School Menus: Memphis City schools here and Shelby County schools here.

Crime: University of Memphis criminologist Richard Janikowski is developing a pilot program that hopes to teach crime-fighting techniques for community groups who, in turn, teach the principles to others.

Memphis’ Heritage: The Memphis News looks at the city’s historic buildings and the neglect and decay they suffer. A concerted preservation is needed, they argue.

Memphis Aquifer: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court dismissal of Mississippi’s suit against MLG&W’s withdrawal of water from the sands below us, saving the utility more than a billion. Information on the aquifer here. More in the Daily News, the Flyer, Fox13.

Fairgrounds: Fred Jones, promoter of the Southern Heritage Classic had hoped to run a fall fair at the Fairgrounds. The City had another plan, with the Mid-South Fair people.

Business: Internet ad sales are down with the economy; more in the Daily News. Life Time Fitness is opening a second location in Collierville. No surprise that Wal-Mart is stressing customer retention in this economic climate.

The Commercial Appeal looks at the state and national cattle industry.

A business profile of Brewer’s Body Shop, which is opening a second location in Millington. A professional profile of Rick Hart, of Renasant Bank, in the Daily News. Also from them, a business profile of Vaught Sports. And, from the CA, a business profile of Vet Pets Animal Hospital and Pet Store.

The Small Business Advocate, in the CA: The Employee Free Choice Act is a bad thing for business and for union-members.
People in Business, from the CA, for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

City Court Clerk: The day after the City Council announces a cut to the budget of the City Court Judges Division, Judge Earnestine Dorse announces she won’t be collecting court fees! It would mean up to $2 million in lost revenues.

Memphis in May: The event’s founder, Lyman Aldrich, sits down for a short interview with the Memphis News.

Emerging 200: A business development program aimed at inner city and urban oriented businesses is rated a success by participants.

Midtown: The latest urban rage is the community garden and they are popping up all over!

Guantanamo Bay: Might terror prisoners from the closing US facility in Cuba be transferred to Morgan County’s Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex?

Day Care Van Drivers: The Department of Human Services is visiting the city to check vans for safety and compliance and to talk with drivers to make sure they know their jobs and responsibilities.

Powerboat Superleague 2009: This powerboat racing circuit will hold its first Memphis meet at the end of July.

Overton Park Detention Basin: Other options are surfacing and the previous plan appears dead now.

Darlene Fike: Born as a man, she underwent the process to become a transgendered woman. She came to public notice during the County Commission discussion over the non-merit discrimination resolution. This is her, and her family’s, story.

DeSoto County: If you have soiled, damaged or torn American flags, the Hugh Dancy American Legion Post in Horn Lake will accept them for proper destruction on Flag Day, June 14. Also in Horn Lake, the Mississippi Urban Forestry Council’s meeting next year will be the such event ever held in the city; the city finally found a buyer for an old medical building. The State’s delays with a budget are leaving County and municipal schools on tenterhooks for their own budgets. Also, pressed to pay for road maintenance, County may devolve more initial time to developers. The Hernando Hills Country Club is getting TifEagle turf and hopes to attract national attention with it. Greater cooperation between community groups, activists and government is the key to successfully fighting Delta poverty?

On the Block: We ask local leaders about important issues of the day. This week: Do politicians from West Tennessee start with a location advantage or a location disadvantage in state-wide races?

Tennessee Equality Project: The group that brought its organisational power and communcations skills to the County Commission’s non-merit discrimination resolution battle. A related story takes a deep look at the political fallout for County Commissioner Steve Mulroy after the fight.

City of Memphis: A report on this year’s summer youth jobs program.

Plenty of news reports on the opening of public pools this past weekend: Fox13, Commercial Appeal, WMC and the Commercial Appeal.

Raleigh: The residential strengths of the community aren’t matched by it’s business sector. The Raleigh Community Council and a plan from a City-hired consultant hope to turn that around.

MSARC: Now the Memphis Police Department is confirming two additional cases of failure of victims to be properly treated. Fox13 has the tape of the emergency police calls of the 14 year old rape victim that started the whole flap; more on this from WMC as well. The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is one of the local groups campaigning to keep this story in the public eye and motivate leaders for change; more on this from Eyewitness News.

Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare: Effective next week, Michael O. Ugwueke will be chief executive officer for both Methodist North and South Hospitals.

Politics: Jackson Baker on the departure of the TN Republican Party’s communication director, Bill Hobbs, after a new party chairman is chosen. The party’s treasurer, Oscar Brock, also announced his resignation, saying he’s clearing the way for the new chairman, too. US Rep. Steve Cohen made the national papers as a USA Today sports columnist rips him to shreds for his remarks on the NBA.

Baker, Donelson: They have been rated one of the top trademark law firms in the country.

Real Estate: May home sales dropped slightly.

Arkansas: Packs of wild dogs running loose are being perceived as a threat by postal workers in Helena - West Helena. Lucky University of Arkansas students: no tuition increase for you!

Millington: The Regional Jetport is getting $500,000 from the State Dept. of Transportation for improvements. Playhouse 51 prepares for its season finale and worries about next season.

West Tennessee Tributaries: A decades-old program, long shut down, is being reconsidered by the Army Corps of Engineers to environmentally reduce flood problems for the Obion and Forked Deer Rivers.

Survey Says: The Bureau of Economic Analysis says that government jobs and public “safety net” spending account for one-quarter of US income. Mixed but hopeful signs in employment prospects in the manufacturing and service sectors. Online video viewing hit an all-time high in April.

Religion: The state’s theological schools feel under-represented in minority teachers and want to remedy that. The Southern Baptist Convention is going to cut back on worldwide missionaries because of a decline in donations.

New Life Holiness Church: Someone sprayed the church with racist grafitti. More on the story from WMC.

Oakland: The City’s net assets exceed by nearly $17 million its net liabilities! Plenty of numbers to plow through in the story. (via the Oakland News)

MATA: With help from US Rep. Steve Cohen, the local bus company is pushing to have the proposed high-speed rail corridor extended to Memphis from Little Rock.

Germantown: Years of unfiled Federal forms and slow responses lately lead City to cancel the contract with Germantown Youth Athletic Association.

St Jude Classic: The purse for the event has been reduced by one-half million dollars, a PGA first this season.

Mississippi: A coalition of various stakeholders is promoting green energy projects for North Mississippi. Unsure if this is related to the EEOC call for change last week, but black troopers in the Department of Public Safety are calling for specific administrators to be removed or demoted and other sweeping changes. More frustration over the snail’s pace of budget talks in the State Legislature.

Mississippi Outdoors — about hunting, fishing and wildlife — from the CA.

Author of Y’all’s Destruction: Some questions on the reporting of the Brazilian plane crash last week. And another question he’d like answered.

Doug Johnson: Now that’s working, his blogging has grown more eclectic and interesting! See what I mean?

Mrs. Katherine: Swimming lessons … for everyone.

The English Major Bookstore: In Memphis, they’ll steal anything.

thoelogy & geometry: Smoker friends and other pests. Some quick movie reviews.

Egotistical Whining: Thoughts on alternative medicine and doctors.

vibinc: A timeline of events in the MSARC fiasco and then some more thoughts.

(Lang Wiseman) Random Thoughts: Interesting perspectives on “manly men” and then some more thoughts on judicial selection in TN.

Midtown Stomp: A lesson in (wine) economics. Plus, one of the most perceptive and funny wine quotes you’ll read today!

MemphisConnect: Carnival Memphis and non-profits?

Mediaverse: Kudos for a CA story on MCS Superintendent Kriner Cash’s first year. And to a story on Darlene Fike.

Brain Release Valve: Sexually speaking, Japan is one bizarre and disturbing place.

a field guide to urban memphis: A restaurant warning about Sauces.

Left Wing Cracker: Scathing words for gun owners, sorry… fetishists. He and Wendi Thomas of the CA have started advocacy websites against gun carry choice in restaurants, and here. Oh, and team trivia thankyous!

Jen-sized: A kitchen epiphany and cat weirdness.

Commontaries: For Frank Alexander, he died as he lived. Also, Presidents Clinton and Obama, and the woman they share.

Commercial Appeal: Deciding whether or not to allow concealed handgun carry in restaurants will be an important business decision. The best decisions about the MSARC will be crisis-center/”>above politics and cronyism. They note that poverty is a root cause of enduring life problems and Memphis is fertile soil. If DeSoto County wants in on I-269, they’d better get moving. The dedication of the 10th Division of Shelby County Criminal General Sessions Court as a domestic violence court is a positive step forward.

Otis L. Sanford: He thinks some public and political discussion hasn’t been civil and points some fingers. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Chris Peck: Many of people’s problems stem from a lack of self-control. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Wendi C. Thomas: On the appetite-ruining fear that someone somewhere nearby might have a secret. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Anthony Siracusa: The Bike Film Festival’s coming to Memphis as part of Memphis in May was a positive sign for the city. (via the Commercial Appeal)

John Branston: On getting to the necessary budget cuts for the City. (via the Flyer)