Briarcrest Files $4.8M Permit for Additions

Briarcrest Christian School has filed a $4.8 million permit application with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for auditorium, administration and classroom additions.

The permit lists the address of 10103 Raleigh-LaGrange Road E. in Eads, site of the school’s main 90-acre campus at the intersection of Raleigh-LaGrange and North Houston Levee roads.

Linkous Construction Co. Inc. is the general contractor listed on the permit application.

The Memphis-based commercial construction firm in 2008 filed a $20.5 million permit to build Briarcrest’s 151,000-square-foot elementary and middle school. That facility is adjacent to Briarcrest’s high school, which opened in 2003.

Briarcrest is a private, non-denominational Christian school with an enrollment of about 1,600 students in grades PreK-12. The school also operates an East Memphis campus at 6000 Briarcrest Ave.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Obama Calls for Rise in Small-Business Write-Offs

President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to increase the amount of investments small businesses can expense next year.

The White House says Obama wants lawmakers to let small businesses write off up to $250,000 in expenses. Officials say the initiative is included in Obama’s proposal earlier this week for Congress to end tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year.

Republicans say ending the tax cuts would lead to a tax hike on small-businesses owners. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says the president’s announcement Wednesday would be “no solace” for small businesses facing a tax increase.

Obama also signed executive orders that the White House says accelerate federal payments, reduce paperwork, and make it easier for small businesses to access loans and tax credits.

– The Associated Press

Hyde Foundation Announces $250K Match For Harahan

The Hyde Family Foundations will put up $250,000 in matching funds to go with the $15 million in federal government funding for the Harahan Bridge pedestrian and bicycle boardwalk.

The match is for construction and development of the boardwalk on the rail bridge across the Mississippi River.

It is the first part of a $1 million local match for the federal funding announced last month by the U.S. Department of Transportation for a broader project that includes the bridge. The broader project makes the bridge the centerpiece and link between Main Street Memphis and Broadway Street in West Memphis, Ark., that city’s main street.

– Bill Dries

Larger Hay Loads Allowed in Drought Response

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has signed an executive order that allows larger loads of hay to be hauled to farms.

The measure increasing gross vehicle weight to 95,000 pounds is in response to drought conditions across the state. It also increases the height of trailers hauling hay to 13 feet 6 inches and a maximum width of 14 feet during daylight hours.

The order expires on Sept. 8.

The hay supports the state’s livestock industry and cutting hay began earlier this year than normal because of a warm spring. The drought has also reduced hay yields in some parts of the state.

– Bill Dries

FTN Financial Expands Municipal Bond Group

FTN Financial, a division of First Tennessee Bank, has made several recent hires in its Municipal Bond Group.

Jack Flynn, Mark Droumbakis, and Pat Gray, all municipal bond specialists, have joined FTN Financial in institutional sales. Flynn and Droumbakis each have more than 20 years of municipal experience with Citigroup, and Gray has more than 18 years experience in the municipal sales group with Morgan Stanley.

FTN hired Mike Allen, a 25-year industry veteran, to head the Municipal Products Group in 2011. Since then, the firm has added three traders.

Hank Tansey brings nine years of experience in bank-qualified underwriting and trading. Kevin Fitzpatrick, with more than 20 years of experience, has also joined the group. And JP Zaptin brings more than 10 years of experience.

– Andy Meek

Malco Theatres, YoLo Form Partnership

Malco Theatres and YoLo Frozen Yogurt have teamed up to offer self-serve frozen yogurt at the Paradiso Cinema and Malco Smyrna Cinema locations.

Beginning Monday, July 16, patrons at both locations will have a new dessert option to accompany the current concession menu at the movies. Malco Theatres converted space in both locations that was formerly an Internet cafe into a “mini” YoLo Frozen Yogurt Shop.

The partnership is based on a six-month trial with the University of Memphis, where YoLo successfully operates a store-within-a-store model.

– Sarah Baker

Shelby Farms Conservancy Receives National Award

Shelby Farms Park Conservancy was recently selected to receive the National Health and Fitness Award by the National Recreation and Park Association.

NRPA will present the award at a special reception at the association’s 2012 Congress & Exposition in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 17.

Shelby Farms was selected for excellence in a variety of topics, including professional and voluntary service, programming, leadership, research and public outreach.

– Sarah Baker

Grant to Improve Med Usage Among High-Risk Patients

A group of community health care partners will receive an award to improve medication adherence and effective medication usage among high-risk patients in Northwest and Southwest Memphis.

The award for nearly $3 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Innovation Center will be administered through partners University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Methodist North Hospital; Methodist South Hospital; QSource; United Healthcare; BlueCross BlueShield and its BlueCare Medicaid plan; Southwest Tennessee Community College; Tennessee Pharmacists Association; and the Bluff City, Bin Sina, and Memphis Medical Societies.

Over a three-year period, the funds will support Project SAFEMED, which will serve vulnerable adults ages 20 to 64 and seniors 65 and over who are insured by Medicaid or Medicare and have multiple chronic diseases.

The program will work with primary care physicians and local pharmacies to provide comprehensive medication management delivered through teams of pharmacists, nurse practitioners, pharmacy technicians, and licensed practical nurse outreach workers based in outpatient centers.

This approach will improve adherence to safe and effective medication regimens; lower costs, and prevent adverse drug events, patient morbidity and mortality, and avoidable hospital admissions.

– Aisling Maki

Former Wharton Aid Hayes Joins Doug Carpenter Agency

Kerry Hayes, former special assistant to Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr., has joined advertising, public relations and consulting firm doug carpenter & associates as director of public relations.

The role marks a return to the private sector for Hayes, who worked on Wharton’s 2009 mayoral campaign before joining his senior staff that fall.

Hayes is credited with leading the effort to secure a $4.8 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which allowed Wharton to establish an “Innovation Delivery Team” of researchers to reduce handgun violence and accelerate economic development in Memphis’ inner city. Hayes’ portfolio in the mayor’s office also included work on blight abatement, bicycle and pedestrian issues, volunteerism, and projects related to talent retention, economic development and livability.

Prior to joining the administration, Hayes was the fund development manager for the Soulsville Foundation, a nonprofit music and education organization. He worked as a new media strategist for CS2 Advertising, where he collaborated on interactive campaigns for the Kroc Center, Memphis City Schools and the Downtown Memphis Commission, among others.

– Sarah Baker