Photo Credit: Main Street Journal
Out of One, Many. Again.

 
It’s official! Shelby County’s non-Memphis communities can, barring an intervening lawsuit, schedule and conduct their own referenda to form their own municipal school districts. The State Senate passed a bill, 22-9; with the House having already passed a similar bill they now go to Governor Bill Haslam for his signature. The suburbs are waiting for the legislation to finalise before acting. Is State Senator Mark Norris a Machiavellian genius, as Jackson Baker alleges or did Democrats just screw up, as Jackson Baker alleges? More from WREG and Fox13.

Memphis City Council: After some meetings and discussions over the weekend, they will take their first votes on next year’s budget today. The meeting agenda. WMC has new information from this weekend’s budget hearing. The Fire Department proposing cutting five vehicles. Tough choices lie ahead.

Occupy Memphis: Remember them? They are still continuing their free-to-them protest across from City Hall. Attendance is usually “only a dozen or less people”. They will hold a rally today. Occupy Memphis website and Facebook page.

Shelby County Government: A story about expensive countertops in the remodeled Vasco Smith Administration building? It must be sweeps….

Raymond James: CEO Paul Reilly says the company is “hiring at full speed”.

Tennessee: Governor Haslam’s office has refused a request from the Chattanooga Times Free Press to records regarding the TN Regulatory Authority. Interstates now have overhead message boards that update drivers to the number of citizens killed on the State’s roads.

Food Stamp Fraud: WREG uncovers a single Food Land store allowing customers to illegally charge their EBTs with non-food items.

Ninth Congressional District: The Daily News has a story of Democratic primary challenger Tomeka Hart and her entry into local education politics. (Hart wrote an article for the Main Street Journal recently on the need for women to get involved in politics.) And Representative Steve Cohen hosted a “job procurement fair” for small, local businesses seeking information about getting contracts with the Federal government.

Memphis International Airport: Airfares there are the third-highest in the nation.

Business: Construction contracts were up 71% in March for TN. Two freestanding restaurants are opening at the Crescent Center on Poplar Avenue–Seasons 52 and The Capital Grille.

The Daily News has Today’s Events. In the Commercial Appeal, People in Business and What to Do. Your People on the Move, from the Business Journal.

Delta Air Lines: The rumors were true! Delta has bought the Phillips 66 Trainer oil refinery south of Philadelphia, for an “investment” $150 million.

Sharp Manufacturing: They marked production of their 3 millionth solar panel. More from ABC24.

Emergency Response: Does Memphis have enough ambulances to take care of the city?

Second Amendment: Two shootings in Mississippi are somehow blamed on, though not connected in the story, to a new law regarding gun carry.

Mississippi: An Associated Press report on the State’s continuing abortion battle. The Legislature also approved an inventory tax break for businesses. More than 100 budget bills have been passed and sent to the governor. Governor Phil Bryant will speak in DeSoto County, at an event honoring Fallen Heroes police officers, on Friday. Some legislators are eyeing a lottery for the State.

Foreclosures: First-quarter activity is down 11% nationally.

Weather: Summer is here as temps are running 10-12 degrees above normal for this time of year.

Financial: FirstBank has named Chris Holmes as their new president and moved Doug Cruikshanks to the board of directors; more from the CA. First quarter net income of $22.9 million for BancorpSouth.

Internet Exclusive! Southpaw: As she argues rather persuasively in this week’s column, our musical heritage in Memphis is both our blessing and our curse.
 

Internet Exclusive! Conservatives Cannot Afford To Be Silent and Republicans Cannot Afford To Let Them is the message in this month’s column from our political/financial contributor Chuck Bates. It’s do or die.

Internet Exclusive! Our Tea Party contributor, Ed “Doc” Holliday has a monumental post likening the 2012 election campaign to the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War! And President Barack Obama is…General Robert E. Lee?

Shelby County Juvenile Court: The Daily News has a cleare-eyed summary of the Department of Justice report on discrimination inside the court and its “fundamental misunderstanding” of its purpose. They are being urged to revive an advisory board that had been allowed to lapse.

Millington: Late last week, Governor Haslam signed the bill enabling the town to switch to a city manager form of government; a second vote by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen is next.

St Jude Children’s Research Hospital: A recent study shows that black and white children do equally well in treatment with them, defying national odds.

Pyramid Bricks: The City is removing the bricks bought with money donated by Memphians but what happens next is an open question. Will the City return them to the purchasers? More from WMC, Fox13.

Overton Square: Another step for the Square as the former Yosemite Sam’s becomes Local Gastropub. More on the addition from the Daily News and the CA and Fox13.

2012-13 Tennessee Budget: Both chambers of the Legislature has agreed to the governor’s budget, despite some last-minute Democratic efforts. The bill is now on Governor Bill Haslam’s desk. More from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Commercial Appeal. Republicans praise their own budget.

Nashville: A judge has class-action status to a lawsuit alleging racial “re-segregation” in a 2008 school reassignment plan. There are now competing petitions for and against the Great Hearts Academies charter school proposal. White-male only Belle Meade Country Club has admitted its first female member.

Memphis Police Department: Many buildings aren’t actually owned by the City, but are expensively leased from their owners.

Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence: They are hosting a conference on Wednesday, on “Powerful Networks: Nonprofits, Social Media, and Community”, and taking advantage of the tools of social media.

DeSoto County: Southaven mayor Greg Davis is schedule to appear in court Wednesday on a charge of using police blue lights.

The End of the Session: The Associated Press on Sunday’s windup to this session of the 107th General Assembly. This story labels the debate as “wrangling”.

Legislation essentially targeting Vanderbilt University, claiming they are driving Christian groups from campus, was passed but it likely will have no effect. The Nashville City Paper as the details of the debate and the Commercial Appeal has a strangely, gingerly-worded report. The tax on loose tobacco (”roll your own”) sales was raised; more in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Preventing illegal aliens from receiving State services has surfaced in a bill. Last year’s “cyberbullying” law has been rewritten to survive a constitutional challenge. A rewrite of the State’s PAC law will loosen it and increase the amounts corporations can give; Democrats are opposing it; more from WPTY.

Failed Bills: The lottery scholarship bill, that would have halved scholarship amounts is dead for the year, after its sponsor withdrew it. More from the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the CA.

Gasoline: Gas prices continue dropping, almost twelve cents of late. Current Memphis average is $3.59/gallon, well below the national average. More from the Business Journal. Gasoline without ethanol added to it is showing up around Memphis, at a premium price.

The Worldly Investor: The markets are still growing strong. (via the Daily News)

Small Business Advocate: This is the new age: the Age of the Customer. (via the Commercial Appeal)

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

The Insiders: Ben Ferguson and Rev Kenneth Whalum discuss the issues of the day. (via Fox13)