VOL. 36 | NO. 51 | Friday, December 21, 2012
From The Beatles’ first 45s to Jack White’s latest, one Nashville firm continues to leave its imprint on music history
Bob Dylan is getting his label baked in the same building where some of his cronies launched the 20th Century’s most noble musical conquest: The British Invasion.
Nashville ace mastering engineer Alex McCollough works in the digital and vinyl worlds in his daily duties for Yes Master in Berry Hill.
While he’s among the most prolific clients of United Record Pressing in his role as “psychedelic cheese” for Third Man Records, that wasn’t the reason for Ben Blackwell’s first treasured foray into this historic space.
For years, the Tennessee Titans and Peyton Manning have duked it out on the gridiron.
Several things happen each fall: Temperatures begin to drop, leaves start to fall and the airwaves are filled with ads aimed at senior citizens in an effort to attract their Medicare business.
REAL ESTATE
November 2012 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
REALTY CHECK
Over the past few years, many have noticed homes being “scraped,” or bulldozed, to make way for new construction. In 2007, as the market plummeted in its pre-recession implosion, these teardowns, as they were known, seemed to have lost their luster as banks were no longer lending money to builders who wanted to demolish their collateral.
TERRY McCORMICK
Improvement may be a relative term.
NEWSMAKERS
Health care entrepreneur Philip Hertik and veteran venture capital investor Lucius E. Burch IV have joined the board of directors of PatientFocus, a medical billing company.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
With the considerable growth in social media users, more brands are wading into the waters, allocating nearly 11 percent of their advertising budgets toward these channels this year – three times more than 2011.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
While we may not know the details of next year’s tax increases, we do know that taxes will increase.
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
So what happened to Auburn?
I SWEAR
The elections of 2012 are over. Under local law, a certain person was re-elected, unopposed, to a fifth 4-year term.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Cupcakes seem to be all the rage right now. If you haven’t already visited a cupcake bakery, you are in for a treat.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Prosecutors declined to pursue a criminal trespassing charge against a Wisconsin man arrested after climbing a fence at a Nashville home linked to country star Taylor Swift.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota expects to sell a record 9.7 million vehicles this year, bouncing back by 22 percent from a disaster-struck 2011. It has set an even higher target of 9.91 million vehicles for 2013.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With a proposed payout of more than $1 billion, one major chapter of a nearly four-year legal saga that left Toyota Motor Corp. fighting hundreds of lawsuits and struggling with a tarnished image has ended, though another remains.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Andrew Neitlich is the last person you'd expect to be rattled by the stock market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans bought new homes last month at the fastest pace in more than two and a half years, further evidence of a sustained housing recovery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in December, driven lower by fears of sharp tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect next week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits over the past month fell to the lowest level since March 2008, a sign that the job market is healing.
NEW YORK (AP) — The market sent a gloomy message Thursday: The economy is still far from repaired, the "fiscal cliff" negotiations far from sealed.
The price of oil hovered around $91 a barrel Thursday as U.S. political leaders geared up for another attempt to reach a budget deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff."
Bargain-hungry Americans will need to go on a post-Christmas spending binge to salvage this holiday shopping season.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A last-gasp effort Thursday to avoid automatic tax increases and spending cuts got off on the same convulsive, partisan tone that marked congressional attempts to resolve the impasse before lawmakers left Washington to go home for Christmas.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — US home prices rose in most major cities in October compared with a year ago, pushed up by rising sales and a decline in the supply of available homes. Higher prices show the housing market is improving even as it moves into the more dormant fall and winter sales period.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower after a weak holiday shopping report sent shares of major retailers lower.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil rose sharply Wednesday on higher U.S. home prices and hopes of a budget deal in Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. holiday sales so far this year have been the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. That puts pressure on stores that now hope for a post-Christmas burst of spending.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The big deal for Hollywood is not the record $10.8 billion that studios took in domestically in 2012. It's the fact that the number of tickets sold went up for the first time in three years.
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday opened the world's longest high-speed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. "God only knows" how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In case the public weren't frustrated enough over Congress' failure to resolve the "fiscal cliff," consider this: lawmakers probably could enact a compromise quickly and easily if Republican leaders let Democrats provide most of the votes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — New taxes are coming Jan. 1 to help finance President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Most people may not notice. But they will pay attention if Congress decides to start taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, one option in play if lawmakers can ever agree on a budget deal to reduce federal deficits.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Drug overdoses are the single largest cause of accidental deaths in Tennessee, but state health officials hope a new law requiring doctors to check a database before prescribing certain drugs will help change that.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The holiday season is one of the most dangerous times of the year for motorists due to an increase in impaired driving. That's why Tennessee state troopers will be stepping up enforcement over the Christmas holidays.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nearly half of Metro Nashville's firefighters are eligible for a city employee buyout program, aimed at reducing the size of government.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Firestone will remain the sole tire supplier for IndyCar through the 2018 season.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee has raised enough donations in cash and food to provide six million meals. That's a lot, but the nonprofit's goal is to have enough for 10 million meals before Dec. 31 as part of its Feeding Hope Challenge.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey is joining the advisory board of a conservative political group that recruits and trains Republican political candidates.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican State Rep. Joe Carr is considering a run for the congressional seat held by embattled U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confidence among U.S. consumers has sunk to its lowest point since July, according to a monthly index.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers spent and earned more in November, reflecting a rebound from the disruptions caused by Superstorm Sandy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies boosted their orders in November for long-lasting manufactured goods that reflect investment plans. It was the second straight such increase, an encouraging sign for the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors sent Washington a reminder Friday that Wall Street is a power player in talks to avoid the "fiscal cliff."
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices fell as much as $2 a barrel Friday as doubts grew about whether political leaders in Washington could reach a deal on the budget before a package of tax hikes and spending cuts automatically kicks in with the new year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Twinkies, Wonder Bread and Devil Dogs are likely to return to shelves in coming months, but probably not under the same owners.
Walgreen's fiscal first-quarter earnings sank nearly 26 percent as costs tied to a couple big deals and Superstorm Sandy helped put a bigger-than-expected dent in the drugstore chain's performance.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of previously occupied homes jumped to their highest level in three years last month, bolstered by steady job gains and record-low mortgage rates. The report was the latest sign of a sustained recovery in the housing market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average rates on U.S. fixed mortgages rose this week but remained near record lows, a trend that is leading more Americans to buy homes or refinance their loans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.1 percent over the summer as exports increased, consumers spent more and state and local governments added to growth for the first time in three years. But the economy is likely slowing in the current quarter.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest gun-rights lobby called Friday for armed police officers to be posted in every American school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday will nominate Sen. John Kerry as his next secretary of state, a senior administration official said, making the first move in a sweeping overhaul of his national security team heading into a second term.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner signaled on Friday he's still open to negotiations with President Barack Obama on avoiding across-the-board tax increases set to hit taxpayers Jan. 1, but sounded pessimistic about reaching a grand deal with the president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he'll press ahead with Congress in hopes of preventing across-the-board tax increases set to strike taxpayers Jan. 1 after House GOP leaders unexpectedly put off a vote on legislation calling for higher rates on million-dollar earners Thursday evening.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted with a revolt among the rank and file, House Republicans abruptly scrapped a vote Thursday night on legislation allowing tax rates to rise for households earning $1 million and up, complicating attempts to avoid a year-end "fiscal cliff" that threatens to send the economy into recession.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's authority to intercept electronic communications of foreign spies and terrorist targets will expire at year's end, unless the Senate extends a key surveillance law. A bipartisan group of senators is demanding changes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House pushed to complete a $633 billion defense bill for next year despite Pentagon complaints that it spares outdated but politically popular weapons at the expense of the military's ability to fight.