VOL. 38 | NO. 47 | Friday, November 21, 2014
Selling 11 of 28 acres could bring Metro almost $100M
Merritt Rowe knows her children will never personally benefit from any changes to Hillsboro High School in Green Hills, but as the parent of two current students and another starting next year, it is something she is willing to fight for and encourages other parents – especially those of future students – to do the same.
Historic Nashville Inc., a nonprofit devoted to promoting and preserving historic places in Nashville, has placed Hillsboro High School on its annual Nashville Nine list.
Stephen Graw first moved to Green Hills in 2004 right after college, renting a house with a bunch of buddies from school. Like his neighborhood, he’s done a lot of growing in the last decade and is now a senior advisor at Sperry Van Ness Nashville and on the Chamber West Leadership Council.
STREET LEVEL
“Everybody has to meet his Waterloo,” sings honky-tonk hero Stonewall Jackson in his breakthrough No. 1 hit back in 1959.
REALTY CHECK
Even before Mayor Karl Dean’s announcement that the $60 million ballpark would be constructed in Germantown, the area was flourishing – not to the extent that it is now, but it was experiencing growth and development.
REAL ESTATE
Top September 2014 residential real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
TENNESSEE TITANS
There really are two ways to look at the remainder of the Tennessee Titans 2014 season and how the bleak present could affect the uncertain future of this franchise.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE – All seemed so right for the University of Tennessee’s football team for 36 hours or so after last Saturday’s 50-16 victory over Kentucky at Neyland Stadium.
NEWSMAKERS
Nancy J. Cox, Ph.D., professor of medicine and human genetics and chief of the Section of Genetic Medicine at the University of Chicago, has been appointed founding director of a new genetics institute at Vanderbilt University.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Finally, there is an all-electric car for people who thought they would never want one.
FAMILY TRAVEL
Do you plan on traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday? You’re not alone. Airlines for America has projected 24.6 million passengers will travel globally on U.S. airlines during the 12-day Thanksgiving travel period.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
2014 marked the first year mobile Internet usage surpassed desktop, which is no doubt why a recent Forrester Research study predicts sales from consumers shopping on mobile phones will increase to $38 billion this year.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
As trading becomes more mechanized, investors must consider not only market fundamentals but also what‘s driving the algorithms. With the proliferation of ETFs, less analysis occurs at the security level, and more analysis occurs on the technical level.
CAREER CORNER
Veterans Day served as a reminder of how important it is to honor our military personnel. It also was a reminder of a problem many former military members face: underemployment.
I SWEAR
Ten years ago this month, as I was immersing myself into the nuances of cruciverbalism – the art of writing crosswords – these lines came to me:
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Here’s some disturbing news. I’ve heard it before, and ignored it, but now I’m hearing it so much, I figure something about it must be true.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A new study found more than 60 percent of low-income Tennesseans face a significant civil legal need.
MIDSTATE
FRANKLIN (AP) — Construction of a new bridge has been completed over Interstate 65 south of Nashville where a tanker truck exploded and caught fire three months ago.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Incoming state Sen. Lee Harris of Memphis has been elected leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — In rival camps located about a mile apart, both supporters and opponents of the United Auto Workers' efforts to unionize their first foreign auto plant in the South say a new labor policy at the Volkswagen factory is going to help them.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes edged up modestly in October, led by a big jump in activity in the Midwest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans signing contracts to buy homes fell slightly in October as tight credit and lagging wages remained financial hurdles for would-be homebuyers.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Greater optimism about income growth and future spending pushed U.S. consumer sentiment to a fresh 7-year high in November.
VIENNA (AP) — Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia suggested Wednesday there is no need for the cartel to cut its output ceiling despite a plunge in prices that has poorer members of the organization hurting.
Falling gas prices. Soaring stock market. Unemployment at a six-year-low.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits jumped last week, pushing total applications above 300,000 for the first time in nearly three months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods rose in October, but a key category that tracks business investment plans declined sharply for a second straight month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers picked up spending by a modest amount in October, a slight improvement after no gain at all in the previous month.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday, keeping the major indexes near record levels, as investors assessed the latest reports on the economy.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's coalition government wants major companies to have at least 30 percent women on its supervisory boards.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A lawmaker in Ohio wants stores in the state to pay triple wages for employees who work on Thanksgiving — an effort that comes as Macy's, the holiday's quintessential retailer, is allowing its workers to choose whether to work that day.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration left out some of the business community's top priorities, disappointing business leaders who might have stepped up to defend his policies in the face of Republican attacks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House veto threat appears to have put on ice a congressional effort to permanently renew a handful of generous tax breaks for businesses and individuals. Officials say that the plan, brewing behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, favored corporations over the working class.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Transportation says there will be no road closures on state highways and interstates over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state's college savings program is being recognized nationally.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Honda is admitting that it failed to report more than 1,700 injury and death claims about its vehicles to U.S. safety regulators, a violation of federal law.
TECHNOLOGY
Traveling by plane, train or automobile can be a headache. Mixing in Thanksgiving can make it a throbbing migraine. Technology provides some pain relief in the form of apps to let you know which roads are clogged, what gate your flight leaves from and whether trains are running on time.
WASHINGTON (AP) — We may be the Internet generation. But we don't know much about how it works.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose in September at the slowest pace in more than two years, reflecting modest sales gains and a rising number of available homes.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is ending the day pretty much it started, leaving indexes near record highs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are slowly but steadily borrowing more money, bringing to an end a five-year effort to cut household debt that has slowed consumer spending and the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. bank earnings rose 7.3 percent in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, as banks reduced their expenses and continued to lend out more money, which help drive up revenue.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.9 percent annual rate in the July-September period, even faster than first reported, giving the country its strongest six months of growth in more than a decade.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Whether they want to or not, consumers will soon know how many calories they are eating when ordering off the menu at chain restaurants, picking up prepared foods at supermarkets and even eating a tub of popcorn at the movie theater.
ATLANTA (AP) — Home Depot says it faces at least 44 lawsuits in the United States and Canada over a data breach earlier this year that affected 56 million debit and credit cards.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 100 immigration professors and scholars declared Tuesday that President Barack Obama's decision to make several million immigrants illegally in the United States eligible to be spared from deportation is constitutional and within his administrative powers.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - New Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery isn't joining a group of Republican colleagues from other states in issuing a statement vowing "appropriate action" on President Barack Obama's executive order on immigration.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam will begin his annual budget hearings at the state Capitol on Monday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett does not plan to run for governor in 2018.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — It might seem as though everyone has an iPhone or Galaxy smartphone. But many customers are eschewing the best cameras and screens — and their top-end price tags — and choosing models that can get the job done at less than a third of the cost.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Against the team of hackers, the poor car stood no chance.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market stayed at record levels on Monday as investors remained confident that stimulus measures from the world's central banks would help revive global economic growth.
NEW YORK (AP) — A procrastinator's holiday wish come true: Presents ordered at the last minute can now show up under the Christmas tree that same day.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Political and issue campaigns ran nearly 23,000 television ads in Tennessee to try to sway voters on races including the U.S. Senate and constitutional amendments on abortion and judges.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - One of the nation's leading opponents of the education reform movement said Thursday that a public review process the governor has created for Tennessee's Common Core standards can be effective if teachers' ideas are taken seriously.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A former McDonald's worker acquitted of charges he placed shards of glass into a police officer's Big Mac nearly a decade ago has won a $437,000 settlement from the city after arguing the officer fabricated the story to win money by suing the fast food restaurant.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Supreme Court has suspended one of the defense attorneys in the Vanderbilt rape case.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford said Friday that its new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup will get up to 26 mpg on the highway, making it the most fuel efficient gas-powered full-size pickup.
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota is recalling nearly 423,000 Lexus luxury brand cars in the U.S. to fix fuel leaks that can cause fires.
DETROIT (AP) — The nation's auto safety agency is telling Chrysler to speed up a recall of 1.5 million older Jeeps with gas tanks that can rupture in a rear collision.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's transport ministry said Friday it has ordered air bag maker Takata to conduct an internal investigation after cases of its air bags exploding triggered safety concerns in the U.S. and other countries.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There were apologies and long-winded explanations, but after nearly four hours of testimony about exploding air bags, senators never got a clear answer to the question most people have: whether or not their cars are safe.
Automakers have recalled 8 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix a problem with air bags made by Takata Corp. The air bags can explode with too much force, sending shards of metal into the passenger compartments.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans sued the Obama administration on Friday over its implementation of President Barack Obama's health care law, saying he had overstepped his legal authority in carrying out the program.
Employers squeezed by years of rising medical costs and pressure from the health care overhaul are still making employee health insurance a priority, but that coverage may grow skimpier in the coming years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators on Thursday approved the first hard-to-abuse version of the painkiller hydrocodone, offering an alternative to a similar medication that has been widely criticized for lacking such safeguards.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. long-term mortgage rates continued to tick down this week, remaining close to yearlong lows.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stocks capped a week that already had several record highs by delivering a couple more.
NEW YORK (AP) — This year's flurry of corporate mergers may not pay off for shareholders in the long run, but one thing is for sure: The bosses who are selling their companies will do just fine.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California regulators have approved a settlement to divide billions of dollars in costs from the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's moves on immigration would expand the labor force and increase worker productivity, according to a White House report Friday that estimates average wages would rise over a 10-year period.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and his allies, confronting a buildup of GOP criticism, are seeking to sell the president's executive actions on immigration as good politics and good policy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fresh off their big midterm elections victory, congressional Republicans thought they might be on the offensive against a chastened President Barack Obama right about now.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system could shield nearly 5 million people here illegally from deportation, without going through Congress. A look at the key executive measures Obama announced Thursday:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's announcement of sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system is likely to lead to a battle over their legality. Is he on solid legal ground?
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior House Republican said Thursday that it's impossible to "defund" President Barack Obama's upcoming moves on immigration in an upcoming spending bill.