—From Franklin, Tenn.

Econ 101: The Dow Jones gained 267 points this past week on encouraging news about job growth. The economy added 223,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%, its lowest point since 2009.

The Dow closed the week at 18,191. This came despite Fed Chairman Janet Yellen’s warning that some segments of the market are over-valued.

Professional worriers are contemplating whether the market is pumping up for a crash. But the Fed continues to keep interest rates low, encouraging investors to buy stocks.

Trader Barack: President Obama is putting on a full court press for passage of a trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim countries. He’s been meeting with both Republicans and Democrats to lobby for the their votes. Some of his biggest opposition comes from within the Democratic Party, which is meeting heavy resistance from labor unions afraid of losing jobs.

Police Beat: Two Hattiesburg, Miss. Police officers were shot and killed last night during a traffic stop. One of them was fresh out of the police academy. Police arrested three suspects, two of whom are brothers with a record for drug and weapon charges.

Just this past week New York City buried an officer who stopped a man on the street suspecting he had a gun. Across the country 10 cops have been shot to death on the job so far this year.

Politic$: The New York Times reports today that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the rising Republican star who’s running for president, has been backed for years by a powerful billionaire Florida car dealer. The wealthy patron, Norman Braman, has bankrolled Rubio’s political campaigns and even helped him personally when he was strapped for money. On his latest financial disclosure, Rubio listed $450,000 in debt, mostly mortgages. Braman, who throws his weight around in Florida, is expected to give as much as $10 million to Rubio’s presidential campaign. Rubio told the Times that Braman has never asked for anything in return.

Weather Report: A line of big storms passed through the Dallas-Ft. Worth area this morning, moving northeast into Oklahoma. Residents are cleaning up today after a tornado hit to the west outside the Texas town of Cisco yesterday, killing one person and leveling homes.

The Obit Page: Lynn Grefe, who became an advocate for people with eating disorders after finding that her daughter had bulimia and anorexia, has died of lung cancer at age 65. At age 19 her daughter was 5-5 and 90 pounds when Grefe got her into a treatment program. Grefe went on to become chief executive of the National Eating Disorders Association. Her work forced the fashion industry to stop using models who looked like they were starving.

Lone Star: On the road moving east, the rural poverty and lush orchards of Texas give way to the giant glass office boxes and walled communities of Dallas/Ft. Worth, a megalopolis made possible by air conditioning. Only here will you be passed in traffic by a white Cadillac “Texas Edition.”

The speed limit on the Ronald Reagan Memorial Parkway is 75, which really means 80.

Along Interstate 20 travelling east the lawyer billboards promise help with oilfield and 18-wheeler accidents, evidently the primary hazards of the region. Always there are the admonishments to follow Jesus, alternated with “adult superstores.”

Texas turns into Louisiana before the state line with thick forests and high humidity. The billboards begin to mix God with Gumbo.

We didn’t visit God, but you’d be a fool to pass through Shreveport without stopping to eat at Herby K’s, home of the “Shrimp Buster.”

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