Photo Credit: MemphisZombies.com
The Weekend is Coming

 
The dead walk the earth, in fun made-up form, tonight at the 2012 Memphis Zombie Massacre. Don’t worry–it’s safe and fun and benefits the Mid-South Food Bank!

The economy must be getting better, look at everything going on this weekend. Guides from GoMemphis, Downtown Memphis, WMC, the Living Loud in Midtown blog and the Commercial Appeal.

Memorial Day Holiday: The Main Street Journal will take the Memorial Day weekend off and will return to regular updating on Tuesday. Have a safe holiday.

Transition Planning Commission: They will recommend blending several sources of security for the Unified School district.

Memphis Budget Struggle: The budget committee meets one more time, the day after Memorial Day, before the full council will vote on their recommendation. More on the possibility of revenue-producing speed cameras in Memphis.

Memphis City Council: The Flyer interviews Councilman Shea Flinn about his proposed adult entertainment district. Councilman Edmund Ford Jr’s auto inspection plan is causing strain between the City and County.

Memphis City Schools: The two fledgling rocket scientists at Wooddale High School–Wesley Carter and Darius Hooker–rated an article in The Atlantic.

New tools are helping teachers improve their skills and their students. Beginning this year, two schools will be part of a pilot program, encouraging parents to grade themselves.

UT Coach Pat Summit: She will be honored this Tuesday at the White House with a President Medal of Freedom.

Germantown: Former town prosecutor Joe Lee Wyatt has pleaded guilty to a reckless driving charge but a harsher DUI charge was dismissed.

City of Memphis: The City has formed a Transportation Commission to deal with vehicles for hire, and the complaints they draw.

Mississippi: DeSoto County Republican State Senator Merle Flowers is stepping down from office; more. Paid parking is coming to the Square in Oxford. The Tupelo school system chose abstinence-only sex education. A man who was recommended for one of ex-governor Haley Barbour’s controversial pardons, Harry Bostick, has re-offended, on similar charges.

Politics: The Flyer’s Jackson Baker wonders if Harold Ford Jr is still a player. The “Tennessee Plan” is dead…at least for now. A report on the Third Congressional District debate this week. Former Congressmen John Tanner and Bart Gordon are now…lobbyists! Vintage guitar sellers must now deal with onerous government requirements that make work difficult.

Governor Bill Haslam claims he’s creating “an unofficial fourth branch” of government with his latest move, to change 21 boards and commissions. The State’s press release. Applicants for public benefits will have a harder time, with requirements for proof of legal residence and testing for non-drug use. More on drug-testing from the Nashville City Paper. With the Democratic sponsors standing with him, the governor signed the TN Works Act, which pays companies to train laid-off workers. Bills signed last week by the governor.

Levitt Shell: The kick-off concert for the 75th anniversary season portends another great year.

Nashville: Mayor Karl Dean has finalised his largest budget for building projects, $300 million. More on this from the Nashville City Paper, the Tennessean. The Metro police chief says 200 budget cut-mandated jobs cuts would be “devastating”. City taxi, limousine and wrecker services inspectors will get diversity training after one inspector’s remarks.

Downtown: Pedego of Memphis offers battery-powered bike tours of the downtown. The owner of 118 Madison Avenue is asking for a delay in City-ordered demolition.

Memorial Day: If you’ve had too much to drink, please call the Tow to Go program–don’t drive! Fire officials warn you to take precautions if you go on vacation. Holiday schedules and closings.

MLG&W: Their customers pay the third-lowest residential rates in the nation.

Collierville: The Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to schedule a vote on forming a municipal school district.

Code Orange Alerts: Summer is here with a vengeance as Chattanooga goes under an alert Friday. No word at posting time about Memphis, but be prepared.

NEW! INTERNET EXCLUSIVE: Achievement School District Blog 05: Every student attending Cornerstone Prep is performing at or above national standards for their grade. Cornerstone Prep serves students in the Binghampton community.

Internet Exclusive! Southpaw: The Tale of Two Covers: Columnist Andria K. Brown notes two very different magazine covers and the articles they represent. One, she thinks, is much more important than the other.

Unemployment: The rate continues to drop for the Memphis metro area, to 8.4%. Memphis proper saw her unemployment fall to 9.4 percent, an almost 1 percent drop! Labor and Workforce Development report. (PDF document) By comparison, Chanttanooga’s unemployment rate for April was 7.1%.

Crime: At least 42 handguns and rifles were stolen from a Whitehaven home, creating concern from police.

2012 Presidential Race: Debate “boils on” in the African-American community over President Barack Obama’s gay marriage stance.

Millington: More on the lack of security at the Federal minimum security prison camp.

August 2 Election: Democratic Shelby County Attorney General candidate Carol Chumney, who has maintained a strangely low-key presence, finally surfaces! More from Fox13.

Tennessee: Next week County sheriffs across the State will take part in a massive DUI checkpoint research project. A lot of citizens are awaiting the new law allowing the expunging of non-violenct felonies for $350. Nationally, food stamp fraud costs US taxpayers $750 million a year.

Knoxville: The US Supreme Court ruled there will be no new trials for the people convicted in the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, where the judge admitted to a prescription drug addiction. A Sevier County court clerk avoided jail time after being caught stealing $100,000 from the County.

Local Media: WREG utterly dominated the latest Nielsen ratings period. More details on what happened.

Charter Schools: More congratulations to Soulsville Charter School for their amazing student achievement, where every graduating senior has been accepted to college.

“Trayvoning”: The “new Internet trend” is to post pictures re-enacting the attack on and death of Trayvon Martin.

Organ Transplants: Some background and definitions from the Tri-State Defender to help understand the organ transplant row now underway.

DeSoto County: Southaven mayor Greg Davis is back from Las Vegas. Concerned Citizens of Southaven is defending the mayor’s trip; more from ABC24. Multiple graduations will have traffic backed up around the Landers Civic Center this weekend. Hernando will get a small State grant to boost its curbside recycling program.

Blight: The property owner of the Executive Inn, near the airport, has been “strong-armed” into much-needed basic maintenance on the abandoned property. Loeb Properties and the Memphis College of Art are collaborating to dress up some of their buildings in Midtown.

Mo’ Money Taxes: The company is now fighting multi-State lawsuits.

Business: Memphis is a stop, this Sunday, on the BET Awards Next Big Music Star Mobile Tour; more in the CA.

The Daily News knows Inked and Today’s Events. The Business Journal covers People on the Move.

Fred’s: Third quarter income jumped 10.5%. Profits were up almost 10 percent. More in the CA.

Delta Air Lines: The Ninth District Congressional political race move to a strange new forum on Thursday: the Facebook page for Delta Does Memphis. Link. (Requires Facebook login.) US Representative Steve Cohen and his primary challenger, Tomeka Hart, posted to the Facebook discussion. Cohen defended his commitment to lower airfares when called out by Hart. Cohen says the industry must be re-regulated in order to force competition, and lower prices on tickets. The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau also started their own Facebook page.

Shelby Farms: A “rash” of auto break-ins has been reported.

Summer: This season could be the longest West Nile virus window on record. Now that the heat is on, AC thefts are on the rise, too. The heat is on, and early too.

Brenda Wood: The former WMC anchor has thoughts on Desmond Hatchett, the Knoxville man who fathered 30 children. (via Atlanta’s 11Alive/WXIA)

Chattanooga Free Press: Noting the Obama administration’s “hostility” to expressions of faith.

Jackson Sun: Many non-profits depend on support from City and County governments.

Sean Phipps: Five ways to make brief conversations with strangers enjoyably awkward. (via Nooga.com)

Rikki Hall: “Greed’s tentacles” have grabbed Governor Bill Haslam and his pro-business administration. (via the Knoxville Metro Pulse)

Frank Cagle: We live in an age of manufactured, outsourced, faux protests. (via the Knoxville Metro Pulse)

Flyer: Why does Memphis put up with Delta’s behavior, bad enough to cause a reaction from angry flyers on Facebook, if we’re supposed to be a hub?

Dr Tim Moore: Seven points to remember before you eat yourself into oblivion. (via the Tri-State Defender)

Lucy Shaw: Advice on dealing with a friend who is dying of cancer. (via the Tri-State Defender)

Memphasis: His message to Delta Air Lines and the Memphis International Airport is, “Straighten up and fly right!.” (via the Daily News)

FUNdraising: The first in a three-part series on grassroots fundraising. (via the Daily News)

Commercial Appeal: They seem to understand that our school system haven’t bee producing students with the skill set that’s needed for the jobs we’re attracting. Overlooking the gems we produce.

Mayor A C Wharton: Memphis must adopt long-range planning and funding, instead of the year-by-year fixes we’ve settle for. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Geoff Calkins: Lauding the community achievement at Soulsville Charter School. (via the Commercial Appeal)