Photo Credit: Norman Rockwell
Happy Thanksgiving!

 
The Main Street Journal will not update again until Monday, November 28, so that we may spend the holiday with family and friends. We hope you have a safe and happy holiday.

Thanksgiving: The home-cooked family tradition is losing ground in recent years to eating out on the holiday. Thanksgiving dinner for eight for under $50? How Le Bonheur Children’s Research Hospital pulls off Thanksgiving. The day before Thanksgiving is increasingly Pizza Night for many. The Memphis Grizzlies find a way to give back; more from ABC24.

Holiday Shopping: Watching out for shopping scams. Black Friday deals from WREG.

Charter Schools: The Unified School Boards’ rejection of 17 charter school applications may not stick when the State Treasurer’s office reviews them. Why declining enrollment and declining funding, if 17 charter schools open, aren’t a wash. Dr Willie W. Herenton, who will head the 9-school W. E. B. DuBois Consortium, reacts. The Memphis City Schools system estimates charter schools will “cost” it $185 million by 2017.

Occupy: Beware on Black Friday, as many chapter of the movement wll be protesting in or in front of retail stores that day. No word on Memphis. Occupy Memphis website here. A look inside OM.

Business: The Daily News has Today’s Events.

Del-Nat Tires: A “cooperative of independent tire dealers and distributors”, they are unusual and will also be the distributors for Chinese tire maker, Qingdao/Doublestar.

Crime: Crime is down in Shelby County. The Crime Commission’s report is here.

Daycare: The Pee Wee Wisdom Child Care Center has had its “transportation privileges” revoked, after one of its drivers accidentally killed six-year old Anthony Scott. The driver, Victor Hardy, was suspended. There was a vigil for Scott; more from ABC24. There are allegations for drug use. Recollections from a bus passenger.

Mississippi: Riverside casino revenue losses were not balanced out by the bare profitability of the Gulf Coast casinos. The State’s four US Congressmen are “confident” that a court-drawn district map will be fair. A report on the County effort to increase broadband internet availability.

NEW! INTERNET EXCLUSIVE: Europe’s “Greece” Fire: Our financial contributor, Chuck Bates, looks at the Greek meltdown, what it will do to Europe and what it might mean to America.

Unemployment: The Memphis metro area’s rate fell to 10.0% in October. The City of Memphis’ unemployment rate was also lower, at 10.1%. More from the Commercial Appeal.

Overton Park: The developer, Loeb Properties, want commitments from the City that funding is in place before they sign the contracts.

Livable Memphis: You can read the Metropolitan Planning Organisation’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan to learn where the City of Memphis is headed.

Memphis v. Chattanooga: The City-owned utility, Electric Power Board, installed a one gigabit per second fiber optic network and now they are aiming to leverage that into an entrepreneurial draw with “Gig City Gig Tank“.

Local Media: Five County small newspapers have been purchased by North Mississippi’s Journal, Incorporated. They can be read here.

Bomb Threats: Seven letters threatening bombing this week were all traced back to one person: felon and prisoner Marshall DeWayne Williams.

DeSoto County: The Southaven police are ready for the flood of shoppers before Black Friday.

Tennessee: If you are traveling this weekend, beware the TN Highway Patrol’s “More Cops, More Stops” campaign.

Politics: State Senator Stacey Campfield is endorsing Newt Gingrich as the Republican presidential candidate. State budget hearings in Knoxville, time-lapsed to 50 seconds! The State Department of Education has planned for a 6.5% budget reduction next year.

The Endless Election Season: Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich has filed her petition to run in the Republican primary for her re-election to office

Memphis City Council: The City’s new, stricter and, some say, more dangerous regulations on the towing industry, have claimed their first business.

Internet Exclusive: Mississippi Tea Party activist Ed “Doc” Holliday supports the Republican presidential candidacy of Herman Cain and says he brings “Rock Splitting Politics” to the race.

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

Don Wade: How can Memphis Grizzlies fans “Believe” is they’re locked out? (via the Daily News)

FUNdraising: They explain the circle of giving. (via the Daily News)

Memphasis: He’s grateful for the fraternity idiots who have become lifelong friends. (via the Daily News)

I Swear: The timeline of Peden v. U.S., 512 F.2d 1099 (1975). (via the Daily News)

Because I Said So: This year, the family is coming to his house for Thanksgiving. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Wendi C. Thomas: An inspirational story of gratitude in the face of a difficult life. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Mayor A C Wharton: Mayor Wharton is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a gun-control group founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, solicits public input on controlling handguns from Memphians. (via the Commercial Appeal)