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Today is the 2nd Annual Trade Day where patients can trade goods for dental work. Dr. Harry Rayburn at Main Street Family Dentistry kicked things off (previous coverage) last year. This year, he has a lot more help – three other offices and at least six dentists. And, he’s organizing it under his umbrella nonprofit of Dentistry Making a Difference.

Last year, Rayburn let people trade whatever they wanted. By the end of the day, he had a puppy, canned food, a high chair, cookies, cakes, homemade pillows and bikes. This time around, the dentists are only accepting canned foods. We’re calling now to find out how things are going. The event ends at 4:30 p.m. today.

Kirkland’s is moving out of the Mall at Barnes Crossing. The home decor retailer has signed a lease for a 7,500-square-foot space at the King’s Crossing shopping development, which is anchored by Kohl’s and Ross.

Kornel Romada, a leasing agent with The Woodmont Co., which owns King’s Crossing, said the lease was signed last week. Kirkland’s will occupy a space near Maurices in the shopping center. Romada anticipates the store will open in May.

Jeff Snyder, general manager of the Mall at Barnes Crossing, said he “hasn’t heard a word” about Kirkland’s moving, but said it wouldn’t surprise him because Kirkland’s as a company is moving toward a strip center tenant with outside access.

If the store does move, Snyder said it will leave space for mall officials to market to other tenants.

Ah, we are back to $2 gas. How fun The national average today for a gallon of regular gas is $2.02. It’s more than I’d like to pay, but better than the $3.26 gas was going for this time last year. The state average today is $1.92.

New Albany has the cheapest gas in our sampled region, charging $1.83 per gallon of regular. Then it’s Corinth at $1.87, followed by Pontotoc ($1.88) and Sherman ($1.89).

In Tupelo, gas is $1.95 at Kroger at Crosstown, $1.96 at Travel Store USA off Eason and $1.92 for members at Sam’s.

Most expensive: $1.99 in Oxford

Other prices:

Amory $1.93
Booneville $1.97
Ripley $1.93
Starkville $1.95

For more gas prices, go to mississippigasprices.com.

Interesting branding project here  … from the pages of the Chicago Tribune:

KFC has sent off a letter to the nation’s mayors, offering to patch their potholes for free. Well, the company will leave behind a stenciled brand on the patch informing people the road has been “Re-Freshed by KFC.”

“In honor of our “Fresh Tastes Best” campaign, we want to come and Re-”Fresh” your roads!” KFC president Roger Eaton says in the letter. “Every patched pothole comes with the Colonel’s very own stamp of approval.”

The company estimated that U.S. roads are plagued with more than 350 million potholes. “That’s one mini-canyon for every man, woman and child in America.”

KFC has already tried out its campaign to stamp out potholes in its hometown of Louisville, Ky., earning a testimonial from Louisville’s Mayor Jerry Abramson who noted that “finding funding for needed road repairs is a continuing challenge.” The company will choose four other cities.

An all new meaning to fire in the hole.

And, this news nugget isn’t really business-related, but it was just too good to pass up. Needless to say, when – or if – the inmate gets out, he won’t be cooking anywhere. Hopefully. From the AP:

An inmate’s attempt to heat up sausages in his toilet went up in smoke when the cooking fire forced a unit evacuation at a Washington prison.

Clallam Bay Corrections Center spokeswoman Denise Larson says 130 inmates were evacuated to a dining hall when smoke was spotted coming from a sewer vent pipe Wednesday evening.

She says the smoke was traced to the inmate’s cell and he admitted to trying to heat up snack sausage bought from a prison store in the stainless steel toilet. The inmate’s identity has not been released.

The toilet chef has been placed in segregation pending discipline at the prison on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

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Down in the South, we enjoy our meats hickory-smoked, mesquite-smoked, oak-smoked, etc.

Crap-smoked? Don’t think so.

Stanford CFO Jim Davis was “actually the whistleblower” who alerted the SEC to the fraud after Stanford’s senior executives met in Miami in early February to prepare for SEC questioning, according to Davis’ lawyer in a Bloomberg story.

“Jim is fully and actively cooperating, and trying to get investors who lost their money some help,” said Finn, a former federal prosecutor and Texas judge. “He’s absolutely devastated, because he knows a lot of good people got hurt.”

“After that infamous Miami meeting, he was the one who blew the whistle and brought the house of cards down,” Finn said.

Read the full story from Bloomberg. Read our previous Stanford coverage and see pictures.

Baldwyn-based Hancock Fabrics today filed a report with the SEC saying Hancock CEO Jane Aggers has bought 100 warrants. Each warrant entitles her to buy 400 shares of common stock at $1.12 per share. She has not exercised the warrants yet. They expire Aug. 1, 2013.

The odd thing is Aggers bought the warrants on Aug. 1, 2008. The SEC statement was filed today. Read the full statement.

The Tupelo Young Professionals are hosting a mayoral candidates forum today. The group sent over the notice earlier this month/week, but it slipped through the cracks on the Biz. So, if you don’t already have lunch plans, we hear it will be an interesting event. The only catch is it might be too late to reserve your lunch.

TUPELO YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

Lunchtime Learning Series
Mayoral Candidates Forum

Thursday, March 26, 2009
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
BancorpSouth Arena

Come meet the candidates running for Mayor of Tupelo. Following a brief introduction of each candidate, there will be a time for questions from the TYPs.

A boxed lunch will be available for $6.
Please RSVP to typ@cdfms.org to reserve your lunch.

2 p.m. update: The Biz caught up with Bill Wheeler and Jamie Franks during lunch. Franks said E-911 called his parents at 5:30 a.m. today to say there was a some sort of explosion at the Wheeler & Franks office. Wheeler said water had collected on the roof and the roof finally gave way this morning. And, when it fell the pressure blew out the front windows and shot them across the street.

No one was hurt. All four employees were at the office around 1 p.m. gathering their belongings. Wheeler said they are trying to salvage what they can but the computers and files are wet. A moving truck is on site to take the items to a temporary location. Wheeler said they haven’t figured out where they are going to go yet, but they want to stay downtown. And, he said they are going to have to tear down the front of the building and rebuild it.

1:30 p.m. update: We just got back from the office. Here’s what we saw:

11:30 a.m. update: DJ photographer Todd Sherman is on the scene. He said it looks pretty bad. No clarification yet if it was the roof or a wall (we’re hearing both now). He’ll be back with pictures ASAP.

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We’re hearing reports that the roof caved in on the law office of Wheeler & Franks at the corner of Broadway and Troy. It happened sometime during the night/morning. No reports of injuries.

We’re finding out more and getting pictures. Stay tuned.