Image Credit: Main Street Journal
Hardy & City = Jobs

 
A unanimous Industrial Development Board approved a 15-year PILOT to City Brewing Company, if their puchase of Hardy Bottling Company goes through. Owner Carolyn Hardy will remain with the new company, Blues City Brewery. The new company, which is expected to produce both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, will hire 500 workers and invest a further $40 million. How Hardy, City and the City of Memphis got to a deal. Websites for Hardy Bottling and City Brewery. More from the Business Journal, WREG, WMC and again; Fox13 and the Commercial Appeal.

$57 Million: Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and MCS Superintendent Dr Kriner Cash meet today to discuss a “mutually acceptable deal” on school funding. MCS has already rejected it; more.

The Haslam Administration: Governor Bill Haslam answers his critics on job creation.

Schools Merger: Audits of both the Memphis and Shelby County schools show both systems are mostly healthy. The County Commission is planning for the rising legal fees they’ll be stuck with; more from Fox13 and the Commercial Appeal. More from The Flyer’s Jackson Baker.

Memphis City Schools: The Chief of School Safety, Gerald Darling reports on-campus crime is down 5% in the last month. MCS is putting ads on MATA busses (which are used by students) to warn them about truancy and seek tips on criminal behavior.

Kilgore Flares: Tennessee safety officials received a warning from an employee just days before last September’s deadly explosion.

Unpaid Traffic Fines: City Court Clerk Thomas Long is still pressing the City to let him aggressively collect as much as $2 million a year in unpaid fines.

Yogurt! Memphis can’t seem to get enough soft-serve frozen yogurt, as TCBY now enters the scrum; more from Fox13 and the Commercial Appeal.

Business: Office furnishings isn’t something we think about, until a chair breaks. More on ServiceMasters’ fiscal 2010 performance; Business Journal.

The Commercial Appeal: What to Do and People in Business. The Daily News: Today’s Events.

Pinnacle Airlines: Retired CEO Phil Trenary will earn a $1.7 million consulting salary for the next two years he consults.

Recall North America: This information and document security firm has opened a facility in Memphis, but where is a well-protected secret.

Rusty Hyneman: He filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Tuesday. More in the Business Journal and the Commercial Appeal.
 
 

Mississippi: Governor Haley Barbour hopes the Legislature will finish the budget by the end of the session, but has no qualms about calling them into special session, if need be. The judge hearing the suit involving the State’s redistricting plan, US District Judge Dan Jordan, has recused himself. Highway 78 in Marshall County is getting cabled. Tuesday’s storms produced 110 mph winds across parts of the state. Tunica breaks ground on their new animal shelter.

Memphis Self-Image: Once again our civic sense of unworthiness and second-class status, our desire to seek approval from others, leads a delegation from Memphis to travel to New York to tout our praises.

Google Fiber: Although the first city chosen for a one-gigabit network was Kansas City, Kansas, Memphis is not out of the running for later.

Arkansas: The mayor of Helena-West Helena, Arnell Willis, after previously-fired employees were reinstated this week, fired them again yesterday! The bill to require presidential candidates to prove American citizenship died quietly in the State House.

Memphis Animal Shelter: Private citizens and civic groups are continuing the effort to rescue dogs slated for euthanasia.

NEW! Roxana Saberi in Memphis: Occasional contributor Mick Wright was at the appearance of the Iranian-Japanese-American author who spent spent 100 days in an Iranian jail on trumped-up charges. He sent us this report on her life, her new book (Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran) and her experiences.

Online Exclusive: Main Street Journal financial columnist Chuck Bates suggests that President Obama focus on the real bullies of the world.

2011 Memphis Giving Guide: If you want to help but aren’t sure where to volunteer your time or donate your money, this free Memphis Giving Guide, from the Main Street Journal, can help you find the Christ-led ministries effecting social change in Memphis. (11 MB PDF document; right-click and save)

Shelby County Government: The County Commission may stop the practice of “paid days off they get for birthdays, for Christmas shopping, and in return for donating to charity”, reports ABC24. More in the Commercial Appeal.

Public Health: In Shelby County, 1 in every 92 people has an STD–more than double the state average!

State Education Reform: Despite opposition from Democrats and unions, the proposal to remove the cap on charter schools has passed the Senate Education Committee and heads to the Finance Committee next. More from the Associated Press and the Commercial Appeal. The House Education Committee approved a bill to allow private companies to provide substitute teachers for schools.

And in the House, Speaker Beth Harwell cast the tie-breaker to pass the amended restrictions on collective bargaining for teachers.

Center City Commission: They are going to raise the standards on building inspection to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s roof collapse on a Madsion Avenue building.

Illegal Immigration: The State House State and Local Government Subcommittee approved the Tennessee Lawful Employment Act, requiring business to use the Federal E-verify system to determine citizenship status. It was called the “linchpin” of a package of bills on immigration.

DeSoto County: They are the healthiest county in Mississippi. The County’s Earth Day celebration will be April 30; it will be their first.

Politics: Senate committee rejects a proposal for constitutional term limits. The Democratic proposal to tax soft drinks would also take $3 million from local-shared revenues, and so has been “parked”; more. Local reactio from WREG to the pop tax. The “nullification committee” bill was … nullified and the bill requiring Presidential candidates to establish their American birth was … stillborn. Farming of white-tail deer will not happen this session.

The TN Republican Party has named Adam Nickas as their new Executive Director. Budget cuts may have effects on local community centers and public libraries. State Senator Brian Kelsey actually likes Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh’s proposal to limit the sales tax–just not attached to his constitutional amendment on the income tax.

Shelby County Democratic Party: The SCDP convention is next Saturday and a new chairman will be elected. (Outdated) SCDP website here and Facebook page.

Bartlett: MLG&W CFO John McCullough will be the town’s new finance director.

Online Exclusive: Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines: Tea party activist Ed “Doc” Holliday is excited by the large field of challengers already in the Republican presidential race for 2012.

Online Exclusive: What, Exactly, Did Loeb Announce? Main Street Journal Publisher and Editor in Chief Jonathan Lindberg wonders what was the big deal in the Loeb Properties announcement about Overton Square?

Joe Spake’s Daily Buzz: Interesting links from interesting people, via Joe.

I Swear: A recap of his exciting weekend at the crossword tournament. (via the Daily News)

Rays of Wisdom: Becoming an expatriate is not a retirement solution. (via the Daily News)

John Branston: He went to the “Get Motivated!” event looking to be unimpressed and … he was! (via the Flyer)

Don Soifer: Postal service cost-saving measures are pursuing business customes at the expense of individuals. (via the Tennessean)

Chattanooga Times Republican legislators are deceitful, divided and contentious?

Leon Dickson: While “home ownership is a key to prosperity” it also financial planning, education and discipline. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Because I Said So: Old procrastination versus youthful enthusiasm. (via the Commercial Appeal)