VOL. 42 | NO. 41 | Friday, October 12, 2018
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Congressman Marsha Blackburn must have been sitting back laughing as she pounded former Gov. Phil Bredesen for postponing his stance on the Kavanaugh nomination.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Anytime the Baltimore Ravens appear on the Tennessee Titans’ schedule, the rivalry that once was comes back to mind.
1. Defense, defense and more defense. The Titans defense, despite breakdowns against Buffalo, has still been a big reason for the team’s success thus far. Defense is also key to the Ravens’ success with old war horses like Terrell Suggs still leading the way. It wouldn’t be surprising to see this game end up a low-scoring affair like Titans-Ravens games of old.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
“I don’t want to appear desperate” is how sellers often respond when their listing agent tells them their house is not selling because the price is too high.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, September 2018, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Home sales in Nashville and Davidson County continue to decline as average sales prices level out.
Third quarter 2018 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates leaped this week to their highest levels in seven years amid global anxiety over rising interest rates that has gripped financial markets.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Kaylann Boyd knew she couldn’t hold others accountable if she wasn’t accountable for her own actions. She knew she couldn’t expect to bring out the best in her teammates if she wasn’t working to bring out the best in herself.
NEWSMAKERS
Attorney John E. Quinn, previously a partner at Manier & Herod, has joined Neal & Harwell, PLC, as of counsel.
BRIEFS
The Belonging Co. Church has purchased a 50,000-square-foot property at 201 Great Circle Road in MetroCenter from commercial real estate firm Southeast Venture, which developed the property.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A decade ago, small sedans were the entry point into luxury-car ownership. But because of the increasing popularity of SUVs, automakers are scrambling to create new, stylish SUVs to attract those shoppers.
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — If Republican Marsha Blackburn were to win in November, the congresswoman would become the first female U.S. senator in Tennessee history. And yet women have been slow to embrace her campaign.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper says receiving Taylor Swift's endorsement was like "manna from heaven," calling it "the least expected thing that's ever happened" to him and "one of the great honors" in his life.
TECHNOLOGY
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — In an otherwise innocuous part of Facebook's expansive Silicon Valley campus, a locked door bears a taped-on sign that reads "War Room." Behind the door lies a nerve center the social network has set up to combat fake accounts and bogus news stories ahead of upcoming elections.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ebay filed a lawsuit against Amazon Wednesday, saying the online retail giant used eBay's messaging system to steal its sellers.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen says it is offering more incentives to trade in older diesel models in an effort to improve air quality.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Thursday morning as interest rates resume their upward climb and several industrial companies post disappointing third-quarter results. Interest rates started rising a day ago after the Federal Reserve released minutes showing that a minority of its leaders think interest rates will need to keep rising to a level that slightly restricts economic growth. Slower economic growth would affect stocks because it means smaller corporate profits and less spending by consumers.
BERLIN (AP) — A group of media outlets led by Germany's non-profit Correctiv are reporting traders have manipulated transactions in multiple European countries over years, draining tax coffers of some 55.2 billion euros ($63.5 billion).
BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May said Thursday she is considering a European Union proposal that would keep Britain bound to the bloc's rules for more than two years after it leaves, and idea that angers her pro-Brexit critics in the U.K.
PARIS (AP) — France's finance minister is the latest high-level official or executive to cancel out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia amid questions over the kingdom's involvement in the disappearance of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday criticized Washington's decision to leave the United Nations treaty that regulates international postage, amid a worsening trade dispute between the world's top two economies.
LONDON (AP) — Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark says it will re-brand its "Mansize" tissues after consumers complained the name was sexist.
NATIONAL POLITICS
JERUSALEM (AP) — A new survey indicates an overwhelming majority of American Jews plan to vote for Democratic candidates in the upcoming midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden says President Donald Trump may not "know what he's doing" and coddles dictators.
WASHINGTON (AP) — If it's an "America First" presidency, where does that rank human rights?
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Christian artist Tauren Wells won four awards including new artist and contemporary Christian artist of the year at the 49th annual Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — After 34 years on death row, Tennessee inmate Edmund Zagorski may be running out of options.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge in Nashville has ordered the state to stop suspending the drivers licenses of people who are unable to pay traffic fines and court costs.
TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian government is ready to pardon those with a pot possession record of 30 grams or less after Canada becomes the second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace Wednesday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home construction fell 5.3 percent in September, a sign that recent hurricanes and rising mortgage rates may be weighing on the market.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BEIJING (AP) — Electric auto brand Tesla Inc. said it signed an agreement Wednesday to secure land in Shanghai for its first factory outside the United States, pushing ahead with development despite mounting U.S.-Chinese trade tensions.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix shares jumped 6 percent in early trading after the company reported a big increase in subscribers.
YouTube's video streaming service went out for more than an hour on Tuesday, apparently affecting locations around the world.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — After an early slide, U.S. stocks clawed back much of the ground they lost and ended slightly lower Wednesday. Banks climbed but retailers, homebuilders and smaller companies fell.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials last month debated how high they should raise interest rates to achieve their economic goals, with some arguing that they might need to lift rates to a level that would modestly restrain growth.
BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Wednesday criticized the European Union for moving too slowly in trade talks and warned that President Donald Trump's patience with the Europeans might soon run out.
HELSINKI (AP) — Kremlin critic Bill Browder has asked Nordic authorities to investigate whether up to $175 million of potentially illicit funds have flowed through the region's largest bank, Nordea.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is initiating the process of leaving the Universal Post Union, which sets flat rates for international postage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of federal regulators on Wednesday lifted the strict government oversight imposed on big insurer Prudential Financial Inc. It was the last financial company still carrying the label that subjected it to special restrictions stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.
TORONTO (AP) — Ian Power was among the first to buy legal recreational marijuana in Canada but he has no plans to smoke it. He plans to frame it.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing will have ripple effects on everything from landlords to suppliers to workers.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are converging on Brussels for what had been billed as a "moment of truth" Brexit summit but which now holds little promise for a breakthrough.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the GOP tax plan contributing to rising federal deficits, Democrats are warning that Republicans will seek cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to balance budgets if they keep control of Congress in the November election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dubbing it the "nickel plan," President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he's asking every Cabinet secretary to cut their next-year's budgets by 5 percent.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran says the latest round of U.S. sanctions is an "insult" to the international order that stems from "blind hostility."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stepping up his attacks on the Federal Reserve, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that the Fed is "my biggest threat" because he thinks it's raising interest rates too quickly.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing the prospect of bruising electoral defeat in congressional elections, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won't accept the blame if his party loses control of the House in November, arguing his campaigning and endorsements have helped Republican candidates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump put a big and risky bet on Saudi Arabia and its 33-year-old crown prince. It's now become much riskier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — They're asking pastors to text their congregants about the importance of voting. They're connecting with thousands of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria. And they're relying on groups like the NAACP, which has tripled its spending from 2016 to energize black voters.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen is backing a plan for the federal government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Candidate campaigns and outside interest groups have spent more than $51 million combined so far in Tennessee's contentious, open contest for U.S. Senate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A pastor who's an adviser to Tennessee GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee says the Bible requires victims of sexual misconduct and other offenses to have at least two or three witnesses.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — School officials in a Tennessee county gave high school students T-shirts promoting a Republican state lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct during a recent field trip to the state Capitol.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — A state panel has nixed a proposal that would have transferred Valparaiso University's law school to Middle Tennessee State University.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Ryan Johansen and the Nashville Predators are off to a solid start this season.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans made a coaching change after winning their first playoff game in 14 years to rev up Marcus Mariota and the offense.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German law enforcement authorities added another chapter to Volkswagen's diesel scandal Tuesday by fining the company's luxury division Audi 800 million euros ($925 million) for selling cars rigged to cheat on emissions tests.
HEALTH CARE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — UnitedHealth reported better-than-expected profits and revenue for the third quarter and the company raised its outlook yet again on strong trends in the insurance business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's second-largest health insurer has agreed to pay the government a record $16 million to settle potential privacy violations in the biggest known health care hack in U.S. history, officials said Monday.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — If Instagram is the dream vacation you'll never go on and Facebook is Thanksgiving with too many relatives arguing over politics, Pinterest is sitting on the couch by yourself, watching a home-improvement show and absent-mindedly flipping through an old issue of Gourmet magazine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rocketed to their biggest gain in six months Tuesday following strong earnings from major financial and health care companies as well as encouraging reports on the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 547 points.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is criticizing the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates too quickly.
DALLAS (AP) — Saudi Arabia's status as the biggest oil exporter gives it the power to jolt the global economy — if it wants.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted the most jobs in two decades in August, and hiring also reached a record high, fresh evidence that companies are desperate to staff up amid solid economic growth.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Walmart trimmed its profit outlook citing this year's $16 billion acquisition of the Indian online retailer Flipkart, its biggest deal ever.
NEW YORK (AP) — Uber may put forth an initial public offering early next year that values the ride-hailing business at as much as $120 billion, according to a media report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industry expanded again in September despite the impact of Hurricane Florence.
SEATTLE (AP) — Personal computers, conservation, pro football, rock n' roll and rocket ships: Paul G. Allen couldn't have asked for a better way to spend, invest and donate the billions he reaped from co-founding Microsoft with childhood friend Bill Gates.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Which came first, the chicken or the trade war?
LONDON (AP) — Facebook says that anyone who takes out a British political ad on the social media platform will now be forced to reveal their identity, in a bid to increase transparency and curb misinformation.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Before he cut the $100,000 checks, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti brought the Democratic Party chairmen from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada backstage to meet late night television host Jimmy Kimmel and superstar hip-hop producer DJ Khaled.
Democrats lead Republicans in the money race in many of the key Senate and House campaigns three weeks ahead of midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15
STATEWIDE
MILLINGTON (AP) — Police in Tennessee say one man has been killed and another has been wounded in a shooting at a naval base.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum is opening this week in Kentucky.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Titans coach Mike Vrabel says linebacker Derrick Morgan probably will miss "a few weeks" after hurting a shoulder against the Baltimore Ravens, though left guard Quinton Spain is day to day after hurting his right shoulder.
NASHVILLE (AP) — First-year head coach Mike Vrabel knows exactly what the Titans didn't do in being shut out on its own field for the first time since this franchise moved to Tennessee way back in 1997.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens swarmed around their new defensive coordinator, Don "Wink" Martindale, celebrating after a game that will go down in the record books.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt says outside linebacker Jonathan Kongbo has a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the remainder of the season.
COURTS
GREENEVILLE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say seven companies and four men are charged in a $1 billion telemedicine fraud scheme that deceived tens of thousands of patients and more than 100 doctors.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's attorney general has joined several dozen other states to ask the federal government to take action on illegal robocalls.
ENVIRONMENT
Global warming to leave us crying in our costlier beer
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Low-income people in states that haven't expanded Medicaid are much more likely to forgo needed medical care than the poor in other states, according to a government report due out Monday amid election debates from Georgia to Utah over coverage for the needy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — After a wobbly day of trading, U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days Monday as technology companies continued to slide. Industrial and high-dividend companies rose, and the market's losses were limited relative to the steep losses it suffered last week.
Before there was Amazon — or, for that matter, Home Depot or Walmart or Kmart — there was Sears.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal budget deficit has surged to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, its highest level in six years as President Donald Trump's tax cuts caused the government to borrow more heavily in order to cover its spending.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer spending edged up a slight 0.1 percent in September, a disappointing performance in which rebounding auto sales were offset by weakness in other areas.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America said Monday that its third-quarter profits rose by 32 percent from a year ago, as higher interest rates allowed BofA to charge more for loans, and lower corporate tax rates helped it save hundreds of millions on taxes.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, with plans to shutter 142 unprofitable stores in the hopes that it can stay in business.
NATIONAL POLITICS
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration is considering using West Coast military bases or other federal properties as transit points for shipments of U.S. coal and natural gas to Asia as officials seek to bolster the domestic energy industry and circumvent environmental opposition to fossil fuel exports, according to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and two Republican lawmakers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is brushing aside threats by Saudi Arabia that it may economically retaliate for any U.S. punitive action imposed over the suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pledging a "swift, open, transparent investigation" into his disappearance.
NEW YORK (AP) — Republicans have begun to concede defeat in the evolving fight to preserve the House majority.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is backing off his claim that climate change is a hoax but says he doesn't know if it's manmade and suggests that the climate will "change back again."
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12
NASHVILLE AREA
FedEx expects to add more than 55,000 seasonal positions throughout its networks to help deliver the holidays this year, including more than 4,300 people at the FedEx Ground facility in the Nashville area.
PREDATORS
NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL is criticizing an arbitrator's decision to reduce the suspension of Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson, who pleaded no contest in July to a domestic assault charge.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Despite their power play struggles, the Predators found a way to take down their Central Division rival.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country icon Loretta Lynn doesn't mince words when it comes to CMT's decision to honor all-female artists, including Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and more, at its annual Artists of the Year show, where Lynn will be recognized as an artist of a lifetime.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The majority leader of the Tennessee Senate has been confirmed as a federal judge by the U.S. Senate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected two last-ditch efforts to save the life of Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski, apparently clearing the way for his execution despite a delay caused by legal wrangling.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the state of Tennessee not to proceed with plans to execute Edmund Zagorski by lethal injection after it refused his request to die in the electric chair.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Legal challenges continue to surround a Tennessee death row inmate whose execution has been temporarily halted.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare says its "Part B" premium for outpatient care will rise by just $1.50 a month next year. That means retirees should be able to keep more of their recently-announced Social Security cost-of-living increase.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says hackers accessed a wide swath of information — ranging from emails and phone numbers to more personal details like sites visited and places checked into — from millions of accounts as part of a security breach the company disclosed two weeks ago.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it has purged more than 800 U.S. pages and accounts for spamming users with garbage links and clickbait.
NEW YORK (AP) — As Walmart, AT&T and Disney join stalwarts such as Netflix in streaming video and creating original shows, a reality sets in: Not all will survive.
AUTO INDUSTRY
If Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to return as chairman, shareholders will have to vote on it.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker BMW is taking a majority stake in its China joint venture and investing 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in factories there, underscoring the importance of the Chinese market as the company prepares to meet increased demand for electric vehicles.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rebounded Friday, clawing back some of the week's steep losses, but the turbulent trading of the last few days left no doubt that the relative calm the markets enjoyed all summer had been shattered.
Woah, what was that? After months of relative calm, Wall Street has been jolted by a sudden run of turbulent trading.
BEIJING (AP) — China's trade surplus with the United States widened to a record $34.1 billion in September as exports to the American market rose by 13 percent over a year earlier despite a worsening tariff war.
NEW YORK (AP) — When Toys R Us closed its doors, customers mourned the loss of a beloved brand that conjured memories of their own childhood.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday escalated his attack on the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases, asserting that "the Fed is out of control" and blaming it for this week's plunge in stock prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices edged up a slight 0.1 percent in September as energy prices retreated after a big gain in August.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of millions of Social Security recipients and other retirees will get a 2.8 percent increase in benefits next year as inflation edges higher. For the average retired worker, it amounts to $39 a month.
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) — The heads of the World Bank and IMF appealed Thursday to the U.S. and China to cool their dispute over technology policy and play by world trade rules, as tumbling share prices drove home potential perils from a clash between the world's two biggest economies.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sword dancers. Gleaming palaces. Military jets streaming red, white and blue trails.
LONDON (AP) — Global business leaders are reassessing their ties with Saudi Arabia, stoking pressure on the Gulf kingdom to explain what happened to a dissident writer who disappeared after visiting its consulate in Istanbul.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It's one of President Donald Trump's favorite talking points in promoting his administration's success: the record low rate of black unemployment. But on a recent sunny afternoon in Vernon Park in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood, that victory seemed hollow.
WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump says she could be "the most bullied person" in the world, judging by "what people are saying about me."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump defended continuing huge sales of U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia on Thursday despite rising pressure from lawmakers to punish the kingdom over the disappearance of a Saudi journalist who lived in the United States and is now feared dead.
LONDON (AP) — The uncertainty over Brexit that's hobbling the British economy is set to go on for longer than expected, leaving companies and households in a limbo.