Hickory Hill: One year after the tornado, the scars are visible all over the area.

Millington: Mayor Richard Hodges is theatrically sounding an alarm on the city’s budget revenue shortfall.

Good Morning Memphis: Several segments from recent days. Help with child support and custody law; tax tips; and starting your own business.

Center City Development Corporation: They approve a program to give some Downtown startups $30,000, zero interest, forgivable loans.

POLITICS: Tom Guleff offers a parody iPhone ad specifically for TN politicians. TN GOP chairman Robin Smith says she will announce House Speaker Kent Williams’ status as a member of the TN Republican Party by February 9.

West TN US Rep. Jim Cooper, a Blue Dog Democrat, has found himself embroiled in a dispute with the Obama administration over comments he made about his anti-stimulus package vote. He initially claimed he was encouraged to vote against by President Obama himself, then backtracked from those remarks later after the administration said it wasn’t true. He’s now in full reversal mode.

The attorney for David Kernell, accused of hacking into Governor Sarah Palin’s personal email account, is asking that part of the government’s evidence against Kernell be thrown out. Kernell is the son of Memphis Rep. Mike Kernell (D - 93rd Dist.). The most complete archive of David Kernell stories can be found here.

Governor Phil Bredesen as a replacement for Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services? Actually, Bredesen says no, definitively.

MLG&W: The Board of Directors meet today discussing, among other things, executive personnel changes.

University of Memphis: Dr. David Patterson will be moderating a four-part disucssion on ‘Modern Jewish Classics’ beginning in March. (Patterson is also a contributing writer to the Main Street Journal.) A look at campus Police Services.

The Regional Medical Center: The recommendations of the study by FTI Cambio were released. Depending on implementation, the savings could be in the $24 to 41 million range.

Darramis Stevenson Justice Committee: Group protesting murder of African-American by an Arab businessman continues its actions.

Church Health Center: Since the economic recession, they have seen a 70 percent increase in patients.
 

Memphis International Airport: Still the number one airport in the world for cargo. More from the Daily News and the CA.

Soulsville Foundation: They announced that CEO Marc E. Willis and Stax Academy executive director Cary Booker will leave by this Summer.

MISSISSIPPI: Amendments to the Voter ID bill, exempting voters over 65 from ID requirements, were pulled.

The Big Switch: Federal government decides to delay the switchover to digital broadcast television until June. Also reporting: WMC, WREG.

ARKANSAS: House lawmakers propose to change electoral vote process in presidential elections, so that state casts all its electoral votes for the national popular vote winner instead of state vote winner. Governor Mike Beebe signed the new, tougher animal cruelty bill into law today. He also signed raises for various legislators and office-holders into law.

City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove: She has pled guilty to the Mississippi DUI charge and was sentenced to six months unsupervised probation; there were other penalties. Her Shelby County fraudulent license case comes up on the 19th. More from: WMC, WREG and the CA.

Survey Says: TN’s economy has not hit bottom yet, according to UT economists. American City Business Journals ranks Memphis 92 out of 100 for starting a small business.

Highland Church of Christ: They have filed a permit with the Code Enforcement office to begin construction of a new multi-building campus at Houston Levee and Walnut Grove Roads.

Elvis Presley Enterprises: They are launching a new marketing campaign and mounting new exhibits. They are also moving into Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and other networking tools.

DeSoto County: City of Southaven has begun fining developers for cutting down too many trees when they build. Action on proposed 200 foot cell tower near Lewisburg delayed as Board of Supervisors asks for more information.

Family Services Crisis Center: Calls to their hotline have gone up since the economic decline intensified.

Harding Academy: They go before the Lakeland Planning Commission on February 17 to begin the process of building a new campus and athletic complex.

BUSINESS: Thomas and Betts sees a sagging 4Q but sales still up over FY 2007; more in the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal. Pier 1 is cutting 10% of its workforce and may close up to 125 stores; it has five in Memphis; more in the CA. The ripples from the closing of Circuit City will be felt far and wide.

First Tennessee is utilising a new multi-media advertising campaign, beginning this Monday. More from the Daily News.

Memphis’ unemployment rate rose last month to 7.6%.

A business profile from the CA of local construction giant Inman Construction and Frank Inman on the occasion of his induction into the Society of Entrepreneurs.

Delta Air Lines: They will allow linking of Delta Skymiles and Northwest WorldPerks accounts and transfer between them.

Annesdale: Unsatisfied with the upkeep of his neighbors on their homes, Andrew McGill is using the state’s Neighborhood Preservation Act to sue them into action.

Memphis City Schools: Superintendent Kriner Cash told the Shelby County Commission the system is short $100 million and if the County doesn’t find the money, the City school system will close. A slightly different take, from the CA.

Crichton College: The private Christian college has been sold to educational entrepreneur Dr. Michael K. Clifford, founder and chairman of SignificantPsychology. More from the Daily News and the CA. You can read the press release here. (MS DOC format document.)

Sassy Molassy: Is her new housing arrangement a sign of the future?

Wendi Thomas: The witness and testimony of Rev. Billy Kyles is an invaluable living link to history.

Commercial Appeal: Probe into Shelby County Clerk’s office deepens, but questions remain. Mississippi Governor Barbour should just take the money, no questions asked.

Mediaverse: Memphis: Thoughts on how the media cover their own employees when they become the story, and also some opinions on the new Fox13 community blog website.

vibinc: Thoughts on recent Memphis events.

Loudersoft: If you haven’t already heard it, here’s this year’s Bonnaroo lineup.

Friends for Our Riverfront: A suggestion for the riverfront, from a canoeist.

Commontaries: The selection of Michael Steele as RNC Chairman is vindication for conservative blacks.

Notes From Memphis: The love lobster?

Bigger Than Your Head: Wine of the week: Luzon, from Spain.

Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease: An update from a busy life and a prayer list.

55-40 Memphis: Corporations aren’t people.

Smart City Memphis: The battle of the letters between City and County governments, or, learning to communicate and work together.

theology & geometry: Making new friends, one chip at a time; and, health care so good, it must be Canada!

Memphis Squaw: Super Bowl Sunday with family.

quite swimmingly: Meeting other bloggers, dancing to the TV at midnight, and Andrew Wyeth.

Tom Graves: Action of some kind must be taken to prevent incidents like the mother of octuplets.

Richard J. Alley: Thoughts on the purgatory of waiting for his … um … ‘coupon clipping’.