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Politics Politics Beat Blog

How Did Our Guys in Congress React to the SOTU?

Cohen, Alexander, Corker

  • Cohen, Alexander, Corker

Following are three reactions to President Obama’s State of the Union address from three members of Congress representing the Memphis area.

To some extent, their partisan identifications and ideological leanings dictate the tone of their responses, but there are other factors, as well.

9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, Democrat: “There was a lot in President Obama’s State of the Union tonight that should make Memphians feel good. While the recovery from the Great Recession has not included all that it should have, the President tonight outlined his vision for building ladders of opportunity so that every American who works hard and plays by the rules has a fair shot to succeed. Whether it’s job training programs, college affordability, access to high-quality affordable health coverage, housing and retirement security, or a lifeline for the unemployed, that’s what we need in Memphis.”

“I agree with the President that the minimum wage must be raised so families can earn a living wage and make ends meet. Though with the stroke of a pen he is able to raise it for federal contractors, I will continue working in Congress until the minimum wage is raised for all hardworking Americans. We must also work together to provide economic opportunity and create jobs by passing comprehensive immigration reform and a transportation bill that strengthens our nation’s infrastructure. Improved infrastructure means better access to Memphis, more jobs for our city, and a competitive edge for the Mid-South. I’m going to join the President in Nashville on Thursday, and I look forward to continuing working with him to grow our economy, strengthen the middle class, and give every American a chance to get ahead.”

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican: “I would have preferred to hear the president give a real answer to income inequality, and the first real answer is to liberate the free enterprise system from Obama regulations so it can create more good new jobs. The second real answer is to give parents more freedom to choose a better school for their child, and today I introduced legislation to do just that by allowing $2,100 federal scholarships to follow 11 million low-income children to the schools they attend.

“Each state would make the decision about how much school choice to allow, but these scholarships for kids would redirect up to $24 billion in existing federal school funding that right now is often diverted to wealthier schools. ‘Scholarships for Kids’ would only benefit children from families that fit the federal definition of poverty, which is about one-fifth of all schoolchildren.

“Allowing federal dollars to follow students has been a successful strategy in American higher education for 70 years, and my proposal would allow the same opportunity to attend a better K-12 school that we have allowed in higher education. ‘Scholarships for Kids’ is the most ambitious proposal ever to use federal dollars to expand school choice. If the president wants to address inequality in America, he should do so by helping all children have the same starting line.”

U.S. Senator Bob Corker, Republican: “I go to these events each year out of respect for the office of president, and certainly for the people that I represent, but I’ve come to see these things as they are. I’ve heard a Republican president for the first two years and now a Democratic president. These end up being sort of poll-tested talks that really have nothing much to do with what may or may not happen.

“What I really pay attention to is what someone does, not what they say. I hope over the course of the next year we’ll have the opportunity as a nation to fully address the fiscal issues that are so important to us [and] the trade issues that are so important to us. We’ve got an opportunity now with a little bit of a reprieve economically to really do the serious bread and butter things that our nation needs to do.”

NOTE: As originally posted, a quote made by another member of Congress was inadvertently attributed to Senator Corker. His actual response has been substituted for the incorrect one.

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Blurb Books

“Paperboy” Honored

“Thank you, Thank you, Thank you … Thank you.”

Those were the words of author Vince Vawter when news reached him by phone earlier this week — 6:43 a.m., Monday, January 27th, to be exact.

The news was that his novel Paperboy (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) has been recognized by the American Library Association as a 2014 Newbery Honor Book. But as Vawter recently wrote on his website, “Instead of having something witty and original to say, I was the perfect bumbling and blabbering Academy Award recipient I always chastise. They have my sympathy now.”

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Vawter — former news editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar, former president and publisher of the Evansville Courier & Press in Indiana, and resident today of Louisville in East Tennessee — has our congratulations. So too Anna Olswanger, Vawter’s agent for Paperboy. Home town for both: Memphis, which is where Paperboy is set — the Central Gardens neighborhood of Midtown, to be exact.

The Flyer spoke to Vawter and to Olswanger back in May 2013, when Paperboy appeared. The Flyer reached Vawter this morning for further reaction to this week’s good news.

“One of the most interesting by-products of Paperboy was hearing from several dozen residents and former residents of Central Gardens,” Vawter said by email. “I even heard from at least four former paperboys who had routes in the neighborhood. I did want the neighborhood to be almost a character in the novel, and apparently I accomplished that.

“One reader, though, chastised me a little for getting the number of the Crosstown bus wrong. I remembered it as the No. 5. He said it was the No. 7. I stand corrected.

“My true appreciation for the Newbery Honor is that more people now will have a chance to read my story, a story which I continue to believe to be worthwhile in the telling.”

The Newbery judges certainly thought it worth telling. As did Vawter’s agent, Anna Olswanger, who recognized Paperboy‘s value early on.

“Somewhere along the line, I think after Vince had finished his revisions for Delacorte, I remarked to him that Paperboy was the book he was put here to write,” Olswanger said, also by email. “With his years of experience as a reporter for the Press-Scimitar, Vince knew how to capture the paperboy’s world of 1959 Memphis, its racism and its humanity. It is a book I am proud to be the agent for.”

Look for Paperboy in paperback in early April. •

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News

Memphis Tops UCF, 69-59

Frank Murtaugh has the story of the U of M’s victory over Central Florida, Wednesday.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 69, UCF 59

The Tigers survived the Isaiah Sykes Show in Orlando tonight to earn their fourth straight win and improve to 6-2 in American Athletic Conference play (4-0 on the road). Key to the win were four three-pointers from senior guard Chris Crawford (as a team, Memphis hit seven of 12 from long range). Crawford’s last trey of the game (with just under six minutes to play) keyed a 10-3 Tiger run to the final buzzer.

Sykes, the Knights’ senior guard and all-conference candidate, exceeded his season averages of 15.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in the first half (16, 7, 4). He was limited to merely 8, 5, and 1 in the second half.

UCF took the lead, 33-32, on a Steven Haney three-pointer with just over three minutes to play in the first half. Despite shooting 62 percent over the game’s first 20 minutes, the Tigers found themselves tied at the break, 39-39. Sophomore forward Shaq Goodwin went to the bench after picking up his second foul with 11:20 to play in the first, opening much of the lane for Sykes’s frequent drives to the rim. Goodwin was held under 10 points (6) for the first time in seven games.

Joe Jackson led Memphis with 17 points and, with the victory, can sleep easier after a breakaway dunk-attempt slammed off the heel of the rim with the Tigers leading 51-46 midway through the second half. Jackson passed Kelly Wise for 10th place on the Memphis all-time scoring chart. With 1,493 career points, Jackson’s next mark is Chris Douglas-Roberts (1,545).

All four senior guards for Memphis reached double figures, Michael Dixon adding 12 (before leaving the game with an injury at the 8:24 mark), and Geron Johnson 10.

Now 16-4, the 22nd-ranked Tigers will travel to Dallas and face SMU Saturday afternoon. The Mustangs were upset by USF Tuesday night, the same team the U of M beat by 22 points last Sunday.

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News

Wharton on “State of the City”

Toby Sells has the story of Mayor Wharton’s “state of the city” address Wednesday morning.

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News News Blog

Memphis ‘Recovering’ Says Wharton in State of the City Speech

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton pauses for applause during his State of the City speech Wednesday morning.

  • Toby Sells
  • Memphis Mayor A C Wharton pauses for applause during his State of the City speech Wednesday morning.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton did not announce any new moon shot projects or new directions for the city during his State of the City address Wednesday morning but instead focused on a “recovering” city government that has gone through “rough times.”

Nearly 300 government officials, public safety administrators, lobbyists, reporters, and more filled a large auditorium in the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law Wednesday morning to hear Wharton’s take on where Memphis stands and where it’s heading.

Wharton’s speech was subdued, not one of his signature rafter-raising civic sermons that inspire his vision of unity and shared prosperity in others. That’s not to say it wasn’t an optimistic speech but it showed the realities and the ragged edges of a city government that’s been through what Wharton called a “perfect storm.”

That storm came from three primary factors, he said. A court ordered the city to pay an unexpected expense of about $60 million each year to fund schools for several years after the city got out of the schools business, Wharton said. The recession took a $500 million bite out of the city’s pension fund, a hole Wharton and Memphis City Council members are trying to plug. Also, the most recent property tax re-appraisal sucked about $27 million out of the city’s coffers.

“We’re where we are because of factors far beyond our control,” Wharton said.

But Wharton focused on improvements that have been made in the city in the last year and on future plans for four main issue groups: quality of life, public safety, poverty, and the city’s pension fund for its employees.

For quality of life issues, Wharton pointed to bridges have been or are in the process of being replaced, more sidewalks that have been built, and the thousand or more curb ramps to sidewalks that have been built in the last year.

He said to expect in the next year a new master plan for the city’s parks that will be funded by the Hyde Foundation. Also, plans will soon be unveiled for new uses for the Southbrook Mall and the Raleigh Springs Mall. Public works, he said, is developing a new plan that will triple the city’s capacity to check for and respond to potholes.

On public safety, Wharton said and repeated that crime was down in Memphis from 2012 to 2013. He said there were 2,500 fewer victims of serious crimes last year and 20,000 fewer of these victims than in 2006.

“Crime is down,” Wharton said. “It is just that simple.”

But he said changes are coming for the way public safety is administered in Memphis. Though Wharton gave no specifics to those changes, he noted that police and fire employees make up 75% of city employees, which is the largest part of the city’s budget, and that the city “will continue to public safety but also to efficiency.” The Memphis Police Department and the Memphis Fire Department lost numerous unfilled positions last year and more cuts are expected in next year’s budget.

If there was one grand vision and promise that Wharton put forth Wednesday, it was that he is committed to reducing the amount of Memphians living in poverty by 1 percent each year for the next 10 years. Doing this would bring the city’s 27 percent poverty rate to 17 percent by 2023.

To do this, he unveiled the “Blueprint for Prosperity.” Non-profit organizations, foundations, government agencies, and others are helping to create the strategies for the plan. Wharton announced one part of the plan may be to reduce the cost of living for impoverished Memphians by perhaps lowering their utility bills or fares for riding any mode of city-sponsored public transportation.

Wharton spent the least amount of time in his speech Wednesday talking about the city’s pension gap. But he said it is clear that changes need to be made in the program. Those changes need to put the financial risk of the pension on city administrators and the employees, he said, not on Memphis taxpayers, many of whom, he said, may not have a pension plan of their own.

Wharton said he’d unveil a larger strategic plan for the city after the 2015 budget is passed this summer. He said he wanted to wait until then to work with real numbers and to be “truthful to the citizens.”

To cap off his speech, Wharton said Memphis and its citizens must work together.

“We must move away from being a tale of two cities and move toward being one city,” Wharton said. “We all need to share all we have to offer.”

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News

The Faces of Binghampton

Bianca Phillips reports on an innovative photography project going on in Binghampton.

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Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

A Mystery at the Memphis Flyer: Who left the Memphis Press-Scimitar box at our office?

Someone left a gift for the Memphis Flyer: A perfectly preserved Memphis Press-Scimitar distribution box.

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On one hand, the box, which still displays a copy of the Scimitar‘s final issue dated Oct. 31, 1983, is an extremely nifty artifact. Then again, a time-traveling newspaper death announcement from a Halloween 30 years passed is also somewhat ominous.

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It wasn’t rigged with a bomb and no tiny Commercial Appeal employees were hidden inside so we brought it in. It’s a fun mystery, and it looks good in the Flyer‘s sales department. It would sure be nice to know where it came from though.

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If you’d like a better look at the MP-S‘s last hurrah have a peek below the fold.

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News

Pete Seeger, RIP

Joe Boone offers a video tribute to music icon Pete Seeger, who died at 94, Tuesday.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

An Update on Muddy’s Midtown

Muddys Midtown

  • Muddy’s Bake Shop
  • Muddy’s Midtown

If you’ve been driving by 585 S. Cooper hoping to find the Midtown iteration of Muddy’s Bake Shop, or at least a reassuring construction zone, don’t panic.

As Hungry Memphis originally reported in August, owner Kat Gordon hoped for a February opening. Instead, pending approval of architectural plans, construction should begin in February with a best-case opening in June.

Among the elements conspiring against Gordon: maternity leave for a key employee, a typical holiday bog down for construction projects, and most of all, her sense of duty to the brand. (That’s code for perfectionism.)

Gordon plans to open the store early — perhaps 6:30 a.m. — and offer an extensive selection of coffee, an expanded muffin menu, seasonal fruit scones and quiche to accommodate morning commuters. (The current location at 5101 Sanderlin opens at 11 a.m.)

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The outdoor patio in the large side yard figures to be a big hit as well for Memphians wishing to catch some rays and visit with friends to counteract the feeling of their expanding waistlines.

Back to the delay: Gordon was 26 when she opened Muddy’s in 2008 and claims ignorance at the time. A look inside her shop now, though, would delight the eye of an artist, interior designer or marketing executive as much as the sweets-obsessed.

Many of the store’s elements, from the no-tip policy (tips go to charity) to her critical eye for the right employees (tip for perspective employees: be very friendly), are a direct extension of her, giving the project a personal feel.

She now has a reputation to uphold, and she likens the new store to a third child (the original shop and the commercial kitchen being the others).

“I feel like there is a more pressure to get it right the first time,” Gordon says, admitting to plenty of 22-hour workdays and tinkering in ‘08. “I can look at pictures from when (the original Muddy’s) first opened and be like, ‘Oh my gosh!’”

In November, she traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., with her brother to visit Zingerman’s for first-hand barista training. She admits to frequently modifying blueprints and obsessing over which items to carry from the original shop.

“I’m just not interested in duplicating the first shop,” Gordon says.

As she talked, two scones resting on the table appeared awfully lonely. Asked about them, Gordon admits to spending a few hours working on new scone recipes, only for her dad, with no knowledge of her attempts, to present a better version on Christmas morning.

The Ginger Scones figure to be a hit item at the Midtown location.

“I didn’t go to culinary school. I don’t have this well of knowledge like some (chefs and bakers) around Memphis,” Gordon says. “I have to have the full sensory experience.”

A visitor, taking care not to eat during the conversation, departs with the pair of scones in a paper bag, intending to snack on them later.

Before exiting the parking lot, only crumbs remained.