In this latest round of “what’s going on with that,” The Ticker checks in on a few of the stories reported here over the last several months. Here’s the latest:

TBA Credit Union’s New HQ
Construction could begin this summer on TBA Credit Union’s new regional headquarters on East Front St. across from the Holiday Inn West Bay in Traverse City.

The financial institution’s site plan will go before the City Commission next week for approval, according to CEO Karen Browne. The project has received some criticism from planning officials concerning placement of the parking lot along Front Street, but designers say the “parking solution balances the need to provide a reasonable number of parking spaces with site limitations, aesthetics and flexibility for the future.” The plan also would allow future “infill buildings” along Front if public parking becomes available down the road.

The TBA Credit Union purchased the two parcels totaling just over one acre for its proposed 14,500-square foot, three-story building last summer.

Construction is expected to last approximately eight months.

Division Street Vote Heading to Court
Local attorney Grant Parsons confirmed last week that he still intends to pursue a legal opinion on a Division Street referendum passed by city voters in November.

A 59 percent majority voted in favor of a proposal authorizing the potential transfer of parkland to the Michigan Department of Transportation in order to widen the street – if, in fact, that is the eventual decision to deal with long-standing traffic issues along the corridor. According to Parsons, however, the city charter requires a supermajority – or 60 percent – vote to dispose of parkland.

Although delayed by workload at his firm, Parsons says his plans for a challenge haven’t changed. “I will be seeking a judicial opinion of the city charter,” Parsons says, although the legal action will have to be filed by someone else, as he isn’t a city resident.

“There are people who have volunteered to act as a plantiff,” he adds.

Gun Safe Mom Getting National Buzz
In January, Traverse City mother Missy Carson Smith kicked off the national launch of her Gun Safe Mom campaign in her hometown – an effort focused on gun safety and kids.

The Ticker wondered what kind of national attention she has attracted since? Turns out, a lot.

Smith says Gun Safe Mom will be featured in “All You” magazine, set to be on stands in every Walmart in the country by May. Also, local mom Lisa Price wrote a story about her gratefulness for the campaign slated to be published on the New York Times’ “Motherlode” blog.

Smith has also heard from a writer pitching her story to some national publications, who told her she is “incredibly close” to being on the cover of Parade Magazine. This week, she’s heading to Detroit for radio interviews and Detroit Free Press columnist Neil Rubin, who was just in Traverse City last week interviewing author Buzz Bissinger, is interested in doing a piece.