VOL. 40 | NO. 4 | Friday, January 22, 2016
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Generations of mechanics, shop owners
If, as the classic movie line tells us: “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings,” there are plenty of soaring spirits out there today, at least judging by the George Bailey of Brentwood.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
The spring selling season will descend upon the Nashville area in the next few weeks, and buyers are elated.
REAL ESTATE
Middle Tennessee's top commercial real estate transactions for 2015, Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week for a third straight week as global stock markets continued to be pounded by falling oil prices and worries over economic growth.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
There is plenty of criticism to go around in the way the Tennessee Titans handled their so-called coaching search, which wound up being Mike Mularkey versus three guys who never had a chance. Amy Adams Strunk had her head coach all along in interim coach Mularkey.
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
Tennessee football coach Butch Jones got serious about taking the next step with his football program not long after his team’s 45-6 victory over Northwestern in the Jan. 1 Outback Bowl.
NEWSMAKERS
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP has elected six new partners from the firm’s Nashville office, Nate Bailey, Steven E. Blumenthal, Todd R. Hambidge, Michael T. Harmon, Aron Z. Karabel and Trevor Sava.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The 2016 Chevrolet Impala is a bargain for such an attractive and well-mannered large sedan - and its base price rose by just $85 from last year’s model.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Over the last couple of decades, consumers have flipped the buying process on its ear.
CAREER CORNER
There’s an issue that keeps popping up over and over again, and I’ve got to be honest: It’s one of my biggest pet peeves.
I SWEAR
What do the following phrases have in common: Due date, Editor’s concern, End point, Freelancer’s problem, Time limit and Zero hour?
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - House Speaker Beth Harwell is getting legal advice about how or whether the chamber could expel fellow Republican state Rep. Jeremy Durham amid allegations of sexual harassment and other questionable behavior.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nashville is starting a special court for victims of human trafficking.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people signing contracts to purchase homes managed to inch up last month, thanks to unseasonably warm weather in the Northeast.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Companies that are developing self-driving cars of the future want government regulators to clear the road for public access to the technology, once it emerges from current prototype testing.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Improving sales in most of the world helped Ford Motor Co. achieve a record pretax profit in 2015, and the company says the numbers could go even higher this year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign that employers aren't cutting jobs in response to global economic weakness and sharp stock market drops.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods tumbled in December, with a key category that tracks business investment plans falling for a second straight month.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are wavering Thursday morning following a sharp sell-off the day before. The price of oil is climbing for the third consecutive day as key oil-producing nations discuss cuts in production. Biotech stocks are falling after Massachusetts began investigating drug prices.
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbie's got a brand new bod. Mattel, the maker of the iconic plastic doll, said it will begin selling Barbie's in three new body types -- curvy, tall, and petite. She'll also be available in seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Country singer Tyler Farr is canceling upcoming shows to rest his voice after having surgery to remove a polyp on his vocal chords.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - An education advocacy group founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Wednesday called for fewer but smarter assessment tests and for helping minority students and the underserved bridge the achievement gap.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nexstar said it is buying rival TV station operator Media General after Meredith agreed to allow Media General to get out of a takeover bid for Meredith.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Rep. Jeremy Durham on Wednesday withdrew from the Tennessee House Republican Caucus amid an investigation into sexual harassment allegations.
NASHVILLE (AP) - An effort to create a school voucher program in Tennessee has cleared its last major committee before a full House vote.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Cable's pricey Internet packages may get some competition from the founder of Aereo, whose first attempt to shake up the cable industry was quashed by the Supreme Court.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is betting the SUV craze is here to stay and drivers around the world will want even more Jeeps.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it sold 10.151 million vehicles in 2015, retaining its status as the world's top-selling automaker for the fourth straight year.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive has proposed tougher tests for new car models to avoid issues like the Volkswagen emissions scandal that hit the automobile sector last year.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans rushed to buy new homes in December at the strongest pace in 10 months, with 2015 marking the strongest year for this segment of the housing market since 2008.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks sank Wednesday after the Federal Reserve gave a cautious assessment of the global economy and said growth in the U.S. has slowed down.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve sounded a note of concern Wednesday about how global pressures could affect the U.S. economy, while keeping a key interest rate unchanged.
Panic is so passé. Investors are keeping their cool — and keeping their hands off of their retirement accounts — despite huge swings in the stock market that sent it careening to its worst start to a year ever.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Few neighborhoods can match the perks of Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C. — a reality that reflects a broader problem for the U.S. housing market.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 26
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers added jobs in 36 states last month, led by big gains in California, Texas and Florida, evidence that hiring remains solid nationwide. Low oil prices caused job losses in energy-rich states.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Hospital Association, a key supporter of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's unsuccessful effort to expand Medicaid in the state, is planning a new push to pass the measure once this year's presidential election is over.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam said Tuesday that it will be difficult for state Rep. Jeremy Durham to be an effective lawmaker after GOP leaders called for him to resign from his seat amid sexual harassment allegations.
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Republican state Rep. Rick Womick, who once accused Gov. Bill Haslam of "treason" to the GOP, is announcing plans to retire this year.
COURTS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Court of Appeals has determined that Nashville's former director of schools legally suspended an agreement with a union in 2011.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is bracing for its first sales decline in 13 years, despite selling a record 74.8 million iPhones in the final three months of 2015.
NEW YORK (AP) — Soon, losing your ATM card won't be the financial life-stopping event it used to be. Just don't also lose your phone.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of young adults healthy enough to think they don't need insurance face painful choices this year as the sign-up deadline approaches for President Barack Obama's health care law.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices increased at a faster clip in November, the gains fueled by solid hiring growth, historically low mortgage rates and a shortage of houses on the market.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A strong job market and low gasoline prices helped boost U.S. consumer confidence again this month.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks jumped Tuesday as the price of oil made another abrupt reversal, this time rising almost 4 percent after falling sharply the day before.
NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $1.42 billion to settle allegations that it withheld critical funds from Lehman Brothers in the final days leading up to Lehman's collapse during the financial crisis.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant expects oil prices will climb toward the end the year, saying the current price of around $30 a barrel is not sustainable.
NEW YORK (AP) — Insurer AIG is selling its broker-dealer segment, starting an initial public offering for its mortgage-insurance division and slashing expenses after coming under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will pitch some new proposals to expand access to retirement savings accounts and revisit some old ones when issuing his budget next month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A widening Republican rift over revamping the nation's criminal justice system is dashing hopes for overhaul in the final year of President Barack Obama's tenure despite strong bipartisan support and a concerted effort by the second-ranking GOP senator.
MONDAY, JANUARY 25
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — House Speaker Beth Harwell and State Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes on Monday called for state Rep. Jeremy Durham to resign from his seat in the Tennessee General Assembly amid allegations of sexual harassment.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The chairwoman of the Tennessee Democratic Party is calling on House Republican leaders to resign over their handling of Rep. Jeremy Durham and sexual harassment at the Tennessee General Assembly.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee lawmaker whose questionable behavior nearly got him ousted from Republican leadership in the state House earlier this month announced Sunday that he was resigning as majority whip.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — More people died from gunshots than car accidents in Tennessee during 2014.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - R. Clayton McWhorter, a businessman and philanthropist who helped pioneer health care in Nashville, has died at the age of 82.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A family friend said larger-than-life Nashville political figure John Jay Hooker Jr., who spent his last days fighting to make physician-assisted suicide legal in Tennessee, died on Sunday at 85.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people than expected are purchasing health insurance under President Barack Obama's health care law, a report confirmed on Monday.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a win for the Obama administration and environmental groups, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 5-year-old federal program that pays large electric customers to save energy during times of peak demand.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The United Auto Workers union is hoping a management overhaul at Volkswagen in the aftermath of its diesel emissions cheating scandal will help ease an impasse over collective bargaining at the German automaker's lone U.S. plant.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Monday as the price of oil slumped again, giving up some of the ground it gained late last week. That forced energy companies lower.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates from record lows last month, the global picture has darkened. Stock markets have plunged. Oil prices have skidded. China's leaders have struggled to steer the world's second-biggest economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Business economists are more pessimistic about their firms' future sales and profits than they were last fall, and more predict slower economic growth, a survey found.
The weekend blizzard along the East Coast could have a relatively small economic impact — up to $850 million, experts estimate — because the storm hit on a weekend and there weren't any major power outages. That meant there was little lost productivity in government and business.
NEW YORK (AP) — Johnson Controls and Tyco will join in a $3.9 billion deal as the unprecedented pace of buyouts and mergers from last year rolls over into 2016.
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter says that four executives are leaving the company.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the first voting nears in the presidential race, most Americans have little or no confidence in the federal government to confront what they see as the country's most important priorities, according to a national survey.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday released his administration's 42-bill agenda for this year's legislative session that includes an effort to restructure higher education governance that led to the early retirement of the chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents schools.
The Tennessee Board of Regents has chosen longtime lobbyist and state official David Gregory to serve as interim chancellor until a replacement is selected for outgoing leader John Morgan.
STATE LEGISLATURE
ATLANTA (AP) - Months after the Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage, lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing bills that would give businesses and some public employees the right to refuse serving gay couples because of their religious beliefs.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Two Tennessee Democrats want to pass a law to require the state to enforce the U.S. Constitution's "natural born citizen" requirement on this November's presidential ballot.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday to end emissions testing in Tennessee for new cars, brushing aside concerns that relaxing standards might be a bad idea in light of the Volkswagen scandal.
COURTS
FRANKLIN (AP) - Three Williamson County ministers are seeking to invalidate portions of Tennessee's marriage statute.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home sales rebounded in December after new regulations had delayed the completion of purchases in November. And total sales in 2015 were the most in nine years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home rental price growth turned tame in December — a sign that a burst of new apartment construction last year may be relieving cost pressures.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — A trial that was supposed to help settle hundreds of lawsuits stemming from General Motors' faulty ignition switches abruptly ended Friday, a day after the judge raised questions about the plaintiff's truthfulness.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks made their biggest gain in more than a month on Friday as oil prices surged, lifting energy stocks. Tech stocks also climbed as Apple shares had their day since August.
NEW YORK (AP) — American Express plans to trim $1 billion in expenses over the next two years as it deals with the impact of the strong dollar and fierce competition for its cardholders.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Worries over a British exit from the European Union weighed on participants at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, with France's prime minister warning that it would be a "tragedy" that could prove an inspiration to populists around the region at a time when many countries are contending with massive numbers of refugees.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since July, though applications remained at historically low levels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — New federal rules to protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands have survived the latest Republican effort to block them.