VOL. 35 | NO. 42 | Friday, October 21, 2011
GREEN BUSINESS
When it opens in 2012, Urban Green Lab will offer something completely different in Nashville. A cross between a community center and an educational hub for eco-issues, the non-profit is the brainchild of president and co-founder Dan Heller, a native Nashvillian.
REALTY CHECK
This week the National Songwriters Association International inducted five new members into its Hall of Fame – Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, John Bettis, Thom Schuyler and Allen Shamblin. While Brooks and Jackson often record material they have written, many songwriters are not signed to major labels and have their songs recorded by various recording artists.
TERRY McCORMICK
Football, by nature, is a macho game, from the players who play it, to the guys watching on their couches every weekend.
NEWSMAKERS
Daniel Stover, M.D., chief resident on the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is the recipient of this year’s Holt Young Physician Leadership Award presented by the Southern Medical Association.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
The phone rang. You were interrupted but you barely noticed.
I SWEAR
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. – This hamlet of 1,000 residents is said to have 4,000 motel rooms, but I don’t have time to count. There’s a park to be explored.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is imposing a nighttime curfew on the Capitol complex in response to what it calls deteriorating safety conditions surrounding anti-Wall Street protests.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Occupy Nashville protesters said Thursday that they're prepared to be arrested and plan to go into custody peacefully if they are.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee's new voter identification law allows most state and federally issued IDs to be used to vote, including work IDs issued to the faculty and staff of state-run colleges. But the student IDs issued at those same schools are specifically prohibited.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are soaring after European leaders agreed on a deal to slash Greece's debt load and prevent the debt crisis there from engulfing larger countries like Italy. Stronger U.S. economic growth and corporate earnings also drove markets higher.
DETROIT (AP) — Rising sales and higher prices helped push Chrysler Group LLC back into the black in the latest quarter, another sign that the once-troubled company is turning around under its new Italian management.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew modestly over the summer after nearly stalling in the first six months of the year, lifted by stronger consumer spending and greater business investment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell for the third straight month in September after the spring-and-summer peak buying season failed to entice new buyers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy likely grew at a faster pace over the summer after a sluggish first half of the year.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European leaders clinched a deal Thursday they hope will mark a turning point in their two-year debt crisis, agreeing after a night of tense negotiations to have banks take bigger losses on Greece's debts and to boost the region's weapons against the market turmoil.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Procter & Gamble Co.'s net income fell 2 percent in the fiscal first quarter, a sign that the consumer-goods giant is battling higher costs.
NEW YORK (AP) — Colgate-Palmolive says its net income rose 4 percent in the third quarter thanks to higher prices, cost controls and strong sales in emerging markets.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — One out of every five Americans lives in a community that pays a for-profit company to install and operate cameras that record traffic violations. A pro-consumer group says that practice could end up putting profits ahead of safety and accuracy.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — State lawmakers are looking at more than a dozen possible scenarios for the future of lottery scholarships, most of which involve cutting the number of students eligible or how much money they get.
NASHVILLE AREA
MURFREESBORO (AP) - A Murfreesboro man had to pay $8 to get a photo ID in order to be eligible to vote under a new state voting law. The law allows residents over 60 without a photo ID to get one for free.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Songwriters and music industry representatives are meeting in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn to discuss protection of intellectual property rights.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Millions of historical records from the State Library and Archives will be available for genealogy research online under a new agreement with Ancestry.com, an online family history resource.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting far richer over the last three decades while the middle class and poor have seen their after-tax household income only crawl up in comparison, according to a government study.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks pushed higher in afternoon trading Wednesday following reports that China will come to the aid of Europe by buying bonds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes rose in September after four straight monthly declines, largely because builders cut their prices in the face of depressed demand.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies ordered more heavy machinery, computers and other long-lasting manufactured goods in September, a positive sign for the slumping economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday after Boeing Co., Corning Inc. and other companies reported stronger earnings and ahead of a key meeting on Europe's debt crisis.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it earned $1.6 billion in the third quarter, down 2 percent from a year ago. The decline was partly due to a charge for hedging on commodities like copper whose prices fell during the quarter.
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs board member surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday to face criminal charges stemming from a massive hedge fund insider trading case.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former lobbyist who was a rising star under Jack Abramoff's tutelage was sentenced Wednesday to nearly two years in prison for giving public officials meals and event tickets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to shore up support among cash-strapped college graduates and students struggling with rising tuition costs, President Barack Obama is outlining a plan to allow millions of student loan recipients to lower their payments and consolidate their loans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Against a backdrop of thousands of government contractors underpaying their taxes by billions of dollars, Congress decided in 2006 to start withholding 3 percent of the contracted price until taxes owed are paid. It never happened.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As baby boomers look ahead to retirement, they'd prefer a home that is affordable, accessible to medical care and close to family. But an Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll finds that amid a shaky economy, few think it's likely they'll move in retirement.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25
NASHVILLE AREA
ATLANTA (AP) — Megabus, a bus service operating in the U.S. and Canada, has announced that it is adding an Atlanta hub and will run buses from there to 11 cities.
NASHVILLE (AP) — HealthStream Inc., which provides Internet-based educational and training content for health care professionals, said Monday its third-quarter net income rose on greater revenue from both its learning and research businesses.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Nashville hotel has canceled a contract for an anti-Sharia conference, citing business concerns.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Members of the Legislative Black Caucus on Tuesday raised concerns about what they called a lack of input in redistricting discussions in the Republican-controlled General Assembly and said they are preparing for legal action if that doesn't change.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Rep. Curry Todd is postponing a fundraiser originally scheduled to take place one week after his first court appearance on drunken driving and gun charges.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home prices rose in August in half of major cities measured by a private survey, a sign that prices are stabilizing in some hard-hit portions of the country.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans say they feel worse about the economy than they have since the depths of the Great Recession. And it's a bad time for a bad mood because households are starting to make their holiday budgets.
Oil prices jumped to $94 a barrel Tuesday on tightening crude supplies and as investors seemed confident that a plan in Europe to contain the region's debt crisis would be revealed soon.
PARIS (AP) — Stock markets fluctuated on Tuesday as investors cautiously waited for European leaders to unveil a plan to tackle the continent's debt crisis, while corporate earnings were mostly upbeat.
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Chemical maker DuPont says strong demand for its agricultural products helped boost third-quarter net income by 23 percent.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Steel says it earned a profit of $22 million in the third-quarter as most of its steel sold for higher prices. The company lost $51 million in the year-ago quarter.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Republicans have long clamored for government downsizing. They're starting to get it — by default.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24
NASHVILLE AREA
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Cigna Corp. will buy fellow health insurer HealthSpring Inc. in a $3.8 billion deal as it becomes the latest managed-care company to snap up a bigger share of the fast-growing Medicare Advantage market.
Nashville-based law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC has merged with the Houston’s Spain Chambers, marking Baker Donelson's entry into Texas with a major step in the Firm's continuing strategic growth.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The 104th annual meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy begins Monday in Nashville.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A group calling itself the Redneck Party is planning to protest a speech by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam wants a study on state workers' salaries with the intent of keeping state salaries competitive with private industry.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Arts Commission is recognizing the state's professional artists.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix's third-quarter earnings rose 65 percent even though the video subscription service suffered the biggest customer losses in its history.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes are closing at the highest point since the U.S. debt limit showdown in August. A round of corporate takeovers and reports that Europe's bailout fund will be larger than originally thought drove the market higher.
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. is aiming to be the world's No. 1 in green cars, targeting cumulative sales of 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles by 2017 with alliance partner Renault SA of France.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two companies with quirky names, Ubiquiti Networks and Zeltiq Aesthetics, made their public debuts earlier this month with listings on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Each company's stock went up modestly on the first day of trading.
MILAN (AP) — World markets rose Monday as European leaders worked their way toward a long-awaited plan to fight the continent's 2-year-old debt crisis and China and Japan posted strong economic data.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Markets want European leaders to find a convincing way to ease the eurozone debt crisis by the middle of the week.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices on Monday climbed to the highest level in more than a month on signs of economic growth in the U.S. and Asia.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, announced a new holiday price-matching strategy that aims to pull in procrastinators early by giving them a big incentive: a guarantee they'll get the lowest prices no matter when they buy during the season.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to circumvent congressional opposition, President Barack Obama will promote a series of executive branch steps aimed at jumpstarting the economy this week, beginning with new rules to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators on Friday closed two banks in Georgia and one each in Florida and Colorado, raising to 84 the number of U.S. banks that have failed this year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's decision to pull the plug on a financially flawed long-term care insurance plan is likely to worsen a dilemma most middle-class families are totally unprepared for.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's Department of Transportation has hired a new chief environment and planning officer and replaced a green logo introduced by his Democratic predecessor.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are once again proposing legislation that would require drug testing for welfare recipients.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's September unemployment rate of 9.8 percent rose slightly from the previous month.
MURFREESBORO (AP) - Ninety-one-year-old Virginia Lasater says she was unable to obtain a voter ID on Wednesday because she was physically unable to stand in a long line at a driver testing center.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Safety says a 96-year-old Chattanooga woman who was denied a photo identification card has obtained one.
NASHVILLE (AP) — For decades, Jack Daniel's whiskey has celebrated its small Tennessee hometown of Lynchburg with folksy, black-and-white advertisements urging folks to slow down and have a sip.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee is getting more than $16 million to support highway safety.
NASHVILLE AREA
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Tennessee woman has been sentenced in Baton Rouge to 37 months in federal prison after admitting she embezzled over $491,000 in retirement and medical benefits for laborers in Louisiana and four other states.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Two members of Tennessee's congressional delegation on Thursday announced federal legislation aimed at quelling fears among owners of musical instruments and other products made from imported wood that they could face prosecution under a law that has led to raids on Gibson Guitar Corp.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — City National Corp. said Thursday that its third-quarter net income rose 20 percent as revenue increased and it set aside less money for loan losses.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks are rallying after McDonald's and other large corporations reported solid third-quarter earnings.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest private employer, is scaling back health care coverage for future part-time workers while raising premiums for many of its full-time workers, particularly tobacco users.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment rates fell in half of U.S. states last month, a sign that September's pickup in hiring was felt around the country.
U.S. stock index futures are rising after a round of solid corporate earnings reports.
McDonald's net income rises 9 percent
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy appears slightly healthier than many had feared it was a few weeks ago, raising hopes that it can end the year on an upward slope.
NEW YORK (AP) — Only a few months ago, Groupon was the Internet's next great thing. Business media christened it the fastest growing company ever. Copycats proliferated. And investors salivated over the prospect of Groupon going public.
NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co. said Friday that its third-quarter profit rose 18 percent as its lending business continues to rebound.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is reporting that 50 percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor.
NEW YORK (AP) — It will still be several months before Libya can export as much oil as it did before it descended into civil war earlier this year. But the killing of Moammar Gadhafi reduces the chance that violence will get in the way as Libya cranks up production again.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California formally adopted America's most comprehensive so-called "cap-and-trade" system Thursday, an experiment by the world's eighth-largest economy that is designed to provide financial incentives for polluters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was nearly unchanged this week after rising sharply last week.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end.
EXETER, N.H. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is losing her New Hampshire staff.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi expands the growing string of security victories on President Barack Obama's watch and reinforces his own style of dealing with enemies without immersing the United States in war. Even skeptics offered congratulations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is promising to veto Republican-backed legislation that would prevent the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Thursday to approve President Barack Obama's nomination of former utility executive John Bryson to head the Commerce Department, easily overcoming conservatives' objections that his pro-environmental views made him unsuited for the job.