Second Amendment: Nearly half of the new gun safety course participants at Range USA are women! Memphis has banned guns in parks, but Nashville is delaying.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Hundreds of volunteers are coming to West Memphis, AR, to build a new Kingdom Hall … in one week!

Memphis City Schools: The number of failing schools, according to No Child Left Behind scores, rose by ten percent this year and the number of “targeted” schools almost doubled. The report details many other problems and some good news.

MSARC: WREG has obtained internal memos that demonstrate foot-dragging by City Hall even as Ken Moody, then-Director of Public Services and Neighborhoods, was calling for action. Much of the information appears to have been kept from the City Council, too.

Mississippi: The state’s unemployment rate rises to 9.8%; more from WMC and the CA. In Walthall County, the Feds are investigating school transfer policies with an eye to racial discrimination; more in the CA. A brief look at the Tunica RiverPark.

Delta Air Lines: Although it posted another loss in 2Q, it was a smaller loss, though no profit is expected now for the year. More from the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal.

Business: Thomas & Betts saw earnings and sales fall in 2Q; the Daily News has more. Affiliated Foods is asking a Federal judge to convert their Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 liquidation.

A short interview from the Daily News with Richard C. Raines, real estate and construction law attorney with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs.

Arkansas: Governor Mike Beebe is supporting a proposal from a Governor’s School student to use a fundraiser to keep their current six-week session. The director of the upcoming Arkansas lottery is already proposing cost-cutting measures.

DeSoto County: The Olive Branch Board of Mayor and Aldermen has rejected the rezoning request of CVS Pharmacy. The new offices of the Northcentral Electric Power Association will be in Olive Branch.

Survey Says: Housing prices rose in May, though commercial construction cratered in June. Mortgage applications rose, though so did interest rates, last week.

Previously Posted: More on the FedEx hybrid vehicle fleet expansion, from WMC, and also the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal.

Main Street Journal: On the Block: Today –Outside the usual suspects of politicians, who would you like to see run for Memphis Mayor?. Mid-South leaders respond.

State Senator Paul Stanley: Some background on the nude pictures of the intern involved in the alleged extortion of Stanley and Joel Watts’ demands. A timeline/summary from the Commercial Appeal. Stanley’s resignation as chairman of the Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee; more on that from WMC. More reporting on the scandal and the alleged extortion from WMC, Eyewitness News, WREG, the Daily News.

From Fox13, reactions and more reactions.

Memphis City Schools: Melrose High School is the first to received the new artificial playing field.

ArtsMemphis: This year, they will allocate just short of $2 million to local organisations. Website here. More in the Commercial Appeal.

Shelby County Clerk’s Office: The Daily News has an article delineating the differences between the local and Federal investigations into the office.

Politics: Former president Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Tennessee Democratic Party’s annual Jackson Day fundraising dinner. More from the Flyer. Lobbyists and industry representatives spent over $400,000 entertaining legislators this year. House Democratic Leader Gary Odom is claiming that a Federal agency has approved an optical scan voting machine compatible with TN’s election needs.

Congressman Steve Cohen is questioning the NBA’s policies on recruiting the younger players.

Attorney General Eric Holder: He spoke to the National Black Prosecutor’s Association meeting in Memphis, but didn’t discuss some issues of local importance. Holder spoke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division being “open for business”. The Commercial Appeal also has a report.

The MED: The board of directors now has until March next year to locate and hire a whole new set of chief executives, to avoid re-contracting with FTI Cambio. More on the story in the Commercial Appeal.

Tennessee: Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr, father of Secretary of State Tre Hargett, is retiring as commander of the TN National Guard. Now that the “Daniels” injunction has been lifted, tens of thousands may finally be re-evaluated and removed from TennCare rolls.

I-269: Will the new eastern interstate loop just encourage more sprawl? She has maps, though its not clear what they show.

Financial: Three area banks — Cadence, Renasant and BancorpSouth — reported losses in the 2Q, mostly over real estate loans. SunTrust also posted a large 2Q loss; also in the Daily News.

at home she feels like a tourist: Goodbye.

BEEB: Melissa is a published author! Go and buy her book (on marriage); several of them! Katie and Chris got married and she was there to take the official wedding photos.

cbduke: He’s started a poem (The Ride Before August) patterend after a certain Christmas poem, and he’d like you to help finish it!

Eskapadez: One falling domino pushes another over.

Fore Left! A. C. asks some of the questions that most pundits are skipping right over about the Paul Stanley scandal.

Lean Left: Pointing out the obvious: Democrats have complete control of government and still can’t get health care reforms passed?

Commercial Appeal: Who to blame for the problems in the digital broadcast television switchover? Public figures should out themselves to the media when they make mistakes or compromise their office.

LeftWing Cracker: He engages in a little schadenfreude over the Paul Stanley scandal.

Joy’s Life and Times: Pools are a source of danger she’d like to avoid.

Jerm’s Baby Blog: Piper is now sixteen weeks old! He runs down some of the milestones so far.

Notes from Memphis: Hot dog stands on Twitter, music history in paintings on a wall and the Bon Ton Cafe, all in one post!

(Lang Wiseman) Random Thoughts: Some worries and questions about the Paul Stanley extortion scandal.

Secret Agent Mom: She like the Summer, but it apparently has mixed feelings about her.

Smart City Memphis: Thoughts on single source funding for City and County schools.

Student: Revisited: Thoughts on writing on Writing Wednesday.

Xspectre8: For him, the health care debate is very personal.

The Tale of a Southern Belle: Some shopping finds at Marshall’s.

Vegan Crunk: Taste testing the Prosperity Cookie.

Complacencies of the Peignoir: Thirty, forty, fifty….

The Suggs: Tuesday was family time.

vibinc: He parses the City Charter, for language on resignation and winds up confused.

Wendi C. Thomas: She castigates the Republican Party and Senator Paul Stanley for having ideals and not living up to them without fail. (via the Commercial Appeal)