Memphis Area Teachers’ Credit Union: They have extended the deadline to apply for their teacher’s degree scholarship.

The Disabled Community: A new recreation center for those with disabilities will open soon in East Memphis. Also, advocates for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill are lobbying Nashville to keep funding for programs that help the mentally challenged.

Martin Luther King Holiday: A list of events today, and another. A reminder of the strong public service focus of this holiday. The National Civil Rights Museum teaches children about King; more from the Memphis Flyer.

More 2008 in Review: From the Daily News, the local court filings and Q4 circuit court filings.

BUSINESS:
Entrepreneurial boosters LaunchMemphis look back at first year with pride. Shopping center Trinity Place sells for $5.7 million; more from the Commercial Appeal. The Tri-State Defender looks at the foreclosure crisis, noting a disparity of impact and asking a big question. Circuit City will soon liquidate all the US stores; more from the Business Journal and Eyewitness News.

Welcome to the new technology: A comment on Twitter, a social communications network, that demeaned FedEx and Memphis, forces a national PR firm to issue an apology! An earlier story.

First Horizon doing better than they had feared; more from the CA. Renasant and Cadence lowered their 4Q projections, anticipating an increase in loan loss provisions.

Real estate investment company MemphisInvest.com helping investors find their niche in the current economy. As home prices decline, buying goes up. MAAR reports down December, but better in 2009.

A business profile of Arlington’s S. Y. Wilson store. And another of Tout le Monde and à la Mode Salons. Both from the CA.

People in Business, from the CA, for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

DeSoto County: Holiday closings. Horn Lake elections draw candidates. Bomb threat at Lake Cormorant Middle/High School triggers first test of E-ALERT warning system for parents. State Board of Health vote may clear the path for an Olive Branch hospital.

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium: Construction continues and the facility will be ready for the Fall season. A WMC story on the work being done.

MLG&W: Trace amounts of benzene found in Memphis tap water! Specifically at the Allen Water Pumping Station.

Pinnacle Airlines: Although hiring in the industry nationaly is down, Pinnacle is well up — strongest of the regional airlines. Also, Pinnacle / Colgan reported an increase in December traffic.

Barret Oaks: A review of progress and developments at the senior living community.

Local Television: Mediaverse: Memphis is reporting that cuts are coming to Clear Channel (radio and television; WREC and 24/30) this week. US Senate Republicans block the broadband digital switch delay bill.

Memphis City Schools: Student mentor training program has first training session Saturday. Enormous crowds are anticipated for optional school enrollment this Fall.

Tipton County: State and Federal agencies seeking public input on a toll bridge across the Mississippi River. An EARTHQUAKE! shook Covington Friday, but at 2.8 magnitude it was barely felt; more from Eyewitness News and WMC.

Shelby County: In Germantown, the closing of the KiS Country Club and Golf Academy has left a lot of people poorer. A report on Millington Mayor Richard Hodges ‘no door’ policy.

School Menus: Breakfast and lunch menus for Memphis City schools and Shelby County schools.

University of Memphis: Criminologist Richard Janikowski says economic troubles breed more crime.

POLITICS: The day after he was replaced as state comptroller, Governor Bredesen appointed John Morgan as deputy governor, to replace the outgoing Stuart Brunson; more on that story. The Commercial Appeal’s Richard Locker summarises the events in the TN House last week.

Now that David Lillard is the State Treasurer, the race is on to name his County Commission successor.

The Inauguration: A list of local events. The Commercial Appeal talks with locals about the inauguration. Civil rights leaders brought back to Martin Luther King and religion as keys to understanding Obama’s election. A cancer survivor is going to the Inaugural. She will be a witness for her ancestors. DeSoto County residents will also be attending. Fox13 is travelling with New Olivet Church to the inauguration. Another story on the Horn Lake woman who is going. Rev. Kenneth Whalum is staying at the same hotel as some Obama family members. Mid-Southerners are well represented (and reported on) and having a party.

Local news coverage:
Fox13,
WREG will have a one-hour special tonight at 6PM.
The Commercial Appeal offers a video tribute.

Memphis Animal Shelter: Concerns about the condition of the animals there.

Smith & Nephew: A UK court has issued a temporary injunction against them in a patent infringement suit.

FedEx: A Texas orthopedic professor, Charles A. Rockwood Jr, will speak at their Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis on Feb. 2.

Barbaro Alley Flats: Fox13 reports on the start of construction.
 
 

Tennessee Military: State’s 100th war death from the Iraq / Afghanistan War was recently recorded. Also, a settlement was reached in a Federal investigation of veterans’ nursing homes; similar story from WMC.

ARKANSAS: Proposal to raise State salaries isn’t flying right now.

Tennessee Bar Association: New president, George “Buck” Lewis, seeking to bolster and expand their programs to help the poor and needy.

MISSISSIPPI: With State revenues falling in a weak economy, discounts for auto tags may be suspended. Department of Health officials revise the number of West Nile virus cases.

Change of seats means a change of attitudes and priorities in the MS legislature.

Monday means Mississippi Outdoors, from the Commercial Appeal.

University of Tennessee: Officials there are exploring ways to use athletics to generate funds for the academics.

Walk For Life: Sunday’s abortion protest draws hundreds.
 
 
 
 

Environmental Homes: Paul Little tries to spread the word about the advantages and benefits of planting greenery — grass, moss or flowers — on rooftops. There are many!

Thaddeus Matthews: A report from a North Memphis rally for change in the neighborhood. Also, he’s off to the Inauguration!

Smart City Memphis: Yet more resolutions and observations from various Mid-Southerners: County Mayor AC Wharton; City Councilman Shea Flinn; Greg Thompson, director of the Hyde Family Foundations; David Williams, president of Leadership Memphis; Linn Sitler, president of the Film Commission; Aaron Shafer, St. Jude researcher; Memphis Art Park’s John Kirkscey.

artbutcher: Dwayne has a lot of new art in progress and tons of pictures to prove!

The Daily Docket: Don’t move to Memphis! Also, introducing State Rep. Stacey Campfield.

Rustmeister’s Alehouse: It’s impossible in a gun-free zone.

Mick Wright: You’re in good hands, America. And, why the Rosalind Kurita and Kent Williams comparisons are smokescreens.

LeftWing Cracker: Thoughts on the ‘Speaker Emeritus’, Kent Williams and more.

Dining With Monkeys: Sunday brunch at the High Tone Cafe? Yep.

Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal: A report from the Peace & Justice Center’s gala and some more thoughts.

Complacencies of the Peignoir: A typical Friday night … for them.

Commercial Appeal: Praise for the Mississippi land donation to the Land Trust. Complaining against rising tuition costs at state colleges and universities. Kent Williams election as Speaker of the House is not a disaster for Republicans or the state. Urging the installation of wifi in the city schools. Fearing the Voter ID bill in Mississippi will be used to deny the vote to some.

Otis L. Sanford: It’s going to be a tumultous year in the state House.

Chris Peck: Mayor Herenton may be a master of words but they, alone, are not enough.

vibinc: On foreclosures and voting for TARP; a flawed idea from the TN Republicans; and thoughts on the upcoming House sessions.

theology & geometry: A post on problems in the newspaper industry from an insider, and her concerns.

Wendi C. Thomas: The changes that Obama and his supporters bring won’t be felt for a generation. Praise for a businessman making a business opportunity of the Inauguration and the Obamas?

Author of Y’all’s Destruction: Making Chinese prime and clear stock.

Randy Haspel: Good bye and good riddance to President Bush.