will move proceedings until next month.

The Collierville Republican was arrested in October 2011 after failing a roadside sobriety test. A loaded .38-caliber gun was found stuffed between the driver’s seat and center console.

Todd is best known for sponsoring a law that allows people with handgun carry permits to be armed in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of drunken driving, possession of a firearm while under the influence and refusing a breath alcohol test.

Todd had been scheduled to appear in court on Friday, but the hearing was moved to Jan. 11. His attorney said he was still in talks with prosecutors.

– The Associated Press

Achievement School District Adds Six Schools

The Achievement School District will double in size in Memphis with the 2013-2014 school year.

Leaders of the state-run school district for the bottom 5 percent of schools statewide by student performance announced Friday, Dec. 14, six new Memphis schools for the district.

They are Corry Middle School and Whitney, Georgian Hills, Hanley, Klondike and Shannon elementary schools.

Whitney and Georgian Hills will be run directly by the district.

The remainder will be run by three charter school operators under contract with the ASD and all but one will phase in one or several grades at a time starting with the school year that begins in August.

Hanley Elementary will be run by Aspire Public Schools in a transformation that puts the charter operator in control of all grades at the Orange Mound school starting in August.

Klondike Elementary in North Memphis will see its kindergarten and first grade run by Gestalt Community Schools next school year with other grades phased into the charter operation in future years.

Shannon Elementary in North Memphis will be run by KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools with the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs operated by KIPP in the first year. KIPP will also phase in operation of Corry Middle starting in August with the school’s fifth grade.

The Achievement School District considered 14 Memphis schools for the second round of school selection and had said 10 would be selected. That was pared down to nine last week with six announced Friday at Frayser Elementary School.

The setting for the announcement is significant because the first set of six schools in the district included three in the Frayser area – Frayser and Corning Elementary as well as Westside Middle School.

The addition of Georgian Hills and Whitney brings the total in Frayser to five.

The goal of focusing on Frayser has been to affect failing schools in the feeder pattern to Frayser High School.

– Bill Dries

Morris Joins Husch Blackwell in Memphis Office

William Sherman Morris has joined Husch Blackwell LLP as the newest partner in the firm’s Memphis office.

Morris joins the firm’s aviation group and brings more than 11 years’ experience handling business transactions.

For the past five years, Morris served as in-house counsel with FedEx Express, most recently as senior counsel in the business transactions group. Morris served as the lead counsel for FedEx’s air operations, where he was responsible for all aspects of aircraft transactions.

Before FedEx, Morris practiced commercial transactions and commercial real estate law at Bass, Berry & Sims PLC.

– Andy Meek

Shoney’s to Reopen Memphis Restaurants

The three Memphis-area Shoney’s restaurants, including one in West Memphis, have been reimaged.

Shoney’s CEO David Davoudpour said in a company release that the 65-year-old American brand is making a comeback by expanding and opening additional restaurants.

A grand reopening celebration is slated for the Shoney’s 5829 Summer Ave. store on Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 11:30 a.m.

Established in 1947 as a drive-in restaurant, Shoney’s has nearly 200 restaurants in 17 states, including 52 in Tennessee. Its Memphis-area store addresses are 5829 Summer, 3081 Covington Pike Road and 222 W. Interstate 40.

– Sarah Baker

Corps: Ridding Miss. River of Rock Pinnacles Close

The Army Corps of Engineers says it’s close to shoring up how soon contractors could begin removing treacherous southern Illinois rock formations impeding barge traffic in the drought-plagued Mississippi River.

The Corps says it has hired Newt Marine Service of Dubuque, Iowa, and Kokosing Construction Co. of Fredericktown, Ohio, to do the work being expedited because of low levels of the Mississippi.

The Corps is finalizing how quickly the companies get to the work site near the Illinois village of Thebes, do prep work and begin blasting the rock to remove it.

Months of drought have left water levels up to 20 feet below normal from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill. The problem worsened last month when Missouri River flow into the Mississippi was cut.

– The Associated Press

Plea Change Set in Teacher Test Fraud

A lawyer for a former Memphis public school assistant principal said Friday he’s seeking a plea change to federal charges that he helped current or aspiring teachers cheat on tests they must pass to prove they are qualified to lead their classrooms.

A lawyer for Clarence Mumford Sr., Coleman Garrett, asked District Court Judge John Fowlkes for a new hearing in which Mumford could change his plea to either guilty or “no contest.” Garrett said he did not anticipate a trial in the case and said that he and prosecutors are in the process of trying to work out a plea agreement.

Federal prosecutors say teachers from three states paid Mumford to send someone else to take the exams in their place at testing centers in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The judge set the hearing for Jan. 25.

Authorities have said for 15 years, teachers in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee paid Mumford to send someone else to take the tests in their place. Mumford would get a fee between $1,500 and $3,000 to send one of his test ringers with fake identification to the Praxis exam.

Fourteen people have been charged with mail and Social Security fraud, and four people have pleaded guilty to charges associated with the scheme.

– The Associated Press

Cheaper Gas Lowers Consumer Prices 0.3 Percent

A steep fall in gas costs pushed down a measure of U.S. consumer prices last month, keeping inflation mild.

The seasonally adjusted consumer price index dropped 0.3 percent in November from October, the Labor Department said Friday. Gas prices fell 7.4 percent, the biggest drop in nearly four years. That offset a 0.2 percent rise in food prices.

In the past year, consumer prices have risen 1.8 percent, down from October’s 12-month increase of 2.2 percent.

Excluding the volatile food and gas categories, prices ticked up 0.1 percent in November. Core prices have risen 1.9 percent in the past year – below the Federal Reserve’s annual target of 2 percent.

– The Associated Press