It's true: Homicides, crime down in Memphis

Lt. Mark Miller breaks down the Memphis Police Department's

tracking of homicides for 2010. With 93 crime killings recorded

through the afternoon of New Year's Eve, the city is on track to

have its lowest number of victims since the late 1970s.


By Kevin McKenzie - December 31, 2010
The Commercial Appeal 

Perhaps for the first time since the late 1970s, the number of criminal homicides in Memphis in a year will not reach 100.

On Friday afternoon, New Year's Eve, the number of victims for 2010 stood at 93, according to Memphis police.

That's a dramatic drop -- 31 percent -- from a total of 135 crime killings in 2009.

The Return of King Biscuit - King Biscuit Name Returned to Festival!

The Return of King Biscuit--Thanks to Wolfgangs' Vault

King Biscuit name is returned to festival! In a surprise announcement broadcast on the Main Stage at the opening of the 2010 Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival, Bill Sagan, founder and CEO of Wolfgang’s Vault said, "On behalf of the whole Wolfgang’s Vault family of companies, including King Biscuit, we are pleased to announce a rekindled partnership between King Biscuit and the Blues Festival. It our pleasure to announce that beginning next year, 2011, this Blues Festival will once again be named the King Biscuit Blues Festival in honor of the great historical music legacy we share."

International Blues Challenge February 1-5, 2011 - Memphis

The week will begin with the FedEx International Showcase (Feb 1). IBC will move to a four day format. This new format will include 2 days of quarter finals (Feb 2-3), one day of semi-finals (Feb 4) and concluding with finals in the beautiful Orpheum Theater (Feb 5).

The 2011 International Blues Challenge will be the 27th year of Blues musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. The Blues Foundation will present the 27th International Blues Challenge February 1-5, 2011 in Memphis, TN. The world's largest gathering of Blues acts represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its Affiliated Organizations for the Blues Band and Solo/Duo Blues Act ready to take their act to the international stage. In 2010, 110 bands and 80 solo/duo acts entered, filling the clubs up and down Beale Street for the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday. 2011 looks to have at least that many.

Downtown Memphis celebrates the arrival of Pinnacle Airlines

By Wayne Risher
Commercial Appeal

Originally published 03:00 p.m., October 8, 2010

Updated 09:14 p.m., October 8, 2010

Ruby "Queen of Beale Street" Wilson belted out "Stand by Me." Five hundred Pinnacle Airlines Corp. employees filed out of buses onto Main Street and into One Commerce Square to see the "before" picture of their future workplace. About 200 Downtowners welcomed Pinnacle to the neighborhood.

It was Pinnacle's homecoming Friday morning, organized by the Center City Commission to celebrate one of Downtown's biggest economic successes of the decade.

Pinnacle, an up-and-coming regional airline company, will base 600-plus workers at 40 S. Main starting next fall, after the 70 percent vacant building gets a total facelift. Downtown won out over an airport-area office park and a build-to-suit offer in Olive Branch.

That was cause for Wilder Hubbard and John Strawn of Oden Marketing to hoist a sign proclaiming "Oden Welcomes Pinnacles Airlines to the neighborhood."

Downtown Is This Community's Brand!

When successes such as the Pinnacle Airlines headquarters strengthen the center city, the effects spread across the county.

By Paul Morris, Special to Viewpoint

Commercial Appeal

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Landing Pinnacle Airlines in One Commerce Square is an enormous win for Downtown. Pinnacle will shore up the biggest building in the Memphis skyline, and Pinnacle's hundreds of employees will enjoy and support existing Downtown retail, restaurants, entertainment venues, sports venues, residential projects and hotels.

Pinnacle will join other recent office openings to bring vibrancy to Downtown and serve as a catalyst for Downtown's re-emerging office market. Pinnacle will cause pivotal and positive change in Downtown.

But what do Downtown's successes mean to the rest of Memphis and Shelby County? That's a fair question, and one that speaks to the reason I decided to work at the Center City Commission.