Image Credit: Main Street Journal
Goodbye MCS in 2013

 
Judge Sanuel “Hardy” Mays released his ruling on the Memphis City and Shelby County schools yesterday. There are four major features: 1) The Memphis school system will cease to exist by 2013; 2) Norris-Todd law will guide the process; 3) The Shelby County Commission school districts are invalid and unconstitutional, and must be redrawn; and 4) County school officials are in charge. He gave all parties until Friday, August 12, to file their constitutional remedies. Read and download the ruling here. (PDF document) Fox13 has an extended excerpt. The City school board is still reserving legal action.

Memphis mayor A C Wharton and TN Governor Bill Haslam were both “guarded” in their statements; Shelby County school board president David Pickler was “confused”. Superintendent Dr Kriner Cash talks getting the money pledged from the City Council. More reports from WKNO-FM and WREG. The Fox13 Political Insiders discuss the ruling. City and County reactions. What the ruling means for students.

City of Memphis: The lawyer for the City’s union employees has filed an injunction asking a Federal judge to reverse the 4.6% paycut that went into effect last week. More from Fox13, ABC24, WMC and WREG.

Memphis City Schools: The Shelby County District Attorney is cracking down on truancy.

State Education Reform: Tennessee may get its waiver from No Child Left Behind. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is scheduled to announce the new waiver system this week; he says TN is “deserving” of a waiver. A final decision on the State’s waiver request is expected in September.

Morgan Keegan: Three employees started their administrative hearings in Mississippi; the first in a long train of state hearings to come.

Heat, Heat, Stop the Heat! The Summer death toll from the heat has now reached five. The Shelby County Health Department ruled a July death as heat-related; more from WMC.

The Election Season: Arlington readies itself for the next mayoral election in September.

MLG&W: Excessive heat is keeping meter readers from working overtime and staying on schedule. Some natural gas customers are seeing a one-time credit on the August bills.

Patriot Lake: A mass fish kill has affected hundreds of fish at the Shelby Farms lake.

MATA: Are drivers allowed to take breaks?

Tennessee: We realy are more conservative than the national average–though not terribly so.

Disappoint-mints: The fallout from State Representative Joe Armstrong’s attempted censure of Obama’s Disappoint-Mints has gone national. It’s allowed the company to set sales records.

Business: As you’d expect, Memphis’ publicly-traded companies took a pounding in Monday’s selloff in the markets. Billion of dollars of Tennessee stock value was wiped out.

People on the Move, caught by the Business Journal. The Daily News logs Today’s Events. And the ol’ Commercial Appeal gets What to Do.

FedEx: Their FedEx Freight subsidiary raising some rates by 6.75%, come September. More in the Commercial Appeal, the Associated Press.

International Paper: Temple-Inland has already spent $2 million fighting IP’s takeover bid and has budgeted an additional $20 million.

Smith & Nephew: Strong second quarter performance as the company saw 12% revenue growth.

Amazon.com Reportedly, they have a map of the states directing which states for employees to go to for business, vacation, etc., depending on the State’s friendliness to their sales tax position. High-level negotiations between Amazon and State officials to get the company to collect sales taxes on online sales are nearing completion.

Valero Energy: A predicted spike in gasoline prices because of Friday’s fire may be offset by lower oil costs.

DeSoto County: The Hernando West development “remains on track” to open in “the near future” though all details of construction are still vague. The architect’s website. The County office of the Mississippi State Extension Service will hold a “short course on managing the family forest” next week.

Germantown: They approved the sale of $6 million in bonds, despite the uncertainty, thanks to the Federal bond downgrade.

Survey Says: Three Memphis universities made the “America’s Top Colleges” ranking by Forbes magazine.

Israel Trip: Eighty-one members of Congress travel to Israel during the Congressional recess, including TN Representative Chuck Fleischmann.

NEW! INTERNET EXCLUSIVE: On The Money: Debt Deals, Tax Steals and Class Warfare: Our finanacial contributor Chuck Bates explains the debt ceiling debate and the deal that was made last week.

NEW! INTERNET EXCLUSIVE: China – Capitalism in a One Party System: State Representative Mark White returned from a trip to China with observations on how can you keep a one-party state happy when the young have tasted democracy?

Charter Schools: WREG’s Live at 9 talks to former mayor and school superintendent Willie Herenton about the nine-school charter school system he hopes to open and lead next year.

EmergeMemphis: Thanks to funding from the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce they will expand their Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, which offers onsite mentoring.

Shelby County Commission: They passed a law making it illegal to “impede traffic” by playing street basketball.

Great American Steamboat Company: They plan to move their headquarters to One Commerce Square downtown and bring the American Queen riverboat to the Mississippi River. Its maiden voyage will be next April. More from the Flyer.

Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce: Thanks to a decline in membership dues and other revenues, they had to cut a handful of positions.

Collierville: The town is requesting Federal relief from regulations that require 2200 signs be replaced at a cost of $8000 annually.

US Representative Steve Cohen: He talks politics (partisanly, of course) on Live at 9. His 2010 opponent, Republican Chalotte Bergmann, has hired a campaign manager for her 2012 challenge.

Downtown: Reduce, recycle and reuse for the aluminum “sunshade” that was a part of the old Shelby County building, by architecture students at the University of Memphis. Two Downtown restaurants are looking for new life with the tumultuous economy–Escape Alley and the Bon Ton Cafe.

Memphis Depot Business Park: Two-hundred sixty acres of the Defense Depot will be sold to a Dallas-based firm.

Neil’s An early morning fire yesterday destroyed the back office area, where it appears to have started. Four firefighters were injured. Neil’s “embodied the spirit of Midtown”, says Fox13’s Les Smith. More from WMC, the Flyer and WREG.

Millington: The corruption investigation has highlighted the “volatile” relationship between Mayor Richard Hodges and Police Chief Ray Douglas. Hodges is currently staying at his brother’s house in Florida. The Living in Millington blog relates the sad tale of Rhonda O’Dell and the insularity of small towns. The “confidential informant” of the TBI’s warrant–Martin Roberts, owner of Transmission Doctors–calls the whole case a “vendetta” between County Commisioner Terry Roland and Hodges. Roberts reports from Fox13.

Politics: New, much tougher regulations meant to deter “over-prescribing” of pain meds in pain management clinics will go into effect on January 1. Republican Representative Judd Matheny believes more tort reform in coming next session. The Tennessee State Employee Association already has 100 suggestions for cutting costs in State government, hoping for the $500 reward. State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey is calling for fiscal note reform, and cites his own bill calling for drug-testing of welfare recipients as an example.

DMV: The State’s Driver Services Division of the Tennessee Department of Safety is working hard to streamline service at their service centers, in anticipation of heavy demand for photo IDs as election season grows near.

Memphis Police Department: The new West (Midtown) Precinct isn’t exactly in Midtown; it was a by-product of HOPE IV funding from the Federal government.

Las Savell: The famed Midtown jeweler passed away on Sunday, aged 76. He was also well-known for the “[Name] makes Memphis a better place” signs at his store.

Memphis Animal Shelter: More on the discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by former head veteranarian, Dr. Angela Middleton.

Local Media: WTVF (Channel 5, Nashville) is asking that a libel suit be dismissed because it made accurate statements. The suit alleges that the station aired “false and defamatory statements” about Judge Daniel Eisenstein. When Oprah ends syndication WMC is going to produce a 4PM news show, anchored by Lindsey Brown; more. Mediaverse on the Commercial Appeal apps.

Joe Spake’s Daily Buzz: The rest of the day’s news, from all sorts of eclectic places.

Smart Stuff 4 Work: A simple memory trick to help out. (via the Daily News)

The Worldly Investor: What to do when the data stack changes. (via the Daily News)

Kathey Wood-Dobbins: And so it begins, requesting that a particular Federally-funded program–in this case, Community Health Centers–is too important to be cut. (via the Tennessean)

Gail Kerr: “District council races are won by people, not power.” (via the Tennessean)

Commercial Appeal: From the political fringe to mucking up the levers of power in Washington, in just two years. Walkable neighborhoods…on Union Avenue?

Listwork: Twelve don’ts of airplane travel.

Memphis Foodie: The Cooking Channel is coming to Memphis. Pete and Sam’s is as authentic as Italian gets in Memphis.

Memphis Lagniappe: His famous college football pre-season playoff predictions for this season.

Midtown Stomp: He disagrees with the rave reviews of “Five Boring Guys” burgers.

My Memphis Mommy: Another reminder of this astounding blog of savings. Coupons, offers, deals, BOGOs, savings, alerts, you name it. A dozen deals every day. Just start scrolling!

NMissCommentor: The difference between measuring and weighing your ingredients. Prepare to be surprised! Surveillance comes to the Square at Oxford.

One Half Amazing! The downfall of Facebook.

Sarah Fortune: A pregnancy update at 30 weeks.

sharp stick in the eye: A few tips to make your Summer pregnancy “pleasant-er”.

Smart City Memphis: Swearing off the Memphis - Detroit comparisons. Tactical urbanism.

Steve’s Nude Memphis Blog: Uncharacteristic thoughts on the debt downgrade and President Obama.

The Conservative Zone: A viral video that’s going around.

vibinc: Thoughts on the “political brinksmanship” of the debt downgrade drama.

Yeah, and another thing… He passes along the best advice he’s been given. Pretty good stuff, too.