Tenn. Exploring Design-Build Option for I-55 Interchange

Tennessee transportation commissioner John Schroer said he and his staff hope to have a design for the Interstate 55 in Downtown Memphis interchange ready in nine to 12 months.

Previous plans, which would have closed the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge for up to two years, are being reworked.

“We’ve opened up the idea of doing a design-build project,” Schroer said Monday, Nov. 9, during a visit to Memphis, referring to a project option in which the same contractor would design and build the project.

– Bill Dries

Same Time, Same Day For Tigers Football and Basketball

With the season the University of Memphis football team is having, no one wants to miss its game. And there’s nothing quite like opening night for the Tigers basketball team.

This Saturday, Nov. 14, with Memphis football and basketball playing at nearly the same time, Tiger Sports Properties – the Learfield Sports arm for U of M athletics – has had to come up with a plan for its radio broadcasts.

The football game at Houston, which kicks off at 6 p.m., will air on Rock 103 FM. The pregame show will begin at 4 p.m., and will feature studio host Forrest Goodman and the broadcast team of Dave Woloshin (play-by-play) and Jarvis Greer (analyst).

The Tiger men’s basketball home opener against Southern Miss tips off at 7 p.m. and will air on AM 600. The pre-game show will begin at 6 p.m. with the broadcast team of Jeff Brightwell (play-by-play) and Matt Dillon (analyst).

– Don Wade

Toof Printing To Open Nashville Sales Office

Toof American Digital Printing is opening a Nashville sales office.

David McQuiddy, the former president of McQuiddy Printing Co., will establish the Nashville office.

McQuiddy most recently has been in account management with Cenveo Inc., a Connecticut-based printer. He is a former chairman of the Printing Industry Association of the South.

Memphis-based Toof, which was founded in 1864, is the oldest and largest commercial printing provider in the Mid-South region. The Nashville office is the company’s first sustained effort in Nashville and East Tennessee.

– Bill Dries

Teach 901 Survey: School Leadership Factor for Teachers

Half of the teachers surveyed in Memphis’ 35 “priority” schools were drawn to their institutions by the school’s leadership.

That’s according to a survey of Memphis teachers in both the state-run Achievement School District and the locally controlled Innovation Zone schools.

The survey by Teach901, a teacher recruitment and leadership training organization, drew a 90 percent response rate across the 35 schools, all of which are ranked in the state’s bottom 5 percent in terms of student achievement.

A third of responders said they did not anticipate being in the teaching profession by the 2021-22 school year.

Most got their teacher training and professional development training in Memphis, with the Memphis Teaching and Learning Academy topping the list of local institutions.

Of teachers in the priority schools who relocated to Memphis in the last year, 64 percent moved from states within driving distance of Memphis.

– Bill Dries

MATA Bus Riders, Drivers Team Up

Memphis Area Transit Authority patrons and employees have teamed up in an aim to expand and improve MATA service under the new administration.

The 850 total members of the Memphis Bus Riders Union and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 713, whose members include MATA bus drivers, wrote a letter to Mayor-Elect Jim Strickland impressing the need to reinvest in public transit as “service cuts and outsourcing is planned for the spring.”

“We have brought together the operators at ATU Local 713 and the MBRU in a campaign to reverse the decline of our bus system, protect good jobs for Memphis and prevent further service cuts and outsourcing.” said Sammie Hunter, Memphis Bus Riders Union co-chair, in a statement.

The joint letter states that Local 713 members have fears of overcrowded buses and regular breakdowns.

“Trolleys will continue to receive adequate funds,” the letter continues. “Buses on the other hand are experiencing a crisis.”

The unions call for a sit-down with the Strickland administration to lay out the footwork for an expanded, efficient mass transit system.

– Madeline Faber

NCRM President Keynotes LeMoyne-Owen Series

National Civil Rights Museum president Terri Lee Freeman will deliver the keynote speech Wednesday, Nov. 11, at LeMoyne-Owen College’s 35th annual Fagin Lecture Series.

Prior to the 11 a.m. speech at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 767 Walker Ave., Freeman will meet with LeMoyne-Owen students in Steele Hall.

It was a year ago this month that Freeman was named as NCRM president. In that time, she has moved the recently renovated museum further toward becoming a town square of sorts for discussions of current issues in the framework of the social movement the museum examines.

Freeman has said she views the museum as a place to promote and discuss issues of social justice.

– Bill Dries

Methodist Le Bonheur Continues Updates

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has filed several construction permits for updates to its facilities.

On Nov. 6, it applied for an electrical construction permit for work on its Germantown building at 7691 U.S. 72.

At the same time, Progressive Technologies applied for electrical work on the east nursing station at 1265 Union Ave.

On Nov. 5, Stanley Convergent Security Solution filed a permit to install access control systems at the Methodist South facility at 1300 Wesley Drive.

And on Nov. 4, Belz Construction Services filed to install fire protection services provided by Tri-State Sprinkler Corp. at Methodist’s new office building at 5865 Shelby Oaks Circle.

– Madeline Faber

New Andrew Michael Eatery Planned for the Big Easy

Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman are venturing outside the Memphis market for their next restaurant venture.

In the spring, the chefs are opening a restaurant in New Orleans’ new Ace Hotel, according to nola.com.

The restaurant will be housed in an Art Deco high-rise Ace is restoring in the city.

Word of the new eatery follows on the heels of the announcement that the longtime friends and restaurateurs are headed outside Brookhaven Circle for the first time with their fourth restaurant concept planned for Carlisle Corp.’s The Chisca on Main. That concept, Catherine and Mary’s, will join LYFE Kitchen on the first level of The Chisca.

– Andy Meek