VOL. 42 | NO. 13 | Friday, March 30, 2018
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Using the shoe polish-stained, time-worn shine box his grandfather made in 1914, the Music City Shoe Shine Man works a sheen from the “Pink Elephant” auto lot exec’s shoes.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Spring break presents problems for real estate on several levels. Many parents pack the children and leave town, while others must deal with children who are no longer in school and running about the house.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales,February 2018, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates moved little this week after a months-long stretch of increases.
PREDATORS
A rare recent losing streak may have slowed the Predators’ momentum, but it hasn’t overshadowed what has been the franchise’s best regular season to date. Through most of this milestone-filled season, the Preds have rattled off one accomplishment after another, seemingly writing a new piece of franchise history every few games.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators are having their best season yet — and are nowhere near satisfied.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed forward Eeli Tolvanen of Finland, the 30th pick overall last year, to an entry-level contract, adding the talented 18-year-old to a roster already sitting atop the NHL.
NEWSMAKERS
The law firm of Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella, PC, has selected Tyler Chance Yarbro as managing partner of the firm.
BRIEFS
Dorman Products, an automotive parts manufacturer, will invest more than $55 million to expand operations in Robertson County.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Full-size trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-150 are hugely popular. But not everyone needs that much capability from a new pickup.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
One of the most cost-effective strategies for driving web traffic and generating online leads is email marketing. Unfortunately, most small and mid-sized companies have an email database filled mostly of current clients, business partners and other friends of the firm.
CAREER CORNER
Who wouldn’t like to make more money? If you’ve read my column before, you probably know that I’m an advocate of changing companies every three to five years for many industries. On top of gaining extra experience, switching has the potential to bump up your pay considerably.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A resolution that would change the Tennessee Constitution to say that God is the source of liberty for the state's citizens is gaining momentum.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are heading into their 20th season with that nickname sporting a new look that wound up more of an update featuring some subtle changes.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, benefiting potential homebuyers with the spring buying season underway.
HEALTH CARE
A new report shows large employers spent $2.6 billion to treat opioid addiction and overdoses in 2016, an eightfold increase since 2004. More than half went to treat employees' children.
AUTO INDUSTRY
MILAN (AP) — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has announced it will spin off the Magneti Marelli components business as part of its five-year plan to be announced in June.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. are rising Thursday morning and major indexes in Europe are jumping as global markets continue a rally that began late the previous day. Wall Street is getting more optimistic that a trade dispute between the U.S. and China, the two largest economies in the world, will be resolved without too much pain. Some of the biggest gains are going to technology companies, retailers and banks.
BERLIN (AP) — A U.N.-backed report shows more money was invested in solar energy last year than in any other power source, with China responsible for much of the boom.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit rose for the sixth straight month in February, reaching the highest level since October 2008 and defying President Donald Trump's efforts to rebalance America's lopsided trade with the rest of the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than a year, Wall Street has largely ignored the unpredictability and chaos that has plagued Donald Trump's administration, confident that the businessman-turned-president's policies would juice the economy and that a team of mainstream advisers would keep more controversial proposals at bay.
NEW YORK (AP) — Like a good thriller, you can't be sure where the stock market is headed these days until the very end.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a marked change in tone, the White House says President Donald Trump is not OK with recent revelations involving the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is off, way off, on the U.S. trade deficit with China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Asserting the situation had reached "a point of crisis," President Donald Trump signed a proclamation directing the deployment of the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4
STATE GOVERNMENT
After nearly 40 years of public service, state Sen. Thelma Harper has announced she would is not seeking re-election to the 19th Senatorial District.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill backed by Gov. Bill Haslam that would reshape the University of Tennessee's board of trustees has passed.
NASHVILLE (AP) — An effort by Democratic lawmakers to ban bump stocks in Tennessee has failed.
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman from Tennessee may have improperly converted more than $100,000 from his campaign committee and leadership political action committee into personal use over the past decade, according to an independent ethics office that asked the House Ethics Committee to review the matter.
SPORTS
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Panthers coach Bob Boughner went from hopeful to desolate to elated in a matter of seconds.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Overtime pay for police in Tennessee's capital city has risen roughly $3 million in recent years and nearly all of the increase can be attributed to on-duty officers working security at special events often run by private organizers, including games of the NFL's Tennessee Titans and minor league baseball's Nashville Sounds.
HEALTH CARE
WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) — CVS Health is now planning to treat kidney failure patients, as the national drugstore chain continues to branch deeper into monitoring and providing care.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook revealed Wednesday that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought and said it will restrict the user data that outsiders can access.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook's new privacy policy aims to explain the data it gathers on users more clearly — but doesn't actually change what it collects and shares.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before a House oversight panel on April 11 amid a privacy scandal that has roiled the social media giant, the panel announced Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — After an early jolt, stocks rallied and finished higher Wednesday as investors bet that back-and-forth tariff threats between the U.S. and China won't blossom into a bigger dispute that damages global commerce.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's two biggest economies stand at the edge of the most perilous trade conflict since World War II. Yet there's still time to pull back from the brink.
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow is suggesting that proposed tariffs on Chinese imports may not ultimately go into effect.
BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. services firms expanded at a slower clip in March compared to the prior month, but growth levels still appear to be solid.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China says it has made a "request for consultations" at the World Trade Organization in response to U.S. tariffs against Chinese products.
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday issued a $50 billion list of U.S. goods including soybeans and small aircraft for possible tariff hikes in an escalating and potentially damaging technology dispute with Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies hired 241,000 new workers in March, a solid total that suggests the already-low unemployment rate may be headed lower in the coming months.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The small island-nation of Bahrain says its largest ever discovery of oil amounts to an estimated 80 billion barrels.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe's economic recovery is rolling ahead, driving down unemployment to the lowest in nearly a decade. But lagging inflation means the European Central Bank will be in no hurry to end its stimulus efforts.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, annoyed by the lack of progress on fulfilling the signature promise of his campaign, said he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his "big, beautiful wall" is erected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is pointing to a 50 percent job approval rating that may not fully comport with reality.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — One of the lead sponsors of a medical marijuana bill in Tennessee has withdrawn the measure after telling lawmakers that the legislation has been so watered down that passing it would actually be more harmful, especially to patients.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Legislature has passed a bill that would make it easier for domestic violence victims to get off the cellphone plans of their abusers and have rights transferred to themselves.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University will host a panel discussion on sex trafficking this week.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed goaltender Niclas Westerholm to a three-year, entry-level contract that begins in 2018.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Titans offensive lineman Quinton Spain has signed his restricted free-agent tender, a move that enables the Titans to keep their starting left guard from last season.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with linebacker Will Compton, who spent the last five seasons with the Washington Redskins.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Seventeen states, the District of Columbia and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying the addition of a citizenship demand to the census questionnaire is unconstitutional.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto sales grew 6.3 percent in March on rising sales of SUVs and pickup trucks.
DETROIT (AP) — Electric car maker Tesla Inc. increased production of its Model 3 mass-market car in the first quarter but still fell far short of the numbers it promised last summer.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors says it will stop reporting its sales figures every month and instead will post the numbers each quarter.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is asking users whether they think it's "good for the world" in a poll sent to an unspecified number of people.
NEW YORK (AP) — The gay dating app Grindr has acknowledged sharing its users' HIV status with two companies.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Banks, retailers, health care and energy companies climbed Tuesday as U.S. stocks regained much of what they lost in a steep drop a day earlier. Several big technology companies including Apple also recovered.
DALLAS (AP) — One of the designers of a massive Kansas water park slide that decapitated a 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Texas, federal authorities said Tuesday.
LONDON (AP) — Sky News could be sold to Walt Disney or completely ring-fenced in concessions put forward Tuesday by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox as it seeks to bolster its chances of taking full control of the U.K. satellite broadcaster Sky.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Spotify picked up more fans on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors gave the unprofitable company a warm welcome in its stock market debut.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Republicans run into a buzz saw of conservative criticism over a deficit-expanding new budget, GOP leaders and the White House are looking for ways to undo the damage by allowing President Donald Trump to rescind some of the spending he signed into law just 10 days ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials said they're crafting a new legislative package aimed at closing immigration "loopholes" after the president called on Republican lawmakers to immediately pass a border bill using the "Nuclear Option if necessary" to muscle it through.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is starting the day with tweets criticizing broadcast news media as "fakers."
MONDAY, APRIL 2
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed forward Tanner Jeannot to a three-year, entry-level contract that begins in the 2018-19 season.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Filip Forsbeg came up big for the Nashville Predators in his return after sitting out a game.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Spending on U.S. construction projects ticked up a mere 0.1 percent in February from the prior month, a sign that a growing economy is doing little to spur a more rapid pace for building homes, hospitals and highways.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that car dealerships' service advisers, like car salesmen and mechanics, are exempt under federal law from overtime pay requirements.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Environmental regulators announced on Monday they will ease emissions standards for cars and trucks, saying that a timeline put in place by President Obama was not appropriate and set standards "too high."
NEW YORK (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is "unhappy" about Tesla's decision to release information in a fatal crash investigation involving its Autopilot system.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks tumbled Monday after China raised import duties on a number of U.S. exports, bringing the two economic giants closer to a full-on trade conflict. Big technology companies, long investor favorites, suffered heavy losses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — First, the United States imposed a tax on Chinese steel and aluminum. Then, China counterpunched Monday with tariffs on a host of U.S. products, including apples, pork and ginseng.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers say they expanded at a slower pace in March, with many factories saying they're having a tough time getting supplies in order to meet demand from customers.
BEIJING (AP) — China raised import duties on a $3 billion list of U.S. pork, apples and other products Monday in an escalating dispute with Washington over trade and industrial policy.
BOSTON (AP) — Jonathan Garland's fascination with architecture started early: He spent much of his childhood designing Lego houses and gazing at Boston buildings on rides with his father away from their largely minority neighborhood.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump continued to rage over immigration Monday, calling on Congress to pass border legislation using the "Nuclear Option if necessary."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is hitting back at former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin for claiming that he was fired from his job and that he was only informed about it shortly before President Donald Trump tweeted about his replacement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is trumpeting the start of his U.S.-Mexico border wall, but no new work on it is underway. Photos he sent with his tweet last week showed the continuation of an old project to replace 2 miles of existing barrier.
FRIDAY, MARCH 30
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has a new name.
REGION
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The $17.7 million the Tennessee Valley Authority spent on two corporate planes was not justified, an internal audit said.
SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee forward Admiral Schofield has decided to enter his name into the NBA draft without hiring an agent, which gives him the option to return for his senior season.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Grammy Award-winning songwriter Kenny O'Dell has died. O'Dell was 73.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Republican-led state House has narrowly approved a bill that would reshape the University of Tennessee's board of trustees.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The federal Medicaid leader has declined to say whether imposing work requirements on certain beneficiaries is better suited for states that expanded Medicaid than those that didn't, saying her agency is assessing state proposals case-by-case.
HEALTH CARE
Walmart may be looking to dive deeper into the rapidly evolving health care market by acquiring the insurer Humana, according to The Wall Street Journal.
COURTS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Coffee sellers in California should have to post warnings because the brew may contain an ingredient that's been linked to cancer, a judge has ruled.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by Exxon Mobil aimed at stopping an investigation by New York and Massachusetts officials into whether the oil giant misled investors and the public about its knowledge of climate change and how the issue could affect its business.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The Trump administration is expected to announce soon that it will roll back automobile gas mileage and pollution standards that were a pillar in the Obama administration's plans to combat climate change.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it is making progress weeding out fake accounts and fake news on its service. The moves are aimed at preventing election interference ahead of the U.S. midterms.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook's decision to stop working with third-party data collectors might earn it public-relations points, but it does little to protect your privacy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Shares rose in Asia on Friday after technology and consumer-focused stocks led an overnight rally on Wall Street, marking a dramatic end to the market's most volatile quarter in more than two years. Most world markets were closed for Good Friday.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Corn has been dethroned as the king of crops as farmers reported Thursday they intend to plant more soybeans than corn for the first time in 35 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its annual prospective planting report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increased their spending just 0.2 percent in February, while their incomes were boosted by increased wages and business owners' income.
NEW YORK (AP) — British bank Barclays became the latest big bank to reach a multi-billion dollar settlement with U.S. authorities over its role in the subprime mortgage bubble and subsequent financial crisis. But in a rare and notable move, U.S. authorities went further to fine two individual bankers as part of their alleged role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump took another shot at Amazon.com Thursday, tweeting that the online retailer pays "little or no taxes" and that it uses the U.S. Postal Service as "their Delivery Boy."
NEW YORK (AP) — In Andrea Bright's home, Kleenex tissues, Charmin toilet paper and Glad trash bags have all been replaced by one brand: Prince & Spring.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Climate scientists say an internal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency memo on how officials should talk to the public about global warming doesn't reflect reality.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is blaming his sudden ouster from the Trump administration on "political forces" that he says are bent on privatizing the agency and putting "companies with profits" over the care of veterans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attempting a policy reset, President Donald Trump will push for upgrades to the nation's aging roads and bridges Thursday in his first public appearance since an adult-film actress claimed on national TV that they had sex months after his wife gave birth to his fifth child.