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Memphis & Shelby County Courts

 
The General Session Court Clerk is sending out 2400 reimbursements for over-charges dating back 12 years, a move critics question for its political timing. More on that from ABC24 and WREG. Correy Isom, the second man involved in a million dollar embezzlement scheme in Chancery Court, was sentenced to four years in prison. A Department of Justice open public meeting, about their findings at the Shelby County Juvenile Court, is planned for later this month.

Municipal School Districts: Shelby County Commissioner Mike Ritz was interviewed on WREG’s Live@9 about the costs of MSDs.

Shelby County Commission: Today’s big event is the possible third and final ratifying vote on a single-member redistricting plan.

Memphis City Council: More on a possible year-long waiver for auto-inspection “check engine” light failures. WMC also has the story.

Germantown: The town’s genealogical and historical history will be preserved.

Unified County School Board: The open question today is whether and how deeply they discuss Memphis City Schools superintendent Dr Kriner Cash’ contract. What will happen at today’s meeting is anyone guess.

Redistricting Fallout: State Senators Kim Kyle and Beverly Marrero face each other in the new created Senate District 30, which is mostly comprised of Kyle’s old district. The State’s tea party groups hope to pick off a few incumbents in the primaries, but may be too fragmented and divided to do so.

Politics: The AFSCME union is divided over political spending, following last week’s election losses. The Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally on Friday lunch drew about 150 to protest President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act’s mandate. Lt Governor Ron Ramsey is predicting big gains for the TN GOP in the next election and blaming Democrats for it. Meanwhile, TN Democrats are pushing back against the Republicans; more in the Nashville Scene. More on the State’s low grades for online government transparency. Governor Bill Haslam predicts a tax revenue boost from this year’s tax reform. More and more cities and towns are withdrawing from the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System.

At the Rutherford County Republican Executive Committee meeting last week, “tempers exploded” and “nearly turned into a riot” over an email about State tea parties. Yet more reporting on the Legislative tradition of “ghost voting”. Hundreds of felons will have their right to vote restored this year.

TN Elections 2012: Retiring Democratic State Representative Mike McDonald (District 44 - northeast of Nashville) took jabs at fellow Republican Representative Debra Maggart. And Lt Governor Ramsey says, in another context, she is being “unfairly maligned”.The Democratic challenger, Eric Stewart, to Third District Congressman Scott DesJarlais accused DesJarlais of “hypocrisy” for supporting the grocery tax cut but not payroll tax cuts. A Knoxville News-Sentinel report on the District 13 House race. Governor Bill Haslam says he will not make an endorsement in the Third Congressional District primary.

Collierville: For the town, it’s the year of living within its means.

Arkansas: Parents of children who violate West Memphis’ curfew could face a judge; more from WMC. A bumper crop of cotton may still not be enough to offset the price drop. Another officer, Phillips County deputy Winston Dean Jackson, has been sentenced to prison in the Operation Delta Blue sting.

Shelby County Jail: Officials have been told to tighten the rules to prevent cell phones being smuggled in, as four inmates have been charged. They are starting to do just that. More from WREG.

University of Tennessee Health Science Center: Ground was broken last week on a new Translational Science research building. More from the Daily News.

Bartlett: The local municpal races, all for aldermen seats, have attracted a minimum of candidates.

DeSoto County: The 51 and Main Street Farmers Market, in Southaven, is smaller than others in the County, but doing well. Southaven appeared on the national cable show, Today in America. Plans are being finalised for a public meeting on I-69 - 269 International Trade Corridor. Diane Hill is the new executive director of the Horn Lake Chamber of Commerce. One year after the government of Olive Branch banned smoking in eateries, customers have adapted. The Shrine Club holds its fourth annual Barbecue Cook Off fundraiser next weekend. A number of deadlines are approaching for farmers and landowners. The all-volunteer Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation looks after injured or orphaned animals.

NEW INTERNET EXCLUSIVE! The Mayor of Collierville, Stan Joyner, writes an open letter to the people of Colliverville, supporting the creation of a school district for his town, calling it a “transformational” decision.

Unified Development Code: Critics of proposed changes to the Code see them as weakening or even removing the very spirit of what the Code is meant to create.

Downtown: The group seeking to renovate the Chisca Hotel into a mixed apartment/retail space is looking for a 20-year PILOT from the Center City Revenue Finance Corporation; more from the Daily News. A melee on Beale Street injured 4 police officers.

Pyramid: Famed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has created and posted a video about the building’s supposed “occult” roots. You can watch the video on YouTube. Jones runs the InfoWars website.

Pipe Kitty: The story broke Friday afternoon, exploded onto Twitter and then local news stations followed it that evening and the next morning! She was ultimately rescued at 4 in the morning, and has since been adopted. The story went viral on social media.

Red Light Traffic Cameras: A Knox County Chancellor has upheld a law fining drivers for right-turns-on-red if the only evidence is a RLTC.

Shelby Farms Park: The newly-inaugurated Conservancy is facing a drought on contributions and donations to fund operations.

Mississippi: The deadline is approaching for citizens who lost money in investments with Regions Morgan Keegan. The electric cars made by GreenTech in Horn Lake, the MyCar, is sold all over the world. A bank scam built on phishing calls is spreading across North MS. Politicians seems to go and then come back.

Business: Finding an honest estate sale company. Fox13 reports on LaunchMemphis, this weekend.

People on the Move, in the Business Journal. The Daily News has Today’s Events. And the Commercial Appeal reports People in Business and What to Do; Property Transfers.

FedEx: Beginning July 9, the Freight subsidiary are raising their rates by 6.9% on shipments in and between the contiguous US and Canada. More from the Business Journal. Truong spoke at an event, A Conversation With…, sponsored by the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.

Electrolux: The CEO and president, Jack Truong, announced Friday construction of their Memphis facility is on schedule.

Pinnacle Air Lines: One of their flights from Detroit to Washington, DC, was grounded for four hours due to “suspicious passengers”.

Parent Engagement Summit: Focused on the County’s 21 Title 1 schools, this program was aimed at teaching parents to be better mentors.

West Tennesee: A 2010 chemical spill at the Teknor Apex plant in Brownsville was but the highest profile of a number of spills.

Nashville: A Metro councilman was organising weekend roundtable discussions with his peers to try to find ways to reduce Mayor Karl Dean’s proposed property tax increase.

Metro is looking at bus rapid transit as their public transportation future. Like a subway with wheels. A comparison to other cities and their BRT systems. They travelled to Eugene, OR, to see how it works.

FedEx St Jude Classic: Dustin Johnson was the eventual winner, with 9 under par; more from the Commercial Appeal, WMC. A three-way tie for the lead on Saturday night. Jonathan Fly had a great second day. Rory McIlroy was the leader on Friday night; more from Fox13. Noting the comeback of J. B. Holmes. More from Friday, from Fox13. And a wrap-up from the CA.

Even after the Tiger Wood phenomenon, the sport is still overwhelmingly white. A photo gallery from the Business Journal.

Survey Says: A study on top retirement destinations rates TN number one.

Transplants: Federally-driven changes to the way liver transplant “territories” are divided up at the State level are creating territorial wars at home.

Real Estate: The Memphis Area Association of Realtors says home sales were up by 25% in May; more from the Daily News. Now is the time to buy a house! City/County financial incentives are often the deciding point for local industrial and office deals. The Dodd-Frank Act could have “dire impact” on area commercial real estate.

Memphis International Airport: The Memphis News looks into flyer anger at the fares being charged at the airport. The media-fueled controversy over Delta’s high airfares are giving the airport at image problem the board members believe they can’t control.

NMissCommentor: A salad nicoise made almost entirely from locally grown (Mississippi) ingredients!

The Daddler and Me: The excitement of a new phone. I don’t think this is a conundrum.

This Classical Life: Your poem for the day. (It’s a short T. S. Eliot work.)

a girl, a fork and a spoon: Five things you need to know about Amanda. How to roast garlic.

Yeah, and another thing: Standard Life Coach answers reader questions.

Sarah Fortune: Baby Iris is seven months old and she’s crawling!

Memphis Shelby Inform: Thoughts on Roland McElrath and gaming the system.

JNSZD: Learn something interesting about the movie house history of Memphis, with some artifacts. The Memphis Botanic Gardens have a farmers market on Wednesday afternoons.

eat local memphis: Part two of his experiences at The Newman Farm. Some pictures may upset delicate readers. (Part one here, to get caught up.)

Smart Stuff 4 Work: The real lesson of the red bead experiment. (via the Daily News)

Memphis News: The City of Memphis should draw a line in the sand over air fares at Memphis International.

Small Business Advocate: “The chicken is profit and the egg is jobs.” (via the Commercial Appeal)

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

Gail Kerr: She angrily dismisses the “haters” opposing the Murfreesboro mosque. Very angrily.

Tennessean: Helpful advice on selling the property tax increase to Metro Nashvillians! How nice.

Tom Humphrey: Bill-signing is a whole other kind of political ceremony or theater. (via the Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Commercial Appeal: Noting that next year’s City budget is politics as usual. Farewell to Tom and Ray. (Showing their radio listening habits, too.) Trying to strike, as they so often attempt, a middle ground on the Unified Development Code. Mistaking gridlock for inaction. A new end-of-everything date.

Otis L. Sanford: He believes, based on his own anecdotal evidence and politcal observations, that Republicans are “walking away from” women. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Nora Capwell: Twenty minutes a day of a parent reading to a child can be the difference between lagging and success in life. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Wendi C. Thomas: She tells the moving tale of a determined adult college graduate Barbara Burnside. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Geoff Calkins: The inspiring tale of the young golfer at the FedEx St Jude Classic, Jonathan Fly. The buzz is back at the revived FESJC. (via the Commercial Appeal)