VOL. 47 | NO. 53 | Friday, December 29, 2023
Some of the reasons why people are flocking to Middle Tennessee
Cities are rarely just one thing. They’re more than a collection of neighborhoods or a diverse population. And sometimes they’re exactly that.
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
As 2023 slinks into history, a few bold – and in some cases, wishful – predictions for 2024:
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
When Caleb Gamblin and Shawn Booth, two savvy agents with Parks, listed the home at 3415 Springbrook Drive, they decided to lead their marketing efforts with their offering of a one-year, 5% interest rate rather than a photograph of the house.
TENNESSEE TITANS
It could have been a nice swan song – the Titans turning back the clock for a Christmas Eve win with Ryan Tannehill at the controls and Derrick Henry doing the heavy lifting.
While the Titans are playing out the string and deciding what players fit into their 2024 plans, there is one name among their veteran unrestricted free agents that stands out above all the others: defensive lineman Denico Autry.
The Titans have a chance to play spoiler in the division in the season’s final two games, beginning with the Houston Texans this week and at home against Jacksonville next week. Here’s a look at the Texans matchup:
NEWSMAKERS
Elta Breen and Woods Drinkwater have joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP as senior attorneys in the Nashville office.
BRIEFS
A panel of judges has blocked a new Tennessee law that would reconfigure the group overseeing professional sports facilities in Nashville by letting state leaders pick six of its 13 board members.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
How much range an electric vehicle has is a primary consideration for many EV shoppers in determining which they should purchase. But nearly as important is how quickly an EV can charge at a public fast-charging station.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Credit is top of mind for many folks going into 2024. Nearly 4 in 5 Americans (79%) say they are trying to improve their credit, a recent survey from NerdWallet finds.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O'Reilly each had a goal and an assist, Juuse Saros made 21 saves and the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 on Tuesday night.
TENNESSEE TITANS
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Trevor Lawrence is trying to be cautious and aggressive with his sprained throwing shoulder, hoping the approach could help him return to the starting lineup for Jacksonville's pivotal regular-season finale at Tennessee on Sunday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel wants his Titans to finish off the most painful and ugly season of his tenure with a victory.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee judge has squashed an attempt to release more records involving a sexual harassment complaint against a former state lawmaker, including information about how tax dollars may have been spent as part of the investigation.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Income, sales, property and gas taxes: Almost every U.S. state cut at least one such broad-based tax as budget surpluses soared over the past three years.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday recommended a six-month term of imprisonment for a man at the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — an attack that he has admitted to joining.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two well-connected political consultants provided false information about lobbying work on behalf of a wealthy Persian Gulf country during the Trump administration, according to Justice Department court records unsealed Tuesday.
ELECTION 2024
Noelia Sanchez was born in the rolling farmlands of southwest Missouri, where her Mexican parents worked as seasonal farmworkers in the 1950s.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is starting the campaign year by evoking the Revolutionary War to mark the third anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and visiting the South Carolina church where a white gunman massacred Black parishioners — seeking to present in the starkest possible terms an election he argues could determine the fate of American democracy.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BEIJING (AP) — A less flashy Chinese electric vehicle maker is fast closing the gap with Tesla, the longtime, market-leading pioneer.
ENERGY
For the first time in the United States, turbines are sending electricity to the grid from the sites of two large offshore wind farms.
EDUCATION
NEW YORK (AP) — A new version of the federal student aid application known as the FAFSA is available for the 2024-2025 school year, but only on a limited basis as the U.S. Department of Education works on a redesign meant to make it easier to apply.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American higher education has long viewed plagiarism as a cardinal sin. Accusations of academic dishonesty have ruined the careers of faculty and undergraduates alike.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell again as Wall Street's slow start to 2024 carried into a second day.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve policymakers concluded last month that inflationary pressures were easing and that the job market was cooling. In response, the officials chose to leave their key interest rate unchanged for the third straight time and signaled that they expected to cut rates three times in 2024.
WASHINGTON (AP) — America's employers posted 8.8 million job openings in November, down slightly from October and the fewest since March 2021. But demand for workers remains strong by historical standards despite higher interest rates.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government's gross national debt has surpassed $34 trillion, a record high that foreshadows the coming political and economic challenges to improve America's balance sheet in the coming years.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union imposed sanctions on the world's biggest diamond mining company and its chief executive officer on Wednesday as part of what it called its "unwavering commitment" to Ukraine in the war against Russia.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 2
TENNESSEE TITANS
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars could get quarterback Trevor Lawrence and receiver Christian Kirk back for their regular-season finale at Tennessee, a game that will help determine the AFC South.
UT SPORTS
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava ran for three touchdowns and threw for one in his first career start, and No. 25 Tennessee shut down No. 20 Iowa's Division I-worst offense to beat the Hawkeyes 35-0 in the Citrus Bowl on Monday.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues.
DENVER (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday is expected to appeal rulings from Colorado and Maine that ban him from the states' ballots, setting up a high-stakes showdown over a 155-year-old addition to the Constitution that bars from office those who "engaged in insurrection."
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Steep price cuts helped electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. increase its fourth-quarter vehicle sales by almost 20% as EV sales growth slowed across the industry.
EDUCATION
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy.
ECONOMY
BANGKOK (AP) — A survey of factory managers in China shows manufacturing contracted in December in the latest sign the world's second-largest economy remains sluggish.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A weak start to 2024 had Wall Street on Tuesday giving back a bit of its powerful gains from the year before.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of the biggest charitable donations from individuals or their foundations totaled more than $3.5 billion in 2023. Four universities received big gifts in 2023, along with four scientific research institutes and a health-care system. The other gifts went to a family foundation and a racial-justice group.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In this time of war overseas, more Americans think foreign policy should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2024, with a new poll showing international concerns and immigration rising in importance with the public.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of extra duty at sea providing protection for Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group will be heading home, the Navy announced Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on a group of money exchange services from Yemen and Turkey alleged to help provide funding to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have been launching attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29
TENNESSEE TITANS
HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans should get their rookie quarterbacks back when they meet Sunday after both players missed time with injuries.
SPORTS
By The Associated Press undefined
NASHVILLE AREA
NEW YORK (AP) — Just months after filing for bankruptcy, SmileDirectClub announced it was shutting down its global operations and halting its teeth-aligner treatments.
ELECTION 2024
DENVER (AP) — First, Colorado's Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump wasn't eligible to run for his old job in that state. Then, Maine's Democratic secretary of state ruled the same for her state. Who's next?
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine's Democratic secretary of state on Thursday removed former President Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot under the Constitution's insurrection clause, becoming the first election official to take action unilaterally as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Trump remains eligible to return to the White House.
ENVIRONMENT
The Biden administration is handing Louisiana regulators new power to attract and approve carbon capture projects at a time when the state's influential energy sector wants to make the Gulf Coast a hub for the rapidly expanding industry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A large pool of dark liquid festering on the floor. No fresh air. Computer displays that would overheat and ooze out a fishy-smelling gel that nauseated the crew. Asbestos readings 50 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's safety standards.
TRAVEL
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The restaurant where Katie Austin was a server burned in the wildfire that devastated Hawaii's historic town of Lahaina this summer.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The S&P 500 closed out 2023 with a gain of more than 24% and the Dow finished near a record high, as easing inflation, a resilient economy and the prospect of lower interest rates buoyed investors, particularly in the last two months of the year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel knows rookie Will Levis will benefit from playing in the Titans' final two games this season if the quarterback's sprained left ankle allows.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Sebastian Aho scored a goal and assisted on three others to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.
UT SPORTS
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton has opted out to prepare for the 2024 NFL draft, leaving freshman Nico Iamaleava to make his first career start for the 25th-ranked Volunteers in Monday's Citrus Bowl.
COURTS
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Republican Party on Wednesday appealed that state's supreme court decision that found former President Donald Trump is ineligible for the presidency, the potential first step to a showdown at the nation's highest court over the meaning of a 155-year-old constitutional provision that bans from office those who "engaged in insurrection."
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — New obesity drugs are showing promising results in helping some people shed pounds but the injections will remain out of reach for millions of older Americans because Medicare is forbidden to cover such medications.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Thursday opened a new chapter in how it investigates and prosecutes cases of sexual assault and other major crimes, putting independent lawyers in charge of those decisions and sidelining commanders after years of pressure from Congress.
ECONOMY
More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but not enough to raise concern about the labor market or broader economy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks drifted to a mixed finish in muted trading on Wall Street Thursday as markets approach the end of 2023.
If you are an Amazon Prime Video user, get ready to see ads on movies and TV shows starting next month.
NEW YORK (AP) — The signs of life shown by the IPO market, especially in the second half of the year, are giving analysts hope that more companies will be enticed to go public in 2024.
A judge in New York has ruled that Alibaba must face a lawsuit by a U.S. toymaker alleging that the Chinese ecommerce giant's online platforms were used to sell counterfeit Squishmallows.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There's been no shortage of tough news for China's economy as some of the world's biggest brands consider or take action to shift manufacturing to friendlier shores at a time of unease about security controls, protectionism and wobbly relations between Beijing and Washington.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday announced what officials say could be the final package of military aid to Ukraine unless Congress approves supplemental funding legislation that is stalled on Capitol Hill.