VOL. 125 | NO. 22 | Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell is running for county mayor in the May 4 Republican primaries.
It’s something that might seem in short supply in the bloodied financial services industry these days. But thanks to a lucky turn of fate, McCall Wilson’s 105-year-old community bank, headquartered in Moscow, Tenn., opened a new branch in Oakland this week.
Interstate 69 is dubbed the “NAFTA Highway” after the North American Free Trade Agreement because it will course through the central U.S. from Canada to Mexico, connecting the continent’s three nations.
UPS may not be based in Memphis – its hometown is Atlanta – but fourth quarter earnings from the world’s largest shipper should create as much buzz here as anywhere.
Gov. Phil Bredesen said Monday night he plans to use the state’s reserves to spare some state jobs and key services but he stressed that painful cuts will be unavoidable and hundreds of state employees may be laid off.
Call it coincidence or bad timing, but many physicians in Tennessee began taking a 14 percent cut for seeing TennCare patients on the same day Gov. Phil Bredesen announced deep cuts in health care spending.
Fred Jones has received the Arthur S. Holmon Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Memphis Black Student Association.
MEMPHIS AREA
WASHINGTON (AP) – Medtronic Inc., the world’s largest medical device maker, spent nearly $1 million lobbying Congress in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a recent disclosure form.
STATEWIDE
COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) – A state law enacted 13 years ago to give gang members harsher prison sentences likely never has been successfully used by prosecutors.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Some Tennessee lawmakers say they're concerned about how their constituents will react to a state revenue proposal that includes taxing cable TV and hiking driver's license fees for the first time in more than 20 years.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) - President Barack Obama unleashed bare-knuckled criticism against opposition Republicans on Tuesday, using some of his toughest language yet to paint them as electoral opportunists willing to switch positions at will to score points with voters.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Unemployment rose in most cities and counties in December, signaling that companies remain reluctant to hire even as the economy recovers.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Prohibiting commercial banks from some high-risk trades should be an essential component of broader financial regulations and would cut back on institutions deemed "too big to fail," former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said Tuesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) - Stephen Colbert grilled potential U.S. Senate candidate and Memphis native Harold Ford Jr. on Monday about his shifting beliefs on gay marriage and abortion rights, while Ford defended himself as open-minded to change.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's $3.8 trillion budget outline drew bipartisan fire from U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday, with Republicans complaining it does not address deficits soon enough and raises taxes too much. Democrats balked at some of Obama's spending cuts.