This is the Zinnie-loney at Zinnie’s East.
My coworker Michael says that this sandwich — a thick slab of all-beef bologna, swiss, and bacon — would be on the menu of his proverbial death row/last meal.
I’ll have more on the newest Tiger football stars-to-be in the coming days and weeks. For now, here’s a link with all the up-to-date names, stats, and facts.
A reader forwarded this screen capture of the weather section of The Commercial Appeal from earlier today.
The forecast calls for warmer temps: 9,999 degrees, to be exact … or almost the surface temperature of the sun.
On the threshold of his own race for Congress in Tennessee’s 8th district, Shelby county commissioner George Flinn won the commission’s unanimous support Wednesday for a put-up or shut-up resolution demanding that candidates for governor this year commit to allocating more federal funds for The Med. Flinn described his resolution as “one of the more important items we will ever consider…an opportunity to show we’re mad as heck, and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
The issue was that of federal funds disbursed to the State of Tennessee for uncompensated care administered at The Med to indigent patients. Traditionally, the lion’s share of these funds has been distributed at gubernatorial discretion throughout the state’s medical-care system, with only a remnant returning to The Med itself. Of $84 million generated by Med activity in the last fiscal cycle, only $34 million was routed back to the Memphis hospital.
The institution is now in financial crisis. The commission last week approved emergency add-on funding of $10 million, but additional funding is needed to keep The Med operating at full capacity — or even, as Commissioner Mike Ritz, a longtime supporter of fuller funding for The Med, has suggested, to keep it open. During discussion of Flinn’s resolution Wednesday in the commission’s Legislative Committee, Ritz warned that TennCare cuts indicated in Governor Phil Bredesen’s State-of-the-State address Monday night might force The Med’s closure.
“Tennessee makes money out of our uncompensated care, and they put it in TennCare,” Ritz said. “Interestingly enough, if The Med closes, TennCare’s in trouble.”
Despite personal pleas in Nashville last week by Ritz, interim Shelby County Mayor Joe Ford, and other county officials, the governor included no additional funds for The Med in his budget.
“We beg the governor to send us money,” Flinn said. “Right now, at this moment in history, we have a chance to say to the gubernatorial candidates how to allocate that money. After the election we don’t have a chance to influence the vote.” Although Flinn is a Republican and will be running for Congress in the GOP primary, he said that the intent of his resolution was to reward or penalize candidates for governor regardless of party label — depending on how they responded.
Commissioner Joyce Avery was of like mind, suggesting that letters go out to candidates on April 1, with answers expected back on May 1. “I want to know who I’m going to work for as governor. If they wont’ support the Med, I won’t support them.” When Ritz pointed out that April 1 was the filing deadline for state and federal elections, the resolution was amended to mandate the send-out date to April 1, with candidates’ responses expected on April 15.
Further discussion resulted in strengthening the language of the resolution to specify, at Flinn’s request, that all uncompensated-care funds generated by treatment at The Med be returned to the institution itself.
Before the final unanimous vote, two commissioners had expressed tentative reservations about the Flinn resolution. James Harvey wondered if the resolution wasn’t a “cart before the horse” matter that might injure relationships with elected officials. And Henri Brooks appeared to minimize the effect of the resolutions, calling it “a little pledge” and “a good little thing to do” but suggesting a visit to Washington to discuss the issue with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, head of a Homeland Security subcommittee, might be more fruitful.
“I do not appreciate this being seen as a little pledge — or a little anything,” Flinn responded heatedly, prompting Brooks to say she had not meant to “diminish or marginalize the content of the pledge.”
Wednesday’s committee vote will come before the commission’s full public meeting on Monday for final derermnation.
Don’t know if y’all saw this but the General Services Administration Building in Portland is apparently getting a green makeover. One that includes fins.
From a NYTimes story:
As part of a $133 million renovation, the General Services Administration is planning to cultivate “vegetated fins” that will grow more than 200 feet high on the western facade of the main federal building here, a vertical garden that changes with the seasons and nurtures plants that yield energy savings.
The architects are still trying to figure out all the logistics, such as irrigation and pruning, but the GSA estimates a savings of $280,000 annually in energy costs.
But it’s not without controversy.
RENDERING BY SERA ARCHITECTS
Jersey Boys is okay by me. Sure this Tony-winning revue screams out for eternal life in Vegas but its brass tacks documentary-style storytelling and concert-quality musical performances give it an edge over jukebox musicals like Mama Mia and the insufferable All Shook Up. Guys who usually have to be drug to the theater freakin’ love it. And that in and of itself is some kind of miracle.
Let’s speak truth here. Before Jersey Boys came along if you stumbled across a bunch of palookas shooting pool in a sports pub you could bet the Devil your head they weren’t talking about their favorite Broadway musical. Then along comes this show about Franky Valli and the Four Seasons, four mooks from the tough side of town who struggle and yearn and harmonize their asses off all the way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Badda-bing, badda-boom everything changes over night.
So what makes Jersey Boys such a hit with the boys who hate musicals? Maybe it’s got something to do with the absence of show tunes. On the other hand, if you like Mid-Century American pop it’s hard not to be taken in by spot on covers of Four Seasons hits like “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man” or by the uncanny replication of The Angels singing “My Boyfriend’s Back” like it was 1963 all over again. Mix all that solid gold bubblegum with a compelling story about bad ass gangsters, fast girls, amazing cars and bowling and you’ve got the recipe for Jersey Boys. The cherry on top of this big banana split: Joe Pesci—yes THAT Joe Pesci— emerges as a pivotal character. What’s not to love?
At Sing All Kinds, the Best Picture Oscar nominees and a reassessment of The Blind Side.
• The Blazers enter tonight’s game tied atop the Conference USA standings with Tulsa and UTEP, all three with records of 6-1 in league play. UAB lost to the Miners last Saturday night in Birmingham, 74-65 in double overtime. It was only the third loss of the season for UAB (they lost at Kent State in November, and at Virginia in December). At 18-3, they should easily exceed last season’s victory total (22) and are aiming to make their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2006.
• Junior guard Elijah Millsap leads UAB in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.6). Senior forward Howard Crawford is averaging 12.2 points and junior guard Jamarr Sanders is scoring at a 10.7 clip. The Blazers’ bench will be a challenge for the Tigers. Senior big man Kenneth Cooper scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds off the bench against UTEP.
• Mike Davis is in his fourth year at the helm of the Blazer program. He enters tonight’s game with a record of 78-42 at UAB. Davis coached Indiana to the 2002 Final Four.
• Memphis and UAB have played every season since 1990-91. (The only current Tiger series running longer is with Southern Miss, since 1981-82.) Overall, Memphis holds a 28-10 edge, having won the last seven meetings. The Blazers won in Birmingham on March 2, 2006.
• The last time Memphis lost consecutive games was at the end of the 2004-05 regular season, when they dropped four in a row.
• A win could help the Tigers’ RPI ranking after the tough loss at SMU. Memphis enters the game ranked 78th, while UAB is 27th.
Having grown up a vegetarian in the South, I’m used to not having many options when dining out. Dinner at Central BBQ? I’ll have the barbecue portabella mushroom sandwich, no cheese. Huey’s? Veggie burger. RP Tracks? Barbecue tofu nachos, please.
But I spent last week in San Francisco for an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies web publishing conference. While I was there, I managed to sneak in a dinner date with a California friend at the all-vegan Millennium Restaurant.
Season Six of Lost premiers tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC. It’s the last season of Lost. Having recently completed watching for the first time every single episode within a single month (what my wife referred to as Lostuary), I feel full of foolish hubris that I should make some bold predictions about how it’s all gonna go down, be it tonight or throughout the coming months. (I’m so glad I waited to watch the show. The waits between weeks and seasons must’ve been interminable.) Lest the season embark without my predix, I present them here for posterity.
I could say “Spoiler Alert,” but unless you watch the show, you’re not going to have the first clue what I’m talking about. And please note that I don’t read stuff online about the show ever, because I don’t want to know anything in advance. So these theories are entirely my own and in no way informed by what might actually happen. They are, in fact, likely comically wrong.
I welcome all comments and discussion. Lost is on tonight! The excitement cannot be contained!
Last Lost List of Lust (Lest You Forget):
