South Bellevue Shell Station Sells for $1.5 Million

The Shell gas station and convenience store at 1335 S. Bellevue Blvd. in the 38106 ZIP code has sold for $1.5 million.

An entity called 1335 S. Bellevue LLC bought the 4,950-square-foot gas station and store in a Dec. 17 warranty deed from H & P Shell LLC, which had acquired the property in 2006 for $1.8 million.

Built in 2003, the store sits on 1.1 acres at the northwest corner of South Bellevue Boulevard and South Parkway. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2013 appraisal is $677,100.

In conjunction with the purchase, 1335 S. Bellevue filed a $1.1 million deed of trust through First Capital Bank. Sardar A. Aman and Rafiq Devji signed the deed as members of the borrower.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Fullilove Pulls Petition For County Clerk

Memphis City Council member Janis Fullilove has pulled a qualifying petition to run for Shelby County clerk in the 2014 county elections.

Fullilove pulled the petition to run in the May 6 Democratic primary.

Republican incumbent Wayne Mashburn has already filed his qualifying petition for re-election.

Candidates for the partisan county offices have until Feb. 20 to file the petitions for a place on the ballot. The winners of the May primaries and independent candidates advance to the Aug. 7 election.

Fullilove was elected to her second term on the City Council in 2011.

Evelyn Pitarro also has a petition out to run in the Democratic primary for County Clerk.

In other developments, Eddie Jones has pulled a qualifying petition to run in the Democratic primary for County Commission District 11.

– Bill Dries

United Housing Receives $10,000 Education Grant

United Housing Inc. has received a $10,000 grant from the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis.

The grant, which will be used to help cover the cost of United Housing’s Homebuyer Education and Counseling program, was awarded as part of the Women’s Foundation’s annual Grants Showcase and Volunteer Recognition event.

United Housing helps both first-time and recurring homebuyers throughout West Tennessee purchase homes and provides free homebuyer and foreclosure prevention education. Clients who take part in the Homebuyer Education and Counseling program must complete the course and one-on-one counseling to gain access to lower mortgage interest rates and down-payment assistance.

The nonprofit organization says 61 percent of its clients are women, 58 percent are African-American, 15 percent are Latino and 32 percent are female-headed, single-parent households.

– Amos Maki

Many Tenn. Tax Preparers Have Not Renewed IDs

Close to half of Tennessee’s tax preparers have not yet renewed their preparer tax identification numbers, and the current numbers expire on Tuesday.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, anyone who prepares or helps prepare all or substantially all of a federal tax return, claim for refund or other federal form for compensation must have a valid tax identification number. All enrolled agents also must have one. Tax professionals can visit www.irs.gov/ptin to obtain or renew their numbers.

Preparers must renew their identification numbers if they plan to prepare returns in 2014. The IRS says that more than 5,900 of Tennessee’s 12,000 tax preparers who have identification numbers have not yet renewed.

– The Associated Press

Haslam Appoints New Appeals Court Judge

Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Crockett County lawyer Brandon O. Gibson to the western section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

In a Dec. 26, news release, Haslam says Gibson will replace Judge David R. Farmer when his term expires Aug. 31.

The 38-year-old Gibson has been in private practice at the Pentecost & Glenn law firm in Jackson since 2003.

Her practice there has focused on governmental entity defense, employment defense, commercial litigation, civil rights litigation and transactional services. Her work for the firm has included its satellite office in Crockett County.

Prior to her work at Pentecost & Glenn, Gibson was at the Waldrop & Hall law firm in Jackson from 2001 to 2003. She was previously at the Potter Minton firm in Tyler, Texas.

– The Associated Press

Target: Customers’ PINs Among Stolen Data

Target said Friday that debit-card PINs were among the financial information stolen from millions of customers who shopped at the retailer earlier this month.

The company said the stolen personal identification numbers, which customers type in to keypads to make secure transactions, were encrypted and that this strongly reduces risk to customers. In addition to the encrypted PINs, customer names, credit and debit card numbers, card expiration dates and the embedded code on the magnetic strip on back of the cards were stolen from about 40 million credit and debit cards used at Target between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.

Security experts say it’s the second-largest theft of card accounts in U.S. history, surpassed only by a scam that began in 2005 involving retailer TJX Cos.

Target said it doesn’t have access to nor does it store the encryption key within its system, and the PIN information can only be decrypted when it is received by the retailer’s external, independent payment processor.

“We remain confident that PIN numbers are safe and secure,” spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in an emailed statement Friday. “The PIN information was fully encrypted at the keypad, remained encrypted within our system, and remained encrypted when it was removed from our systems.” The company maintains that the “key” necessary to decrypt that data never existed within Target’s system and could not have been taken during the hack.

However, Gartner security analyst Avivah Litan said Friday that the PINs for the affected cards are not safe and people “should change them at this point.”

– The Associated Press

More Than 93,000 Apply For Arkansas Private Option

The Arkansas Department of Human Services says more than 93,000 people have filed applications for health insurance under Arkansas’ private option plan to expand Medicaid.

The state said Thursday that of those 93,000 applications, more than 74,000 have been deemed eligible for the private option. This year, the Arkansas Legislature voted to use Medicaid money for private health insurance coverage for about 250,000 people.

The agency says about 5,900 people have been assigned to the traditional Medicaid plan because of health needs.

The coverage starts Jan. 1.

– The Associated Press

Gilmore Elected Women In Government Director

Rep. Brenda Gilmore has been elected a state director for a group advocating for women serving in state legislatures.

Gilmore, a Nashville Democrat, was elected to the position within Women in Government by her female colleagues in the state General Assembly.

State directors work to identify key issues, policies and priorities for the national group to focus on.

Gilmore said in a release that she is humbled to have been chosen, and that she wants to work to ensure more women are elected to public office in Tennessee.

– The Associated Press