Month: January 2008

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News

Michael Hooks Jr. Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

Former school board member Michael Hooks Jr. pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to taking slightly less than $3,000 in illegal payments from Shelby County Juvenile Court.

Hooks, 32, who was once described as “the hip-hop” school board member in a Memphis Flyer story, entered a change of plea before U.S. District Judge Daniel Breen.

“We almost went to trial on this, but Michael wanted to get his life back on track and move on,” said his attorney, Glen Reid Jr., in an interview with the Flyer. “He is a very smart guy with a lot of good education and a chance to become a prominent citizen again.”

Reid said that, contrary to some news reports and a press release issued by the Department of Justice in Memphis, the case was not part of Tennessee Waltz.

“This had nothing to do with his service as a public official and nothing whatsoever to do with Tennessee Waltz,” said Reid, a former federal prosecutor.

A press release issued by United States Attorney David Kustoff, however, stated that “Mr. Hooks was indicted in this matter on June 20, 2006, as part of Operation Tennessee Waltz.”

Under sentencing guidelines, Hooks could get probation and no prison time or up to six months imprisonment. His sentencing date is April 9th.

“We’re hopeful that Judge Breen will consider alternative sentencing,” Reid said.

According to Reid, Hooks was caught up in a scheme concocted by his father, former Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks Sr., and former Juvenile Court Clerk and former commissioner Shep Wilbun. They were going to get Hooks Jr. a job at Juvenile Court, but he already had a job and, in essence, said “no thanks.” So they cooked up another deal involving consultant Tim Willis, and Willis gave legitimate and illegitimate work to Hooks Jr.

“His daddy was trying to help him the old Memphis way and that got him in trouble,” said Reid.

Prosecutor Tim DiScenza said in court that, for unspecified reasons, it was “politically impossible” to bring Hooks aboard in a full-time job at Juvenile Court.

Willis got $60,000 for consulting business which he distributed to Hooks Jr. and others. Reid said Hooks Jr. admitted getting one illegal payment of $1,500 and other cash payments of $200 or $300. Willis later became a key undercover informant in the Tennessee Waltz investigation, but the events involving Hooks Jr. took place approximately three years before that.

Michael Hooks Sr., pleaded guilty to Tennessee Waltz charges of taking $24,000 while in office and is serving a prison sentence.

Reid said Hooks Jr., made no agreement to cooperate in other investigations and “has no information about anybody else whatsoever.”

Kustoff said in his press release, “The investigation and prosecution of public corruption in the Western District of Tennessee remains a top priority of the FBI and the United States Attorneys Office.”

Categories
News

Karl Rove Says Memphis is a “Smart Buy”

Memphis got a plug of sorts from an unlikely source Thursday.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President Bush, said Memphis “may be a smart buy” for candidates in the “Super Tuesday primaries on February 5th. Tennessee and Arkansas are both Super Tuesday states, and Memphis television stations reach audiences in both states.

Candidates, Rove said, “will spend their limited dollars on TV stations that deliver the largest number of likely supporters at the least cost.”

Let the record show that the Memphis Flyer also reaches a wide audience and welcomes the dollars of Republican and Democratic candidates alike.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

Taking Stock of the Tigers

SI.com’s Seth Davis presents his annual college basketball stock report, in which he presents “buy or sell” options for the teams that will impact the remainder of the season.

If the Memphis Tiger basketball team were a stock, would it be time to buy or sell? As conference play begins (tonight at FedExForum, vs. East Carolina), are the Tigers a team on the rise, or is a downturn imminent? According to Davis, it’s time to “buy” the Tigers, writing, “Right now, I’d give them a 50-50 chance to go into the NCAA tournament without a loss.”

Check out Davis’ full take on the Tigers and how the rest of teams fared here.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Mike Huckabee Offers New “Rap” Song

We’re not at all sure what to make of this craziness. It’s got really bad rapping, really bad rhyming, and it’s reeeaallly long. And inane.

We’re not sure who the intended audience for this is. Baptists who are into rap? Dunno. But somehow we can’t stop watching it. Maybe it’s rap music for the Rapture. We don’t know, but we’re gettin’ “stuck on Huck.” Check it out.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

Memphis Thumps East Carolina, 99-58

Led by Derrick Rose’s 19 points, the second-ranked Memphis Tigers trounced East Carolina at FedExForum, 99-58, Wednesday night.

The Tigers spread the scoring around and coach John Calipari went to the end of his bench during the second half as Memphis extended its lead.

Andre Allen and Robert Dozier each had 13 points and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 12 for the Tigers. Memphis remained undefeated with a record of 14-0.

Box score and recap.

Categories
News

Elvis Harley Sells for $58,000 on eBay

The last of the limited edition Harley-Davidsons specially tricked out to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley sold Tuesday morning on eBay for $58,816. Although eBay doesn’t disclose the names or locations of buyers, his (or her) eBay handle was “elvissparky.”

Bruce Rossmeyer is CEO of 13 Harley dealerships, including Graceland Harley-Davidson and the world’s largest H-D dealership in Daytona, Florida. Earlier this summer, he commissioned 30 FLH model Harleys with custom paintjobs and other features designed to re-create as closely as possible the 1957 FLH Harley once owned by the King of Rock-and-Roll. Each bike was specially numbered, and 1-29 have already been sold.

The reserve price — the minimum price the bike can sell for — was set at $58,816, and the bike received just one bid. Anything over and above that price was to be donated to Presley Place, which offers transitional housing for homeless families in Memphis. Since the bike sold for the reserve price, looks like Presley Place lost out.

Check it out here.

Categories
News

Two Memphians on David Letterman Tuesday Night

The band MGMT, led by Memphis’ own Andrew VanWyngarden, along with fellow Memphian Hank Sullivant on guitar, will appear on Late Night With David Letterman Tuesday.

MGMT was recently named one of Rolling Stone‘s “Top 10 Artists to Watch” for 2008. Their album, “Oracular Spectacular” is available on iTunes now and will be released by Columbia Records on January 22nd.

For a sample of MGMT’s music, click on the rather tribal image below. It’s a version of MGMT’s interactive video for “Electric Feel.”

For more about the band, check out their MySpace page. (And yes, Andrew’s father is Flyer editor Bruce VanWyngarden.)

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

FROM MY SEAT: Dreaming of the “U” Word

A season of extraordinarily high expectations for the University of Memphis basketball team has evolved into one where the ceiling for what the 2007-08 Tigers might achieve is the highest it’s been in more than 20 years. So why not ask the two most far-reaching questions out there: (1) can the Tigers reach the number-one ranking in the country and (2) can they go undefeated? With Conference USA play starting this week (the Tigers host East Carolina Wednesday and play at Marshall Saturday), the answer to the first is yes, with an air of probability to it. The answer to the second question? Unlikely, but keep watching.

In the December 31st AP poll, the second-ranked Tigers trailed North Carolina by merely 28 points. Were it not for a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime by the Tar Heels’ Wayne Ellington Sunday night at Clemson, you’d be reading about the number-one Memphis Tigers right here, right now. And while conference play presents the U of M with a stretch of should-win contests (ECU, Marshall, Rice, Southern Miss, and Tulsa before Gonzaga comes to town January 26th), the Tar Heels will face North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, and Boston College before the calendar turns to February. Among those games, find the most likely upset. (I’d watch the UNC-Maryland game on January 19th.) Should North Carolina stumble, it’s all but certain Memphis will reach the national-ranking mountaintop for the first time in 25 years, and only the second in the program’s history. (The 1982-83 Tigers won their first 11 games and were ranked number-one for exactly one week before losing to Virginia Tech on January 10, 1983.)

And hear this, ye critics of C-USA: a number-one ranking for the Tigers would be well earned. Memphis has faced and beaten six teams from college basketball’s “power conferences, including three wins over top-20 teams, with only one of those games even close at the end (USC on December 4th). As for North Carolina, their pre-conference schedule included but three teams from power conferences: Kentucky, Ohio State, and Rutgers. If the Tar Heels pull away from their ACC competition, they will wrap themselves in a top-ranked blanket of powder blue. But if they fall from the ranks of the unbeaten, a worthy Tiger team awaits, no blanket required.

And what of the chances for an unbeaten season? Not since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers of Kent Benson and Quinn Buckner ran the table has a Division I college team cut down the championship nets without a blemish on its record. The closest any team has come over the last 32 years is the 1990-91 UNLV team (featuring Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon) that won its first 34 games before losing to Duke in the national semifinals.

Over the last two seasons, Memphis has gone 29-1 in C-USA play, so it’s hardly unreasonable to think the Tigers might run the table over their 16 remaining league games (and three conference-tourney contests). Alas, there are two enormous non-conference games left to be played: Gonzaga on January 26th and Tennessee on February 23rd. The good news for Tiger fans is that each game will be played at FedExForum. Having witnessed the Bulldogs and Vols in action at the “Battle in Seattle” last month, I’d consider Gonzaga a legitimate test for the U of M, but a team without the speed, size, or perimeter defense to beat the Tigers if the home team plays its standard brand of basketball. But the Volunteers? They put up 82 points in a hostile environment, with only 11 coming from preseason All-America Chris Lofton. Mark this down: the Memphis-UT game – to be televised live on ESPN’s GameDay – will be the biggest intrastate contest in Tennessee basketball history. And if an undefeated season for the Tigers hangs in the balance? Even bigger.

After Saturday’s win over Pepperdine pushed the Tigers’ record to 13-0, reserve center Shawn Taggart didn’t exactly light up at mention of the “U” word. “[Coach John Calipari] brings up the [NFL’s unbeaten] Patriots now and then, but that’s about it,” said Taggart. “But we’re playing one game at a time.”

As for Calipari himself, he’s realistic about the bumpy road between early January and March madness, to say nothing of an unbeaten record. “It’s hard for [my players] to be at a high for every game,” he said after Saturday’s win. “There will be games where [our opponent] is going to be playing the best of their lives, and we’re not gonna be quite ready. They’re gonna beat us to balls, beat us to rebounds. Hopefully, we’ll adjust at halftime and get things right.”

An undefeated college basketball season? Well beyond reach for almost every team in the country. But for a team that’s won 40 home games in a row? For a team that lost exactly one game in all of 2007? The “U” word may not be so ugly after all.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

Grizzlies Beat the Heat, 101-94

CREDIT: theblog.es

(AP) – Pau Gasol had 28 points and 13 rebounds, Mike Miller added 25 points, and the Memphis Grizzlies sent the Miami Heat to their seventh straight loss with a 101-94 victory Sunday.

Memphis outscored Miami 9-2 in the final 2 minutes for its second win in the last three.

Rudy Gay finished with 22 points for Memphis, and Mike Conley scored 11. Miller was 12-of-13 from the free throw line.

Ricky Davis had a season-high 24 points to lead Miami. Dwyane Wade , coming off the bench, finished with 18 points, but was 7-of-20 from the field.

Chris Quinn scored 17 for the Heat, while Udonis Haslem added 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The teams were tied at 92 with 2 minutes left. Gasol scored inside with 1:57 remaining to give the Grizzlies the lead, which they maintained when Wade, a 75 percent free throw shooter, missed a pair from the line with 1:04 left.

From there, Memphis hit its free throws to hold on.

Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and point guard Jason Williams , who have been limited recently by a variety of injuries, dressed but did not start for the Heat. Wade and Williams entered the game in the first quarter, but O’Neal’s left hip bursitis kept him on the Miami bench all day.

Memphis led by as many as nine in the second half, but neither team could gain a double-digit lead in the game.

The rest of the stats were just as close, as Memphis controlled the boards 44-37, but 12 of the Heat’s were on the offensive glass. Memphis outscored Miami in the paint 42-36, while the Heat shot 46 percent from the field to 47 percent for Memphis.

Miami used a second-quarter rally to take a 46-43 lead into the break. Davis had 11 points to lead the Heat, hitting four of his first five shots.

Memphis missed seven straight shots at one point, contributing to a 13-2 Miami run and a 42-39 lead. Memphis missed 10 of its last 12 shots in the half.

Wade, who sat out Friday’s game against Dallas, missed seven of his nine first-half shots. His five points before the break were the only scoring off the Miami bench. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies’ reserves managed only two points, and missed eight of nine shots.

Wade was the only Miami play to score off the bench, while Memphis managed only seven points.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

MAD AS HELL: Political U-Turns in New Hampshire, GPS-Style

CREDIT: Cheri DelBrocco

MANCHESTER, N.H. –No doubt, the Global Positioning
System is one of the greatest inventions to come along in a long time. That
voice that tells us to turn left, right, and pull a U-turn is so reassuring.
Last night, I would have been as lost as a little lamb in New Hampshire snow
without it. Driving the highway from Nashua to Manchester seemed less
stressful knowing that a satellite signal in the sky had figured out a way to
keep me from getting lost by keeping me on the right path to my destination.

The double header debate on the campus of St. Anselm
College gave voters a chance to hear the candidates from both parties. It was
cold and snow was piled two feet high, but inside the Dana Center for the
Humanities, the candidates were getting hot. In this state, whose motto is
Live Free or Die, it’s do or die for Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.

Clearly, not only Governor Romney and Senator Clinton but
all the candidates have become hyper- aware of a new fact since the Iowa
Caucus. A new word, the word, has emerged like a bull’s-eye on the
elective radar: change. Folks in New Hampshire are using a kind of political
GPS to determine which candidate will make the quickest U-turn on the policies
and actions of the last seven years. Most want a change in almost every
policy and aspect of government, both foreign and domestic. Tina, the 20 year
old student/waitress at Chili’s Restaurant in Nashua summed it up this way,
“I’m not sure who I am voting for yet, but I am looking for the one who is
going to pull a fast 180.”

But before the primary, the people here will have to
navigate through something else: a monster spin machine. After the debates
last night, the spinning was so full tilt, it felt like I was watching a
broken down Maytag with too many towels. Every candidate had a spin-doctor and
the stampede of cameras, recorders, mikes, and lights was like the stampeding
buffalo scene in Dances with Wolves.

Elizabeth Edwards entered the room looking energized as
she passionately discussed her husband’s debate performance. She predictably
claimed he had hit a home run and emphasized his “you cannot ‘nice’ people to
death” comment, an obvious jab at the call of both Obama and Richardson for
dialogue with Pakistan’s Musharraf and other leaders in the Middle East.
Assisting her was former Michigan congressman David Bonior, who pointed out
Edwards’ debate commitment to end all combat missions in Iraq and to close all
bases there in the first year of his presidency. Joe Trippi, former manager
of the Howard Dean campaign, was putting additional frosting on the Edwards
cake by claiming Edwards would definitely carry the day on Tuesday.

Senator Obama had his own spin game going through the
medium of campaign strategist David Axelrod, who immediately declared Obama to
be the clear winner and forecast a sunnier outcome in the New Hampshire
primary for this candidate than the win last week in Iowa.

The room was also filled to the rafters with heavy
hitters such as Joe Scarborough, Joe Klein, Bay Buchanan, and Jeff Greenfield,
each trying to out-spin and out-opinionate the other. This went on for well
over an hour, at which time the media fanned out to various networks and local
stations to broadcast their latest chestnuts

In a little over 24 hours, the good people of the Granite
State have got their work cut out for them. The die is cast and the call for a
change in direction is resonating loud and clearly. For now, we can only
speculate on whose voice we might be hearing when the nation turns on its
political Tom Tom in November.