VOL. 37 | NO. 49 | Friday, December 6, 2013
If you’re lucky, family and friends will be staying in one of the city’s impressive hotels instead of sleeping on your couch.
REALTY CHECK
It’s not unusual to walk into a house that’s listed and on the market and be floored by the stench. Many times this is the result of neglect and filth that allows organisms to flourish in the environs created by sloppy pet owners or leaking pipes.
TERRY McCORMICK
“It is what it is.” That well-worn catch phrase describes the Tennessee Titans perfectly. They are the very definition of mediocrity.
NEWSMAKERS
Pinnacle Financial Partners has added Tennessee State University President Glenda Baskin Glover, Ph.D., JD, CPA, to its board.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Tired of chasing your proverbial tail in the quest for a sales and marketing plan that actually delivers? First acknowledge that a silver bullet rarely exists.
I SWEAR
A few weeks ago, I began a column with “Harassing phone calls. What other term would fit?” And ended said column with a plea for help. Reader mail came pouring in.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The fired chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander was expected Thursday in federal court after the aide's arrest on probable cause for possession and distribution of child pornography, authorities said.
NASHVILLE (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has introduced legislation to include four Tennessee Civil War battlefields in the national park system.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — New cars and trucks sold in the U.S. last year got an average of 23.6 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, a record that came mainly through improvements to engines and transmissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Automaker Volkswagen said Thursday it's replacing the head of its U.S. division, which has struggled to reach sales goals.
HEALTH CARE
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The slow rollout of a new federal health insurance marketplace may be deepening differences in health coverage among Americans, with residents in some states gaining insurance at a far greater rate than others.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers ramped up spending in November on cars, appliances and furniture and made more purchases online, signaling growing confidence in the economy at the start of the holiday shopping season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose 68,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 368,000, the largest increase in more than a year.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — While foreclosures remain a concern in select states, the number of U.S. homes entering the path to foreclosure or winding up repossessed by lenders has fallen to levels not seen in more than six years.
Lower stock prices on Thursday set up investors for a third day in a row of declines.
Oil prices continued to drop Thursday after the U.S. government reported a large buildup in supplies of gasoline and diesel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates for fixed mortgages eased slightly this week, remaining near historically low levels.
GENEVA (AP) — The global airline industry expects its profits to jump to a record high next year, helped by falling jet fuel prices, rising travel demand and cost-cutting.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A labor group monitoring three Chinese factories that make iPhones and other Apple products says once-oppressive working conditions have steadily improved in the last 18 months, but more must be done to reduce the amount of overtime that employees work.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker John Boehner sharply criticized outside conservative groups opposed to year-end budget legislation on Thursday and said the measure "takes great steps in the right direction."
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Three in five Tennesseans support expanding Medicaid, though nearly half also have a negative view of the federal health care law, according to a Vanderbilt University poll released Wednesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) - U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has replaced his chief of staff after learning the staffer's home was being searched as part of a child pornography investigation.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — State Attorney General Bob Cooper says in a legal opinion that Tennessee law prohibits cities and counties from enacting their own ordinances controlling the sale of cold medicines used to make methamphetamine.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Playing catch-up with a long way to go, President Barack Obama's new health insurance markets last month picked up the dismal pace of signups, the administration reported Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Recognizing that deeper problems may lurk behind the botched rollout of the health care website, President Barack Obama's top health official Wednesday called for an investigation into management and contracting decisions.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Kettering University President Robert McMahan was traveling in China a few months ago when he bumped into one of the university's board members at an airport in Shanghai.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — General Motors Co. said Wednesday it will stop making cars and engines in Australia by the end of 2017, with nearly 2,900 jobs to be lost, because of high production costs and competition.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling on Wall Steet as traders react to disappointing earnings from U.S. companies.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell 1 percent Wednesday after the government reported a large buildup in supplies of gasoline and distillate fuels such as diesel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As federal regulators consider removing a decades-old prohibition on making phone calls on planes, a majority of Americans who fly oppose such a change, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government ran a much smaller deficit through the first two months of the budget year than the same period last year, signaling further improvement in the nation's finances.
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 75 percent of young women believe the U.S. needs to do more to bring about equality in the workplace, a new study finds, despite a narrowing pay gap and steady employment gains for women at higher levels of business and government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The rule that U.S. regulators approved Tuesday, after years of wrestling over its language, is designed to defuse the kind of risk-taking on Wall Street that helped trigger the 2008 financial crisis.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' budget office estimates that the just-announced budget deal would increase the deficit over the next two years by $41.4 billion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans signaled support Wednesday for a budget deal worked out a day earlier, a plan narrowly drawn but promoted as a way to stabilize Congress' erratic fiscal efforts, avert another government shutdown and mute some of the partisan rancor that has damaged Americans' attitudes about their lawmakers.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - There's new never-before-heard music coming from Johnny Cash.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee's general fund tax collections fell $22 million short of projections in November, the fourth month of the state's budget year, Finance Commissioner Larry Martin said Tuesday.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's that time of year again: doctors caring for Medicare patients once more face a steep pay cut. But this time Congress is pursuing a permanent fix to the annual drama that has undermined the medical profession's confidence in the nation's premier health program.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors picked Mary Barra, its product development chief and a 33-year company veteran, as its next CEO. Barra will become the first female head of a major U.S. car company.
BERLIN (AP) — Car maker BMW AG says its sales were up 2.7 percent in November compared with a year earlier, putting the company on course for a record year thanks to strong demand in China and the U.S.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock prices are lower on Wall Street as the market takes a pause after hitting its latest record high.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil jumped to the highest level in six weeks amid expectations that U.S. supplies fell for the second week in a row.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers advertised the most job openings in more than five years in October, and the number of people quitting also reached a five-year high.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale businesses boosted their stockpiles sharply in October as sales rose, encouraging signs for economic growth in the final three months of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. banks will be barred in most cases from trading for their own profit under a federal rule approved Tuesday.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Even as Silicon Valley speaks out against the U.S. government's surveillance methods, technology companies are turning a handsome profit by mining personal data and peering into people's online habits.
NEW YORK (AP) — The founder of Lululemon is stepping down as chairman after raising ire with his comments about the body types of potential buyers of the retailer's yoga pants.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will not extend current farm law if Congress can't agree on a new farm bill before adjourning next week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lead Democratic negotiator says she is close to a deal with Republicans on a modest budget agreement that's expected to replace tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts this year and next with longer-term savings and revenue from increased fees.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's choice to head the Internal Revenue Service told senators Tuesday he will work to restore public trust in the agency in the wake of the tea party scandal even as the IRS takes on new responsibilities administering the president's health care law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' easy renewal of an expiring ban on undetectable plastic guns belies the larger reality that one year after the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Conn., major new firearms restrictions have little chance of enactment anytime soon.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam is putting his goals for a special Tennessee deal for Medicaid expansion into writing.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Judiciary Museum is kicking off its first anniversary celebration with a dedicated website and several new exhibits.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University President Sidney McPhee was recently honored in Beijing.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government ended up losing $10.5 billion on its bailout of General Motors, but still says the alternative would have been much worse.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market notched another record close Monday after a big acquisition in the food industry. Hope for a longer-term budget deal in Washington also helped.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell slightly Monday, the first decline in seven trading sessions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A surging stock market and a steady recovery in home prices drove Americans' wealth to a record last summer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's not just the wealthiest 1 percent.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Corporate support for gay and transgender rights is reaching workers in new corners of the country and economy six months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, according to a new report card from the nation's largest LGBT advocacy group.
NEW YORK (AP) — The vast majority of business economists believe the Federal Reserve will begin to pull back on its massive economic stimulus program in the first three months of 2014, according to a November survey done by the National Association of Business Economists.
LONDON (AP) — Major technology companies, stung by poor publicity for having helped the U.S. government access personal data, on Monday issued an open letter to President Barack Obama asking for tighter controls on surveillance.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines emerged from bankruptcy protection and US Airways culminated its long pursuit of a merger partner as the two completed their deal Monday to create the world's biggest airline.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. job market improves, it's also evolving, with winners and losers.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate vote to renew an expiring ban on plastic firearms capable of evading metal detectors and X-ray machines is shaping up as a bittersweet moment for gun control supporters, days before the anniversary of the deadly mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Nashville area Salvation Army needs help providing Christmas gifts through its Angel Tree program.
NASHVILLE (AP) - National Public Radio host and author Michele Norris will speak at the Nashville Public Library in downtown Nashville on Saturday.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — It looks like President Barack Obama's fickle health insurance website is finally starting to put up some respectable sign-up numbers, but its job only seems to have gotten harder.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Genetic testing company 23andMe Inc. will comply with a Food and Drug Administration directive to stop selling health-related genetic tests during a regulatory review.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Gail Wise didn't know she was getting anything special when she drove away from a Chicago Ford dealership in the spring of 1964 in the first Mustang ever sold.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market is proving sturdier than many had thought.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers increased their spending in October even though their wages and salaries barely increased, raising questions about how strong the economy will grow at the end of the year.
The price of oil moved higher above $97 a barrel Friday, buoyed by stronger economic growth and falling unemployment in the world's largest economy.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) — Sears Holdings Corp. said Friday that it will spin off its Lands' End clothing business as a separate company by distributing stock to the retailer's shareholders.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fast-food workers and labor organizers marched, waved signs and chanted in cities across the country on Thursday in a push for higher wages.
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has named Marjorie Scardino as a director, adding a woman to the all-white male board for which it's been sharply criticized.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of a popular Android mobile app that turns your phone into a flashlight has agreed to settle the Federal Trade Commission's charges that the software secretly supplied cellphone locations to marketers, even when consumers rejected its terms of service.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a federal agency, asking it to disclose efforts to stop municipalities from using eminent domain to bail out underwater homeowners.
NEW YORK (AP) — The government's monthly survey of the U.S. job market is always important on Wall Street. It's even more important these days. Investors are trying to figure out when the Federal Reserve will decide that the economy is strong enough to thrive without its extraordinary stimulus measures.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — With hopes of a "grand bargain" long gone, congressional negotiators now are seeking a more modest deal before year-end to ease the automatic spending cuts that are squeezing both the Pentagon and domestic federal programs. But the going is getting rougher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saying the government should lead by example, President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered the federal government to nearly triple its use of renewable sources for electricity by 2020.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leader of House Democrats says her rank and file won't support any year-end budget deal unless it includes plans to extend expiring unemployment benefits for long-term victims of the recession.