UPDATED! Main Street Journal: Two new articles from the February issue are now online! Read Rescued: The Fight to Save Our Historic Buildings by Lance Allen and The Battle: The Shelby County Schools System is Still in the Fight for Special School Districts by Michael Roy Hollihan.

You can peruse the Table of Contents here. Chuck Bates presents Part Two of Socialism Not Seen Since FDR.

Shelby County Schools: Parents want an earlier start to the school day, but it would cost an awful lot.

Memphis City Schools: A confirmed case of TB at Hamilton High. More from WREG and the Commercial Appeal.

POLITICS: Having engineered the election of Republican Kent Williams as Speaker of the House, is Democratic Minority Leader Gary Odom himself now facing a coup of his own? A bill to make concealed carry permit information private is preparing to move out of committee; more from Eyewitness News, WMC. A House committee is also endorsing a bill to make seat-belt use a primary driving offense.

Governor Phil Bredesen is the first Democratic governor to say he might reject some Federal stimulus funds, in this case unemployment funds that would leave the state on the hook after two years. Ahead of the Governor’s expected job cuts for State government, a bill in the Legislature would allow employees to be reassigned to new jobs instead.

TN Republican Party Chair Robin Smith says it was breaking party ranks and not ideology that got Kent Williams booted from the party. Senator Paul Stanley is inviting bankers, homebuilders and Realtors to appear before his committee to explain how we got into the foreclosure and banking mess.

US Rep. Marsha Blackburn will be signing copies of her book in Southaven Friday and participating in Teach For America at Brownsville Elementary.

IRS: Some of the details of the ‘Making Work Pay’ provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

MISSISSIPPI: The Free Program Alliance is giving free online tax preparation to state residents with low incomes. State Medicaid recipients who are on dialysis will now be eligible for free transportation to treatment. The ACLU is claiming the state’s alternative education system isn’t working.

Previously Posted: More, from Fox13, on the Memphis City Schools’ non-violence teaching program and from Eyewitness News, too. More on the flexible new State bond selling rules.

University of Memphis: Students can get free couch rides from Up ‘Til Dawn, as a charity fundraiser for St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. How the campus library building get named for Ned R. McWherter. Also, Belinda Watkins, a vice-president at FedEx in charge of networks and IT, will speak today about job opportunities in IT for blacks. Groundbreaking has started for the new baseball complex.

Operation Safe Community: They are claiming a 5.3% drop in crime from 2006 to 2008.

DeSoto County: Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson’s ’stae of the city’ address is upbeat. Olive Branch is setting up an electronics drop-off center for old televisions.

Forest Hill Funeral Home: Victims will, at long last, get their money back and all gravestones will be placed.

Bartlett: The Board of Aldermen agrees to keep City ordinances prohibiting company-logoed vehicles from parking in front of businesses.

Construction: Despite the down economy and a troubled Memphis construction market plenty of new projects are going up all over town.

The Exchange Club: For teens with problems, they are offering a Comprehensive Anger Management Program.

ARKANSAS: The State House votes to increase the wholesale fee on milk; more from WMC. The House is also considering a bill to ban smoking in cars with minors; more from WREG. A resolution to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, 27 years after it passed away, has been filed in the House.

Lakeland: The Board of Aldermen votes to raise sewer fees for users who rise above a certain threshold.

BUSINESS: Medco Health Solutions, parent of Memphis’ Accredo Health, reported a healthy 4Q revenue; more from the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal. Medtronic is making its payment to physicians available online, as part of a court settlement; more from the News and the CA. Smith & Nephew is introducing new technology that will use MRIs and X-rays to build replacement knee joints. Tenet Healthcare reports a $3 million 4Q loss; more from the CA.

River City Metal Recycling is opening a recyclable scrap metals facility on East Brooks Rd. The Hino factory in Marion, AR, has laid off 157 employees; more from WMC. Target saw 4Q profits drop. Office Depot lost $1.5 billion in 4Q. Macy’s posted a 59% drop in 4Q profits. Swift Driving, one year after an FBI raid, is still rolling on.

SunTrust Banks paid CEO James M. Wells III more than $8 million last year, almost double his previous year’s compensation.

People in Business from the Commercial Appeal.

United Way: Despite the economy, people still find room to donate, nearly meeting the campaign goal for 2009.

Papa Murphy’s: National pizza chain plans to open 8 area restaurants in the next couple of years. There will be a meeting for potential franchisers this Thursday.

TENNESSEE: TennCare’s share of the Federal stimulus package is expected to amount to $350 million. The Board of Regents may suspend its search for a new chancellor.

Lent: The Commercial Appeal on the Catholic observance.

Survey Says: Movie Maker magazine rates Memphis as the number 8 movie making city. The Consumer Confidence Index drops 12 points, to a new all-time low, in February.

Germantown: Their Board of Aldermen will examine the problem of Forgey Dog Park for possible solutions. When they go to Nashville to push their legislative agenda, they will stay mum on bills looking to change State gun laws.

Center City Commission: They have sent out a request for qualifications to marketers for a campaign to get people downtown.

Memphis Botanic Garden: They received a $25,000 sponsorship from Harrah’s Entertainment.

a field guide to urban memphis: Praise for an intersection.

Make It Happen: She’s fine-tuning her running regimen with some help.

Sassy Molassy: A classroom example of taxes and tax protests.

Pretty in Pink Megan: Lots of pictures from a wedding weekend.

Smart City Memphis: Name ten things you like about Memphis. This list has 33.

Commercial Appeal: Applauding MCS nonviolence programs and a state law to standardise anti-bullying expectations. They also like Germantown’s loosening of limits on when and on what citizen’s could speak at Board meetings.

Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease: Some truly epic leopard gecko blogging. She thoroughly disembowels a hapless commenter. And, things that baffle her.

The Chockley Blogs: A nasty ear infection and an apology to the babies.