While so many Memphians were up late Tuesday watching the Grizzlies beat the Clippers, a much smaller group of citizens were up late for a different reason – Tuesday’s school board meeting.

The meeting featured some important moments in the move to consolidation in what was also one of the busiest days recently in the schools reformation. There was the board meeting and a hearing that morning in the consolidation case before Memphis Federal Court Judge Hardy Mays and then some comments by Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell at the Memphis Rotary Club on the subject as well.

You can read all about all of that in the links.

The Grizzlies got started at about 9:30 p.m. and finished at around 12:30 p.m. for a game of three hours.

The board got started at around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and finished at 11 p.m. clocking in at about five and a half hours.

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Agape Child & Family Services is hosting its 15th Annual HeartLight event June 15 at FedExForum, and it will feature Tim Tebow.

The event is focused on raising awareness and support for homelessness, orphan care and under-resourced communities in the Mid-South. Tickets are on sale now at agapemeanslove.org/heartlight-2013.

From Agape:

“The goal of this event is to raise awareness of, and support for, homelessness, orphan care and at-risk communities in Memphis,” said Brian Hoover, Director of Development for Agape. “Tim Tebow is a dedicated follower of Jesus and a significant role model to youth and adults alike. His life and his philanthropic interests directly connect with our mission. We are not concerned about the recent news around his career…we are very excited about having Tim in Memphis and telling his story on a grand stage like FedExForum. Tim has endured incredible scrutiny since leaving college but his character and consistency have remained the same. Tim’s story is not about football, it’s about how God is working in his life despite the circumstances. It’s a story that all of us in this city need to hear. We are excited to have him in Memphis soon.”

As anyone who owns property in Shelby County knows, 2013 is a reappraisal year.

During reappraisal years, the Shelby County Assessor of Property updates property values throughout the county. For years, it’s been the norm that property owners will automatically file an appeal, forcing the assessor’s staff to defend the new values, because the property owner has nothing to lose. If they win a reduced property value, it cuts their tax bill.

A letter sent out from the Glanker Brown law firm last week gives some insight into this. Tax representatives are naturally eager to represent clients in appealing their values to the assessor, but the Glankler Brown letter was even addressed by name to some potential clients who don’t actually own property.

“You may have already received your notice of reappraisal from the Assessor’s Office,” the letter reads. “Many people throughout the county have indicated dismay at the values reflected on these notices given the overall status of the real estate market in the past several years.”

The letter does not note that the assessor has publicly stated on several occasions that the economic slump of recent years will be reflected in the county’s aggregate tax base as a result of this reappraisal – in short, that the county’s tax base will shrink somewhat because of lower values.

The letter goes on:

“We have considerable experience in handling all steps of the appeal process and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to review your recent Notice of Reappraisal to determine whether there is anything that we can do to assist you in obtaining a lower appraised value and assessment than recently placed on your property.”

A study produced by the Society of Actuaries predicted medical claim costs could jump 32 percent nationally by 2017 for individual policies under the Affordable Care Act. The research study was widely written about in the press, including The Daily News.

Kaiser Health News and Politico Pro are now reporting the study failed to note the close ties between the actuaries making the forecasts and the insurance industry.

“Undisclosed in the SOA report was the fact that about half the people who oversaw it work for the health insurance industry that is warning about rate shock. The chairman of society committee supervising the project was Kenny Kan, chief actuary at Maryland-based CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield,” Kaiser Health News and Politico Pro reported.

Optum, the sister company of UnitedHealthcare, performed the research for the study. UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest private health insurer, the news organizations jointly reported.

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act pointed out that the actuary society’s study failed to factor in the potential for competition to lower prices and the subsidies people will receive to purchase coverage.

Scatter-shooting after the Grizzlies’ 104-83 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday at FedExForum evened their first-round playoff series at 2-2:

• Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding. In the two games in Memphis (both wins), the Grizzlies out-rebounded L.A. 90-61. It’s no surprise, then, the Griz also own a 44-6 advantage in second-chance points over the last two games. “They beat us up on the glass again,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said.
• Center Marc Gasol’s refrain for the Griz is “We have to be who we are.” They were again in Game 4 as he went for 24 points (18 in the second half) and 13 rebounds. Zach Randolph had 24 and 9. Asked about point guard Mike Conley, who had 13 assists (plus 15 points) getting the bigs the ball, Gasol said: “That’s what he’s supposed to do. We expect him to be the playmaker that he is.”
• The Griz starters beat the Clippers starters 88-40 in Game 4 (Chris Paul and Blake Griffin each had 19 points). So it didn’t matter that the Clippers’ bench had 43-16 edge on the Grizzlies. As in Game 3, reserve Quincy Pondexter provided a spark for Memphis; he scored 10 in Game 4 and was hustling all over the court and logged time at the 1, 2 and 3 spots.
• Griz coach Lionel Hollins rejected the idea they did much of anything different in terms of strategy these last two games. “We took away a lot of stuff (L.A. wanted to do offensively), but not by any scheme, but by hard play.”
• Big Z-Bo, small Z-Bo. After averaging 13 points and 6 rebounds in the Game 1 and 2 losses, Randolph is averaging 25.5 points and 10 boards in the two victories. “Just getting the ball in the right spots, picking and choosing, being aggressive instead of holding and waiting for a double-team to come,” Randolph said of why the last two games have been better.
• Someone please stop the tennis madness. Phrases like “holding serve” and “breaking serve” are being thrown around by everyone when talking about how the series “doesn’t really start” until a road time wins. Only one problem, besides how annoying the tennis lingo is, the series could go 7 games without a road team ever winning. That event would be unhappy for the Grizzlies, because Games 5 and 7 are in L.A. Game 5 is Tuesday; Game 6 is next Friday in Memphis.
• A reporter noted that Gasol seemed a little ill at ease this week when he received his Defensive Player of the Year award while the Griz were 0-2 in the series. He agreed, but when asked if he felt more deserving of the award after evening the series, Gasol, true to form, said, “It doesn’t feel deserved now. We’re 2-2. We’re not 4-2. We haven’t done anything yet. We’ve still got to go out there and win a game.”
• Chris Paul on the road ahead, with Game 5 and potentially Game 7 in L.A., “That’s why you work so hard for homecourt.”