VOL. 41 | NO. 4 | Friday, January 27, 2017
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
An interesting thing happened just a couple of hours before Gov. Bill Haslam unveiled his fuel-tax increase plan amid great fanfare at the State Capitol.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Herman Patton joyfully hollers “everything is pie-tastic” in the world of his heroic alter ego.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Perhaps it is due to unseasonably warm weather, maybe New Year’s resolutions or the changing of the guard in Washington.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term US mortgage rates rose this week after three weeks of declines, marking their first increase of the year.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
About the University of Tennessee’s athletics director search: What’s your hurry?
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
Tennessee has its search firm and its search committee is in place to find the replacement for Dave Hart as the university’s athletic director.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
For those needing a Titans fix this week, there are a couple of things to occupy your mind and perhaps pique your curiosity.
Since there is an off-week before Super Bowl LI, we will save our prediction for next week.
NEWSMAKERS
Siloam Health, a charitable clinic for the uninsured, has announced the addition of four business and community leaders to its board of directors. These additions to the board come just after the ministry celebrated 25 years of service in the Nashville-area, marked by a 25-year anniversary gala at the end of the year attended by over 900 individuals and the introduction of a fresh logo mark and brand package that captures the welcoming spirit of the organization.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Buick has lowered the price on its popular Encore for 2017, all while updating its look and adding new connectivity features.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Super Bowl advertising sales have been slow-going this season, with only 90 percent sold by December of last year.
CAREER CORNER
Questions around past legal trouble have come up multiple times recently, so it’s worth addressing.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — More road funding plans are emerging to rival Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal that would include the state's first gas tax hike since 1989.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Search crews found the body of a Metro Nashville police officer who slipped into a bitterly cold Cumberland River while trying to rescue a woman, Tennessee officials said Thursday morning.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority is expected to conclude a trial in which environmental groups accuse the utility's power plant outside Nashville, Tennessee, of illegally polluting the Cumberland River with coal ash.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed in morning trading on Wall Street Thursday morning as traders didn't find much to get excited about in the latest batch of earnings reports from U.S. companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, another sign that U.S. workers are enjoying job security.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. reported Thursday an 84 percent profit drop in October-December, as losses in its movie division offset healthy results in its video game business.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt's coach Derek Mason believes an Independence Bowl berth helped the Commodores build some recruiting momentum.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee concentrated on building depth in this class but also gained star power with the addition of a player rated as the nation's No. 1 prospect by one recruiting service.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal by House Republicans to raise Tennessee transportation revenues through sales tax collections is receiving a chilly reception from Senate leadership.
Rep. Antonio Parkinson says his legislation dealing with marijuana isn’t designed to decriminalize pot but to reduce felony possession charges – and the stumbling blocks attached to them – in addition to saving the state money.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican lawmakers want to require government-issued IDs in Tennessee to prominently feature the words "alien" or "non-U.S. citizen" in capital letters for anyone without permanent residency status.
NASHVILLE (AP) — School voucher proponents are hopeful that this is the year they can finally pass legislation to direct state money to pay for private school tuition in Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Republican lawmaker has filed a bill to repeal any city ordinances that would to reduce the penalty for people who possess small amounts of marijuana.
COURTS
MEMPHIS (AP) — U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III says he's leaving his post in Memphis.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto sales appear to have lagged in January, although the slowdown could be temporary.
DETROIT (AP) — Two luxury electric vehicles — the Tesla Model S and the BMW i3 — fell short of getting the highest safety ratings in new crash tests by the insurance industry.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen has agreed to pay at least $1.2 billion in buybacks and compensation to settle claims from U.S. owners of cars with larger diesel engines that the company rigged to cheat on emissions tests.
HEALTH CARE
NEW YORK (AP) — Stay in business for yourself or go back to working for someone else?
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors didn't react much to a strong hiring survey or the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates unchanged Wednesday, and U.S. stocks finished little changed. Apple soared after it said iPhone sales improved in its latest quarter.
HIRING REBOUND: Small businesses more than tripled their number of new jobs in January, adding 62,000, according to payroll provider ADP. That's up from 18,000 in December, and in line with the average of more than 62,000 per month in 2016. ADP counted the number of jobs at its small business customers, those with up to 49 staffers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has left its key interest rate unchanged at a time of solid economic gains but also heightened uncertainty surrounding the new Trump administration.
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 100 retailers including Wal-Mart and Target as well as key trade associations are launching a new coalition aimed at fighting a Republican proposal on how imports get taxed, which they believe would harm their businesses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies ramped up hiring in January, adding the most new workers since June, according to a private survey.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel is approving President Donald Trump's choice of financier Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The acting secretary of the Army has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir, a North Dakota senator said, the latest twist in the months-long legal battle over the $3.8 billion project.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans stood united behind President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, bracing for a bitter, months-long fight with Democrats over a conservative judge similar in philosophy to the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has a challenge for lawmakers seeking alternatives to his proposal to hike the state's fuel taxes to help tackle $10 billion backlog in in bridge and road programs.
Flush with money from previous budgeting, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposed $37 billion spending plan for next year includes a major project for the University of Memphis and a College of Applied Technology for Memphis.
Here is the full text of Gov. Bill Haslam's annual State of the State address as prepared for delivery to a joint convention of the Tennessee General Assembly on Monday.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday unveiled his $37 billion Tennessee spending plan for the budget year beginning July 1, a 4.8 percent increase over the current year. Haslam's proposed new spending includes:
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee motorists can try their hand at coming up with a winning safety message for the overhead message signs on the state interstate highways.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The uncle of a Tennessee sheriff in jail for profiting off the sale of e-cigarettes to inmates has also pleaded guilty in the case.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices marched steadily higher in November, pushed up by healthy demand for homes and a shrinking supply of available properties.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Overnight Tuesday is the deadline to sign up for coverage under the federal health care law. Even if the ultimate fate of "Obamacare" is uncertain, there's been no change for this year. About 11.5 million people had enrolled as of Dec. 24.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fought their way to a mixed finish Tuesday as drugmakers rallied, which mostly canceled out losses for industrial companies. Investors shifted their money to less risky investments for the second day in a row.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is all but sure to leave interest rates alone when it ends a policy meeting Wednesday at a time of steady gains for the U.S. economy but also heightened uncertainty surrounding the new Trump administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans expressed a bit less optimism about the economy this month after their confidence soared to a 15-year high in December.
SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos says the Seattle-based company supports a lawsuit filed by Washington state's attorney general against President Donald Trump and the administration over Trump's executive order on immigration and refugees.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe's economic recovery is on more solid ground ahead of what could be a turbulent political year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is replacing a program that offered free shipping but had an annual fee with one that has a lower free shipping threshold and faster delivery as it hopes to answer Amazon's powerful Prime membership success.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the face of widespread criticism, President Donald Trump has staunchly defended his order temporarily banning refugees and nearly all citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. But in a statement Sunday and tweets Monday, Trump misstated the facts multiple times.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump paused the nation's refugee program with the stroke of a pen, top congressional leaders of his own party were left to find out the same way the general public did: from the media as Trump signed the order.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an extraordinary public showdown, President Donald Trump fired the acting attorney general of the United States after she publicly questioned the constitutionality of his refugee and immigration ban and refused to defend it in court.
MONDAY, JANUARY 30
STATE LEGISLATURE
Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region is calling The Heartbeat Bill an “extreme” piece of legislation designed to outlaw abortion and potentially distract state lawmakers from other attempts to restrict the procedure.
REGION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Environmental groups are taking the Tennessee Valley Authority to trial over waste ash from an aging coal-fired power plant northeast of Nashville, saying it polluted the Cumberland River in violation of the Clean Water Act.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam is scheduled to give his annual State of the State address to a joint convention of the Tennessee General Assembly on Monday.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A new lecture series that explores emerging issues involving the news media and First Amendment rights will kick off Thursday with a focus on the relevance of fact-checking.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota has relinquished the title of the world's biggest automaker, reporting Monday that it sold 10.175 million vehicles worldwide in 2016, fewer than Volkswagen's 10.31 million.
TECHNOLOGY
TOKYO (AP) — Masaya Nakamura, the "Father of Pac-Man" who founded the Japanese video game company behind the hit creature-gobbling game, has died. He was 91.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Monday as investors grew nervous following President Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. Energy companies, which have surged over the last year, took the biggest losses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the chaotic windup of the presidential race, Donald Trump complained that Janet Yellen's Federal Reserve was being "obviously political" in keeping interest rates ultra-low. He spoke of a "big fat ugly bubble" fueled by the Fed. And he grumbled that savers were getting "creamed" by low rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers boosted spending in December at the fastest pace in three months, giving the economy some momentum going into 2017.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the face of widespread criticism, President Donald Trump has staunchly defended his order temporarily banning refugees and nearly all citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. But in a statement Sunday and tweets Monday, Trump misstated the facts multiple times.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House clashed Monday with a large group of American diplomats who are voicing dissent with Donald Trump's temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim majority countries, challenging them to resign if they aren't on board.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Conservative patriarch Charles Koch and his vast network is vowing to oppose President Donald Trump if and when he deviates from their dedication to "free and open societies."
President Donald Trump has signed an executive action aimed at cutting regulations, and said at a White House breakfast he wanted to "create an environment for small business."
Growing numbers of Republican lawmakers are expressing concerns about President Donald Trump's executive order cracking down on immigration.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google has created a crisis fund that could raise up to $4 million for four immigrant rights organizations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Starbucks says it will hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years, a response to President Donald Trump's indefinite suspension of Syrian refugees and temporary travel bans that apply to six other Muslim-majority nations.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Rutherford County sheriff's major is expected to plead guilty to charges related to lying about being a U.S. citizen on his job application, then denying it while later applying for citizenship.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Mayor Megan Barry is backing a push to attract a professional soccer team by building a new soccer stadium.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge in Nashville says he will resign and return to private practice, giving President Donald Trump a second federal judgeship to fill in the city.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Leslie Hafner is leaving her position as a top adviser to Republican Gov. Bill Haslam to take on a new role with House Speaker Beth Harwell.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam is proposing legislation to expand access to broadband in rural Tennessee.
REGION
NASHVILLE (AP) — The new Tennessee Valley Authority board chairwoman says she hopes the federal utility will maintain its trajectory, including efforts to reduce airborne carbon pollution, with President Donald Trump having the chance to pick a new board majority by the spring.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Though "Obamacare" still divides Americans, a majority worries many will lose coverage if the 2010 law is repealed in the nation's long-running political standoff over health care.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street capped a week of milestones Friday with a day of listless trading that left U.S. stock indexes mostly lower.
Energy companies declined the most as the price of crude oil fell. Health care stocks posted the biggest gain.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy lost momentum in the final three months of 2016, closing out a year in which growth turned in the weakest performance in five years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses ramped up their investment in industrial machinery, semiconductors and other big-ticket items last month, boosting demand for factory goods.
NEW YORK (AP) — Dow 20,000 wasn't exactly a team effort.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is promising Mexico will pay for his massive border wall. On Thursday, his administration finally suggested how: a 20 percent tax on products imported from south of the border.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Donald Trump called on fellow Republicans to help him enact "great and lasting change" during a party retreat Thursday but offered few details. Later his spokesman said the president will seek a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for a proposed border wall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A spokesman said President Donald Trump will sign an executive action to commission an investigation into widespread voter fraud, raising the prospect of a federal government probe into a widely debunked claim and sparking alarm among experts and Democrats.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Breaking with President Donald Trump, the House Oversight Committee chairman says he sees no evidence of voter fraud in the election, and his committee won't investigate it.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a planned Jan. 31 meeting with President Donald J. Trump, hours after Trump tweeted that the meeting should be scrapped if Mexico won't pay for a border wall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — If one believes the back-of-the-envelope estimates by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump's border wall is going to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. That's a lot of money, even though it's just a minute fraction of a $4 trillion federal budget. Here are a few examples of what the government could do with $15 billion:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy lost momentum in the final three months of 2016 as a downturn in exports temporarily depressed activity. But there were hopeful signs in housing and business investment that the economy will rebound in the coming months.