Our Next Mayor: And now City Councilwoman Wanda Halbert is considering running for Memphis mayor.

Clayborn Temple: It’s an eyesore now, but during the 1968 sanitation strike that brough Rev Martin Luther King to town, it was ground zero for civil rights.

Delta Air Lines: American Express is sweetening the enticements with the Delta Skymiles credit card.

Best of Memphis 2009: The Memphis Flyer’s annual survey of places, stuff and attitudes is awaiting your vote.

West Memphis 3: A cold-case detective from New York, Jay Salpeter, is opening a tip line, hoping to get new or overlooked leads in their case.

Mississippi: Lt Governor Phil Bryant told the audience at the Neshoba County Fair this year’s budet process was tough but fair, and frugal.

Business: Cooper Tire is expanding its Tupelo plant; more from WMC. Medtronic is being investigated by the US Senate for payments to a University of Minnesota surgeon; there’s more from the Daily News. Accredo Health Group posted record-breaking revenues for 2Q/2009; more in the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal. Hollywood Tunica’s 2Q/2009 revenues were up. The worst of the recession is over, says still-recovering Norfolk Southern. Verso Papers has launched a new line of web-oriented papers.

A professional profile of divorce and bankruptcy attorney David M. Sandy, in the Daily News. A business profile of Universal Asset Management’s philanthropic side, from the CA.

People in Business, from the CA.

A&R Barbecue: The Hickory Hill restaurant is closed during an investigation of food-borne illness. The chain is owned and operated by State Senator Reginald Tate and his wife. More more via WMC, Eyewitness News.

Beige Book: The US Federal Reserve’s Eighth District Beige Book shows shows decline continues but at a slower pace. The Commercial Appeal also reports.

Arkansas: Officials hope to start part of the State’s lottery in September.

Legal Firms: More and more, law firms are networking and partnering with other firms — locally and across the nation — to increase business and effectiveness.

Commercial Transport: Hundreds of trucking and bus firms across the nation are are evading the law and operating illegally.

Memphis Liberty Bell: She’s back and temporarily stored in a warehouse at the Fairgrounds.

Rainbow Lake: Draining the lake was expected to produce surprises, but finding an Oscar wasn’t one of them! More about Oscars.

NEW! Main Street Journal July Issue: The controversial feature article: Progress & Preservation: Can Memphis afford to look the same? by Michael Roy Hollihan. Also, publisher Jonathan Lindberg looks at Cohen & Herenton, Part 1. Table of Contents for July.

The Senator Paul Stanley Affair: The pressure on the Shelby County Commission to appoint a Democrat to fill the voted-Republican seat of a possible State Rep. who might succeed resigned Senator Stanley may be too much for them to resist. Possible candidates for his seat; the Commercial Appeal also speculates. The Shelby County Election Commission seeks to combine his special election with the mayoral special election. A psychologist talks about power, standards and corruption. Uncertainty after the resignation.

More on Stanley’s implication of another indictment coming. He says he’ll now focus on his family. More on his resignation from WREG.

St Jude’s Classic: Local officials are scrambling to find sponsors for the 2010 tournament.

The West Clinic: The have opened a new satellite office in Somerville.

Memphis City Schools: A change in bussing for special needs students is causing hardships.

Ken Moody: The former City division director reflects on his time working with Herenton and the MSARC fiasco.

Politics: John Newman is the new TN Republican Party chief of staff and state director. A federal appeals court has denied a challenge to the constitutionality of the Tennessee Plan for State Supreme Court justices.

Oakland: Despite his indictment and the wide-ranging charges, Mayor Bill Mullins refuses to resign.

Soul Food Festival: This Saturday is the inaugural event and it will feature down-home cooking (of course!) and some well-known entertainers. More in the Flyer and an official website.

MLG&W: Get an in-home energy inspection, make some maintenance repairs and get up to $500 in rebates, as well as a lower utility bill!

Tennessee Highway Patrol: They are stepping up patrols this weekend, as part of their “Take Back Our Highways” program.

Real Estate: According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, applications are down as rates are rising.

Good Morning Memphis: Last Friday, they were live from the Orange Mound Community Center. Mississippi is readying for its first-ever sales tax holiday. Will Mayor Herenton really resign today?

Joseph Richard Rossie: The prominent local attorney has been indicted for two counts of theft of property. More in the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal.

Local Media: Is the decline in newspaper reading levelling off?

Shelby County Commission: A drop in revenue, but still raises for commissioners, and the Medical Examiner, Dr Karen Chancellor, is reappointed.

Survey Says: Memphis was ranked 36th as a city for singles, according to Forbes. Ninety-eight out of 100 metropolitan areas lost jobs in fiscal 2009.

The Conservative Zone: Mark is closing on his house today!

Urf! Saying goodbye to a much-loved place.

Smart City Memphis: More still on why I-269 will be bad for the area.

Scribblescrawl: As she winds down her employment at the daily paper, a couple of photos from the workplace, though one might not be worksafe.

I’ll be the one in heels: Kalisa has set a goal of cooking a meal every night this week for her family. Tonight: Beale Street Burgers.

La Vida Buena: The secret park on the Mississippi downtown.

Tom Guleff: Joe Citizens: Kudos to Lang Wiseman.

Ramblings of a River City Resident: An article from last year on smart people vs the other folks for control of America. A review of the movie Food, Inc. and a breakdown of some lessons learned.

Persian Pit Bull: The proposal celebration continues, at the Beauty Shop and Celtic Crossing, after their special dinner together, at Iris.

Eskapadez: Megabus!

Radio Sweethearts: Performance anxiety.

Marci Levy: In the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, everyone should apologise. Why is that so hard? (via the Commercial Appeal)

Haaaaave You Read My Blog? Smoking, tanning and cancer.

Paul Ryburn’s Journal: Another aggressive panhandler sitting in jail and other Downtown news.

Wendi C. Thomas: How to convince other people that your view of some public sculpture is the right and only one. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Commercial Appeal: Before there is health care reform, we need proper certifying of cause of death. Despite his one, horrible day at Manassas High, Markees Smith managed to prosper and achieve.

Author of Y’all’s Destruction: A plea for teaching manners.

Bigger Than Your Head: A quarter century of writing about wine. Congratulations!

Click (Daily): Photos from a field in Tallin, Estonia.

Commontaries: Thoughts on Thaddeus Matthews’ treatment of Sharon Webb.

Dining With Monkeys: The Team Oster family is travelling through middle American, so why not write up a restaurant review while they’re at it? This is Booches, in Columbia, Missouri. Stacey also mines the family road trip for her Commercial Appeal column, Because I Said So.

Lean Left: Society must do everything possible to give people what they desire and need.