CITY BEAT

TALENT MAGNET OR BRAIN DRAIN? why do you live here? Or why don't you live here? Good questions, and not just conversation starters. More and more cities Ñ Memphis among them Ñ really want to know.

• by Cheri DelBrocco

FROM MY SEAT

"DANNY'S OUR GUY!" "Memphis finally lands a blue-chip quarterback," lamanted my colleague Dennis Freeland in 2000, "and our coach is so timid with him that he's gonna redshirt the guy. This kid is a winner, won every game he played in high school. What is Scherer waiting for?" Actually, Dennis, Danny Wimprine was only 53-2 at J.T. Curtis High School in New Orleans. But those two blemishes aside, you were (as usual) right on the mark.

• by Frank Murtaugh

WASTING AWAY

WASTING AWAY

• by Chris Davis

City Reporter

Something is killing pets and scaring people in Orange Mound.

• by Flyer Staff

PENNANT WINNERS

Governor Phil Bredesen, in Memphis for several functions, including fundraisers for both himself and State Senator Jim Kyle, receives token of appreciation from attendees at ceremony honoring Kyle (to Bredesen's left) at Frayser's Ed Rice Community Center Wednesday night.

• by Cheri DelBrocco

Let's Stay Together

Singer Al Green and his legendary producer Willie Mitchell try to make magic once again.

• by Andria Lisle

Kids Left Behind

DCS report finds state agency failing children in its care.

• by Janel Davis

1 + 1 = DOG

1 + 1 = DOG

• by Chris Davis

MAD AS HELL

THAT WAS THE FILIBUSTER THAT WAS Step right up folks, the Big Top has come to Washington. Our nation's capitol has been turned into an arena of absurdity. If you haven't been watching, you have really missed quite a show. Ring Master Orin Hatch has kicked things off, while one of the best clowns on the floor is our esteemed Senator and Majority Leader Bill Frist. Cotton candy and balloons filled with hot gas should be available for the 30 hour extravaganza between Republicans and Democrats.

• by Cheri DelBrocco

HOW IT LOOKS

• by Cheri DelBrocco

Short Cuts

Lord, he's just a country boy in this big ole freaky city: Robert Earl Keen.

• by Chris Herrington

POLITICS

UPSET IN DISTRICT 5 It is safe to say that the city council race in District 5 will end in an upset. Either George Flinn will upset Carol Chumney in a race in which she has been the prohibitive favorite, or Chumney will overcome against seemingly insurmountable early-voting statistics that seem to favor Flinn strongly. Either outcome will be in defiance of a different set of odds.

• by Jackson Baker

PENNANT WINNERS

Governor Phil Bredesen, in Memphis for several functions, including fundraisers for both himself and State Senator Jim Kyle, receives token of appreciation from attendees at ceremony honoring Kyle (to Bredesen's left) at Frayser's Ed Rice Community Center Wednesday night.

• by Cheri DelBrocco

Upset in District 5

Whichever way it goes will defy the odds.

• by Jackson Baker

CHUMNEY OVERCOMES FLINN, HERENTON ET AL.

State Representative Carol Chumney proclaims victory in the 5th District city council race to a group of supporters at her Poplar Avenue headquarters Thursday night. Chumney defeated George Flinn in the runoff election. Meanwhile, Willie Brooks outpolled J. Bailey in the District 1 school board runoff.

Defying both some major politicians and some last-minute conventional wisdom that showed her race with Republican Flinn to be too close to call, Chumney won the runoff with votes to spare. Her final margin was 6,524 (55.1%) to Flinn's 5,314 (44.9%) , but the outcome had become clear as soon as the early voting totals were released, just after the close of election-day polling at 7 p.m.

• by Jackson Baker

City Sports

The "no name" Tigers will have to buy into Coach Calipari's system; Break Up the Grizzlies!

THE DOMINO'S THEORY

LOUISVILLE -- Coming out of the locker room, a smiling Derrick Ballard had two. So did Greg Harper. Will Hyden was happy with just one. Clearly, the senior core of the formidable U of M defense was feeling fine. It was their day of vindication, after all. As they filed out of the locker room underneath the stands at Papa John's Stadiun after Saturday's historic victory, nearly all the U of M players were carrying the same thing: extra-large boxes of Papa John's pizza, for consumption on the buses taking them to the airport for the flight home to Memphis.

• by Kenneth Neill

Be Good

Elf is better than it should be.

• by Chris Herrington

Talent Magnet or Brain Drain?

Memphis joins the fray in "a Darwinian fight for survival" of the fittest.

• by John Branston

Soviet Style

Soviet Style

• by Editorial

Be Fair

Area alternative markets offer fairly traded gift items.

• by Bianca Phillips

Postscript

Flyer readers respond.

• by Flyer Readers

"Highway Robbery"

The suspension of Halliburton's no-bid contract raises new questions.

Homeland Insecurity

Jesse James: the making of a murderer and unmaking of a myth.

• by Leonard Gill