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

Elbert Jefferson & Willie Herenton: Under the Myron Lowery administration, the Commercial Appeal was free to search records and found records that shed light on former mayor Herenton’s dealing with regards to the Greyhound station downtown. And it turns out that then-City Attorney Jefferson did not turn over all records to a Federal grand jury last year.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference: They have narrowed their search for a new president down to two people: Rev Bernice King and Judge Wendell Griffen.

H1N1Virus: A disputed Canandian study says getting both the seasonal and the swine flu vaccine makes you more likely to catch the H1N1 strain. A different H1N1 controversy. Doctors in Mississippi are beginning to receive shipments of nasal spray H1N1 vaccine. More on the “Swine Flu Rap”.

Shelby County Commission: A short interview with new chairwoman Joyce Avery.

Politics: Even without an income tax for revenues, Tennessee property taxes are less than half the national average! Read the study here, via the Tax Foundation. (Note: Shelby County ranked 350.) Also, Tennessee Conservation Voters released its ranking of members of the General Assembly; three of the four top-ranked are Shelby Countians. (PDF document)

Is the special State House District 62 race (middle, southern Tennessee) a bellwether of the 2010 statewide elections? Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam goes door-to-door in Memphis.

MIFA: They are sponsoring a campaign called “Something Good in Memphis” to bring attention to all the good that happens here.

Memphis Music Foundation: They are planning a “Memphis Means Music” week for later in the month.

Tennessee Bar Association: October is Celebrate Pro Bono Month and they are offering some free services to the needy.

Germantown: The director of the Germantown Athletic Club, Derek Chaput, is leaving for a job in Florida. The town, and other surburban communities, will observe National Night Out, an evening to focus on crime and community awareness, on Thursday.

Tennessee: Dyersburg and Dyer County schools will close October 5 through 16 for “Fall break”? (via the Dyersburg State Gazette) High school dropouts will “cost” the State of Tennessee “billions of dollars” over their lifetimes.

DeSoto County: A report on the weekend’s Hernando Fall Festival. The “development corridor” along the upcoming I-69/269 will be studied soon. A judge has ruled that the Oxford Church of Christ cannot be prevented from moving into the Long Meadow subdivision. Horn Lake gave a community cookout sendoff to local troops about to be deployed. Ross Pointe residents in Southaven are coming together to fight local crime. Coverage of the Mid-South and Memphest Fairs is now pushed back to the DeSoto bureau of the Commercial Appeal; also, the country music influence at the MSF. Sam Rikard, mayor of Olive Branch, is also now a weatherman!

West Memphis 3: Arguments concluded last week in the hearing to get two of the three new trials.
 

Arkansas: Tax revenues fell $56 million below forecast. The Crittenden County NAACP is celebrating the organisation’s 100th anniversary by looking forward.

Oakland: A report from the election lawsuit by former mayoral candidate Scott Fergusun. (via the Oakland News)

Financial: Local bankers’ reactions to the FDIC’s demands for upfront payments on years of future quarterly insurance payments.

University of Memphis: The Adrian Project will team 25 students with 40 IRS agents to simulate a financial fraud investigation. (via the Daily Helmsman)

Arlington Developmental Center: The press release from the State, about terminating the contract with the current service provider, allowing matching Federal money to flow.

NEW & UPDATED! Single Source School Funding: County Commissioner Mike Ritz has released his single-source funding proposal, ahead of the October 7 vote on the subject. Here’s the proposal itself (DOC format) and a summary of funding levels and the property tax changes required (DOC format). The Daily News discusses his proposal.

Commissioner Mike Carpenter’s counter-proposal’s press release and the proposal itself. (DOC document)

Memphis and Shelby County Health Department: An audit found a worker, Barbara K. Smith, who got paid tens of thousands in undue overtime pay. The Health Department is also hiring certified nurses and licensed practical nurses.

Deputy Ian Seivwright: The Commercial Appeal has a long story, looking at his suicide and the allegations he made against the Sheriff’s office. The SCSO concluded there was nothing to them.

Memphis City Council: The Daily News prints the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. Nice!

Memphis City Schools: The district is making a significant change in hiring new teachers that it hopes will improve the pool of candidates. A researcher tied to the Gates Foundation, which is considering a major grant to the MCS, wants to videotape up to 1000 teachers in action in Memphis. The recession is forcing many parents to reconsider private schools in favor of returning to public schools.

Second Amendment: A firearms lawsuit being filed in Montana may have implications for Tennessee.

Real Estate: The former Harrah’s offices are being foreclosed.

Unemployment: The public library is a great resource for those looking for employment.

Mississippi: Governor Haley Barbour is warning that more State budget cuts are coming. The Graduation Rate Task Force says college dropouts hurt the State as well as themselves. Academic consolidation of all the State’s public colleges and universities isn’t likely, but it’s not off the table either.

Mississippi Outdoors — the hunting, fishing and wildlife news — from the Commercial Appeal.

Minority Enterprise Development Week: A group of local advocacy organisations are sponsoring programs to promoted minority involvement and awareness.

Lambuth University: After six months of financial struggles, they have finally caught up with their payroll.

FedEx: Fred Schardt has been promoted to president and CEO of FedEx’s Trade Networks subsidiary.

Business: According to SurveyMemphis, local businessmen and women are still pessimistic about the recovery. Fred’s is opening a new prototype store in Bartlett.

A business profile of Ground Zero, a blues club, from the Daily News. And a business profile of Christopher McRae’s hot dog stand on Main Street, from the Commercial Appeal.

Done Deals, in the Commercial Appeal.

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

The Small Business Advocate in the CA recommends thinking pricing, not wages, if you are a professional service provider.

Cash for Clunkers: After the windfall for local dealers, what happens now that the program is over? But, the program was a windfall for newspapers, as print advertising was important.

Teton Trek: A report on the Memphis Zoo’s newest exhibit.

Survey Says: Construction spending is up slightly. A survey of investors shows a slight improvement in confidence in the capital market. Mortgage delinquencies are still rising. When the economy recovers, hiring will be a top priority.

Rustmeister’s Alehouse: For those of you who indulge, a Memphis Cigar Event.

Me Too Iguana: Hello, dirty thirty. (Mild language alert.)

LeftWing Cracker: Pigs fly! Cats and dogs! It’s the apocalypse! That’s the only explanation for this post.

(Lang Wiseman) Random Thoughts: A quote for the day, on friendship.

Jen-sized: A liberal gets this close to a realisation….

ForkBombr: Mythbusters is back!

Downtown Memphis Blog: The pizza fear and the sweet relief. Fun with MLG&W.

Commontaries: Thoughts on the top four candidates in the mayoral race.

Dining with Monkeys: A rather rushed review of the Top’s BBQ on Union.

Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal: A rant against another Center City Commission action against “aggressive panhandlers” that accidentally gives their game away.

Born-Again Hippies: A list of things he’ll never understand.

Blue Collar Republican: Campaign advice to Brian Kelsey: save your money.

Bless the Printing Press: I’m not sure, but this post sounds like a bad thing happened, computer-wise.

The Memphis News: Don’t just accept crime — do something about it.

Ryan Poe: The Dining Dollar$ program succeed precisely because it has a captive, inexperienced audience. (via the Daily Helmsman)

Ask Myron: Thoughts on Whitney and Oprah and … Bobby. (via the Tri-State Defender)

John Branston: A newcomer to Memphis goes deep and is doing OK, so far. (via the Flyer)

Commercial Appeal: A sidewise plea to restore funding cut from the Family Support Program. An editorial on the failure of Saturn Motors that doesn’t even mention unions. Support for what the Haywood County megasite might be able to do. PIPE’s demise is the result of unexplained “decisions by major funding organizations to abandon the collaborative approach….” They argue again for special First Amendment legal protections for people who work for news organisations, but not bloggers or average citizens. (House bill; Senate bill.)

Bartholomew Sullivan: Deploring Herenton and his tactics while supporting Rep. Steve Cohen in a look at the Ninth Congressional District race. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Otis L. Sanford: He disapproves of the way that Herenton has injected racial discussion in the Ninth Congressional District campaign. (via the Commercial Appeal)

Wendi C. Thomas: Dr Alvin Pouissant talks about the problems in the black community and we all should listen. (via the Commercial Appeal)

James Overstreet: Don’t celebrate the end of the Great Recession just yet. (via the Commercial Appeal)