Photo Credit: City of Memphis
One Down, One To Go

 
The Shelby County Commission meets in special session today to add their agreement to the school merger settlement and finalise districts. They will be looking beyond simple political experience in appointing the new Unified Shelby School Board even though political maneuvering is underway. Background on some of the transition board candidates.

Memphis Schools: School guidance counselor Cinnamon Davis has been charged with statutory rape after a May incident. More from the Commercial Appeal. The school she teaches at has not been identified.

City-County School Merger: Shelby County school Superintendent John Aitken and Memphis City schools Superintendent Kriner Cash had a planning meeting last week to begin the process of making the two systems one. School consolidation turns a corner.

Gibson Guitar: Their facilities in Nashville and Memphis were shut down on Wednesday because, they claim, wood purchased in India was not finished by Indians. The wood was certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. CEO Henry Juszkiewicz says the wood was properly imported and calls the raid a “witch hunt”. Details from the search warrant. This is their second brush with the Federal government. C. F. Martin & Company, another guitar maker, uses the same wood in the same way, but was not raided. Martin are, however, Democratic donors and not Republican ones. The Commercial Appeal has a summary article on the situation. More from the Daily News; video from the Pith in the Wind blog..

Tennessee: Despite a Federal effort to slow down departations, State officials aren’t changing policy.

Governor Bill Haslam: “We’re not going to get out of the incentive business,” Haslam said last week to a roundtable of businessmen. He also thinks we will not have a double-dip recession but may have slow growth. As promised, when an issue affected by his ownership of Pilot Oil came up, he “delegated the decision about requesting a fuel standards waiver (for West Tennessee) to his deputy”; more from the Associated Press.

Code Orange Alert: Thanks to heat and dry, stagnant air, the Shelby County Health Department has issued a Code Orange Ozone Alert for today. That also mean twenty-five cent fares on MATA busses.

Politics: Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty will deliver a report to the governor about eliminating anti-business or growth-inhibiting regulations. More from the Nashville City Paper. Two TN Republicans rank among the top fundraisers in Congress: Senator Bob Corker and freshman Sixth District Representative Diane Black. East Tennessee Democrats think Republicans overreached this session and they can profit from it. Changes to the payday loan law are now being questioned by borrowers.

Traffic: Thanks to $24 million in Federal money, the City will synchronise 334 traffic signals across the traffic grid. More from Fox13, ABC24. One proposed solution to the bike lane situation on Madison Avenue may not please anyone.

National Popular Vote Initiative: This group opposes the Electoral College system for Presidential voting and seeks to do away with it. The story oddly lists many Republican groups opposing it but mentions no Democrats in favor, even though the three disputed elections all concerned Democratic losers. NPV website here.

Memphis Animal Control: Officers responding to an animal attack refuse to pick up the attacking dog. (But read the comments for what happened later!)

Arkansas: Police were called out to a meeting of the West Memphis Fire Commission but no one is talking. Farmers are being hit with waves of bollworms. A Canadian company has been approved to recycle water used in “fracking” for commercial purposes.

Collierville: The man charged with aggravated sexual battery of minor children, Anthony Webster, has been videotaped in one assault. More from WMC.

Mississippi: Mississippi Outdoors–the hunting, fishing and wildlife news, from the Commercail Appeal. The murder of James Craig Anderson of Jackson is growing into a many-headed beast.

Internet Exclusive: Should Bartlett Create A School District? Regular contributor and Bartlett resident Mick Wright wonders if a special school district is the best choice for Bartlett?

Mississippi River Traffic: With the arrival of American Cruise Lines and Great American Steamboat Company, passenger business is picking up.

Memphis v. Knoxville: Knoxville has a mayoral election coming up and the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports on the candidates.

State Education Reform: Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman spoke to a charter school association event about being “part of the solution” for education reform.

Livable Memphis: One of the backers of the Shelby Farms Greenline, including helping to secure funding, is now the Cordova Leadership Council.

West Memphis Three: The Arkansas Crime Lab is willing to study the DNA evidence in the case and run the results through CODIS. The Commercial Appeal argues the case that money bought “justice” in the case. All three defendants have made post-release plans, including marriage and school.

Germantown: Giving the mayor the power of board and commission chairmanships. Suburban reaction to creating a municipal school district.

The Deadliest Part of Memphis: The 38106 ZIP code also home to pastors who hope to change the heart of the community.

Bartlett: A Commercial Appeal report on the weekend’s strategic planning session for town officials.

DeSoto County: Parents at sporting events across the county on Friday staged prayer protests against the demand the County not allow sanctioned prayer; more from ABC24 and WREG. The group making the demand, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is now asking for an apology. The letter from the FFRF, requesting an end to prayer. (PDF document)

Civil service protections are becoming an issue in the County Sheriff’s race. With two more days to go until the deadline to vote, the Hernando Farmers Market still hopes to win the Top Ten Farmers Market in the US. The DeSoto County Convention and Visitors Bureau Board approved a $11.5 million budget, which includes a $500,000 deficit. Hernando will soon go about resurfacing the Sports and Fitness Park.

Business: Where do you come down on the “no children allowed” debate in local restaurants?

As reported in the Commercial Appeal, What to Do for Sunday and Monday; People in Business for Sunday and Monday; Property Transfers. Today’s Events, in the Daily News. And People on the Move, carried by the Business Journal.

FedEx: Their shares are at a 52-week low, and analysts are mixed in their outlooks but the company is still a good buy. The company contributed one million dollars to the new Washington, DC, Martin Luther King memorial.

Amazon.com: A group calling itself Alliance for Main Street Fairness, backed by various “big box” retailers, added its voice to the protests against Amazon not collecting in-state sales taxes.

MLG&W: So-called “smart grid” technology will move into phase two rollout, allowing users to watch their utility usage and MLG&W to charge more.

Internet Exclusive: Bloomberg’s Money: What Does It Mean For Memphis? New contributor Craig Harper tells us what to expect with Mayor Bloomberg’s grant to Memphis for fighting “juvenile handgun violence”.

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?

Tennessean: Tennessee requires restaurants to post health scores, why not grocery stores?

Jimmy Hopper: The TN Department of Agriculture works hard to protect the food supply. (via the Tennessean)

Frank Cagle: Only two groups support Amazon’s “no taxes” position–Amazon and Chattanooga-area workers. (via the Knoxville Metro Pulse)

Michael Silence: Banning teacher-student contact via social media is a fool’s errand. (via the Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Jack McElroy: Pat Summitt is a true pillar of the Knoxville community. (via the Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Snark Bites: Local politicians terrorise a Knoxville woman and her “undecided” positions. (via the Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt’s courage in the face of adversity is an inspiration to all. (via the Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Robert Houk: Mocking Lt Gov Ron Ramsey. (via the Johnson City Press)

Wendi C. Thomas: She just doesn’t trust David Pickler to have a change of heart. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Andre K. Fowlkes: Memphis needs to look beyond the Poplar Corridor for development. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Memphis News: It’s time for City leaders to embrace the smart grid and new technologies.

Giving Back: Ways to combine football season and charitable giving. Daily News)

Small Business Advisor: Create your own growing economy. (via the Daily News)

FUNdraising: The first of a four-part series on the new Federal landscape in funding. (via the Daily News)

Memphasis: Thoughts on Theatre Memphis. (via the Daily News)

Commercial Appeal: Farewell, Adolpho Birch, TN’s first African-American Supreme Court Chief Justice. The oldest plea in the newspaper playbook: do it for the kids.

Tom Marino and Teresa Sloyan: Getting “an effective or high-potential teacher” in into every classroom. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Better Business: Withholding rent is not a strategy to use on difficult landlords. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Chris Peck: Federal cuts to the National Institutes of Health threaten St Jude Children’s Hospital. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Otis L. Sanford: Thoughts on the 48th anniversary of the “I Have A Dream” speech. (via the Commercial Appeal)