By CHRISTY LEMIRE / AP Movie Critic In this photo provided by Newmarket Films, Asa and Tucker Collins get in touch with their inner rock star in “Rock School.” (AP Photo/Newmarket Films/ Don Argott) So here’s another cinematic chicken-and-egg conundrum. Besides “Lords of Dogtown,” the fictionalized version of the skateboarding documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” we…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Shelby County’s mayor is calling for an investigation into the handling of a business proposal submitted by a fake FBI company that served as a front for a statewide bribery investigation. The undercover sting called “Tennessee Waltz” was built around E-Cycle Management Inc., and led to extortion and bribery indictments against five…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — State lobbying laws may have been violated by two men involved in the FBI sting that led to the arrests of five sitting or former legislators, a state official said. Charles Love of Chattanooga and Timothy Willis of Memphis were registered as lobbyists in 2004, Drew Rawlins, director of the state Registry…

NASHVILLE (AP) — State Rep. Chris Newton sent a letter to constituents thanking them for their support following his arrest in an FBI corruption sting. Newton, a Republican from Cleveland, was arrested last week with Democratic Sens. Kathryn Bowers, Ward Crutchfield and John Ford and former Sen. Roscoe Dixon. Ford has since resigned from the…

NASHVILLE (AP) — A TennCare contractor linked to former state Sen. John Ford was also wining and dining three other Tennessee lawmakers. The TennCare Bureau released documents from United American Healthcare Corp. of Detroit on Wednesday that show its former chief executive bought numerous meals for Ford, state Reps. Joe Armstrong and Larry Miller, and…

MEMPHIS (AP) — State Sen. Kathryn Bowers, one of five sitting or former lawmakers charged with taking bribes in an FBI sting operation, said Thursday night she will resign as Shelby County’s Democratic Party chairman on June 21. Bowers, a former House member sent to the Senate three weeks ago in a special election, refused…

By Cokie & Steven Roberts / Columnists Praise for America’s men and women in uniform echoed through the country in Memorial Day tributes last weekend. But those words might have rung hollow for the women warriors now in the field of action had it not been for a woman who fought for them on another…

By William Rusher / Columnist Let no one suppose that the “deal” engineered by the “Gang of 14” (7 Republicans and 7 Democrats) in the Senate last week put to rest either of the related major disputes that have been roiling that distinguished body in recent weeks. The would-be peacemakers labored and brought forth a…

By Charles W. Johnson / Columnist Since Southern Standard editor James Clark is on vacation this week, and is therefore not on hand to provide his usual “The Scoop” column for the Friday edition of the paper, and since he was generous enough to provide a “What’s the Word” column for me when I was…

The Jackson Sun If there is any doubt that state lawmakers see the rules of ethical rights and wrongs through distorted glasses, consider these reactions by lawmakers to last week’s indictments.Rep. Ulysses Jones, D-Memphis, a co-sponsor of the legislation that led to the indictments, said he was “upset that legislation was used in this way.”…