Candice Ludlow

Solar energy only accounts for 2 percent of Tennessee Valley Authority’s energy portfolio.  That doesn’t sound like much, but in 2008, the amount of solar produced in the state wasn’t enough to power one house.  By the end of this year, the Tennessee Solar Institute predicts a production increase of 21 megawatts.  That’s enough to power 2,100 homes.  A lot of the solar construction you see around West Tennessee was indirectly funded with stimulus money.

The solar array that was recently installed atop the Memphis Bioworks’ parking garage on Dudley and Union in Memphis is one example.

Bianca Christian isn’t your typical young person aging out of foster care.  She scored 25 on the ACT and was headed to college.  With the help of her Transitional Living Specialist, Christian chose the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  But then in her freshman year, she got pregnant, and didn’t know what to do.  So she contacted her Transitional Living Specialist.

It looks like the suburbanites of Shelby County will not get to vote on whether or not to form their own school districts, at least not in May. 

Shelby County will have its first elected female District Attorney. Republican Amy Weirich and Democrat Carol Chumney will vie for that position August 2nd.

The property assessor Cheyenne Johnson trounced her opponent in the Democratic primary with 80 percent of the vote. She’ll face off against Republican real estate appraiser Tim Walton. Walton won his three-way primary with 38 percent of the vote.

Republican Rick Rout will face off against Ed Stanton Jr. for the General Sessions Court Clerk seat. Stanton eked out a victory over a crowded field that included county commissioner Sidney Chism and the former clerk Otis Jackson. Jackson is facing corruption charges, but still ran to keep his seat. He got 15 percent of the vote.

It’s election time again in Tennessee.  Tomorrow the polls are open from 7 to 7, and this time, voters are casting ballots in the Republican and Democratic presidential and county primaries.  Locally, one of the most hotly contested races is on the Democratic side for Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk.