VOL. 35 | NO. 20 | Friday, May 20, 2011
10-year-old’s quest raises $275K, brings education to one of Africa’s largest slums
Seven years ago, 10-year-old Ellie Ambrose was sitting in church with her family when a missionary from Brentwood-based African Leadership spoke about a recent trip. While speaking to the congregation, he showed a video that became etched in Ellie’s mind.
President Barack Obama’s visit to Memphis this week comes at an important time for education reform in Memphis as well as the state.
GREEN BUSINESS
Eric McKinney didn’t consider himself much of an environmentalist. As a professional contractor, it didn’t really fall in line with his business. And he didn’t give much thought to it at home, either.
REALTY CHECK
Each year, in early May, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) organizes and implements Realtor Day on the Hill in Washington, D.C., during its mid-year meetings. That’s right, the mid-year meetings are in early May. But it is Washington, and they are Realtors, so they never let a calendar get in the way of a good event.
GET A JOB!
Due to the problematic conditions of today’s economy, many laid-off employees and graduates are facing the decision of whether to take a temporary position or to continue looking for a fulltime job. What should they do?
NEWSMAKERS
Nashville School of Law (NSL) will honor the achievements of two distinguished attorneys at its 18th annual Recognition Dinner on Friday, June 3.
I SWEAR
Two weeks ago I wrote about LifeQuest. (Thanks, by the way, for all the nice feedback on that column.)
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Some of you probably only know figs as something gooey in the middle of a cookie. On the other hand, maybe you only know them by the Christmas song, “Oh bring me some figgy pudding, oh bring me some figgy pudding.”
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Attorneys for country music star Tim McGraw have filed a countersuit against Curb Records, seeking a ruling that would release him from his 20-year contract with Mike Curb.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Lawyers for Fisk University are asking a Tennessee appeals court to end the 5-year court battle over an art collection donated to the school by the late painter Georgia O'Keeffe and approve a plan they say would save the school.
FRANKLIN (AP) — Nissan North America Inc. has begun installing 30 solar-assisted charging stations at its Smyrna plant and its headquarters in Franklin.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Sen. Stacey Campfield's move to cut off tax dollars to Planned Parenthood may not be complete.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam said Wednesday that he encourages businesses to adopt policies banning discrimination against gay and lesbian employees, but that he doesn't believe local governments should be able to require those guidelines before companies can contract with them.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — High gasoline prices, government budget cuts and weaker-than-expected consumer spending caused the economy to grow only weakly in the first three months of the year.
Oil prices slipped below $101 a barrel Thursday as a weaker dollar failed to fully compensate for mixed signs over U.S. crude demand heading into the summer driving season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the first increase in three weeks and evidence that the job market is still sluggish.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined in the first three months of the year, but they still accounted for 28 percent of all home sales — a share nearly six times higher than what it would be in a healthy housing market.
NEW YORK (AP) — Tiffany says its first-quarter earnings rose 25 percent on worldwide sales growth. It also raised its forecast for the year.
TOKYO (AP) — Sony forecast a return to profit for this fiscal year after sinking into its third straight year of red ink, hammered by the costs of massive online security breaches and the damage from a March quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
DETROIT (AP) — Honda says its North American factories will return to normal production in August except for the popular Civic compact car.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House would eliminate requirements for trapping polluting vapors at gasoline stations and let employers and hospitals file fewer reports as part of a plan it is announcing Thursday to ease regulatory burdens on business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is rushing to extend the life of three anti-terror tools, including the use of roving wiretaps, before they expire at midnight Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators said Wednesday they have agreed to the outlines of a long-term transportation spending bill, boosting prospects for ending a stalemate that has kept highway and transit construction programs in limbo since 2008.