VOL. 40 | NO. 10 | Friday, March 4, 2016
J.T. Ellison’s rise to best-selling author, new co-host of ‘A Word on Words’
When President George H.W. Bush lost the White House, J.T. Ellison was out of a job, too. Her stint in high-level politics over, she moved to Nashville with her husband. Having injured her back and with no job, she spent most of her time at the public library.
Nashville Public Television announced at the end of last year that the station was re-launching its book series “A Word on Words.’’
While author J.T. Ellison’s career has skyrocketed, she has remained true to her Nashville ties as friend, mentor and literary activist.
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Legislation to expand broadband access across Tennessee is evolving – by necessity. State Rep. Kevin Brooks’ bill HB1303 to allow public utilities to provide Internet service outside their footprint is alive, he says, but it is being “argued vehemently.”
LEGISLATIVE PROFILE
State Sen. Becky Duncan Massey points proudly to a picture of her father on Air Force One with President Ronald Reagan when he visited Athens, Tennessee, in 1985.
REAL ESTATE
After 37 years in the real estate business, I have decided to form a band, perhaps rock ’n’ roll, maybe hip-hop.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
Have the Tennessee Titans picked a bad year to be bad? It depends upon how you view things.
NEWSMAKERS
Change Healthcare, a provider of software and analytics, network solutions and technology-enabled services designed to enable smarter health care, has hired Keith Roberts as vice president of engagement solutions.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The 2016 Sonata Hybrid, Hyundai’s only gasoline-electric offering, is a roomy sedan with improved fuel economy, value pricing and the longest warranty coverage in the industry.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
If you don’t bend, you’ll break. We’ve all heard that saying before, but it’s increasingly true for sales teams.
CAREER CORNER
Have you heard the rumor? Everything important about your career is listed within the pages of your resume.
I SWEAR
In late 2005, the world – including Tennessee and Arkansas – was told that Mother Earth had lost a moment or so, notwithstanding the hectic pace we’d been on for a decade. The solution was to add a “leap second” to the intangible timepiece maintained by cosmic forces.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says he opposes an effort to make it a crime to speak on handheld phones while driving in Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A major bottleneck at the entrances to Tennessee's legislative office complex is being eliminated this week.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A proposal to impose limits on how many liquor stores can be owned in Tennessee has been sent back to a House subcommittee.
NASHVILLE AREA
GOODLETTSVILLE (AP) — Dollar General Corp. (DG) on Thursday reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $376.2 million.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee has been awarded a $100,000 grant for a sweet potato "rescue."
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Honda has rolled out a new fuel cell vehicle, the first of its kind to be a five-seater. The zero-emissions Clarity may not sell in big numbers, however, given its price tag of 7.66 million yen ($67,000).
BEIJING (AP) — China's auto sales growth decelerated to 5.1 percent in January and February as demand for lower-priced domestic brand SUVs soared but sedan purchases contracted, an industry group reported Thursday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for only the second time this year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid fell last week to the lowest level since October, evidence that employers are confident enough in the economy to hold onto their staffs.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are moving lower as investors look over a mixed bag of corporate earnings reports.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee attorney general on Wednesday declined in a committee meeting to give lawmakers details about his investigation into sexual harassment allegations against state Rep. Jeremy Durham, saying any public discussion could put the probe "in peril."
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday lauded a Senate committee for defeating a proposal to get rid of Tennessee's requirement to obtain a state-issued permit to carry handguns in public.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A perennial proposal to get rid of Tennessee's requirement to obtain state-issued permit to carry handguns in public has failed in a Senate committee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A House committee that two weeks ago voted to reject a proposed cap on liquor store ownership in Tennessee reversed course on Tuesday and placed the limits back into the bill headed for a floor vote.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee attorney general's opinion says a 2015 law that bars some immigrants from obtaining a beer license is likely unconstitutional.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Franklin businessman has pleaded guilty to a multimillion dollar investment scheme that cheated dozens of people out of money.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Just because a jury awarded Erin Andrews $55 million doesn't mean the sportscaster and TV host can collect.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed a judge to fill the vacancy in Shelby County circuit court created when D'Army Bailey died.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Vanderbilt University graduate student stabbed to death in Israel during a school trip was exploring what to do with his life as a civilian after graduating from West Point and serving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Volkswagen's top U.S. executive is stepping down amid the company's ongoing emissions cheating scandal, the company announced Wednesday.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German luxury carmaker BMW AG has reported record profit of 6.0 billion euros ($6.6 billion) for last year, a 10 percent increase.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose on the seventh anniversary of the bull market on Wednesday as crude oil resumed its climb from a 13-year low.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale businesses increased their stockpiles by the largest amount in five months, but their sales fell for the sixth time in the past seven months.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tax-filing season is turning into a nightmare for thousands of employees whose companies have been duped by email fraudsters. A major phishing scheme has tricked several major companies — among them, the messaging service Snapchat and disk-drive maker Seagate Technology — into relinquishing tax documents that exposed their workers' incomes, addresses and Social Security numbers.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In three consecutive years, Donald Trump has received a property tax credit for people with incomes of less $500,000.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump's easy victories in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii left his rivals with shrinking opportunities to slow his momentum in the Republican primaries and little indication that intense efforts to undermine his credibility are pushing voters away from the brash billionaire.
TUESDAY, MARCH 8
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration on Tuesday unveiled its "business justification" for a proposal to outsource building maintenance at state colleges and universities.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The state House has passed a bill to create a $50 fine for driving slow in the fast lane on major highways in Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Highway Patrol is accepting applications for its first class of cadets made up of people with law enforcement training and experience.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many people who went without health insurance last year are now seeing fines more than double under President Barack Obama's health care law, tax preparation company H&R Block said Tuesday.
REAL ESTATE
NEW YORK (AP) — In the American imagination, suburbs are places to buy a house and put down roots. But a growing percentage of suburbanites rent, according to a new study.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — The head of Volkswagen's employee council said Tuesday he hopes that American authorities will consider the potential fallout on jobs in the U.S. and beyond as they mull what fines to impose on the company over its emissions-rigging scandal.
BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors now have 17 people under investigation in a probe of suspected fraud connected to Volkswagen's emissions-rigging scandal.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell broadly on Tuesday as investors around the world fled risky bets on worrisome trade data out of China and a slump in the price of crude oil.
MOSCOW (AP) — Maria Sharapova, the world's highest-earning female athlete for many years, was abandoned Tuesday by some of her biggest sponsors after the Russian tennis star acknowledged taking a recently banned substance for a decade.
MONDAY, MARCH 7
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A fatal school bus crash in Knoxville has inspired Tennessee lawmakers to seek tougher penalties for drivers using electronic devices.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee's "temporary" tax used to pay for roadside cleanup would extend into its fourth decade under a bill advancing in the state Legislature.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Senate has unanimously passed a bill seeking to establish minimum signage requirements for Tennessee business owners who want to ban customers from carrying firearms inside their establishments.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two Tennessee residents are suing the nation's largest diesel retailer over holds placed on their credit cards when they swiped at the pump, but an industry representative says the banks are really to blame.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A jury awarded Erin Andrews $55 million in her lawsuit against a stalker who bought a hotel room next to her and secretly recorded a nude video, finding that the hotel companies and the stalker shared in the blame.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing mostly higher on Wall Street as another jump in the price of crude oil brought energy companies back in favor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said Monday that inflation in the U.S. may be starting to tick up from too-low levels, a key condition for further interest rate hikes.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of gasoline has jumped by 7 cents over the past two weeks, to $1.84 a gallon.
The bulk of business economists expect the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year but their views on the Fed's policy stance are divided.
NEW YORK (AP) — Since returning to the financial information company that bears his name, Michael Bloomberg has presided over two years of robust expansion andrecord revenue, all while laying the groundwork for his second departure — whether that's to retirement in 10 years or a presidential campaign in 10 days.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Average Wall Street bonuses were down 9 percent last year to $146,200 as industry profits declined, New York's comptroller reported Monday.
STATEWIDE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Chattanooga officials are making a push to train more people for jobs that are expected to be coming to the city.
FRIDAY, MARCH 4
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker may have refused to make an endorsement in the presidential nomination race, but he's not holding back in embracing the anger of Republican voters.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - A jury could soon begin deliberating on whether two hotel companies and a convicted stalker should be forced to pay sportscaster Erin Andrews millions of dollars.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged Rhode Island's economic development agency and Wells Fargo with defrauding investors for the state's disastrous $75 million deal with 38 Studios, the failed video game company started by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee lawmakers are moving toward assigning letter grades to public schools.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The nation's leading tech companies joined security experts, independent programmers and civil liberties advocates who filed court papers backing Apple in its fight with the FBI over an encrypted iPhone used by an extremist killer.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government is investigating complaints that the brakes can fail on Ford's F-150 pickup truck, one of the most popular vehicles in the nation.
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) — A modest gain for stocks extended a winning streak into a fourth day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A robust February jobs report showcased a resilient U.S. economy just as fears of a new recession had begun to surface.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit rose in January as American exports fell for a fourth straight month.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — AMC Entertainment is acquiring rival Carmike Cinemas to create the world's largest movie theater chain.
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) — 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.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's evolving ideas on health care do not amount to a full plan, and some proposals could mean new political and policy dilemmas for the Republican presidential front-runner and his party.