Highland Row Developer Pulls Parking Garage Permit

Indianapolis-based developer Milhaus Development LLC and Memphis-based Poag Shopping Centers LLC have pulled a $5 million building permit as they continue developing the new Highland Row urban infill development.

The permit is for the three-story, 511-space parking garage to be constructed for the Highland Row project, which is located at Highland Street and Midland Avenue just west of the University of Memphis.

The $58 million development will feature 32,000 square feet of retail space, 234 apartment homes, 35 townhome units, a specialty grocery store, an outdoor plaza and a 1,500-square-foot free-standing coffee house.

Memphis-based Looney Ricks Kiss is managing the architecture, interior design and environmental graphic design of the project. It is expected to be completed in late summer 2016.

– Wendy Greenlaw, Chandler Reports

Sedgwick Expands Retail Leadership Team

Memphis-based Sedgwick Claims Management has a new member of its retail leadership team.

K. Max Koonce II has been named senior vice president of client services for the casualty retail business unit of Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc., a leading provider of technology-enabled claims and productivity management solutions.

Koonce was most recently senior director of risk management for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. He simultaneously served as president of Claims Management Inc., Wal-Mart’s wholly owned third-party administrator.

He’s also worked as an administrative law judge for the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission and an appellate court justice for the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

– Andy Meek

FedEx St. Jude Classic Director Stepping Aside

Phil Cannon’s long association with the FedEx St. Jude Classic is changing effective Nov. 1, when he relinquishes his role as tournament director

Cannon, who had been in that position since 2000, was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 but continued to serve as director of the tourney the last two years. He will remain as a senior adviser to Darrell Smith, who will move from tournament manager to tournament director.

“We’ve been planning this transition for many months,” said Cannon, who has been involved with the tournament for the last 50 years. “I have no doubt the tournament will continue to grow and prosper under Darrell’s leadership.”

Smith, 32, joined the FESJC staff in 2006. In 2010, he became director of operations for the AT&T Bryon Nelson Championship in Dallas, but he returned to the FESJC in 2011.

Next year’s tournament is slated for June 6-12 at TPC Southwind.

“Phil Cannon personifies all that is good about our great city,” said Jack Sammons, general chairman of the tournament’s board.

– Don Wade

Commission Confirms Orgel Appointment to DMC

Shelby County commissioners confirmed Monday, Sept. 14, county mayor Mark Luttrell’s appointment of Benjamin Orgel to the Downtown Memphis Commission board.

Orgel is among the partners behind the previtalization beer garden effort at what is being called Station 3: Memphis Firehaus. The event will take place throughout October and November in an old city firehouse at 200 Linden Ave.

The commission also approved Monday two contracts totaling $3.4 million in federal funding for McCrory Electric Co. Inc. to upgrade traffic signal systems. The federal funding is from the Congestion Management Air Quality program and comes to the county through the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

In other action, commissioners sent back to committee a proposed $135,000 contract with Rural/Metro Mid-South L.P. to provide nonemergency ambulance service for prisoners and inmates at the Shelby County Jail, Jail East and the Shelby County Corrections Center.

Commissioners had questions about the bidding process.

The commission also delayed action on a resolution by commissioner David Reaves urging the administration to call off plans to close a county fire station on Egypt-Central Road. The station serves part of the northeast unincorporated area of Shelby County.

The fire station is scheduled to be manned by the Millington Fire Department until Oct. 1 under a cooperative agreement with Shelby County.

The city of Millington is pulling out of the agreement because of the recent resignations of 11 firefighters. That has caused county government to reconfigure fire department coverage areas.

– Bill Dries

Memphis Scores $4 Million in Rape Kit Testing Funds

With grants Thursday, Sept. 10, from the U.S. Justice Department and the New York County District Attorney’s office, the city of Memphis completed its funding for the effort to clear a backlog of more than 12,000 rape kits dating back to the 1970s.

It also will set up a protocol and infrastructure for testing of all kits going forward.

The $4 million block of funding consists of $1.9 million from the sexual assault kit backlog elimination program of the New York prosecutor’s office and another $1.9 million grant from the Justice Department.

The city applied for both grants that come from larger pools of money.

The New York County grant is part of $38 million in funding to various jurisdictions across the country. It’s earmarked strictly for testing.

The Justice Department funding is from a pool of $41 million and the Memphis grant triggers $750,000 in additional “last dollar” funding pledged to the effort by the Plough Foundation.

That funding is for testing as well as more staff, training, equipment, travel expenses, victim support services and an evidence management system.

Another $976,420 in grants were awarded from both sources Thursday to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the state agency that oversees the laboratory testing.

The state’s application for funding comes after passage of a state law earlier this year, sponsored by state Senate Republican leader Mark Norris of Collierville, that creates a new state protocol for the collecting and testing of rape kits.

To date, 40 percent of the backlog of 12,374 rape kits in Memphis has been tested and completed. Another 20 percent have been shipped to laboratories for processing.

The untested rape kits are the basis for two pending lawsuits by rape victims, one in federal court and the other in Circuit Court, over how police allowed the kits, which contain evidence taken from rape victims, to pile up for decades. Memphis Police Department director Toney Armstrong disclosed the backlog in late 2013.

– Bill Dries

Methodist Files Permit for Campus Near Bartlett

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has filed a $2.6 million building permit application for changes to a 64,294-square-foot Class B office building it recently acquired.

Methodist plans to turn the building into a campus for the health care provider’s information systems and biomedical and clinical engineering departments.

In June, Methodist bought the former Anthem Career College facility at 5865 Shelby Oaks Drive from Belz Investco GP and Bico Associates GP for $3.9 million.

The newly-filed permit will go toward interior renovations of the property to be overseen by Belz Construction Services LLC.

Looney Ricks Kiss is the project architect, and Allen & Hoshall is the engineering firm.

– Madeline Faber

Fed Leaves Key Interest Rate Unchanged

The Federal Reserve is keeping U.S. interest rates at record lows in the face of threats from a weak global economy, persistently low inflation and unstable financial markets.

Ending a highly anticipated meeting, Fed officials said Thursday that while the U.S. job market is solid, global pressures may “restrain economic activity” and further drag down already low inflation.

Signs of a sharp slowdown in China have intensified fear among investors about the U.S. and global economy. And low oil prices and a high-priced dollar have kept inflation undesirably low.

Before year’s end, many analysts still expect the Fed to raise its key short-term rate, which it’s kept near zero since 2008. A higher Fed rate would eventually send rates up on many consumer and business loans.

“All this really does is punt,” said Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman’s private banking business.

Clemons said he expects the Fed to raise rates before the end of the year, especially if concern in the financial markets about China’s economic prospects eases.

“The Fed is paying attention to what is going on abroad,” he said. “That’s all code for China.”

– The Associated Press

CBRE Opening Appraisal Office in Memphis

Commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE Group Inc. is opening valuation and advisory services divisions in Memphis and Louisville, Ky.

The group will provide appraisal, property condition, environmental, zoning, construction risk management and telecommunication consulting services.

CBRE appraisal practices already exist in Nashville and Lexington, but the company “recognized the need for additional services to supplement a wider range of the Southeast,” according to a statement.

The Memphis and Louisville offices will have two appraisers each who will focus on all property types.

CBRE’s Valuation & Advisory Services group has a staff of more than 1,700 in more than 300 metro areas worldwide.

– Madeline Faber

City Council Delays Vote on Subdivision in The Village

The Memphis City Council delayed a vote Tuesday, Sept. 15, on an appeal of a two-lot subdivision at the northeast corner of Williamsburg Lane and Village Road.

Neighbors of the development are appealing the Land Use Control Board’s approval of the project proposed by Biffco GP and Investor Nation LLC.

The dispute involves how far the new homes should be set back from the road. The pre-World War II neighborhood has, in most cases, 100-foot setbacks for homes. The developers are proposing a 50-foot setback.

Before the council delayed the vote, councilman Reid Hedgepeth appeared to make some limited progress in getting the two sides to compromise. The council approved the delay until its Oct. 6 meeting to give both sides another chance to resolve their differences.

The council also approved an expansion of the Kirby Pines Estate planned development at Winchester Road and Kirby Parkway.]

That approval included the closing of Kirby north of Winchester.

– Bill Dries

Memphis-Based Cabsolutely Expands Into Nashville

Cabsolutely, a 2014 graduate of Start Co.’s Upstart accelerator, has reached its first regional market. Now a partner with Nashville-area Kwik Cab, the service platform provides cloud-based dispatch software and an app for cab drivers to better compete with tech-savvy ridesharing platforms. Cabsolutely currently is accepting beta testers for its upcoming passenger app, which will allow smartphone users to hail, pay for and rate a cab experience. It also has partnered in Memphis with Premier Transportation.

According to a statement announcing the deal with Kwik Cab, Cabsolutely plans to roll out in other national markets in the coming months.

– Madeline Faber

Professors Awarded $1.5M Grant to Help Veterans

Two University of Tennessee Health Science Center professors have been awarded a $1.5 million grant to study the effectiveness of one of the newest prosthetic feet on the market for use with military veteran amputees.

Drs. Audrey Zucker-Levin and Phyllis Richey got the grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, funding that will allow them to direct the Veteran Amputees Leading Prosthetic Research (VALOR) study at UTHSC. The aim of the study is to determine if a microprocessor-controlled prosthetic foot will provide a better alternative to the most commonly prescribed prosthesis for the typical below-knee veteran amputee.

The project will be funded over three years to determine if exchanging a traditionally prescribed prosthetic foot with an MPF will improve walking efficiency, safety and quality of life.

– Andy Meek

Six Memphis Schools Eyed for Possible State Takeover

Six Memphis schools are on the state-run Achievement School District’s short list for possible takeover in the 2016-17 school year.

ASD leaders released the list Thursday, Sept. 10, following a series of Shelby County Schools meetings several weeks ago with parents of those schools’ students.

The schools are Caldwell-Guthrie, Hawkins Mill and Sheffield elementary schools, Kirby and Raleigh-Egypt middle schools and Hillcrest High School.

Three charter school operators have expressed interest in operating the schools for the Achievement School District.

The ASD is for the bottom 5 percent of schools in the state of Tennessee in terms of student achievement.

The short list begins a process of making the decision about which schools will be included in the ASD next year and, of those schools, which will be matched with a charter school operator. The charter operators are Aspire Public Schools, Scholar Academies and Green Dot Public Schools.

After a series of community meetings with the schools’ parents and teachers, the charter operators will apply in October for the specific schools they’d like to operate.

The new procedure, which includes new neighborhood advisory councils, replaces a matching procedure used last year that saw several of the proposed charter operators withdraw after their selection.

The ASD also is proposing directly running Hawkins Mill Elementary, which is in Frayser. Most of Frayser’s ASD schools are run directly by the district instead of by charters.

– Bill Dries

I Love Juice Bar Opening Saturday in Cooper-Young

A new fresh juice and smoothie bar is opening in Cooper-Young this weekend.

I Love Juice Bar is opening its doors at 553 S. Cooper St. Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7 a.m., coinciding with the annual Cooper-Young Festival.

The business will focus on fresh juices and smoothies made to order with local ingredients; essential oil shots; and gourmet vegetarian fare like salads, spring rolls and soups. I Love Juice Bar also will give customers a “mix your own” option and offer juice cleanses. Owner Scott Tashie also owns Cosmic Coconut in East Memphis.

In addition to the 1,800-square-foot Cooper-Young space with a seating capacity of 50, the I Love Juice Bar green Volkswagen bus will function as an extension of the concept, offering samples at events around town. There’s also an I Love Juice Bar app for iPhone and Android devices.

– Andy Meek

New Restaurant Flying into Oak Court Mall

A new eatery has spread its wings and landed at Oak Court Mall.

American Wing Co. is opening this fall in the mall, at 4465 Poplar Ave.

The menu features classic and boneless chicken wings in a variety of flavors, such as lemon pepper, garlic pepper, teriyaki, honey BBQ and honey mustard prepared mild, medium, hot and extra hot.

Burgers, hot dogs, gyros, fried fish and shrimp also will be on the menu.

Other restaurants operating in Oak Court include Chick-fil-A, Charley’s Grilled Subs and Subway.

– Andy Meek

Delta Queen Lists Memphis as Possible Port

The legendary Delta Queen steamboat is expected to visit the Memphis riverfront with its probable 2016 return to passenger cruise service.

The Delta Queen Steamboat Co. listed Memphis as a port Thursday, Sept. 10, as the company announced its headquarters will be located in Kimmswick, Mo., south of St. Louis.

The circa-1927 riverboat came out of active river service in 2009 and operated as a dockside hotel in Chattanooga until 2014.

The company built around its passenger cruises bought the vessel in February 2015. The Delta Queen is scheduled to resume passenger cruises in 2016; a Congressional exemption for the boat is the last regulatory hurdle.

The boat will visit more than 80 U.S. ports annually.

Memphis is headquarters and the home port for the American Queen, the world’s largest steamboat. Beale Street landing also has seen this year arrivals and departures from other steamboats including the Queen of the Mississippi and American Eagle.

– Bill Dries

Rhodes, CBU Gain National Awards

A new smattering of college rankings is out, and two local higher-education institutions have some placement to brag about.

Rhodes College is featured in The Princeton Review’s “Colleges That Create Futures: 50 Schools That Launch Careers by Going Beyond the Classroom.” It made the cut out of several hundred colleges considered for the book.

Rhodes also was included on Best College Review’s list of the Top 50 Colleges with the Best Greek Life. It ranked No. 17 on the list; more than 50 percent of its students are involved in 14 fraternities and sororities.

Across Midtown, Christian Brothers University was recently named No. 19 in a list put out by BestValueSchools.com compiling the “50 Best Value Small Colleges for a Business Administration Degree 2015.” In the article, CBU is highlighted for its seven different concentrations for an undergraduate business degree.

CBU also gained several titles in U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”

The university ranked No. 27 out of 127 schools included in the regional universities category. It also came in at No. 9 in best value for southern universities; No. 4 in campus ethnic diversity for southern universities; No. 22 in best colleges for veterans in the south; and was labeled as an “A+ School for B students.”

– Madeline Faber

Memphis Airport Lands $1.4M for Improvements

Memphis International Airport will receive $1.4 million in federal funding to go toward installing newer, more efficient air conditioning units in three jet bridges.

The funding comes through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Voluntary Airport Low Emission program, which is designed to reduce emissions and improve the air quality in and around the airport..

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen announced the funding Thursday, Sept. 17, saying, “This funding will help ensure the Memphis airport can continue serving travelers comfortably and efficiently while protecting our environment for Memphians who live nearby.”

– Madeline Faber

CEO Retires as Lifeblood Joins Blood Systems

After guiding a six-year turnaround of the Memphis region’s blood bank, Susan Berry-Buckley has announced her retirement as CEO of Lifeblood, effective Sept. 30.

Coinciding with her retirement, Lifeblood on Oct. 1 will become part of Blood Systems, a national nonprofit that operates community blood centers serving more than 700 hospitals in 22 states.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Blood Systems also operates biological products distribution services, a quality consulting group and a transfusion medicine research institute. It’s a partner in the operation of four high-volume donor testing laboratories.

“Our missions and values are parallel, as are our shared commitments to quality, teamwork and excellence,” Berry-Buckley said. “As a Blood Systems center, Lifeblood will continue to pursue our lifesaving mission.”

As CEO, Berry-Buckley expanded Lifeblood’s mobile presence in the community and streamlined donor center operations. She successfully steered efforts to engage not only individual donors but also corporate sponsorship for events like the annual Donor Fest celebration and volunteer recognition luncheon, both established in 2010, and also for a new $250,000 bloodmobile that will be delivered in March 2016.

Danny Garrick, Lifeblood’s COO since 2002, will serve as the organization’s executive director effective Oct. 1. Garrick has served in leadership positions at the blood center for more than 20 years. Prior to his joining Lifeblood, Garrick was senior executive vice president of operations in Mississippi and Louisiana for Regions Bank.

– Don Wade

Chamber Launches Workforce Partnership

A few local civic organizations have teamed up to form a public-private workforce partnership to address the gap between available jobs, available training programs and the unemployed and underemployed in Memphis.

The partners include the Greater Memphis Chamber, the Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce and the Workforce Investment Network.

The partners meet weekly to discuss workforce challenges and needs, and they’ll launch their first joint community engagement effort in mid-September with a pilot program involving area churches hosting participants from their congregations who are unemployed.

The partners will have staff members connect participants to job opportunities, training and support services. The churches are chosen based on geographic location and will take an active role in helping connect people to available job resources.

– Andy Meek

Date for Memphis Runoff Election Moved

Originally scheduled for Nov. 8, the city of Memphis runoff election date has been moved to Nov. 19 after Shelby County Election Commission officials noticed a longstanding conflict between city charter and state law.

The runoff elections are for single-member city council district races in which no candidate gets a majority of the votes cast in the October city elections. In those cases, the candidates with the two highest vote totals advance to a runoff election.

A Memphis Federal Court ruling in 1991 abolished a similar runoff provision for citywide positions.

The runoff elections historically have been held a month after the general election date. Shelby County elections administrator Richard Holden said that’s under terms of the city charter.

“But state election law says it shall be no sooner than 30 days and no longer than 45 days,” he added.

It’s not a recent change in state law; Holden said it just hasn’t been noticed until now.

There could be as many as four council runoff elections because of the large fields of contenders in several of the single-member districts where no incumbent is seeking re-election.

Meanwhile, early voting in advance of the Thursday, Sept. 17, election day in Arlington and Lakeland brought in 1,010 voters between the two suburbs.

Early voting in both cities ended Saturday, Sept. 12.

In Arlington, 302 citizens voted early and 708 Lakeland citizens voted early.

– Bill Dries

Shelby Farms Park Seeking Volunteers

Some of Shelby Farms Park’s biggest events are coming up and volunteers are needed.

First up: Spooky Nights, every Friday and Saturday in October and Thursday Oct. 22 and 29. The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m. and volunteers ages 15 and up are needed for ticket sales, parking, children’s activities, laser tag, paintball, hayrides and hikes.

On Sunday, Oct. 11, volunteers are needed for the Greenline Half-Marathon from 7 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will be needed to serve as course monitors, at water stations, and man check-in and finish-line points.

Then Starry Nights returns Nov. 20 through Dec. 27. Sunday to Thursday hours are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday hours are 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Volunteers ages 15 and older are needed for ticket sales, merchandize sales, traffic and parking assistance.

Each year more than 30,000 hours of volunteer service are performed at the park.

– Don Wade

IMC Global Acquires Home-Furnishings Importer

IMC Global Solutions has acquired a home-furnishings importer that will more than double the size of the Memphis-based business.

IGS, a member of the IMC Cos., acquired Global Shippers Association, which will continue to operate with its existing leadership team as a home furnishings importer.

IMC is a national network of intermodal logistics businesses providing an array of services including container drayage, customs house brokerage, truck brokerage, freight forwarding, warehousing, chassis provisioning and secured container storage.

– Daily News staff

Memphis Library Formally Launches Cloud901 Lab

Cloud901 – a free, state-of-the-art teen lab that’s packed with technology and creative tools – is now officially open.

It’s housed inside the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar Ave., and has been in the works for a few years now, according to libraries director Keenan McCloy.

“There is good news in every single corner of Memphis, Tennessee,” she said, calling the new space a “game-changer.”

“We have pretty much everything one could possibly need here,” she added. That includes an art studio, video production lab with a green screen, 3-D printers, a gaming lounge, audio production lab and more.

– Andy Meek

Council Approves New MHA Board Member

The Memphis City Council Tuesday, Sept. 15, approved the appointment of Laura Harris to the Memphis Housing Authority board. The item was added to the agenda to have Harris on the MHA board in time for a Wednesday, Sept. 16, meeting.

Harris is a research evaluator at Data For Good LLC, a research organization she founded to consult for public and nonprofit organizations and measure the impact of their programs.

She also served on the graduate faculty of the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Memphis.

At the meeting, the MHA board was to consider further action on suspended executive director Robert Lipscomb. The board suspended Lipscomb with pay earlier this month pending the outcome of a police investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

MHA board chairman Ian Randolph said the housing authority has not completed an independent audit of its finances or an investigation of Lipscomb’s conduct.

Lipscomb resigned as the city’s director of the Housing and Community Development division, another appointed city position he held, also as a result of the sexual misconduct allegation.

– Bill Dries

Zoo Hosting Celebrity Chef Dinner Oct. 8

The Memphis Zoo will host a James Beard Foundation’s Celebrity Chef Tour dinner next month at Teton Trek Lodge, an occasion that marks the first time the foundation has hosted a dinner at a zoo.

Guests will enjoy a five-course meal prepared by two James Beard award-winning chefs, as well as five featured chefs who will be spotlighted during the event. All proceeds benefit the James Beard Foundation. The celebrity chefs include four from Memphis – Kelly English from Restaurant Iris and The Second Line; Michael Hudman and Andrew Ticer from Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen; and Phillip Ashley Rix from Phillip Ashley Chocolates.

Courses will be paired with wines and cocktails mixed by Nick Talarico from Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen. Java4Jobs coffee also will be served.

The Oct. 8 event starts at 6:30 p.m. Tables of eight are on sale now. Call 901-333-6571 for more information.

– Andy Meek

Leadership Memphis, WGU Launch Scholarship Fund

Leadership Memphis and nonprofit online university WGU Tennessee have partnered to launch the Graduate Memphis Scholarship, the two organizations announced Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Through the program, WGU will award up to $300,000 in funds to 100 new students who live in Shelby County and submit an application through Dec. 31.

The Graduate Memphis Scholarship – named for Graduate Memphis, an action initiative of Leadership Memphis and the Memphis Talent Dividend with funding from the Plough Foundation – can be applied to any of WGU Tennessee’s more than 50 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. Scholarships of up to $3,000 will be applied at the rate of $600 per six-month term, renewable for up to five terms.

“Shelby County is home to tens of thousands of working adults who have completed some college, but lack a degree or certification,” Leadership Memphis president and CEO David Williams said in a statement. “The Graduate Memphis Scholarship will help to close that gap.”

– Daily News staff

Exhibit to Showcase New Approach to Public Art

A new approach to public art projects and funding in Memphis will be presented at an art exhibit next week at Marshall Arts, 639 Marshall Ave., in the Edge District.

The event, on Sept. 25, is “The Collaboratory: The Edge Survey,” an initiative conceptualized by artist Catherine Peña and funded by the Downtown Memphis Commission. It will showcase public art ideas for the Edge neighborhood proposed by a coalition of eight local artists.

The concepts that will be presented are the culmination of six months of collaboration by the artists, along with a study of the neighborhood’s environment, history, characteristics, challenges and assets. The artists included are Kristi Duckworth, Lester Merriweather, Cedar Lorca Nordbye, Marco Pave, Cat Peña, Robin Salant, Kiersten Williams and Anthony Lee.

Since May, the artists have blogged about their investigation and exploration of the Edge and have shared artistic concepts for neighborhood enhancement. In early October, artists will present their concepts to a DMC committee for funding consideration.

Any pieces selected for funding by the committee will be installed throughout the Edge in the months ahead.

The public is invited to the Sept. 25 exhibit at Marshall Arts from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to meet the artists and to learn about their process and concepts.

– Andy Meek

AAF Memphis Plug-In Set for Sept. 23

AAF Memphis, the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation, is hosting its annual Plug-In event Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Amurica, 410 N. Cleveland St.

The after-work event features a food truck, beverages and live music by “loud, well-intentioned local ad-bands” from Archer Malmo, Red Deluxe, Combustion, Sullivan Branding and more. Also during the event, featured speaker Justin Helton will share work from Status Serigraph, his Knoxville-based graphic design studio specializing in music and entertainment.

The event runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and tickets are $5 for members and $10 for nonmembers. Visit aafmemphis.org/events for more information.

– Andy Meek