Fly on the Wall

• by Chris Davis

Brick Crumbles

Orange Mound artist James "Brick" Brigance dies at 57.

• by Chris Davis

Federal Judge Throws Out Latest "Obama's Not A Citizen" Lawsuit

From the AP: "A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit questioning President Barack Obama's citizenship, lambasting the case as a waste of the court's time and suggesting the plaintiff's attorney may have to compensate the president's lawyer ...

• by Flyer Staff

Mall Re-Mix

World Overcomers share plans for Hickory Ridge Mall.

• by Mary Cashiola

Curb Appeal

Bus tour gives prospective buyers trip down foreclosure lane.

• by Mary Cashiola

Winners

With their final NCAA tournament approaching, Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier wrap up the most successful careers in Tiger basketball history.

• by Frank Murtaugh

Social Skills

University of Tennessee considers cutting graduate social work degree at its Memphis campus.

• by Bianca Phillips

Controversial Plan for Overton Park?

Longtime activist and Vollintine-Evergreen resident Mary Wilder calls her neighborhood "the kink in the hose."

"We get a lot of flooding," she says. "Back in August, we had trucks and cars on the street and the water was up to their steering wheels."

To mitigate Midtown's storm water problem, the city of Memphis is considering installing a detention basin ... in the middle of Overton Park's greensward.

How Was Your Trip?

Struggling with the question no one wants you to answer.

• by Paul Gerald

Big Bucks for Bankers and Brokers

(Updated) Bankers and brokers at Memphis banks should be able to make ends meet for another year of the recession, thanks to compensation packages disclosed this week.

Birmingham-based Regions Financial, which got $3.5 billion in the U.S. Treasury bank bailout, was especially generous, even though its stock price has fallen from $35 in 2006 to $3.20 this week.

According to the proxy statement made public Tuesday, Regions President and CEO C. Dowd Ritter received total compensation of $9,261,865 in 2008. In 2007, he earned $7,713,138. In 2006 he earned $18,433,987. His three-year haul: $35,408,990. ...

What They Said

Comments from memphisflyer.com

• by Flyer Readers

Two Memphis Singers Make American Idol Finals

Alexis Grace and Lil Rounds, two soulful mamas from Memphis, will be bringing it to American Idol ‘s whopping huge national TV audience as the chart-topping contest for aspiring singers heads into the countdown for its eighth season on Fox (Channel 13, locally). After the auditions and initial elimination rounds, both are to be counted in the Top 13 finalists, and both are favorites of both fans and judges already.

Q&A with Mark Jones

Soap opera webisode director

• by Bianca Phillips

Tennessee's Four Largest Dailies Agree to Share News Content

What follows is the text of an agreement between the four largest Tennessee daily newspapers:

Representatives of the four largest newspapers of Tennessee -- Nashville's Tennessean, Memphis' Commercial Appeal, Chattanooga Times-Free Press and Knoxville's News Sentinel -- met Feb. 4 ...

• by John Branston

Woman Goes to Heaven; Returns 5 Hours Later

The Reverend Paul Grubb was laid to rest in Memorial Park on Monday afternoon. Brother Grubb, as his many followers and friends called him, had been the pastor of Faith Temple on North Trezevant for more than half a century. He was also married to the Rev. Lula Grubb, and the obituary in The Commercial Appeal made no mention of his wife's remarkable adventure -- one that made her a national sensation in the late 1940s.

Lura Grubb died and visited heaven for five hours. More on the fascinating Mrs. Grubb at Vance Lauderdale's blog.

• by John Branston

Divide and Conquer

Circa 1955 Colonial Revival in Pidgeon Estates.

• by John Griffin

Gubernatorial Candidates Cammack and Wamp Are Different Strokers

Which one of these two hopefuls is for gay adoption, and which one is for closing off the state's borders to illegal immigrants? Before it's all over -- more than a year and a half from now -- the 2010 governor's race will have exposed a number of different personalities to the view of Tennessee voters. But none so different -- at least among mainstream candidates -- as Democrat Ward Cammack and Republican Zach Wamp.

• by Jackson Baker

Still in the Game, Ex-RNC Candidate Saltsman Attends Lincoln Day Dinner

At age 40, Chip Saltsman still looks more like a young guy coming up than the veteran pol he is - a fact which, under the circumstances, is a good thing. After a poorly chosen Christmas gift -- copies of an incendiary CD album -- the talented operative is back at Square One politically.

• by Jackson Baker

Wharton Warns Bredesen: Don't "Skim Off" County Funds to Fill State Budget Hole

Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton served notice on Governor Phil Bredesen Wednesday that he and others in county government will defend what is properly theirs against possible financial depredations by the state. "They're not going to keep us in the dark, and they're not going to feed us anything we shouldn't be eating. We're going to be on the alert, and watch what they're doing."

• by Jackson Baker

Odom's Predicament

Some plain talk by the House Democratic leader generates more controversy.

• by Jackson Baker

Candidates for Democratic Party Chair Face First Test on Saturday

After all the choosing sides and back-room wheeling and dealing and parliamentary maneuvering and propagandizing, the race for chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party has come down to two contestants – lawyers Jay Bailey and Van Turner – and the turnouts of the two candidates' supporters at Saturday morning's party caucuses will the first crucial test of their relative strength.

Memphis Handles Houston, 69-60

Tyreke Evans came out of his two-game slump with a vengeance Wednesday night, leading Memphis to a 69-60 win over Houston ...

• by John Branston

FROM MY SEAT: Could the Tigers Manage to Lose the C-USA Tourney?

Borrowing a page from David Letterman, what follows is a countdown of the Top Ten Reasons the Memphis Tigers May Not Win the Conference USA Tournament. (Tip-off of the tourney's opening game is Wednesday at FedEx Forum.)

• by Frank Murtaugh

What Went Right With the Grizzlies?

I think this was an interesting, potentially instructive game: With Kyle Lowry traded, Conley taking the bench after two minutes, and Marko Jaric predictably ineffective in 20 minutes of play, the Grizzlies played without a true point guard for most of the game and scored 118 points on 56 percent shooting ...

More Grizzlies dish at Beyond the Arc.

• by John Branston

Memphis Lands Prized Big Man, DeMarcus Cousins

Multiple sources have reported that the top unsigned high school center in the country -- DeMarcus Cousins of Alabama -- has committed to the University of Memphis ...

• by John Branston

Head of the Class

French drama The Class: A-plus.

• by Addison Engelking

Che: Part Two (Guerilla)

• by Addison Engelking

Who wants to watch Watchmen?

• by Greg Akers

Movies This Weekend: The Class, Watchmen

Only two new movies hit local theaters today, but both are heavyweights in their respective worlds: A "Best Foreign Language Film" Oscar winner and Palm D'Or winner at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, The Class recounts a year in the life of a Parisian middle-school teacher and his unruly charges. Dead Poets Society this ain't. Critic/high-school teacher Addison Engelking calls it the best school-themed movie ever made. Read his rave here.

Commercial Appeal Layoff Announcement Postponed

Life is more stressful than usual for many employees at The Commercial Appeal these days. Last week the newspaper's management announced that it would lay off 23 Newspaper Guild-covered employees and three employees covered by the pressman's union effective March 12. The employees being laid off were originally supposed to be notified on Monday, March 2. But recent, not entirely clear events, have resulted in the notification date being been pushed back to March 27 ...

• by Chris Davis

More on the Overton Park Detention Basin

Kayaker Martha Kelly often paddles in the river and the harbor downtown.

"The storm drains downtown empty straight into the harbor," she says. "Trash, oil slicks, and lawn chemicals get picked up and it ends up being a foamy, oily, nasty smelling mess down in the harbor every time there's a hard rain." So when she considers the possibility of a storm-water detention basin in the middle of Overton Park, she thinks it will be a health hazard for a number of reasons ...

More at Mary Cashiola's In the Bluff.

• by John Branston

Take the Money, Governor

• by Flyer Staff

Pay the Whistleblower!

The state can save taxpayer money by funding honest employees' legal fees.

• by Becky Clark Carter

Bianca Knows Best ... and Helps a Gardener

Dear Bianca,

With spring fast approaching, I've been thinking about planting an organic vegetable garden. Given the economic situation, it makes sense to start growing my own food. Can save money and help the Earth by eating locally.

However, I share my yard with three others ...

• by Bianca Phillips

Mistress of the Universe

Mississippi strikes again in a story of financial fraud.

• by John Branston

"An Evening With Coach Cal and Friends" is Postponed

Well, this is awkward. The "Evening With Coach Cal and Friends" event scheduled for Monday night at Harrah's in Tunica has run into a bit of a problem. The event has been postponed until Monday, April 13th, due to the fact that featured guest Charles Barkley will be unable to attend.

Barkley was ordered to serve a three-day sentence for his recent misdemeanor DUI conviction in Phoenix -- beginning today.

• by John Branston

Learn How to Save Your House (Or At Least Decorate It) This Weekend

No matter your financial situation, it's an exciting weekend for homeowners in Memphis. Those on the brink of losing their house to foreclosure may learn how to save their largest asset at a Foreclosure Assistance Workshop ...

• by Bianca Phillips

Assisi Foundation Awards $50,000 to Rock'n'Soul Museum

The Assisi Foundation of Memphis, Inc. has presented the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum with a $50,000 grant to help fund the museum's purchase of exhibition audio guides ...

• by John Branston