FedEx, UPS step up their holiday shipping performance

An antibiotic-soaked sponge that dissolves after surgeons place it in a wound is one of several ideas the FedEx Institute of Technology is helping become reality. The Institute helps move discoveries and inventions at the University of Memphis out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. More: continued here

UPS rival FedEx reported a 6 percent decline in quarterly profits yesterday, saying a slow economy and high fuel prices are expected to continue cutting into profits. More: continued here

Thanks to the cup, the Tour Championship finally might be worth watching. More: continued here

SILVIS, Ill. — One hundred sixty golfers embarked on a quest Thursday at TPC Deere Run in the Quad Cities. The prize: $774,000 of the $4.3 million purse, 500 points in the FedEx Cup race, and a plane ride to Prestwick, Scotland. More: continued here

FedEx’s new hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport won’t open until next fall and will start operations with fewer workers than initially projected as the company keeps cautious amid a tumultuous economy. More: continued here

Amy Hanford and her family agree that “all the world’s a stage.” She and husband Robert, a FedEx employee and actor, and children, Kristina 19, Christopher 17, and Cody, 14, spend much of their time as players on stages from Collierville to NYC’s Great White Way.From their Germantown home, they frequently catch up on family…