Unified Shelby County School Board: A group of board members travelled to Nashville to introduce themselves to legislators.

Arlington: The town becomes the first municipality to have its citizens vote on forming a municipal school district. The election will be May 10.

Shelby County Commission: Commissioner Henri Brooks is pushing for 8 majority-black districts rather than the current plan’s seven. Both are 13 single-member district schemes.

State District 90: A draft movement is growing to recruit a Democratic primary challenger to remove Representative John Deberry. His support of “Don’t Say Gay” legislation is the tipping point.

Memphis City Council: Councilman Kemp Conrad has announced he will not run for Congress in the Eighth Congressional District. The Council now has to deal with a $47 million budget shortfall next year. The Council also approved expenditures on several projects around the city. Plans to privatise the Sanitation Division have been put on hold but the Parks committee decided to contract out management of the Jesse Turner/Bellevue Baseball Park. Mayor A C Wharton wants the Council to move $500,000 in salaries into his office to reassign to new positions.

Arkansas: The town of Wynne was hard hit when Mueller Copper Tube Products closed for good after a fire. Trumann Police Chief Tony Rusher is being investigated by Mayor Sheila Walters, for reason not explained.

Civil Service Reform: Governor Bill Haslam’s proposal to end hiring State preferences for veterans is enountering bipartisan resistance. Publicly, the TN State Employee Association has walked away from talks, but are they meeting privately? More from the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Earthquake: A magnitude 4.0 earthquake was felt in parts of Tennessee yesterday morning. It was centered in SE Missouri (video). The CERI map. Much more from Fox13 and the Commercial Appeal.

Republican Presidential Primary: How delegates are apportioned in Tennessee.

Tennessee: The State saved $34 million by refinancing bonds.

Politics: Rising gas prices have led to legislators to freeze efforts to limit their mileage reimbursements. The “prayer at the flagpole” bill is being rewritten to meet school system law, allowing school employees to join in.

Legislators have put off work on a bill to limit teacher discussions about sex. Reportedly Governor Haslam is requesting the bill be dropped. It would give greater flexibility to school districts. More from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Tennessean. School counselors are opposed to the bills.

MemphisWeather.Net: The local independent weather operation has released an upgraded smartphone app. Their website.

Crime: The last of the four suspects in a two month murder spree, Demetreous Santiago, is reportedly on the run away from Memphis.

R. Allen Stanford: The receiver for the fraud case has sued two Louisiana law firms for $1.8 billion, alleging they aided in the fraud.

Gasoline: With rising gas prices, and $5/gallon gas on the horizon, free delivery is going away and delivery fees are going up.

Central Gardens: This Old House has named them one of their “Old House Neighborhoods”. Link to magazine.

Mo’ Money Taxes: Co-owner Markey Granberry is blaming the landlord for the document dump of clients’ files. The landlord says that ’s not true.

NEW! INTERNET EXCLUSIVE! How I Got Involved in Local Politics: Southaven’s Oriana Hill was dismayed that nothing was being done about Mayor Greg Davis’ official shenanigans, so she decided to take action herself. Read her exclusive story here!

Shelby County Sheriff: Deputy William Speight was arrested for “DUI, reckless driving, and public intoxication”. He has a single infraction in his 20 year career. More in the Commercial Appeal.

“Check Engine” Light: If your car’s light is on you will fail vehicle inspection. Blame the Federal government. More on the Commercial Appeal.

Mortgage Settlement: The multi-state settlement, ending mortgage lawsuits against five major banks, will mean $146 million to homeowners.
 

Occupy: The Senate is due to take up a bill to stop overnight camping and end Occupy Nashville protests.

Nashville: Davidson County Clerk John Arriola and the Metro Council are debating whether Arriola can be made to refund the $119,000 he illegally charged wedding couples.

Memphis Animal Shelter: Are City of Memphis administrators more concerned about leaving a paper trail of employee complaints than they are about problems at the shelter? Animal activists are angry again.

DeSoto County: Prep work for the widening of Highway 305 is underway. Hernando is considering both a skate park and a firing range. Record tax revenues for Southaven. A report from last night’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Secretive negotiations for “Project June” in Olive Branch.

Great American Steamboat Company: A job fair meant to hire hundreds instead attracted thousands. More from ABC24, WMC, WREG and the CA.

Business: Construction employment for Memphis remains below peak levels. The Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival will have more space this year.

In the Business Journal, you’ll find the People on the Move. The Daily News covers both Today’s Events and Memphis Newsmakers. The Commercial Appeal’s got you covered with What to Do and People in Business.

Medco Health Solutions: Their Accredo Health Group division, which had record growth, fed the profitable 4Q of their parent corporation. More in the Commercial Appeal.

Medtronic: A modest increase in sales led to an increase in revenues. Their Memphis operations continue to face “challenges”.

GTx: The company reported a net loss for 4Q and the Food and Drug Administration has delayed clinical trials for their Capesaris drug. More in the Commercial Appeal.

Bonnaroo 2012: Tickets are going back on sale, beginning this Saturday. Bonnaroo website.
 
 

Mississippi: Governor Phil Bryant wants half-a-million for increased staff.

Chattanooga: One City Councilwoman has noted the remarkable similarities in funding requests for a gang study and a minority-business center. Hamilton County is ranked third in discrimination claims filed in TN.

Online Exclusive: Rick Santorum’s Necessary Three Strategies: Our Tea Party contributor, Ed “Doc” Holliday is an enthusiastic Rick Santorum supporter now and he has three things he believes it’s necessary Santorum do right now to take his campaign to the White House.

Online Exclusive: Opportunity Lost: It’s one of the most referenced books on local politics and author Dr Marcus Pohlmann, of Rhodes College, introduces it and explains a little about why you should read it, too. It’s a touchstone for understanding Memphis and Shelby County racial politics in education.

Weeden Arts Watch: A call for papers from Number, the arts journal.

Lakeland Highlights: The Planning Commission meet tomorrow night.

Walls of the City: Another internet meme for you: “What [insert group] think we do”, about Naval officers. A one-line review of the new Ghost Rider movie.

The Changing Newsroom: She’s doing a study about how Memphians used Twitter to build a community of breaking news communications.

This Classical Life: An in-depth interview of Tullian Tchividjian’s Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

The MakeShift Revolution: She’s been inspired to hold two Lenten letter-writing workshops.

Tiffany Tastes: She says East Tapas is “one of those places where I felt like a much cooler and hipper than I actually am.”

Taming Insanity: What Chris Mann taught her about being yourself. Her blog is now two year old!

polar donkey: He’s tired of pit bull advocates.

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

The Fox13 Insiders: They discuss the issues of the day.

Commercial Appeal: If secrecy is allowed during government economic negotiations, then it should expire when the deal is done. Congrats to Mei Ann Chen for extending her contract with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

Guerrilla Sales & Marketing: She explains what “guerrilla research” is and how it can help your business. (via the Daily News)

The Worldly Investor: Dow 13,000 is “sweet” to him. (via the Daily News)

Steve’s Nude Memphis Blog: He raves about Factory Girl and Sienna Millers performance as Edie Sedgwick. An uncharacteristically positive and snark-free post.

Smart City Memphis: It’s all the County’s fault? In other words, he is one of the reasonable, logical people.