VOL. 40 | NO. 9 | Friday, February 26, 2016
LEGISLATIVE PROFILE
State Rep. Jim Coley considers himself an independent thinker in the General Assembly. He definitely doesn’t vote down the Republican Party line.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Thick coffee and baked pie aromas mingling inside the tidy building signal I’ve found perfect refuge from the storms of life. All the damned snow. And then the cold rain. Waiting for the sun.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Dryvit by any other name is EIFS, or exterior insulating finishing system, and remains one of the most misunderstood materials in real estate.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
The sports nation’s eyes are rarely fixed on the Tennessee Titans. The upcoming season will be the franchise’s 20th year in the state of Tennessee, and except for their Super Bowl run in 1999 and a couple of playoff years where they were the No. 1 seed, the Titans haven’t really commanded the full attention of the football world.
NEWSMAKERS
Benjamin C. Aaron has joined Neal & Harwell, PLC, as an associate.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Mini has rolled out its biggest model ever in the 2016 Cooper Clubman, and although the wagon is a foot longer and nearly 5 inches wider than before, it has retained the sporty handling and character that has made it the British carmaker’s flagship vehicle.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
There can be many reasons that a company’s growth stalls, from competitive pressure to a rising cost of goods to the changing needs of the marketplace.
CAREER CORNER
Resume writing can be one of the most frustrating parts of the job search process.
I SWEAR
When last week’s column ended, I was serving on a jury in a 1985 Pulaski County, Arkansas, Circuit Court case. At issue was a $400 invoice for a brake job on a used car.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The number of electronic federal tax returns filed so far from Tennessee has increased from last year.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee record keepers say the top names for new babies in 2015 remained unchanged.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Defense lawyers on Wednesday continued to try to poke holes into the claim by sportscaster Erin Andrews that two hotel companies should share the blame for a stalker taking nude videos of the TV host and posting them on the Internet.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Amazon.com is introducing two devices designed to amplify the role its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for the first time in two months as global economic anxiety and market turbulence eased.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks declined Thursday morning, with utility companies taking the biggest losses. Oil prices traded lower. The price of oil and the broader market both rose modestly a day earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but their numbers remained low enough to suggest that layoffs are rare and the job market is healthy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A private survey says the growth of U.S. services companies in February slowed to the worst pace in two years, as a measure of hiring turned negative.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity fell in the final three months of 2015 at the sharpest pace in nearly two years, though the decline was not as large as first reported. Labor costs jumped in the fourth quarter at the fastest pace in a year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories increased in January by the most in seven months, while a key category that tracks business investment plans rose by the largest amount in 19 months.
Google is donating $1 million to fight the spread of the Zika virus and help engineers and data scientists determine where it will hit next.
NUIQSUT, Alaska (AP) — Rising from the edgeless, wind-scoured, snow-covered tundra on Alaska's North Slope lies a million-pound drilling rig pulling the first commercial oil from a reserve set aside nearly a century ago.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nashville is set to get a new federal courthouse after funding passed a final hurdle in Washington.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says Donald Trump would need to make major policy changes before he could consider supporting the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Elvis Costello, Marvin Gaye, Tom Petty, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards from CHIC, and Chip Taylor will be the latest inductees to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - The defense is expected to continue to present its case in the civil trial involving Erin Andrews and raise doubts about whether two hotel companies should share the blame after a stalker secretly shot nude videos of the sportscaster.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government calls it a "vicious guard dog" that hurts national security. Apple says it's critical to protecting consumer privacy against increasingly sophisticated hackers.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing modestly higher, led by gains in energy companies as investors hope that the worst may soon be over for the battered sector.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says the economy was expanding in most of the country in January and February, helped by gains in consumer spending and home sales. But there were also rising headwinds from falling oil prices and a strong dollar that held back some sectors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added a healthy 214,000 jobs last month, another sign that the U.S. job market remains resilient despite economic weakness overseas and tumult in financial markets.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sports Authority is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The retailer said Wednesday that it plans to close or sell about 140 stores and two distribution centers, in Denver and Chicago. The Englewood, Colorado, company has 463 stores in 41 states and Puerto Rico. The store closings are expected to take up to three months.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican turnout Tuesday outstripped Democrats by more than 2-to-1 in Tennessee, a show of muscle that encouraged the state's GOP leaders even if they didn't back winner Donald Trump.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee voters supported Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton by large margins, with Clinton doing especially well among older voters and blacks and Trump with voters favoring a non-establishment candidate, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and television networks.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country icon Merle Haggard is in a California hospital for treatment of a recurring bout of double pneumonia.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Sportscaster and TV host Erin Andrews testified Tuesday that her career has thrived since a stalker took nude videos of her and posted them on the Internet, but she doesn't think she'll ever get over the emotional fallout.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal to allow skunks to be kept as pets in Tennessee has fallen short in the state House amid concerns about spreading rabies.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says state officials can't force certain health insurers to turn over reams of data revealing how much they pay for medical claims.
MOUNT JULIET (AP) — The man who pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in a crash that killed a Hermitage doctor has been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. construction spending increased in January by the largest amount in eight months as weakness in homebuilding was offset by a solid rebound in nonresidential activity.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Automakers posted big U.S. sales gains in February as consumers returned to showrooms after a snowy January.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement and technology companies at odds over encryption and other issues of digital privacy need to have an "open dialogue" to try to resolve their differences, Attorney General Loretta Lynch is asserting.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing sharply higher, giving the market its best day in over a month.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two years after a planned deal fell through, Hachette Book Group is purchasing the Perseus Books Group, bringing together two of the country's largest publishers.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Efforts to restrict the number of liquor stores that can be owned in Tennessee drew vocal opposition from a Republican lawmaker Monday, who said it is contrary to GOP principles and suggested that supporters may have been "bought and paid for" by lobbying groups.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The famed Alfred Stieglitz Collection has returned to Nashville's Fisk University.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - When Loretta Lynn was growing up in Butcher Hollow in Kentucky in 1930s, her home in the coal mining community was always filled with music, either from her own voice echoing through the trees or the sound of the Carter Family's songs.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Sportscaster and TV host Erin Andrews took the witness stand Monday, breaking down repeatedly and telling jurors of the devastation she continues to feel after a man secretly shot nude videos of her and posted them on the Internet.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in January, as the recent hot streak appears to have been curbed by a shortage of properties for sale and colder weather.
AUTO INDUSTRY
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett says distracted driving appears to be a growing problem on American roads that contributed to an increase in deaths last year and hurt profits at his company's Geico insurance unit.
TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft says it will start shipping a developer version of its augmented reality device, HoloLens, for $3,000 on March 30.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Late-day selling pushed U.S. stocks to a loss for the day and erased nearly all of the market's gains for the month.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the U.S. economy appears weaker than he thought it would be as recently as last fall, but that doesn't change his optimistic long-term view of the country's prospects.
TOANO, Va. (AP) — Lumber Liquidators swung to a fourth-quarter loss that was more than three times larger than what expected as fallout over the safety of some of its products continues to rattle the embattled flooring manufacturer.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Nashville nonprofit has announced that the city's iconic Musica statue at the Music Row roundabout should soon be surrounded by choreographed water fountains.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - All isn't lost for consumers hoping to buy their first bottle of wine at a Tennessee supermarket on July 1.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Republican-controlled state House gave final approval Thursday to a bill nullifying a local hiring requirement approved by Nashville voters last year, sending the measure to Gov. Bill Haslam's desk.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Eight lawyers have applied to fill an open seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals in the western portion of the state.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A jury on Thursday viewed nude videos that a stalker secretly recorded of sportscaster and TV host Erin Andrews.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Nashville woman is sentenced to serve five years in prison for trying to bribe a shooting victim.
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — There's been a flurry of activity at and around Tennessee since the university was sued over its handling of sexual assault complaints by athletes with news conferences, legal motions, amendments.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Some of the backlash against the state's Achievement School District is rooted in the historical experience of Memphis and the River City's history of highly charged racial dynamics that date back to the 19th century, a new report says.
NASHVILLE (AP) - In an effort to prevent inconsistent punishments, Tennessee Board of Education members are seeking to formalize a teacher disciplinary policy.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Thursday endorsed Marco Rubio for the Republican presidential nomination, hoping to give the Florida senator a boost in the state's Super Tuesday primary next week.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week as anxiety over the global economy persisted. Long-term rates resumed their decline after being unchanged last week following six straight weeks of easing.
TECHNOLOGY
CUPERTINO, California (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook defended his company's opposition to the FBI's iPhone-hacking plan at its annual shareholder meeting, one day after the tech giant formally challenged a court order to help the FBI unlock an encrypted iPhone used by a murderous extremist in San Bernardino, California.
BERLIN (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg conceded Friday that Facebook didn't do enough until recently to police hate speech on the social media site in Germany, but said that it has made progress and has heard the message "loud and clear."
WASHINGTON (AP) — In its first salvo in a court fight that pits digital privacy rights against national security, Apple Inc. asked a federal magistrate to reverse her order forcing the company to help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google will back Apple in its court battle with the FBI over the security of its iPhone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The policy issues raised in the Justice Department's dispute with Apple Inc. over a locked iPhone represent the "hardest question I've seen in government, and it's going to require negotiation and conversation," FBI Director James Comey said Thursday in defending the government's demand for the tech company to help access the device.
NEW YORK (AP) — If you could build your dream smartphone, what would it look like? Now suppose you could put it together yourself.
NEW YORK (AP) — Honeywell is revealing details of its proposed buyout of United Technologies.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — An investigation by Canadian safety regulators into a crash that killed two people touched off a global recall of nearly 2.9 million Toyota SUVs, according to U.S. government documents posted on Thursday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy's slowdown in the final three months of 2015 wasn't quite as bad as initially thought.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended a strong week on a flat note as lower oil prices and utility stocks offset encouraging economic news.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy got a double dose of good news Friday. Economic growth in the final three months of 2015 didn't slow as much as previously estimated, and consumers roared back to life in January, spending at the fastest clip in eight months.
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — Dow Chemical says it will pay $835 million to settle a long-standing class action lawsuit, after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia decreased its chances of prevailing at the Supreme Court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers lost a little confidence this month amid worries that slowing economic growth will hurt the job market, the University of Michigan says.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The deadly shooting rampage in Kalamazoo, Michigan, raises anew a question that has dogged Uber and other taxi competitors: Their rides may be cheaper and more convenient than a cab, but are they as safe?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators are failing to refer serious safety violations involving freight rail shipments of crude oil and other hazardous cargo for criminal prosecution, according to a report Friday by a government watchdog.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — At first, many Americans like the idea of "Medicare for all," a cradle-to-grave government-run health system that's a rallying cry for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is sticking to his new explanation for why he can't release copies of his recent tax returns just yet: The Internal Revenue Service is auditing him, as he says it has for 12 consecutive years.