VOL. 39 | NO. 9 | Friday, February 27, 2015
VIEW FROM THE HILL
Momentum is building this session for voucher legislation that would allow state dollars to follow students from struggling public schools to private and religious institutions.
Legislation by Sen. Lee Harris requiring local governments to hold a referendum before they take on “extraordinary” debt could run into opposition from his own City Council and municipal leaders across Tennessee.
REALTY CHECK
In six weeks or so, the Greater Nashville area will learn what a snowmegeddon can do to area home sales.
REAL ESTATE
Top January 2015 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
NEWSMAKERS
Charles “Chuck” A. Grice has been hired to the Public Finance team of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE – There is a bronze statue of legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt standing proudly across the street from Thompson-Boling Arena.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
For 2015, Volkswagen’s best-selling vehicle, the Jetta compact sedan, builds on its fine road handling character and adds a nicer interior, freshened front and rear styling, new safety features and a more fuel thrifty diesel engine.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
The press release was written with no mistakes, explaining all the virtues of your company’s remarkable product. It was sent to all the newspapers and TV stations, and you even managed to send it to select radio stations and bloggers.
CAREER CORNER
When’s the last time you thought of yourself as a brand? If you were a car, would you be a Ford or a Mercedes? Would you be a SUV or a convertible?
I SWEAR
If there’s one adjective that does not fit “Parenthood,” NBC’s six-season series that shuttered its doors in January, it’s symmetrical. Great show! I hate to see it go. But it was out of balance. Always. And delightfully so.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Fajitas and nachos. These are two of my favorite Mexican dishes, so why not combine them?
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A statewide coalition working to eliminate the use of capital punishment is helping establish a conservative group also against the death penalty.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Enough members of the Tennessee House and Senate have braved the winter storm gripping the state to hold their scheduled floor sessions at the Capitol, but decided to move the balance of their bills to next week because of heavy absences.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Legislation that would make undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition is advancing in the Senate.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) - The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association has canceled girls state basketball tournament games scheduled for Thursday because a winter storm has left hazardous road conditions.
Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman Corp. said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit rose 5 percent, led by strong demand for its pricier American whiskeys and broad sales growth in the U.S. and overseas.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE – Nashville residents should avoid driving if possible today as ice and snow have made driving conditions dangerous.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State University's cooperative extension program is touring the state with its Mobile Biodiesel Education Demonstration trailer.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court argument over subsidies that help millions of people afford their health insurance suggests that the Obama administration has two chances to attract one critical vote.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term mortgage rates have fallen for the first time in four weeks and remain near historic lows reached in May 2013.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday, led by gains for utilities and financial companies. Pharmacyclics, a pharmaceutical company that makes cancer drug Imbruvica, surged after AbbVie said it would acquire the company for $21 billion.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A pet industry trade group says Americans spent $58 billion on their pets in 2014.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio, promoting his message of income equality and empowering the less fortunate, pressed influential New York City business leaders on Thursday to raise their workers' starting pay to $13 an hour.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — European Central Bank head Mario Draghi says the eurozone economy is picking up.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories fell again in January but a key investment category showed a gain.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. worker productivity was even weaker than first thought from October through December while labor costs rose at a faster rate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since May, though the pace of applications remains at a level consistent with steady hiring.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg has enlisted NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and some of the basketball league's other top players to convince more men to join the fight for women's rights at home and at work.
POLK CITY, Fla. (AP) — The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will phase out the show's iconic elephants from its performances by 2018, telling The Associated Press exclusively that growing public concern about how the animals are treated led to the decision.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam says there should be more open conversations about race and that there are means of discussion other than Facebook.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A private group called the Tennessee Task Force on National and Homeland Security is holding a closed-door briefing for lawmakers at the Capitol on Wednesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal to create a school voucher program in Tennessee is advancing in the House.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Library and Archives is offering a free workshop on researching Nashville history.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sharply divided along familiar lines, the Supreme Court took up a politically charged new challenge to President Barack Obama's health overhaul Wednesday in a dispute over the tax subsidies that make insurance affordable for millions of Americans.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Singer Glen Campbell's two oldest children are attempting to wrest control of his medical and financial decisions away from his wife of 32 years, Kim Campbell.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - A group of Tennessee college students wants a federal court to require the state to accept their school identification cards as valid voter identification.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has tentatively approved a $415 million settlement in a major class action lawsuit by Silicon Valley workers who accused Apple Inc., Google Inc. and other tech companies of making an illegal agreement not to hire each other's employees.
AUTO INDUSTRY
GENEVA (AP) — Volkswagen's functional Passat family car may have taken top honors as car of the year at the annual Geneva motor show, but there is no doubt what visitors come to see at this glitzy gathering: high-end supercars.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — In Europe, SUV now stands for: Shrinking Utility Vehicle.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks sank Wednesday, pulling indexes further below record highs hit earlier in the week. The drop was modest but broad: nine of the 10 sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost ground.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy was growing at a moderate pace through mid-February despite severe winter storms that had disrupted activity in some regions, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson expects the price of oil to remain low over the next two years because of ample global supplies and relatively weak economic growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. services firms' activity rose at a slightly faster rate in February, powered by hotels, restaurants and wholesalers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added more than 200,000 jobs in February for the 13th straight month, a private survey found. It was the latest sign that strong hiring should boost the economy this year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — From the United States to Asia to Europe, a global economy that many had feared was faltering appears poised for a resurgence on the strength of cheap oil and falling interest rates.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday failed to override President Barack Obama's veto of a bill to construct the Keystone XL pipeline, the first of many confrontations between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House this year over energy policy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Senate Wednesday voted to kill a National Labor Relations Board rule reducing the time between a union's request for representation and a vote by workers on it.
TUESDAY, MARCH 3
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Even former vice presidents get called for jury duty.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Several potential Republican candidates for president are scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Nashville in April.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Corrections Corporation of America could not be sued anywhere in Tennessee except for the county where the private prison targeted by the lawsuit is operated, under a bill filed in the state legislature.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Federal Communication Commission ruled last week that cities like Chattanooga may expand their municipal broadband service, but Tennessee officials who oppose the decision are lining up to block the move.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A committee has been formed to develop lesson plans and teaching aids based on information contained in the Tennessee Blue Book.
MIDSTATE
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers have peppered city officials and company executives with questions about the quality of health care at Rikers Island jails.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Freezing temperatures and drifts of snow took a small bite out of U.S. auto sales in February, but most automakers still reported gains thanks to the strong economy.
GENEVA (AP) — Top automakers are vowing not to give up on weak-selling electric vehicles — even as they unveil an array of powerful luxury cars with conventional engines aimed at a growing global market.
GENEVA (AP) — The CEO of Volkswagen AG is staying with his cautious outlook for this year, saying it's a "balanced statement" based on growth in the U.S., Europe and China versus trouble spots such as Russia and Brazil.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — High-end smartphones from Samsung and HTC have gotten much of the attention at this week's wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, but cheaper options are coming from Microsoft, Lenovo and others too. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook are working on giving people more ways to use those devices.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — BlackBerry will launch four new smartphones this year and a new package of cross-platform applications as it continues its "philosophical" shift to making software.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's central banks are injecting a new complication into the Federal Reserve's decision on when to raise interest rates from record lows:
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. has so much crude that it is running out of places to put it, and that could drive oil and gasoline prices even lower in the coming months.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell from record highs on Tuesday and the Nasdaq dropped below 5,000 a day after passing that milestone for the first time since the dot-com era 15 years ago.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans controlling the Senate have moved to try to reverse a new National Labor Relations Board rule that would shorten the time between a union's request for representation and the vote on whether to certify a union.
MONDAY, MARCH 2
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus is continuing a call for action to be taken against a Republican state lawmaker they say made a racist Facebook post.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee regulators expect 270 stores across the state to be among the first wave of supermarkets to sell wine under a new state law going into effect in July 2016.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A new task force will review student testing and assessment amid concerns that students are being overtested, the state Education Department announced Monday.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - A state agency that defends death row inmates is being criticized for using taxpayer dollars to pay for a legal battle that seeks information on the drugs and people involved in executions while also challenging a law that says electrocution can be used as an alternative to lethal injection.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Grand Ole Opry House has been honored with a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its impact on popular culture and the entertainment industry.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For its next technological trick, Google will show you what it's like to zip through trees in the Amazon jungle.
TECHNOLOGY
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Sci-fi solutions or making friends one at a time? Google and Facebook are taking different routes to expanding Internet use and access among the unconnected in developing countries.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Google will soon be offering cellular network plans in a bid to bridge the gap between the realms of Internet services and mobile device software it dominates.
NEW YORK (AP) — Samsung, locked in a tight race with Apple to be the world's biggest smartphone maker, has unveiled an important new phone that ditches its signature plastic design for more stylish metal and glass.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. construction spending fell in January, reflecting weakness in spending on office buildings and other nonresidential projects and in government activity.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — As Florida's housing market tanked seven years ago, construction worker David Rager saw jobs dry up. So he left construction, along with 2.3 million others nationwide during the economic downturn, and got a job installing traffic signals and street lights.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Nasdaq composite closed above 5,000 for the first time since its dot-com era peak nearly 15 years ago after merger news and an encouraging economic report helped push U.S. stocks broadly higher on Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — The last time the Nasdaq was this high, Bill Clinton was president, your Internet was probably still dial-up, Microsoft dominated the tech world and the iPod, iPhone and iPad didn't exist.
NEW YORK (AP) — Costco says it struck a deal for Citi to be the exclusive issuer of its co-branded credit cards, with Visa replacing American Express as the card network.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. factories expanded last month at their weakest pace in a year, with orders, hiring and production all growing more slowly.
NEW YORK (AP) — The world's richest person got even richer this year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending fell for a second consecutive month in January, weakness that was expected to be temporary. Income rose, reflecting strong job gains during the month.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett won't end speculation about his eventual successor, but he reiterated that Berkshire Hathaway's board has a plan in place.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' dysfunction isn't limited to the struggle to keep a Cabinet department running without interruption.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee public television stations are airing a new show about the happenings in the state Legislature.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Some Republican lawmakers still reveling in the recent defeat of a proposal to expand Medicaid coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans are now setting their sights on 230,000 people enrolled through the federal health insurance exchange.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey said Thursday that it may have been "a mistake" for Tennessee to subsidize the development of the General Motors plant outside Nashville because it has a United Auto Workers union contract.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus on Thursday called on Republican Rep. Sheila Butt to apologize for what they said was a racist Facebook post, and said she should be removed from her leadership position.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee exported $33 billion worth of goods and services last year — a record amount for the fifth year in a row.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee is kicking off a steady stream of visits from potential Republican presidential candidates.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The director of the Tennessee Literacy Coalition says the nonprofit organization that has promoted reading education for over three decades will close this year.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans signing contracts to buy homes rose at a healthy pace in January, a sign that home sales are poised to accelerate after a slow start to the year.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen says after-tax profits rose 21 percent for last year, to 11.1 billion euros ($12.4 billion).
DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is adding more than 467,000 Dodge and Jeep SUVs worldwide to a recall from last year to fix a potential stalling problem.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Even if it never wins another award, "House of Cards" already ranks among the most influential series in television history.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Netflix, Twitter and Internet activists have won. Big cable has lost. At least until the federal courts get involved, when everything could change. Five things you need to know about the Federal Communications Commission's vote Thursday to enforce "net neutrality" rules for the broadband industry:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Internet activists declared victory over the nation's big cable companies Thursday, after the Federal Communications Commission voted to impose the toughest rules yet on broadband service to prevent companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from creating paid fast lanes and slowing or blocking web traffic.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission says city-owned broadband companies can expand and compete with commercial Internet providers.
HEALTH CARE
CHICAGO (AP) — Millions of Americans have a big personal stake in next Wednesday's Supreme Court challenge to the nation's health care law: Can they legally continue to get subsidies to help pay for their insurance? If the court says no, people across more than 30 states could lose federal subsidies for their premiums.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
February proved to be a strong month for U.S. stocks, even though it ended in downbeat fashion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Harsh winter weather left U.S. consumers feeling a bit less confident this month, the University of Michigan says. But confidence levels still remain at the highest level in eight years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy slowed more sharply in the final three months of the year than initial estimates, reflecting weaker business stockpiling and a bigger trade deficit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the ever-complicated debate over labeling of genetically modified foods, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack offers this idea: Use your smartphone.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders eager to avert a partial government shutdown are getting heat from conservative colleagues who ask what the fuss is all about.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Loretta Lynch won approval from a key Senate committee Thursday to serve as the nation's next attorney general, as divided Republicans clashed over her support for President Barack Obama's immigration policies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two days before a partial agency shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner repeatedly refused Thursday to say if the House will vote on pending Senate legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security without challenging President Barack Obama's immigration policy.