VOL. 40 | NO. 46 | Friday, November 11, 2016
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Tennessee is lagging much of the nation when it comes to the ability to remove scoundrels from public office.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Many observers to this year’s election process have noted that the respective, not to be confused with respectable, campaigns have “brought out the worst in everyone.”
REAL ESTATE
October 2016 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Wilson counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for a second straight week.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
On that day in December 2012 when Butch Jones was introduced as Tennessee’s head football coach, he told Vol Nation that he had a template for fixing everything. He said: “The plan is infallible if the players buy in.” No, it’s not.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
So exactly what do the Tennessee Titans have in Marcus Mariota? Mariota’s performance in Sunday’s 43-35 loss to the San Diego Chargers was in some ways a microcosm of his efforts to date with the Titans.
Mr. Rodgers neighborhood? Aaron Rodgers has called out his teammates for their play. You can bet they will want to take out their frustrations on the Titans, who were torched in San Diego in the air and on the ground. It will take a much better effort than that to corral the Packers offense.
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
Be happy, Tennessee football fans. November is here, and the Vols (6-3, 2-3 SEC) still have a chance to win the East Division.
NEWSMAKERS
MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business has again honored a group of business people with awards in recognition of their contribution to business and industry.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Volvo has replaced its stodgy S80 sedan with the sleek, elegant and quiet S90, which has industry-first safety features designed to reduce or mitigate collisions with deer and other large animals.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
We’re so knee deep in the digital age that the phrase “digital marketing” is now synonymous with “marketing.”
CAREER CORNER
There are few groups I have more respect for than our U.S. Military. These honorable men and women are on the front lines of our country each day. And they spend many of their most employable years in service.
I SWEAR
“Snakes, since the beginning of time, have accumulated a bad public image.” Thus begins Pete Ivey’s column, “Around the Old Well,” written in June 1975 for North Carolina newspapers. The title and subtitle go straight to the meat of the matter: “A Snake’s Not Evil – Snakes Need P/R Campaign to Improve Image.”
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — House Speaker Beth Harwell is facing a challenge from fellow Republican Rep. Jimmy Matlock as she seeks another term in charge of the lower chamber of the Tennessee General Assembly.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Warner Music Group could receive between $1 million and $2 million in incentives for its Nashville expansion, based on job creation.
AUTO INDUSTRY
America's shift from cars to SUVs is starting to look permanent, and automakers are scrambling to meet the demand.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S.stocks are mostly higher Thursday morning as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen emphasizes that the Fed plans to raise interest rates, which is sending bond yields higher and giving banks a boost. Companies that make and sell food and household goods are lagging the market after Wal-Mart and Smucker announced disappointing sales.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rising energy costs pushed consumer prices higher in October, but overall inflation remains tame.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Builders broke ground on the most new homes in nine years last month, a response to strong demand that should lift the economy.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Donald Trump will be on the minds of world leaders as they gather for an Asia-Pacific trade summit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sketched a picture Thursday of an improving U.S. economy and said "the case for an increase" in interest rates has strengthened. The Fed is widely expected to raise rates when it meets in mid-December.
Average US 30-year mortgage rate jumps to 3.94 percent
NEW YORK (AP) — Wells Fargo says customers are significantly pulling back from doing business with the bank, a reverberation of the sales practices scandal that drew a huge fine in September.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican state Sen. Randy McNally, a long time champion of ethics and transparency, is poised to become the next speaker of the Tennessee Senate.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tax collections for Tennessee's general fund have beaten expectations by $184 million through the first quarter of the budget year.
REGION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Starting campfires, lighting fireworks and smoking cigarettes are among the outdoor activities being banned across the South as fires burn in forests stressed by drought.
REAL ESTATE
U.S. homebuilders' confidence held steady this month, though their expectations for sales into next year dimmed slightly.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Work has been suspended at a site outside Las Vegas where Nevada has pledged up to $335 million worth of incentives to an upstart electric car company that promises to have a vehicle still on the drawing board rolling off a new $1 billion assembly line in 2018.
HEALTH CARE
This might be the ultimate do-it-yourself project: Doctors are testing a device that would let women do part of their own breast reconstruction at home.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has suspended the accounts of several prominent members of the so-called "alt-right" in an apparent crack down on accounts tied to hate speech or threats of violence.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is under fire for failing to rein in fake and biased news stories that some believe may have swayed the presidential election. Its predicament stems from this basic conundrum: It exercises great control over the news its users see, but it declines to assume the editorial responsibility that traditional publishers do.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank stocks are pulling market indexes mostly lower on Wall Street as a weeklong surge in the financial sector peters out.
DALLAS (AP) — A vast field of shale rock in West Texas could yield 20 billion barrels of oil, making it the largest source of shale oil the U.S. Geological Survey has ever assessed, agency officials said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. producer prices were unchanged in October as the price of services fell, another sign that U.S. inflation remains modest.
Target breezed past Wall Street expectations for the third quarter and with the crucial holiday season fast approaching, it upped its key sales outlook for the critical period as well.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's name is being stripped off three luxury apartment buildings after hundreds of tenants signed a petition saying they were embarrassed to live in a place associated with the Republican president-elect.
NATIONAL POLITICS
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says an "overwhelming majority" of Americans know that climate change is happening and want the U.S. to honor its commitments under the Paris climate agreement.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15
REGION
NASHVILLE (AP) - As drought-stressed forests burn across much of the South - including a blaze scorching a Manhattan-sized area of north Georgia - some traditional outdoor activities are now banned.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee health officials say the state hit a record in drug overdose deaths in 2015.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Firearms Association on Tuesday denounced Tennessee's first female House speaker as the "pink elephant in the room," saying Republican Beth Harwell is not aggressive enough on gun rights and should be replaced as the chamber's leader.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A dispute about gas prices led a Tennessee lawmaker to call the police.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — A jailed Tennessee sheriff faces suspension without pay while he awaits word whether he'll lose his job amid allegations he profited from the sale of electronic cigarettes to inmates.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter, long criticized as a hotbed for online harassment, is expanding ways to curb the amount of abuse users see and making it easier to report such conduct.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields says the presidential election won't change the company's plans to move small car production to Mexico.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ride-hailing service Lyft, the underdog rival to Uber, is getting rid of its iconic pink moustache logo and replacing it with something more useful — beacons.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Self-driving cars soon will hit the road in South Korea as the country seeks to overtake other nations that have sped ahead with automated driving technology.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country singer Holly Dunn, a San Antonio native who had a hit in 1986 with "Daddy's Hands," about her minister father, has died. She was 59.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed Tuesday as the price of oil made its biggest jump in seven months and energy companies rose with it. Technology stocks like Microsoft and Google's parent Alphabet traded higher and bond yields slipped, a break with the pattern since last week's election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers ramped up their spending last month in a sign of robust health heading into the crucial holiday shopping season.
ATLANTA (AP) — Home Depot, with unemployment falling, mortgage rates near historic lows and wages and home prices rising, upped its outlook for the year as sales surged in the third quarter and customers spent more with each visit.
LONDON (AP) — Solid growth in countries at the heart of Europe's debt crisis over the past few years, such as Greece and Spain, wasn't enough to make up for a slowdown in Germany in the third quarter as the 19-country eurozone stumbled to another period of muted growth.
DALLAS (AP) — The slowly improving economy could boost travel over the Thanksgiving holiday to levels not seen in nine years.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Thousands of property owners may have to purchase flood insurance for the first time as new flood maps go into effect next year in Davidson County.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's largest state office building will reopen Tuesday after being closed because of a power outage.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Democrat Bill Freeman, who came in third in Nashville's mayor's race despite spending $3.5 million of his own money, says the state party should replace Chair Mary Mancini following last week's election results.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Sen. Mark Green is launching a 60-day tour as the Clarksville Republican considers a bid for statewide office in Tennessee.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court has adopted plain-language forms and instructions that couples with children can use for uncontested divorces.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Leon Russell, who performed, sang and produced some of rock 'n' roll's top records, has died. He was 74.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — New hybrid and electric cars are required to make noise when traveling at low speeds so that pedestrians, especially those who are blind or have poor eyesight, will hear them coming, under a new rule released Monday by the Obama administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Toyota will pay up to $3.4 billion to settle a class action lawsuit brought by U.S. pickup truck and SUV owners whose vehicles lacked adequate rust protection.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks came back from an early loss and finished almost unchanged Monday. Technology companies like Apple and Microsoft took big losses on fears about their overseas revenue, but bank stocks continued to surge along with bond yields.
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Global temperatures are soaring toward a record high this year, the U.N. weather agency said Monday, while another report showed emissions of a key global warming gas have flattened out in the past three years.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics said Monday it has agreed to acquire auto-systems maker Harman for $8 billion as the South Korean giant eyes the growing market for connected cars.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - An audit of a state venture capital program called TNInvestco has found that Tennessee has recovered only $5 million of its $200 million investment.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The head of the United Auto Workers union says about 2,000 General Motors factory workers who face layoff in January could be placed at other company factories.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's election ushers in a time of high anxiety for people with health insurance under President Barack Obama's law, which expanded coverage to millions but has struggled to find widespread public acceptance.
TECHNOLOGY
TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo Co. is ending sales in Japan of its Wii U home console "soon," although it's not saying exactly when, and similar announcements are expected in other regions.
MOSCOW (AP) — Business-focused social network LinkedIn faces being blocked in Russia after a court ruled it broke a law on data storage.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing mostly higher on Wall Street as a post-election rally loses steam.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump inherits a much sturdier economy than the one Barack Obama carried into his second term four years ago. Back then, the scars of the Great Recession were still fresh. Joblessness was near 8 percent. Pay was flat. Europe faced a grave debt crisis that threatened to spread across the Atlantic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is boosting the development of solar and wind energy on public lands.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans sought unemployment aid last week, the latest sign that companies are holding onto their workers.
BEIJING (AP) — Donald Trump is a mixed blessing for Chinese leaders.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's is raising its sales outlook for the year after it saw an improvement in its business in the third quarter, a trend that it expects to continue.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has vowed to rebuild the nation's roads, bridges, airports and railways, but the path to delivering on that promise is full of potholes. When President Barack Obama tried to do it, a Republican Congress fought him at almost every turn, and Trump would have to contend with his party's deep-seated dislike for government spending and higher taxes to meet the $1 trillion tab for his proposals.
MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian diplomat and Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Thursday that Russian experts were in contact with some members of President-elect Donald Trump's staff during the presidential campaign, a period in which the United States accused Russia of hacking into Democratic Party emails systems.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Senate's top Republican said Friday he asked President-elect Donald Trump to move swiftly in approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which has drawn strong opposition from environmentalists.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since 1973 last week, evidence that businesses are confident enough in the economy to hold onto their workers.