VOL. 37 | NO. 1 | Friday, January 4, 2013
The law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has won the mergers and acquisitions “deal of the year” award in the $50 million to $100 million category from M&A Advisors.
REALTY CHECK
As the year ends in the residential real estate market, buyers, sellers, Realtors and all associated with sales are dancing in the “sold” sign-filled streets and counting their blessings.
TERRY McCORMICK
When Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams spoke about how poorly his team performed after the 55-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers, it didn’t take much to figure out he wasn’t happy with the direction the franchise.
NEWSMAKERS
Independent investment advisory firm CapWealth Advisors LLC has selected Phoebe J. Venable to be its president and chief operating officer.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Whether you call it sales, business development or fundraising, bringing in new customers or donors is essential to your organization’s growth. After all, “nothing happens until a sale is made,” as the late founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, so prolifically stated.
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
It’s that time of year. People are thinking about getting more organized. As a consultant who occasionally helps people follow up on such thoughts, I’ve found that your beliefs make all the difference in the world if you want to get organized. Here are five false beliefs and five true beliefs that you must consider if you are serious about getting organized.
I SWEAR
There was some reminiscing going on the other day. It was late December, and there wasn’t much else to do around the courthouse. Something about being in the courthouse causes the reminiscing to go in a certain direction; to wit: sworn testimony.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Well, Christmas is past, as is New Year’s Day. That’s a whole lot of partying going on. However, if (unlike me) you find yourself still longing for a reason to have yet another party, I have found a solution to your problem. Have a food party. Did you know that there is a food honored just about every day of the year? Seriously. The answer to your dilemma is to celebrate the day based on the National Food Holiday.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The House has approved setting a cap on how many bills each lawmaker can file each year.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has replaced the chairwoman of the powerful judiciary committee with a key ally, while assignments to House panels have cast doubt on the prospects of the latest effort to allow wine to be sold in Tennessee supermarkets and convenience stores.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee's general fund revenue collections came in $25 million above expectations in December, bringing the total surplus through the first five months of the budget year to $84 million.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed former state Rep. Richard Montgomery to the Board of Probation and Parole.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford is doubling its quarterly dividend to 10 cents, just nine months after paying its first dividend in more than five years.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — At least gasoline should cost you less in 2013.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers advertised about the same number of jobs in November as in October, suggesting hiring will stay modest over the next few months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Weekly applications for U.S. unemployment benefits ticked up slightly last week, the latest sign of slow but consistent gains in the job market.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market gave up an early gain Thursday as economic reports gave investors a mixed picture on the outlook for growth.
The price of oil rose Thursday to above $94 a barrel, propelled by a rebound in China's trade growth and an encouraging start to the U.S. corporate earnings season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says it paid the federal government a record $88.9 billion in 2012. The central bank earned the money from the Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities it has purchased to drive interest rates lower and boost the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawmakers are making public emails that show that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s CEO found out in 2005 that the retailer was handing out bribes in Mexico.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages rose this week but remained close to record lows. Cheap mortgages have made home buying more affordable and have helped drive a housing recovery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesalers boosted their stockpiles in November and their sales rose at the fastest pace since the spring of 2011, encouraging signs for economic growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators for the first time are laying out rules aimed at ensuring that mortgage borrowers can afford to repay the loans they take out.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City brokerage firm that lost 658 employees in the Sept. 11 terror attacks announced that it will "adopt" 19 schools in communities hit hard by Superstorm Sandy and will give each family in those schools $1,000 to spend as they see fit.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — By showing off a phone with a flexible screen, Samsung is hinting at a day when we might fold up our large phone or tablet screens as if they were maps.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The co-chairman of the U.S. deficit commission calls failure to agree on a plan to reduce the national debt "the most disappointing thing in my life."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jack Lew, President Barack Obama's nominee for treasury secretary, is a premier federal budget expert who would take the helm of the government's main agency for economic and fiscal policy just as the administration girds itself for a new confrontation with congressional Republicans over the nation's debt and deficits.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is sitting down with gun owners groups — including the National Rifle Association — as officials look at ways to curb gun violence.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nobel Prize-winning economist and Tennessee native James M. Buchanan, who helped develop the public choice theory of economics, has died. He was 93.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - The 2013 Nissan Leaf is now being produced in Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A group of sheriffs and police chiefs is speaking out against a legislative proposal to allow wine to be sold in Tennessee grocery and convenience stores.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Legislature has unanimously re-elected Secretary of State Tre Hargett, Comptroller Justin Wilson and Treasurer David Lillard to another term in office.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The top Democrat in the state Senate is calling on Republicans to make the upper chamber of the General Assembly subject to open government laws, saying he wants to see more transparency in government.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee House for the first time has two brothers serving at the same time.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Jack Lew is President Barack Obama's expected pick to lead the Treasury Department, with an announcement possible before the end of the week, as the administration moves to fill the most critical jobs in the Cabinet.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing higher, boosted by encouraging quarterly results from several well-known companies.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil barely budged Wednesday, while natural gas plunged to the lowest level since late September.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facing a certain backlash from Washington and beyond, American International Group won't be joining a $25 billion shareholder lawsuit against the U.S. government over the terms of its bailout at the height of the financial crisis.
NEW YORK (AP) — Alcoa Inc. on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that met Wall Street's expectations, and the company said it expects slightly higher demand for aluminum this year.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats say President Barack Obama should consider invoking a little-known constitutional provision that they say gives him the power to raise the debt ceiling without going through Congress, where Republicans are demanding that a debt ceiling vote be linked to spending cuts.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander is proposing a "grand swap" in which the federal government would take over all responsibility for Medicaid and the states would gain all control over education.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to spur fresh action on gun legislation, Vice President Joe Biden is meeting at the White House with victims groups and gun-safety organizations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association has enjoyed high-profile success over the years in shaping gun-rights legislation in Congress and statehouses, in part by campaigning to defeat lawmakers who defied the group.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A House committee voted Tuesday to dial back Republican Speaker Beth Harwell's proposal to limit the number of bills each lawmaker can file each year.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State lawmakers convened Tuesday for the 108th Tennessee General Assembly that is expected to take up measures ranging from allowing wine in supermarkets to permitting teachers to be armed in school.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A public hearing will be held in Nashville for residents to comment on a plan by Piedmont Natural Gas to build a gas pipeline through a state natural area.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Huell Howser, the homespun host of public television's popular "California's Gold" travelogues, has died at age 67.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Nashville judge will decide whether the state Department of Children's Services must release the case files of children who have died or nearly died after being in contact with the agency.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers borrowed more in November to buy cars and attend school, but stayed cautious with their credit cards.
Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street as the U.S. corporate earnings season gets under way.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices ended a little lower on Tuesday, as traders took their cue from U.S. stock markets and investors awaited the start of the earnings season.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Unemployment in the 17 EU countries that use the euro rose to 11.8 percent in November, as the number of jobless people in the region rose to 18.8 million, the highest figure since the single currency was founded in 1999.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fewer business travelers are likely to hit the road this year as the travel industry is challenged by corporate America's persistent economic fears.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. said Tuesday that its pledge to match prices of select online rivals this past holiday season is now a year-round promise.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Students at North Korea's premier university showed Google's executive chairman Tuesday how they look for information online: they Google it.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest technology company by revenue, expects record earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 as shoppers continued to snap up its smartphones and tablets.
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Sears Holdings fell Tuesday, a day after the retailer announced that chairman and hedge fund billionaire Edward Lampert will take over the role of CEO.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing an end-of-the-month deadline, the Obama administration is calling gun owner groups, victims' organizations and representatives from the video-game industry to the White House this week for discussions on potential policy proposals for curbing gun violence.
MONDAY, JANUARY 7
NASHVILLE AREA
NEW YORK (AP) — Now that a tentative deal is done, one big question remains: When is the puck finally going to drop on the long-delayed hockey season?
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is accepting applications for its Citizen's Academy.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee needs to give parents better options when it comes to improving the education of their children, according to a national organization that examines education policies in each of the 50 states.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is questioning efforts by consumers' lawyers to limit the amount of money sought in class-action lawsuits so they are heard in state courts rather than more business-friendly federal court.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A government safety agency wants electric and hybrid vehicles to make more noise when traveling at low speeds so pedestrians can hear them coming.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says Americans kept health care spending in check for three consecutive years.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 index down from the five-year high it reached Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. drivers are hoping 2013 doesn't start off like 2012 at the gas pump. So far, so good.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to the lowest levels in three weeks.
NEW YORK (AP) — First there were McNuggets. Then there were Chicken McBites. Now McDonald's could be adding "Mighty Wings" to its chicken menu.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten major banks and mortgage companies agreed Monday to pay $8.5 billion to settle federal complaints that they wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been allowed to stay in their homes.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America will pay $10.3 billion to the government mortgage agency Fannie Mae to settle claims resulting from mortgage-backed investments that soured during the housing crash.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lego bricks are getting cozy with the iPhone and other Apple devices in the latest incarnation of the Mindstorms robotics kit.
BERLIN (AP) — International banking regulators agreed Sunday on global rules meant to ensure banks keep enough cash in hand to survive future market crises, and gave banks until 2019 to comply fully.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, two potentially controversial picks for his second-term national security team.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Struggling for the upper hand in the next round of debt talks, Republicans and Democrats this weekend drew lines in the sand they said they'd never cross when it comes to the U.S. debt limit.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Transportation will only display the state's highway fatality rate on Fridays starting this year after months of running the numbers daily on digital message boards across the state.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennesseans suspecting fraud, waste or abuse of public funds in state government can now report their suspicions using an online form.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) - When the word reached the Orion Assembly Plant, it spread along the serpentine assembly line like news of a death or natural disaster: General Motors, the biggest automaker in the world, had filed for bankruptcy protection.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling nearly 69,000 pickup trucks, SUVs and vans worldwide because they can roll away unexpectedly.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A startup company called Elio Motors is moving into the former General Motors plant in northwest Louisiana, where it plans to build three-wheeled vehicles with high fuel efficiency and a cheap price tag.
DETROIT (AP) — A steadily improving economy and strong December sales lifted the American auto industry to its best performance in five years in 2012, especially for Volkswagen and Japanese-brand vehicles, and experts say the next year should be even better.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two health care unions are joining forces in a move that could threaten the dominance of a powerful rival and lead to a new round of labor tensions.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A gauge of U.S. service firms' activity expanded in December by the most in nearly a year, driven by a jump in new orders and hiring.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies boosted their orders in November for manufactured goods that reflect investment plans even though total orders were unchanged for the month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, a steady gain that shows hiring held up during the tense negotiations to resolve the fiscal cliff.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market edged higher on Thursday as investors waited for more indications on the health of U.S. companies from earnings reports. Economic reports were mixed.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell Friday as investors weighed the possibility that the Federal Reserve might end its extraordinary economic stimulus measures later this year and the nation's crude supplies remained more than ample.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has settled a U.S. government probe into its business practices without making any major concessions on how the company runs its Internet search engine, the world's most influential gateway to digital information and commerce.
SEATTLE (AP) — "Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey may be the real "McSteamy."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve policymakers expressed broad support last month for the Fed's plan to buy bonds to support the U.S. economy. But they differed over how long to keep buying bonds to drive down long-term interest rates.
NEW YORK (AP) — A last-minute surge in spending seems to have saved the holiday shopping season.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — There's no indication of a fuel leak from a petroleum drilling vessel that ran aground on a remote Alaska island, the Coast Guard said of a maritime accident that has refueled debate over oil exploration in the U.S. Arctic Ocean.
BERLIN (AP) — A Swiss bank says it has agreed to pay $57.8 million to settle a court case in which it was charged with conspiring to help American clients hide more than $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market is looking more resilient and may withstand a budget battle in Washington that threatens to create more uncertainty for the economy in the coming months.
NATIONAL POLITICS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Members of Congress are calling for an investigation of Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Arctic offshore drilling operations as salvagers develop plans to move a company drill ship off rocks near an Alaska island, where it ran aground in a fierce year end storm.
WASHINGTON (AP) — At last, the storm-racked Northeast is getting a House floor vote on billions in disaster relief aid for victims of October's Superstorm Sandy, but only after a host of East Coast Republican lawmakers threatened a near mutiny against GOP Speaker John Boehner.
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House and Senate ushered in a new Congress Thursday, re-electing embattled Republican John Boehner as speaker and hailing one of their own who returned a year after being felled by a stroke.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Politically, the 213th Congress that was sworn in Thursday won't be much of a change from the less-than-stellar 212th Congress it replaces: Democrats picked up a few seats in the House and Senate, but the balance of power is unchanged, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats holding a majority in the Senate.