VOL. 47 | NO. 47 | Friday, November 17, 2023
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Realtors are forced to use creative, descriptive language when describing their listings, especially when the market shifts and listings are not selling.
REAL ESTATE
Top Davidson County commercial real estate sales for October 2023, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Only 4 NFL teams have fewer points per game
The Tennessee Titans have achieved the terrible combination of bad and boring. Given now nine consecutive losses away from Nissan Stadium dating back to last season, the Titans have been the unluckiest group taking trips since the castaways on Gilligan’s Island. But at least the castaways provided some form of entertainment each week. The Titans? Next to nothing.
Legendary coach Bill Parcells is credited with saying you are what your record says you are.
The Titans are sinking out of sight in the AFC South and are still woeful on the road, having dropped nine consecutive games away from Nissan Stadium. That task doesn’t appear to get any easier this week in Jacksonville, where the Jaguars are smarting from being pounded at home last week by San Francisco.
UT SPORTS
Perhaps the biggest thing working to the Tennessee football team’s advantage over the next two weekends is location.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Georgia is back atop the rankings that matter most, and the No. 1 Bulldogs can't afford to take their foot off the gas in their final out-of-state road game of the regular season.
NEWSMAKERS
Three attorneys have joined Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, Jennifer McLellan as counsel along with associates William Abramson and Justin Hay.
BRIEFS
Meharry Medical College is advancing its work to eliminate global health inequities by establishing the first School of Global Health in the United States.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Midsize trucks are a viable option for truck shoppers looking for something that’s smaller and less expensive than a full-size truck. But much is happening right now that potential truck buyers will want to know about.
PERSONAL FINANCE
After a spouse dies, the survivor often ends up paying higher taxes on less income – something known by accountants and financial planners as the “widow’s penalty,” because women typically outlive their husbands.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Many frequent travelers carry tales of delayed flights and disappointing hotel rooms. Yet Airbnb “horror stories” are a genre all their own.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored twice and Yakov Trenin got the tiebreaking goal with 21.6 seconds remaining to lift the Nashville Predators to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.
UT SPORTS
HONOLULU (AP) — Dalton Knecht scored 17 points and Josiah-Jordan James and Jonas Aidoo each recorded a double-double to lead No. 7 Tennessee to a 73-56 win over Syracuse on Monday in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The best thing the Tennessee Titans have going for them right now might be their schedule.
COURTS
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down Maryland's handgun licensing law, finding that its requirements, which include submitting fingerprints for a background check and taking a four-hour firearms safety course, are unconstitutionally restrictive.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A New York massage therapist who joined the mob of Trump supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to three months in jail, capping a case in which he skipped court hearings, profanely insulted a prosecutor and berated the judge who punished him.
DENVER (AP) — Both a liberal group that sought to disqualify Donald Trump and the former president himself on Monday night appealed a Colorado judge's ruling that Trump "engaged in insurrection" on Jan. 6, 2021 but can stay on the state's ballot.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that contradicts decades of precedent and could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is resuming construction on a Michigan electric vehicle battery plant that the company postponed two months ago during a strike by the United Auto Workers union.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slumped in October to their slowest pace in more than 13 years as surging mortgage rates and rising prices kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines.
TRAVEL
DALLAS (AP) — Despite inflation and memories of past holiday travel meltdowns, millions of people are expected to hit airports and highways in record numbers over the Thanksgiving break.
MEDIA
Elon Musk's social media company X filed a lawsuit against liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America on Monday, saying it manufactured a report to show advertisers' posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist posts in order to "drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate committee has issued bipartisan subpoenas to the CEOs of Discord, Snap and X, demanding that the heads of the three companies testify at a December hearing on protecting children online.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials concluded earlier this month that inflation was steadily falling and agreed to closely monitor incoming data to ensure that the pace of price increases would continue slowing toward their 2% target, according to the minutes of their meeting released Tuesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's rally ran out of momentum Tuesday, and stocks drifted lower a day after hitting their highest level since the start of August.
SEATTLE (AP) — The founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge that he failed to take steps to prevent money laundering as the company agreed to pay more than $4 billion following an investigation by the U.S. government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Users of Venmo, Cash App and other payment apps will get a tax reprieve this year. The IRS announced Tuesday it will delay implementing new reporting requirements that were to take effect for the upcoming tax filing season.
DETROIT (AP) — Entering contract talks with Detroit's three automakers, Shawn Fain set lofty expectations for what he could gain for his union members — and delivered on many of them. He secured significant pay raises, improved benefits, the right to strike over plant closures and a raft of other concessions.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on Monday portrayed Google as a ruthless bully that resorts to shady tactics to protect a predatory payment system.
OpenAI is bringing in the former head of Twitch as interim CEO just days after the company pushed out its well-known leader Sam Altman, sparking upheaval in the world of artificial intelligence.
Carriers like the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and United Parcel Service have capacity to meet projected demand this holiday season, which is cheery news for shippers and shoppers alike.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has long praised a particular type of foreign leader — men he describes as "tough" and "strong," even if they have chipped away at their countries' democratic norms.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20
TENNESSEE TITANS
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Mike Vrabel understands speculation about his job security.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger Page announced on Monday that he plans to retire in August 2024.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court appeared inclined Monday to reimpose at least some restrictions on Donald Trump's speech in his landmark election subversion case. But the judges wrestled with how to craft a gag order that doesn't infringe on the former president's free speech rights or prevent him from defending himself on the campaign trail.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin 's appeal of his conviction for second-degree murder in the killing of George Floyd.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Kyle Vogt has resigned as CEO of Cruise, General Motors' autonomous vehicle unit, as questions build about the safety of self-driving cars.
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified new contracts with Ford and Stellantis, that along with a similar deal with General Motors will raise pay across the industry, force automakers to absorb higher costs and help reshape the auto business as it shifts away from gasoline-fueled vehicles.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can order more free COVID-19 tests online for home delivery.
ENVIRONMENT
BERLIN (AP) — The German government pledged Monday to invest 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) in African green energy projects until 2030, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying that countries in Africa should benefit more from their wealth of raw materials.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some K-12 public schools are racing to improve protection against the threat of online attacks, but lax cybersecurity means thousands of others are vulnerable to ransomware gangs that can steal confidential data and disrupt operations.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation has reached its lowest point in 2 1/2 years. The unemployment rate has stayed below 4% for the longest stretch since the 1960s. And the U.S. economy has repeatedly defied predictions of a coming recession. Yet according to a raft of polls and surveys, most Americans hold a glum view of the economy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, suggested Monday that the economy appears to be on what he calls the "golden path," another term for what economists call a "soft landing," in which the Fed would curb inflation without causing a deep recession.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street posted solid gains to begin a holiday-shortened week, reaching its highest level in more than three months.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines flight attendants are asking federal officials for the right to go on strike, possibly before the end of the Christmas and New Year's travel rush, but American said there was "no possibility" of a walkout over the holidays.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is refusing to condemn Elon Musk 's post endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, maintaining Sunday that he wasn't familiar with the post despite it prompting major companies to pull advertising from the billionaire's X social media platform.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberty and Bell can spread their wings without fear. The two Thanksgiving turkeys played their part Monday in an annual holiday tradition at the White House: a president sparing them from becoming someone's dinner.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ends nearly every speech by saying he's "never been more optimistic" about the country's direction. But lately he also has begun painting a vision of a catastrophic future for the United States — that is, if Donald Trump returns to the presidency.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three debates for next year's presidential general election are set to be held in college towns in Texas, Virginia and Utah between Sept. 16 and Oct. 9, with the lone vice presidential debate happening in between in Pennsylvania — though it remains to be seen whether the Republican nominee will participate.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans will be moving to a new stadium for the 2027 season, and they're taking the current name with them under a new 20-year naming rights deal with Nissan North America.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — The judge in Donald Trump 's civil fraud case denied his bid for a mistrial Friday, rejecting claims from the former president's lawyers that the proceedings are infected with political bias.
Attorneys for a group of Michigan activists are asking the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a lower court's ruling that would allow former President Donald Trump's name on the state's presidential primary ballot.
NEW YORK (AP) — A gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel after he disparaged a law clerk in his New York civil fraud trial was temporarily lifted Thursday by an appellate judge who raised free speech concerns.
MEDIA
Advertisers are fleeing social media platform X over concerns about their ads showing up next to pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site in general, with billionaire owner Elon Musk inflaming tensions with his own tweets endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Members of the United Auto Workers union were close to approving contract agreements with Stellantis and Ford on Friday with voting at both companies overwhelmingly in favor and only a few factories yet to cast ballots.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Automaker Tesla did not infringe on its workers' rights to unionize when it ordered employees at a California assembly plant to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the United Auto Workers logo, a federal appeals court has ruled.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An all-new Subaru Forester, a Lucid electric SUV, and a revamped Toyota Camry are among the new automobiles that will be on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show starting this week.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs in the unit that handles its popular voice assistant Alexa as it plows more resources into artificial intelligence.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden and other global leaders have spent the past few days melding minds with Silicon Valley titans in San Francisco, their discussions frequently focusing on artificial intelligence, a technology expected to reshape the world, for better or worse.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's third straight winning week came to a quiet close Friday, as stocks tacked a whisper more onto their sizzling gains for November so far.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The board of ChatGPT-maker Open AI said Friday it has pushed out its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman after a review found he was "not consistently candid in his communications" with the board.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' board appointees are seeking communications between Disney and local media, as well as documents related to the company's position on Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, as part of a state court fight over control of the district that governs Walt Disney World.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is firing back on a recent slate of subpoenas issued by House Republicans targeting members of President Joe Biden's family and his inner circle of aides, describing the GOP's impeachment push as an illegitimate endeavor that has repeatedly failed to produce proof of wrongdoing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Ethics Committee announced Friday he has filed a resolution to force a vote on expelling Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., from Congress, one day after the committee issued a withering report detailing substantial evidence that Santos converted campaign donations for his own personal use.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States and the Philippines have signed a nuclear cooperation pact under which U.S. investment and technologies are to help the Southeast Asian nation transition to cleaner energy and bolster its power supply.
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Democrats this year have insisted the party is united and ready to rally around President Joe Biden heading into next year's election. But a protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters signals growing tension within the coalition that has propelled Democrats to victory in recent elections.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Will Levis has always wanted to be in the driver's seat, and the rookie quarterback certainly has the starting job now with the Tennessee Titans.
REGION
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Major League Baseball will play its 2025 All-Star Game in Atlanta, four years after moving the event from Truist Park to Denver's Coors Field over objections to changes in Georgia's voting rights laws.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Thursday it will not allow Florida to enforce its new law targeting drag shows, while a court case proceeds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to assaulting Democratic Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota in the elevator of her Washington apartment was sentenced to more than two years behind bars Thursday.
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Wednesday heard closing arguments on whether former President Donald Trump is barred from the ballot by a provision of the U.S. Constitution that forbids those who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Indian company that recently recalled eyedrops sold in the U.S. had a host of sanitation and manufacturing problems, including barefoot workers, cracked floors and altered records, U.S. health inspectors found.
NEW YORK (AP) — RSV infections are rising sharply in some parts of the country, nearly filling hospital emergency departments in Georgia, Texas and some other states.
The U.S. cannabis production industry's first reported occupational asthma death took the life of a worker in Massachusetts, federal health and safety officials said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday announced a White House initiative to improve how the federal government approaches and funds research into the health of women, who make up more than half of the U.S. population but remain understudied and underrepresented in health research.
NEW YORK (AP) — Obesity rates in the U.S. have been rising steadily for well over a decade and some of the world's biggest drug developers are tapping into the growing treatment market.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — Want to buy a car on Amazon? Well, now you might get your chance.
DETROIT (AP) — United Auto Workers union members have voted to approve a new contract with General Motors, making the company the first Detroit automaker to get a ratified deal that could end a contentious labor dispute and a series of crippling strikes.
TRANSPORTATION
Aviation experts who examined the Federal Aviation Administration's safety record say the agency needs better staffing, equipment and technology to cope with a surge in the most serious close calls between planes.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest Christian university says it's fighting a $37.7 million fine brought by the federal government over allegations that it lied to students about the cost of its programs.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — The decline of local news in the United States is speeding up despite attention paid to the issue, to the point where the nation has lost one-third of its newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2005.
LONDON (AP) — TikTok and Facebook owner Meta are filing legal challenges against new European Union rules designed to counter the dominance of digital giants and make online competition fairer by giving consumers more choice.
ENVIRONMENT
NEW YORK (AP) — Preston Cabral eats meat nearly every day at home, but his favorite meals at school are served on "Meatless Mondays" and "Vegan Fridays."
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission will continue the use of the controversial chemical herbicide glyphosate in the European Union for 10 more years after the 27 member countries again failed to find a common position for or against a prolongation.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks drifted to a mixed close as momentum stalled following Wall Street's hot first half of November.
More Americans filed for jobless claims last week and while the labor market remains broadly healthy, there are growing signs that it may finally be cooling.
Macy's third-quarter sales declined as customers grow more cautious with their spending, but sales and profit both topped Wall Street expectations. The department store also raised the top end of its full-year revenue and adjusted profit forecasts.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart extended its streak of strong quarterly gains heading into the holiday season as its low prices attract shoppers looking for deals in a tough economic environment.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates said Thursday it will purchase 15 additional Airbus A350-900s worth $6 billion after a spat between the airline and the European manufacturer went unusually public during this week's Dubai Air Show.
Thousands of workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks stores plan to walk off the job Thursday in what organizers say is the largest strike yet in the two-year-old effort to unionize the company's stores.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee called Thursday for the renewal of a key U.S. government surveillance tool as he proposed a series of changes aimed at safeguarding privacy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury on Thursday imposed a new round of sanctions on firms and ships that used American service providers to carry Russian crude oil in violation of the multinational price cap — and imposed another set of sanctions on a group of Balkan people and firms tied to Kremlin influence in the region.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ending the threat of a government shutdown until after the holidays, Congress gave final approval to a temporary government funding package that pushes a confrontation over the federal budget into the new year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee in a scathing report Thursday said it has amassed "overwhelming evidence" of lawbreaking by Republican Rep. George Santos of New York that has been sent to the Justice Department, concluding flatly that he "cannot be trusted" after a monthslong investigation into his conduct.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nurturing economic ties this week with Asia, but he is not signing any trade deals at a regional summit in San Francisco.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Perhaps just shaking hands and sitting down together can be enough sometimes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Police and protesters clashed outside Democratic National Committee headquarters on Wednesday night during a demonstration for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas, the latest reflection of boiling tensions over the bloody conflict.