Blight: City and County leaders met to discuss ways to fight dilapidated houses and unkept yards. More from Eyewitness News.

Memphis Sand Aquifer Lawsuit: More reports on MLG&W’s Supreme Court win, from the DeSoto Times Tribune.

Memphis Police Department: The new license plate readers mounted on some police cruisers are getting results.

Foreclosures: Local realtors expect the rates of foreclosure to stay high this year.

Germantown: The restaurant business is booming there. Even with citizen complaints, the new storm water fee rate passed its second Board of Mayor and Alderman reading. The new Germantown Baseball Club is asking for practice time at Bob Hailey field. The City’s online bill payment system is offline for the next week.

Unemployment: The State’s unemployment rate rose to 10.0% in December.

Memphis Fire Department: Fire Director Alvin Benson says even criminal records or felonies won’t be determiners of employment on his watch.

Politics: Liberal Nashville radio talk-host Mary Mancini has formed a group, Unite TN, to influence the 2010 elections for Democrats, but isn’t sharing anything yet. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter is talking jobs.

Tea Party candidate for the US Eighth Congressional District, John Farmer, appeared on the Mike Slater radio show. (Podcast and transcription) Republican candidate Steve Fincher signs three taxpayer pledges. And Democratic candidate Luther Mercer II campaigned in Dyersburg. (via the Dyersburg State Gazette)

The chairman of the Judicial Nominating Committee is resigning.

The budget is expected to dominate this session of the Assembly. A bill to block teaching homosexuality to elementary school students is drawing ACLU fire. So far, the regular session is off to a quiet start. Except that Rep. Matthew Hill wants to make all work on I-69 a crime, as a “state sovereignty” issue.

Mississippi: The cost of insurance benefits for State employees varies a lot. The State House is attempting to restore some of the budget cuts achieved by Governor Haley Barbour. Marshall County has banned large trucks on County roads until winter is over.

Tax Season: If you donated to Haiti relief, the IRS will allow you to deduct it this year. More on IRS deductions and tax credits for 2009. Beware of tax refund anticipation loan scams!

West Tennessee: A neighborhood association and City Councilman Frank Neudecker want a part of Jackson designated a “prostitution-free zone”. Enrollment at Dyersburg State Community College is up, but funding is down. (via the Dyersburg State Gazette)

Collierville: Lifeblood is hoping to restore the level of community donations to what it was a few years ago.

Harold Ford Jr: Ford is beginning to rise in the polls in NY. Is Gillbrand the next Martha Coakley?

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is beginning to hit back; more from the NY Daily News. The Village Voice reports the same. More on The Colbert Report monologue attacking Ford.

Oakland: Mayor Bill Mullins is appealing the decision to void November’s mayoral election. New details in the “miracle shooting” case of Oakland officer Joshua Smith.

Tea Party Nation: Rep. Marsha Blackburn is “reviewing” her participation in the convention next month. She’s asking for an ethics review; more in the Commercial Appeal.

Survey Says: Flintco was rated tops in diversity for Native American-owned businesses in a DiversityBusiness.com list. Consumer confidence rose for the 3rd straight month.

DeSoto County: More on the campaign kickoff of Republican US First District candidate Alan Nunnelee. Terry Swatsenberg, a former Court clerk in Southaven, pled guilty to embezzlement.

NEW! Main Street Journal: Looking for an outstanding Jewish education for your children? You should seriously consider The Margolin Hebrew Academy. Website here and Rabbi Gil Perl’s blog is here.

H1N1 Death: A DeSoto County teen is confirmed to have died from complications of the swine flu virus; more from the Commercial Appeal. The percentage of flu cases becoming severe is rising. LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center is seeing a spike in swine flu cases. More on the increase from Eyewitness News.

Memphis City Schools: Parents turned out by the hundreds to oppose the closing of Caldwell Elementary and River City High School. Following a student rape, security has been increased at Mitchell High. Administrators and School Board members hope to lobby the State to get a separate police force.

City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove: She and the judge who heard her most recent court case, Judge Paula Skahan, received a threatening letter.

University of Memphis: Students this year have taken out $97 million in loans , a 76% increase. Upcoming campus events. (stories via the Daily Helmsman)

Mayor A C Wharton: The Flyer’s Jackson Baker reports from Mayor Wharton’s second town hall meeting. The mayor is still mum on his decision about a separate school police force.

Tennessee: Even with a recession, state tourism is doing well. Governor Phil Bredesen signed his landmark education reform bill into law. Thirty-one sites are signed up for College Goal Sunday, in February, to help students apply for and pay for college. A German homeschooling family seeking asylum in the state have gotten their wish; more in the Commercial Appeal. The Department of Transportation might qualify for another $500 million in stimulus road funds. The latest edition of the State’s Blue Book is now available.

Regional Medical Center: The $10 million dollar payment from the Shelby County Commission is only a temporary fix.

SurgiVision: The medical imaging company is quietly drawing millions, and major businesses, into the local community.

Memphis Sandy Aquifer Lawsuit: The last option for Mississippi is to sue the State of Tennessee.

Delta Air Lines: They posted a loss of $25 million for 4Q/2009, and a loss for the year of $1.2 billion. More in the Commercial Appeal.

Business: Blockbuster and a local franchise group have settled their lawsuit. Buckeye Technologies reported a 2Q/2010 net income of $46.3 million. Three MS subsidiaries of Mueller Industries have been fined $683,000 by OSHA; more from Fox13. More than half of automobile dealerships threatened with closure by Chrysler and GM want to stay open.

From the Daily News, People in business and the same from the Commercial Appeal. Also, What to Do.

Beer! Two new beer-tasting festivals are coming to Memphis this Spring — the River City Brewer’s Festival and the Memphis Brewfest. More on craft beer sales in general.

Black Business Association: Don Hutson, the chief executive officer of U.S. Learning, will be the keynote speaker at the BENNY (Black Entrepreneurship and Networking Needs You) Awards next month.

Transportation: The Department of Transportation has banned texting by big-rig drivers.

Financial: Regions Financial posted a loss of $606 million for 4Q/2009. After retiring from First Tennessee Bank, Al Tarsi turned around and joined TrustMark National Bank!

ArtsMemphis: They have awarded $70,000 in grants to area organisations.

Opera Memphis: The annual fundraising Wild Game Dinner, Antlers and Arias, is this February 19 at the Clark Opera Memphis Center. (Link goes to press release; DOC format.)

Previously Posted: More on the reduction of Sitel’s labor force. The theft of 57 hard drives will cost BlueCross/BlueShield more than $7 million dollars.

Germantown: The Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce announces its 2010 Ambassadors.

vibinc: Where has Steve been recently? Back in school among other things.

Weeden Arts Watch: It’s been a very busy January, as the pictures attest, including his wedding!

Downtown Memphis Download: Jersey Boys is coming to the Orpheum, beginning this week.

North Mississippi Commenter: It’s not a true Bobby Burns Day without a true Scottish haggis. Can you tell what’s being said in this piece of legalese?

Shaun Fossett: A serious, thoughtful post on how he’d run a television station.

Wow. Really? Huh. Back from extended hiatus to tell us of things we need to stop doing. Some advice on how journalists can use Twitter more effectively.

Jen-sized: Should she be cynical about this?

Fertile Ground: Stacey and her family got to be in an MLG&W commercial.

Doug Johnson at Work: Noting that consolidation doesn’t always produce cost savings.

Blue Collar Republican: Seeing in the election of President Thomas Jefferson some of the same forces at work today.

Bill Jones IV: He thinks the new Apple tablet will be a lawyer’s dream.

Commercial Appeal: Voters have already approved residency requirements for City employees and the paper still opposes them. When it comes to earthquakes, an abundance of caution is called for.

Dr Susan Nelson: The State needs to get serious and spend more money in the fight against tobacco.