The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) articles from September 2007

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) archives from September 2007

Northwest Airlines improves operations in August.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 1--Northwest Airlines pulled off a seamless August, with a minuscule number of cancellations at month's end and an apparently well-rested crew of pilots. Late Friday morning, the airline was posting a model...

Huge corn harvest strains Mid-South barges, storage.
September 2, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 2--The all-time record corn harvest coming out of the fields right is hitting the Mid-South like an all-day snow. "Places like Minneapolis could handle it," said Jerry Knapper, assistant vice president at...

Luxury condo sales team grasps market's challenges.
September 3, 2007... Byline: Amos Maki Sep. 3--Martin Group Realty, a less than one-year-old firm with a focus on condominium sales, recently launched sales for one of the most ambitious projects to hit Memphis in years: One Beale, a $175 million hotel-condo...

Pharmaceutical company wants cow fetuses for research.
September 6, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 6--The leaders of arGentis Pharmaceuticals LLC need a special ingredient to make their latest biotech business idea successful: cow fetuses. Specifically, they need the young, hairless calf fetuses that...

Judge wants action on case against funeral home owner.
September 6, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 6--A judge expressed frustration Wednesday at slow progress in the case of Clayton Smart, who has been jailed for 133 days on charges that he stole millions of dollars from trust funds as owner of the Forest...

Airline woes drive traffic back to Memphis, Tenn.-area travel agents.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 7--With airlines struggling to minimize cancellations, let alone arrive on time, travel agents find they are raking in plenty of new business. Think about it: If you find yourself stranded in Cincinnati or...

Biofuel costs draining the field.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 7--The enthusiasm for biofuel production has cooled significantly -- and the great irony for producers is that it is the very drive for alternative fuels that has pushed raw material costs out of sight. "We...

Critics push for renewal of children's insurance program.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 7--Tony Morris, who lost his health insurance benefits following the shutdown of an auto parts plant in Milan, Tenn., said enrolling his two children in the CoverKids health insurance program has helped calm...

Beale is like home for street's merchants-group leader.
September 7, 2007... Byline: David Williams Sep. 7--Onzie Horne, new executive director of the Beale Street Merchants Association, said Thursday it's like coming home. "I've always had a relationship with Beale Street," he said, reminiscing about his late...

Tourism officials worried about impact of losing conventions.
September 7, 2007... Sep. 7--The prospect of losing two big conventions -- and other events -- has area convention and tourism officials plenty concerned. Officers of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Hispanic group La Raza...

Memphis, Tenn., builders suffer under housing crunch.
September 10, 2007... Byline: Amos Maki Sep. 10--As local Realtors tout the relative strength of the Memphis area housing market, one industry is getting hit hard by the slowing pace of home sales: Home builders. The downturn in new home sales locally is...

Former Allstate official enters no-contest plea to theft of more than $60,000.
September 11, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 11--David Gwaltney, one of five former Allstate Financial Corp. principals charged with crimes in connection with the firm's 2001 collapse, entered a no-contest plea to one charge in Shelby County Criminal Court on...

Seed dealer goes out of business.(Company overview)
September 11, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 11--Delta King Seed Co., the seed dealership that promoted itself as the Soybean of the South, has gone out of business. The office in McCrory, Ark., has closed and employees, including the regional sales...

Cellular South touts Wireless Wallet technology.
September 11, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 11--Cellular South has declared success in its test of a technology that allows customers to pay at checkout counters using data stored on a chip in their cell phones and is planning to introduce the concept...

Sellers peddle goods for consignment store fund-raiser.
September 11, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 11--Les Passees' 21st annual Stock Exchange is not the kind you usually see written up on the business pages. Rather than shares in companies, the women's volunteer organization sells antiques, furniture,...

Consignment store's mission is to raise money for pet projects.
September 12, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 12--Les Passees' 21st annual Stock Exchange is not the kind you usually see written up on the business pages. Rather than shares in companies, the women's volunteer organization sells antiques, furniture,...

DeSoto still among new-home leaders.
September 12, 2007... Byline: Wayne Risher Sep. 12--The torrid pace of growth during the past year was enough to keep DeSoto and Fayette counties among the country's top 100 for new housing construction, though a nationwide drop in home-buying threatens to slow...

Memphis, Tenn., job fair attracts many hopeful seekers.
September 12, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 12--A year ago, Michael Hall moved to Memphis from Michigan to be a production supervisor at the Carrier Corp. plant in Collierville. Four weeks ago he was laid off -- which brought him to The Commercial Appeal...

Seed dealer closes after 15 years.(Company overview)
September 12, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 12--Delta King Seed Co., the seed dealership that promoted itself as the Soybean of the South, has gone out of business. The office in McCrory, Ark., has closed and employees, including the regional sales...

City sitting on stadium 'final report'.
September 12, 2007... Byline: David Williams Sep. 12--A national consultant submitted its "final report" last Thursday on the feasibility of building a football stadium at the Mid-South Fairgrounds, but the city refuses to release or discuss it. Robert...

Memphis, Tenn.-area music agency promises improvements.
September 13, 2007... Byline: David Williams Sep. 13--The Memphis & Shelby County Music Commission, plagued in recent months by an inability to even have a functioning Web site, said improvements are coming. "Right now, we're kind of still a little out of...

Defendant in funeral-fraud trial to have lawyers, finally.
September 13, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 13--Clayton Smart, the man accused of orchestrating the theft of millions of dollars as owner of the Forest Hill funeral businesses, will finally have lawyers after months in jail. Chancellor Arnold Goldin...

Public-relations professionals push for higher ethical standards among peers.
September 13, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 13--In an age where public relations practitioners have been exposed for acting as government-paid experts, the profession itself is pushing for higher ethical standards. Michael Cherenson, executive vice...

Defined-contribution retirement plans increasingly likely, experts say.
September 13, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 13--Beginning Jan. 1, new hires at Thomas and Betts will get monthly contributions to their 401(k)s as their entire retirement package. If they choose to invest themselves, the company will reward them with a...

FedEx offers new services.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 14--FedEx Corp. is raising the bar on immediacy, this time promising manufacturers and other freight shippers same-day delivery on loads weighing 150 pounds or more. Pickup times, FedEx says, are averaging...

Pharmacists wanted.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 14--Accredo Health Group Inc. is hiring dozens of people as it prepares to offer its specialty drugs and support services to an increasing number of patients with complex conditions like cancer and multiple...

Informa Economics expands transportation consulting.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 14--Informa Economics Inc. has expanded its transportation and logistics consulting service, hoping to attract clients shipping products over increasingly longer distances. Informa ShipNet Services will offer...

$12 million in the hole, Tunica, Miss., resort has yet to get off ground.
September 18, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 18--Developers of the ambitious Myriad Botanical Resort in Tunica hoped to have people gambling at their casinos, staying in their hotels and playing on their golf course by now. But the project -- the 2004...

Realtors must decide how to renovate longtime site of restaurant on Madison.
September 19, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 19--Crye-Leike Realtors is the new owner of the old Anderton's restaurant on Madison at Barksdale, but you won't likely see another big eatery in the building. The firm, heaviest in residential real estate, paid...

Memphis, Tenn., airport authority awards contract for master plan.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Jane Roberts Sep. 21--The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority on Thursday awarded a $1.3 million contract to a California firm that will sift through population and cargo growth statistics to predict what facilities Memphis...

Community clinic keeps standards high for poor.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Amos Maki Sep. 21--Three years ago when 60-year-old Juanita Fields was plagued by persistent low energy, she sought help in the emergency room. The multiple ER doctors who treated her couldn't diagnose her problem, but on a...

Equity Inns sale doesn't please preferred stockholders.
September 24, 2007... Byline: David Flaum Sep. 24--When Equity Inns got a $2.2 billion buyout offer in June, Howard Silver, its top executive, led the cheers over the payoff to common stock shareholders. But John Tutterow wasn't celebrating, and Bob Blecken...

Shelby County, Tenn., commission weighs development options.
September 27, 2007... Byline: David Williams Sep. 27--Shelby County Commissioners showed some interest Wednesday in a Pyramid theme park proposal -- but the strongest sense was of growing impatience with the city-led pursuit of Bass Pro Shops. "I'm not very...

Smoking restrictions come to life in Memphis, Tenn.-area restaurans.
September 27, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 27--Melody Pickering's life is about to become a bit less smoky. She said the club where she works as a bartender, B.B. King's on Beale Street, will ban smoking to comply with a state law that takes effect...

The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn., business profile column.(Column)
September 28, 2007... Sep. 28--BOB RICHARDS: Owner, Bob Richards' Jewelers, Inc. COMPANY: Bob Richards' Jewelers, Inc., a family-owned and -operated full-service jewelry store. AGE: 58 HOMETOWN: Selmer, Tenn. EDUCATION: Graduated in 1968 from the...

University of Tennessee has high hopes for new cancer building.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Daniel Connolly Sep. 28--Researchers hope that a new cancer building at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center will help create new discoveries -- and businesses to market them. "The people in this building are going...