VOL. 35 | NO. 6 | Friday, February 11, 2011
Small-town Tennessee pork producer Allan Benton becomes the toast of the nation’s chefs, bartenders and food bloggers
Dry-curing pork has been a way of life for Allan Benton. In 1973, he took over the small operation from Albert Hicks, a dairy farmer who started the operation in his Madisonville backyard the year Benton was born, 1947.
Nashville may not be considered the most “green” city, but it isn’t for lack of trying. A growing number of forward-thinking entrepreneurs and business owners are putting more and more of their focus on sustainability, locally and beyond.
Despite an end-of-the-year deadline, the companies hoping to redevelop Bellevue Center Mall still haven’t learned whether the city will give them $12 million in tax breaks in return for including a new public library in the project.
The Nashville Bar Association has a capital campaign under way to raise $475,000 to offset moving and furnishing expenses for its new quarters in One Nashville Place, also referred to as the R2D2 Building and the U.S. Bank Building.
One of downtown Nashville’s most visible properties, the former site of Hippodrome Nissan at 12th Avenue North and Broadway, is getting a $1 million facelift and will become the new home of a Mazda dealership.
GET A JOB!
Many people take for granted that if their employer terminates them – for any reason – they will be eligible for unemployment benefits. They would be wrong. Not knowing about how benefits are handled in the unemployment process can lead to barriers of collecting payments.
NEWSMAKERS
Vanderbilt University Medical Center cardiologists André Churchwell, M.D., and Keith Churchwell, M.D., along with their brother, Kevin Churchwell, M.D., formerly of Vanderbilt, are among the 2011 Trumpet Award honorees recently recognized in Atlanta.
GREEN BUSINESS
Nashville may not be considered the most “green” city, but it isn’t for lack of trying. A growing number of forward-thinking entrepreneurs and business owners are putting more and more of their focus on sustainability, locally and beyond.
I SWEAR
True story. It happened in front of me.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Neophobia: The fear of all new things or experiences. Fear of anything new, of innovation, an irrational fear of new situations, places or things. In animal behavior, neophobia refers to the tendency of an animal to avoid or retreat from an unfamiliar object or situation. Also called cainotophobia.
STATEWIDE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority is changing its 19-year-old rate structure April 1 but can't say who among its 9 million customers will pay more.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican state Rep. Joe Carr introduced a bill Wednesday empowering local law enforcement officers to ask suspects whether they are legally in the country, a proposal that immediately prompted the threat of a lawsuit.
SEWANEE (AP) — The University of the South in Sewanee has approved a 10 percent reduction in tuition and fees.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's largest retail trade group says it expects retail sales to rise 4 percent this year, the biggest increase since 2006, but shoppers are likely to remain cautious as they cope with slow job growth and rising prices.
SINGAPORE (AP) — Las Vegas Sands Corp. wants to build "Euro-Vegas" in Spain, its CEO Sheldon Adelson said Thursday, touting a euros 15 billion ($20.3 billion) plan for a massive strip-style casino resort in Madrid or Barcelona.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Fresh off its shellacking of two human champions of the "Jeopardy!" television show, a computer program developed by IBM Corp. will soon get a workout in two hospitals that have signed up to test the technology.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bookseller Borders, which helped pioneer superstores that put countless mom-and-pop bookshops out of business, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, sunk by crushing debt and sluggishness in adapting to a rapidly changing industry.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservatives are trying to cut arts funding while Democrats seek to restore family planning and health research funds as the House enters a third day of debate on a sweeping spending bill cleaning up last year's budget mess.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans won sweeping victories last November by taunting Democrats with "Where are the jobs?" Democrats are now throwing those taunts back, saying it's Republicans who will knock thousands of Americans out of work with their demands for deep cuts in federal spending.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is heading to friendly territory to push his plan to spend billions more on education, meeting with Facebook's founder and other technology leaders in the San Francisco Bay area and touring Intel Corp.'s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Oregon.