VOL. 42 | NO. 40 | Friday, October 5, 2018
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Randy Boyd probably knows the age-old sermon about reaping what you sow. But after a highly successful business career in which he made millions selling electric fences – enough money to throw away millions in a failed gubernatorial bid – he must have forgotten that timeless teaching from the Bible.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Decorated for various meritorious actions in at least two wars, the retired Air Force pilot who relishes jet-skiing with his “grand-doggy,” looks through his office blinds and points out a steady stream of heaped-high dump trucks rolling across his horizon and descending into a monstrous hole.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Vrabel’s 3-1 team ready to do ‘whatever it takes’
Tough times don’t build character, the old saying goes, they reveal it.
1. Getting the run game going. That’s about the only aspect of the team that has yet to make a big contribution to a win. Other than the wildcat runs in Jacksonville, Derrick Henry has not been a major factor for the Titans. The Titans proved against the Eagles that the pass game is legitimate, so that should loosen things up for the run game.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Sunday night, CBS joined the recent Paul McCartney circus featuring Sir Paul in a “60 Minutes” segment. This follows his Jimmy Fallon elevator sketch. All of which was spawned by the Late Late Show’s James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” feature that has more than 150 million views.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged slightly lower this week, taking a pause after five straight weeks of increases.
NEWSMAKERS
Clayton Byrd, executive director of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, will leave the ABC to join Adams and Reese as special counsel, beginning Oct. 15. Byrd will head the firm’s Tennessee alcoholic beverage practice and serve as part of the firm’s Tennessee Government Relations team.
BRIEFS
Southern Business & Development magazine recently recognized Stites & Harbison, PLLC in “The Best Economic Development Law Firms in the South,” a directory produced every six years. The firm was among 24 honored on the list.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Although electric vehicles account for just a fraction of overall car sales, they are slowly gaining favor with buyers, particularly as second cars for daily commuting.
CAREER CORNER
Dear hiring manager, You’re amazing. You’re the gatekeeper to new jobs and the person who will later help us to get a promotion that will help our careers. But, we have to talk.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
You’ve been thinking about it for weeks. That idea you’ve got in your head won’t let you go. It’s too intriguing: it solves a problem, helps people and could be a money-maker. So what next?
ELECTION 2018
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn repeatedly attempted to tie her Democratic opponent Phil Bredesen to national Democrats in their second and final debate on Wednesday, while the former Tennessee governor deflected the attacks by once again promising to improve bipartisanship in Congress.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal appeals court has temporarily halted the execution of Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski to allow time for consideration of arguments that he had poor legal representation during his trial and sentencing.
AUTO INDUSTRY
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) — U.S. stocks are slightly higher in unsteady trading one day after their biggest drop since February. A report indicating that inflation remains limited seemed to calm U.S. investors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of millions of Social Security beneficiaries and other retirees can expect an increase in benefits next year as inflation edges higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices edged up a slight 0.1 percent in September as energy prices retreated after a big gain in August.
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.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Technology and internet stocks have led the way for much of Wall Street's bull market run, propelling the stocks of big names like Apple, Amazon and Google's parent company sharply higher along the way.
BERLIN (AP) — The German government has cut its forecast for the country's economic growth this year to 1.8 percent from 2.3 percent, in part because of rising global trade tensions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is seeking to increase the price of its first-class stamp by 5 cents to 55 cents to help stem its mounting red ink.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the U.S. is looking into the fate of a Saudi writer missing and feared murdered but expressed reservations over calls to withhold further U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, warning that such a move "would be hurting us."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump took a big step into the debate over the future of America's health care system with an op-ed column in USA Today that presented a bleak vision of what would happen under plans backed by many Democrats to institute government insurance for everyone.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10
MUSIC INDUSTRY
Taylor Swift kicked off her week with a rare political post on social media, and at the American Music Awards she continued the conversation by encouraging fans to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
ELECTION 2018
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and Democratic ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen are set to clash in their second — and likely last — U.S. Senate race debate this year in Tennessee.
ATLANTA (AP) — A new poll finds that a strong majority of Americans have concerns that the nation's voting systems might be vulnerable to hackers in the upcoming midterm elections.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Democrat gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean said Tuesday he would happily sign Medicaid expansion into law in Tennessee, while his opponent Republican Bill Lee countered he would oppose such efforts.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt has added Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Mickie DeMoss to its staff as director of offensive analytics.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mike Smith and Calgary's defenders were plenty busy in Smith's 37th career shutout.
COURTS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco judge said in a tentative ruling Wednesday that she would order a new trial in a $289 million judgment against agribusiness giant Monsanto brought by a school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed-killer caused his cancer.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A letter from an attorney for Tennessee's prisons says the state is refusing a death row inmate's request to die by electrocution because his request came too late and because the affidavit he signed was altered.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state of Tennessee has denied the request by Tennessee inmate Edmund Zagorski to die in the electric chair, his attorney says, and plans to proceed with plans to execute him Thursday by lethal injection.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed into law two bills that would allow pharmacists to tell consumers when paying cash would be cheaper than using insurance for their prescriptions.
NEW YORK (AP) — The proposed $69 billion merger between CVS Health and Aetna is getting a greenlight from the Department of Justice, with some conditions.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google will begin offering its pay-to-carpool service throughout the U.S., an effort to reduce the commute-time congestion that its popular Waze navigation app is designed to avoid.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Union officials are working on tougher car emissions standards aimed at fighting global warming — but which the auto industry cautions could hurt workers and consumers.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T and WarnerMedia are joining the ever-expanding list of companies offering a streaming video service.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks plunged to their worst loss in eight months on Wednesday as technology companies continued to drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 831 points.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Across the country, America's retailers and shipping companies are looking happily forward to a robust holiday shopping season. There's just one concern: Who will stock the shelves, pack the orders and ring up customers?
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon, facing a backlash from longtime warehouse employees who say its $15 hourly minimum wage wouldn't benefit them, will now provide a bigger raise to those workers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department issued new rules Wednesday on foreign investments into American companies that will give the government more power to block foreign transactions on national security grounds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose a mild 0.2 percent last month, held down by lower food and energy costs, suggesting that inflation remains in check despite the economy's robust growth.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's Brexit negotiator said Wednesday that an agreement on Britain's exit "is within reach" if negotiations make progress ahead of a summit next week.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Google is appealing a record $5 billion antitrust fine by European Union authorities, who say the tech giant abused the dominance of its Android operating system to stifle competitors.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco jury's $289 million verdict in favor of a school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed killer caused his cancer will face its first court test Wednesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is praising outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, saying her departure announcement "was very elegantly done."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats briefly turned the chamber's subject to health care Wednesday, just four days after lawmakers' nasty war over confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is officially a Democrat again.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Chants of "Lock her up!" rang once again throughout an Iowa arena as President Donald Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — The deadline is here to register to vote in Tennessee in the November election.
KINGSPORT (AP) — Democrat Karl Dean and Republican Bill Lee are scheduled to face off in their second debate for Tennessee's open gubernatorial race.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Former Tennessee defensive lineman Ryan Thaxton has pleaded guilty to a count of false imprisonment but can have the charge dismissed if he fulfills the terms of his judicial diversion agreement.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Denver Broncos linebacker Alexander Johnson has pleaded guilty to simple possession and failure to exercise due care while driving and had a DUI charge against him dismissed.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Forestry officials are reminding Tennessee residents about burn permit rules ahead of the official start of the state's wildfire season.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee inmate set to be executed this week is asking the state to die by electric chair over lethal injection, calling the move the "lesser of two evils."
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Forget "Obamacare." President Donald Trump has found a new target when it comes to ideas from the Democrats for the nation's health care system.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Google's new Pixel phones mirror an industry trend toward lusher, bigger screens and add twists on the camera for better pictures.
TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese online retail tycoon who plans to travel to the moon on the SpaceX rocket says he respects and trusts Elon Musk as a fellow entrepreneur, despite his recent troubles.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes ended Tuesday nearly where they began, as interest rates let off the accelerator following their sharp rise last week. But the modest moves for indexes masked some roiling underneath.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — One of the oldest coal companies in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday to deal with more than $1.4 billion in debt amid declining demand for the fuel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is downgrading its outlook for the world economy, citing rising interest rates and growing tensions over trade.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is resigning, she and President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, blindsiding many administration officials and stirring speculation in the White House and beyond about the timing and reasons for the latest Trump shake-up just weeks before the November midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Notable firings and resignations from President Donald Trump's White House since he took office on Jan. 20, 2017.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A push to give the Justice Department more enforcement authority over the lucrative and at times shadowy world of foreign lobbying is stalled amid opposition from pro-business groups, nonprofits and privacy advocates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving to allow year-round sales of gasoline with higher blends of ethanol, a boon for Iowa and other farm states that have pushed for greater sales of the corn-based fuel.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 8
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — Music superstar Taylor Swift announced Sunday she's voting for Tennessee's Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, breaking her long-standing refusal to discuss anything politics.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he likes superstar Taylor Swift's music "about 25 percent less now" that she's endorsed two Democratic candidates in Tennessee.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court on Monday ruled the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol is constitutional, paving the way for the execution of Edmund Zagorski on Thursday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court has begun a program to make videos of oral arguments in Nashville available to the public.
TENNESSEE TITANS
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — So much for the Tennessee Titans vowing not to take the Buffalo Bills for granted.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee safety Trevon Flowers has a broken collarbone that will sideline him for the next few weeks, hindering the depth of the Volunteers' young secondary as they deal with the toughest portion of their schedule.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Senior forward Mack Mercer has left Belmont's team for health reasons.
ENVIRONMENT
Advocates of taxing fossil fuels believe their position is stronger now because of an alarming new report on climate change and a Nobel Prize awarded to by two American economists, but neither development is likely to break down political resistance to a carbon tax.
EMIGRANT, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke approved a 20-year ban on new mining claims in the towering mountains north of Yellowstone National Park on Monday, after two proposed gold mines raised concerns that an area drawing tourists from the around the globe could be spoiled.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two Americans won the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday, one for studying the economics of climate change and the other for showing how to help foster the innovation needed to solve such a problem.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is shutting down its underwhelming Plus social network for regular users, following its disclosure of a flaw discovered in March that exposed personal information of up to 500,000 people.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes found their footing after a sharp early loss Monday and finished mixed. Technology companies sank for the third day in a row.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Netflix has chosen New Mexico as the site of a new U.S. production hub and is in final negotiations to buy an existing multimillion-dollar studio complex on the edge of the state's largest city, government and corporate leaders announced Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — The IRS is making it simpler for business owners to deduct the cost of meals with customers and clients.
NEW YORK (AP) — Close to one in five Americans who's 65 or older is still working, the highest percentage in more than half a century. And the one who's still working may be better off.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has spiked 7 cents a gallon over the past two weeks, costing $2.97.
NATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's former communications chief Hope Hicks has been hired as communications director at the newly revamped Fox company.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate's majority leader, insisting his chamber won't be irreparably damaged by the bitter fight over new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, is signaling he's willing to take up another high court nomination in the 2020 presidential election season should another vacancy arise.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing pivotal November elections, President Donald Trump is misrepresenting the history of African-American voting and exaggerating his influence in boosting income and controlling prescription drug prices.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt has selected consulting firm Korn Ferry to assist in its search for a new athletic director to replace the retiring David Williams II.
PREDATORS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Nashville Predators liked the way a lot of things went in their season opener, especially since they came away with a win.
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen announced Friday that he would support Brett Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court, a key choice in a tight Tennessee race that he says became a "much closer call" after the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in high school came forward.
NASHVILLE (AP) — As more attention is focused on Tennessee's increasingly competitive Senate race, a flood of attack ads continues to hit people's screens.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A ribbon-cutting is scheduled for the opening of the new Tennessee State Museum building in Nashville.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations says it's helping protect the innocent by not turning over documents to the public, a policy that's raised some eyebrows among state lawmakers and open government advocates.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett says the public should be aware of misleading voter registration information as the deadline to register for the November general election nears.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam says he won't intervene in next week's scheduled lethal injection of a Tennessee inmate sentenced in 1984 in the slayings of two men during a drug deal.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Two more former employees of truck stop chain Pilot Flying J have been sentenced in connection with a rebate scam.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam said Thursday he is still deciding whether to grant clemency to a Tennessee inmate set to be executed next week.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Supreme Court took up the question Thursday of whether a reporter can be sued for defamation when reporting fairly and accurately on a public proceeding.
MEMPHIS (AP) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into 38 shootings involving police, the agency said Wednesday after officers fatally shot a man in a Memphis suburb.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. says it has issued a recall for 2.43 million hybrid vehicles in Japan and elsewhere for potential problems with stalling.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock and bond prices fell again Friday after the Labor Department said the economy continues to add jobs at a strong pace, and investors worried about a three-day surge in yields.
HOUSTON (AP) — Mattress Firm, Inc., the nation's largest mattress retailer, is filing for bankruptcy protection and plans to close up to 700 stores around the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in September — the lowest level since December 1969 — signaling how the longest streak of hiring on record has put millions of Americans back to work.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Record imports drove the U.S. trade deficit up for the third straight month in August. The deficit in the trade of goods with China and Mexico hit records.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's announcement that it would raise its hourly minimum wage to $15 has been seen as a win for workers. But some longtime employees say they are losing out.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Big real estate developers like Donald Trump have long benefited from a myriad of legal loopholes and breaks that can shrink their tax bills. Their advantages expanded further with the federal tax overhaul that took effect this year.
LONDON (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo faced growing heat Thursday from sponsors over a rape allegation in the United States after Nike and video game maker EA Sports expressed concern about the conduct of the soccer superstar, who has denied the accusations.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The United States government has opened a criminal investigation into the flow of dirty money through the Estonian branch of Denmark's biggest bank, the lender said Thursday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine declared Friday she will vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, all but ensuring that a deeply riven Senate will elevate the conservative jurist to the nation's highest court despite allegations that he sexually assaulted women decades ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is strongly suggesting she will vote no on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at female protesters who have confronted senators over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, labeling them "rude elevator screamers" and "paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest legal organization is reopening its evaluation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh based on his performance during a Senate hearing last week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Senate pushed Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination past a key procedural hurdle Friday, setting up a likely final showdown on Saturday in a spellbinding battle that's seen claims of long-ago sexual assault by the nominee threaten President Donald Trump's effort to tip the court rightward for decades.
WASHINGTON (AP) — "This is what democracy looks like!" protesters shouted outside the Supreme Court, voicing their opposition to Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the high court but somehow speaking for everyone on every side on a day of passion, chaos and consequence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh acknowledged Thursday he "might have been too emotional" when testifying about sexual misconduct allegations as he made a final bid to win over wavering GOP senators on the eve of a crucial vote to advance his confirmation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has wrapped up its background investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but much of what it did remains a mystery, including its decisions about whom to interview.
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says there's nothing new in the FBI's supplemental background investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Republican said Thursday the confidential FBI report on charges that Brett Kavanaugh sexually abused women three decades ago "found no hint of misconduct" by the Supreme Court nominee.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate has been arrested, allegedly with 48 pounds of illegal pot.
NEW YORK (AP) — Though President Donald Trump insists he did nothing wrong on his taxes, experts say he could be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in civil fines if state and federal authorities substantiate a New York Times report that found he and his family cheated the IRS for decades.