DeSoto County: Malinda Johnson, living at LifePointe Village, is celebrating her 101st birthday! Entergy customers can expect to see an 11% reduction in their bills this year.

Census 2010: If you are still out of work, the Census is hiring, starting at $12.75/hour locally.

Lifeblood: They are in critical need of platelet donors, ASAP.

H1N1 Virus: The disease is slowing down in Shelby County.
 
 

Overton Square: More on the filing of the final plan with the Land Use Control Board. Stories in the Daily News.

Millington: Already partnered with American Traffic Solutions and their red light traffic cameras, the City is now exploring a similar system based in a van that it will have to staff.

Financial: 2009 was the 7th worst year ever for bankruptcies; more in the Daily News. The Trustmark Corp. spent $10 million to buy back warrants from the Federal government’s TARP program.

Business: Wilhelm-Schulz GMBH is building a pipe manufacturing plant near Tunica. More from Eyewitness News, the Daily News and the Commercial Appeal.

People in Business and What to Do, from the Commercial Appeal.

Tennessee: Douglass Elementary is one of six potential TN Blue Ribbon Schools Award nominees, given by the US Dept. of Education. Governor Phil Bredesen speaks on his upcoming education reform special session of the Legislature and health care reform costs. More from the Business Journal; much more in this WMC story and the Commercial Appeal. State teachers are “hopeful, but cautious”; and again, more from the Commercial Appeal. (via NWTN Today.com) The TN Housing Development Agency is making about $450,000 available for foreclosure counseling; more in the Commercial Appeal.

FedEx: The $28 million construction permit they pulled is for expansion of their hub.

West Tennessee: A Saturday morning fire has damaged the offices of the Dyersburg State Gazette. The Weakley County Election Commission approved a request by the County Democratic party for a county primary in May. (via NWTN Today.com)

Survey Says: December was the fifth straight month of growth in the manufacturing industry; more in the Commercial Appeal. Gasoline prices are rising after the holidays. Overall construction spending fell .6% last month.

Real Estate: Crye-Leike, REALTORS are purchasing and absorbing the Alabama Realty Group in North Central Alabama. (PDF document) Are housing prices due to drop off sharply in 2010? Four new downtown hotels are planned for Chattanooga, which may supplant Knoxville soon as the state’s third largest city.

Business Tax Amnesty: Four hundred and five businesses in Shelby County are delinquent in the business taxes. It’s believed that enforcing the tax will bring in millions in revenues.

The Wharton Administration: Mayor A C Wharton sent a letter to the City Council, broadly outlining his goals and budget strategies for 2010. His full letter is here. (PDF document)

Holiday Fatalities: Fatalities on State roads were down for New Year’s and the year overall.

Malpractice: Tennessee doctors are successfully defending malpractice claims but at a rising cost.

Memphis Area Association of Realtors: An interview with incoming president Glenn Moore, from the Daily News.
 

Collierville: The Board of Mayor and Aldermen accepted and matched a grant to the Bess Morton Crawford White Church Museum of Collierville History. (via the Collierville Independent)

Politics: The first public forum to have both Republican and Democratic candidates for governor is scheduled for Nashville on January 14 and the subject will be education.

The TN Republican Party sent official notice to the Carter County Election Commission that House Speaker Kent Williams cannot file as a Republican. Williams responds.

State Sen. Roy Herron has raised $675,000 in his Democratic run for the 8th Congressional District seat; more in the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Commercial Appeal. Plus, how he intends to win.

Watchdog group the TN Center for Open Government and its other state partners in the National Freedom of Information Coalition will benefit from a $2 million grant from the Knight Foundation. Grocers statewide hope to take the issue of wine sales in the next Legislature.

First National Tea Party Convention: Being held in Nashville on February 4 - 6, here is the list of speakers and scheduled participants, including Sarah Palin as the closing speaker. Tea Party Nation website.

Mississippi: More on the potential cutbacks on district attorneys in the Counties. Many charities are opening emergency shelters ahead of the freezing cold weather. A light dusting of snow in Clarksdale. The Commission on MS Education Structure is exploring school district consolidation as one way to meet the projected budget. And legislators expect cuts in State jobs and services.

Mississippi Outdoors, from the Commercial Appeal, with the hunting, fishing and wildlife news.

Fayette County: The Tri-State Defender provides a different perspective with more details on the ousting of County School Supervisor Myles Wilson.

Media: Advocacy group Hispanic Nashville praises a story in the Tennessean for never using the word “illegal”, calling it “morally correct”.

Forest Hill Funeral Home: A trial date has been set — April 5 — for Clayton Smart, accused of embezzling millions. More from Eyewitness News, WMC.

Previously Posted: More on the sale of Crichton College from the Business Journal and from the Daily News. More on the Visible School’s new building at 200 Madison, downtown.

Arkansas: The Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel, has rejected a voter ballot intiative to legalise medical marijuana in the state. More from Eyewitness News. Twenty-seven counties have been declared disaster areas after heavy Christmas rains.

16 Balls in the Air: Learning the “new normal” with a sick child. And, careful answers to dangerous questions.

I’ll be the one in heels: Thoughts on Nineties teen dramas. Unlocking her potential in 2010.

Jesus Is Hot: The music that shaped her decade.

The Ominous Comma: Brent Diggs is full of surprises, like the band DangerCouch! Lots of Christmas songs performed live and some other smokin’ funky stuff.

Left Wing Cracker: His partner, Lauren, is gravely ill right now and he could use your thoughts, prayers and karma.

Loudersoft: Eric’s confessional post on records he should have listened to more in 2009.

A. C. Kleinheider: “Neutralizing … social [and] religious issues” will help Democrats return to power in Tennessee. (via the Nashville City Paper)

Commercial Appeal: Looking forward to tens of millions of Federal stimulus funds for the City to spend. Eulogising John Wilder.

Cathryn Stout: High-tech dating gets weirder and weirder. (via the Commercial Appeal)

MAKE IT HAPPEN: Her Christmas reading club.

Matthew Trisler: Not resolutions, but goal-setting.

Memphis Cobblestones: Some practical, affordable alternatives to the Beale Street Landing.

Meredith Jubilee and Madeline Jane: Breaking the superhero illusion. Christmas, told through pictures.

Scribblescrawl: The best-laid schemes of mice and women aft gang agley. And where she threw the gauntlet down.

Smart City Memphis: Turning rhetoric into action regarding minority business in Memphis. City government, social entrepreneurs and saying “yes”.

The Author of Y’all’s Destruction: Mr Conspiracy’s Top 11 Stories of 2009.

Whitebread on Patrol: You might try this Christmas present idea next year. Crossing the world’s scariest bridge!

Weeden Arts Watch: Another creatively contributing blog goes on hiatus.

theology & geometry: The story of her Christmas birth. Her daddy loves her anyway.

The Soundcheck and the Fury: David is back! He chooses the best music of 2009.