VOL. 37 | NO. 16 | Friday, April 19, 2013
Pop-up restaurants have become a serious player in Nashville’s food scene. But if you want a taste, you’ll have to be quick.
Chef Sarah Gavigan has popped up often enough to know that in Nashville, at least, pop-up restaurants have found a foothold with foodies.
The first time New York Times writer Kim Severson wrote about the Nashville food scene last June, she got as much heat for using the term “hipster” as she did praise for her focus on Nashville’s food trends.
She may have graduated quietly from Tennessee State University in 1974, but Glenda Baskin Glover, Ph.D, CPA, JD, has created quite a buzz by coming “home” with excitement and determination as its newly appointed president.
LEGISLATIVE PROFILE
As a freshman lawmaker, state Sen. Steven Dickerson (R-Nashville) says he spent his first legislative session “pretty-tightly circumscribed.”
REALTY CHECK
In the movie “Terms of Endearment,” Shirley MacLaine played the mother of a character played by Debra Winger, who is diagnosed with cancer.
REAL ESTATE
Top March 2013 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
NEWSMAKERS
Jill Kinch, MSN, APN, advanced practice nurse team manager for Perioperative and Procedural Services at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, has been appointed president of the Tennessee Nurses Association (TNA).
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Business is a little off.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
We naturally navigate to those with interesting personalities in real life, and so it stands to reason that the same holds true in the digital world. Why, then, do so many brands come across as cold and completely void of personality when communicating through social media?
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
As the S&P 500 continued to set new highs last week, Washington returned to the forefront as Pres. Barack Obama released his fiscal year 2014 budget.
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
This weekend I took the time to reread Robert K. Greenleaf’s essay titled “The Servant as a Leader.” I thought some of the ideas in the essay were worth sharing with you.
I SWEAR
Henry Chu of the Los Angeles Times reported in late March that “To grammarians’ delight, officials in southwest England who had considered expunging apostrophes from street signs threw out the idea … and vowed to follow the rules of proper English.” Ha! Good luck with that!
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
I haven't written a food quiz in quite a while, and after the prompting of some of my readers, I figured I’d better get to cooking. See how many of the questions you can answer correctly. Good luck.
MIDSTATE
SMYRNA (AP) - Nissan officials say an employee of a supplier died in a fatal accident at its vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna.
MURFREESBORO (AP) — The Rutherford County teachers group has filed a formal complaint over the way the state now allows bargaining over pay.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The website for the Southern Baptist Convention is blocked on some military installations.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A judge in northeast Tennessee is dismissing a $750,000 libel lawsuit against state Republican Sen. Stacey Campfield for publishing false information online about a Democratic candidate for the state House in 2008.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has signed legislation that clears the way for cities to begin forming municipal school systems.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A measure that allows any photo identification issued by the state of Tennessee or United States to be used for voting has been signed by the governor.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee attorney general has entered a settlement with a Nashville man whose company claimed a medical device could treat or cure serious medical conditions such as fungal meningitis and Lyme disease.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell closer this week to their historic lows, increasing the affordability of buying homes and refinancing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to a seasonally adjusted 339,000, the second-lowest level in more than five years. The decline suggests hiring is improving from last month's sluggish pace.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confidence in the U.S. job market has rebounded to roughly a normal level from its record low after the Great Recession, a trend that could help boost the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks moved higher Thursday after claims for unemployment benefits fell and name-brand companies like Royal Caribbean and Harley-Davidson reported healthy profits.
NEW YORK (AP) — Trading on the biggest exchange for financial options resumed Thursday following an outage caused by software problems.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose above $92 a barrel for the first time in two weeks Thursday, as the latest data on U.S. unemployment claims suggested job growth may pick up from last month's sluggish pace.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says that an independent audit found its privacy practices sufficient during a six-month assessment period that was part of a settlement with federal regulators.
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Taped to a wall at the entrance to the Connecticut Film Center in Stamford is this greeting: "Welcome (back) to Pine Valley."
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — You don't see this very often: a majority of Senate Republicans voting to make people who buy stuff on the Internet pay state and local sales taxes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberals' loud objections to White House proposals for slowing the growth of huge social programs make it clear that neither political party puts a high priority on reducing the deficit, despite much talk to the contrary.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - The bassist for the rock band 3 Doors Down has checked himself into a drug treatment facility after bonding out of jail, the musician's lawyer said Wednesday.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee's Haslam family is furiously trying to control the damage following a federal investigation into the family business that could threaten to unravel decades of growing wealth and influence that spans business, sports and politics in the state and beyond.
NASHVILLE AREA
As a precautionary measure following the Boston Marathon bombings, the Postal Inspection Service, will block access to collection boxes along the Country Music Marathon route this weekend.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The head of Italian automaker Fiat is considering a plan to hold a public stock offering after the company buys 100 percent of Chrysler, according to a person briefed on the matter.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors said Wednesday that the battery-powered version of its Chevrolet Spark mini-car can travel up to 82 miles on a single charge, putting it among the leaders in mass-market electric vehicles sold in the U.S.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota held onto its status as the world's top-selling automaker in the first quarter of this year, although the three-way race with General Motors and Volkswagen is proving tight, as its sales fall in China and Japan.
BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen AG reaffirmed its full-year earnings outlook Wednesday even after it reported a 38 percent fall in first-quarter profit as sagging demand in Europe weighed on revenues.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford Motor Co. reported a better-than-expected $1.6 billion profit in the first quarter as growing demand in the U.S. and China for its new vehicles helped overcome steep losses in Europe and South America.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have put off a vote on legislation to rescue a main feature of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul — affordable coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions — after it ran into strong opposition from both conservatives and Democrats.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — WellPoint Inc.'s first-quarter earnings rose about 3 percent, as the nation's second largest health insurer saw a revenue gain from an acquisition. It also raised its 2013 net income forecast.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods fell in March by the most in seven months. The drop reflected a steep decline in commercial aircraft demand and little growth in orders that signal future business investment.
NEW YORK (AP) — Disappointing quarterly results, including a subscriber slump at AT&T and a weak profit forecast from Procter & Gamble, held back the stock market Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil had its biggest daily gain since December, as oil supplies rose less than expected in the U.S. and speculation grew that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates.
Boeing is aiming to begin delivering 787s again in early May.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pro-business legislation aimed at helping companies fend off sophisticated foreign hackers sailed through the House on Thursday despite a White House veto threat and an outcry from privacy advocates and civil liberties groups that say it leaves Americans vulnerable to spying by the military.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Democrat says the advertising industry is ignoring consumers' requests not to be tracked online and that it's probably time for federal regulation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House now says it's willing to consider legislation that would give the administration the budget-cutting flexibility to avoid furloughs of air traffic controllers.
TUESDAY, APRIL 23
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - The bassist for rock band 3 Doors Down is out of jail after a fatal interstate crash in Nashville.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson will deliver the spring commencement address at Tennessee State University in Nashville on May 11.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A proposal to freeze the state's beer tax has been signed by the governor.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Legislation to bar public universities and colleges from implementing nondiscrimination policies for student groups has been signed by the governor.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A proposal to eliminate hotel allowances for some Tennessee lawmakers has been signed by the governor.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Humane Society of the United States is airing television commercials that urge Gov. Bill Haslam to veto an animal abuse bill.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) - Ken Paulson, former editor at USA Today and CEO of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, has been selected as the next dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University.
MURFREESBORO (AP) - Middle Tennessee State University's new science building is still under construction, but new video and images illustrate what the building's interior will look like once complete.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. traffic safety regulators are asking automakers to put stronger limits on how long drivers can use in-car touch screens in an effort to curb distracted driving.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is opening the doors to its bank vault, saying it will distribute $100 billion in cash to its shareholders over two years. At the same time, the company said it expects sales for the current quarter to fall from the year before, which would be the first decline in many years.
NEW YORK (AP) — Companies that do the best when the economy is improving led the market higher Tuesday after several of them reported strong quarterly earnings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The richest Americans got richer during the first two years of the economic recovery while average net worth declined for the other 93 percent of U.S. households, says a report released Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of new homes rebounded in March to the second fastest sales pace in three years, adding to evidence of a sustained housing recovery at the start of the spring buying season.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell slightly Tuesday, as a slowdown in China's manufacturing offset positive news on the U.S. housing sector.
MEMPHIS (AP) — FedEx will let recipients leave detailed instructions for their driver or reschedule a delivery to their home.
MUMBAI, India (AP) — Low cost efficiency put India's outsourcing companies at the heart of global business and created a multibillion dollar industry that for years has skated over criticism it was eliminating white collar jobs in rich nations. Now, the industry's long-held fears of a backlash are being realized in its crucial U.S. market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tax-free shopping on the Internet could be in jeopardy under a bill making its way through the Senate.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP's cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 announced Monday that it is trying to negotiate a settlement over its role in the disaster, a focus of trial testimony that ended last week.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the powerful Senate Finance chairman who steered President Barack Obama's health care overhaul into law but broke with his party on gun control, said Tuesday he will not run for re-election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Parked around the airstrip at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland are more than a dozen massive C-5A Galaxy transport planes. There is no money to fly them, repair them or put pilots in the cockpits, but Congress rejected the Air Force's bid to retire them.
MONDAY, APRIL 22
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam on Monday acknowledged a massive hit to the credibility of the family-owned Pilot Flying J truck stop chain following FBI allegations of the widespread fraud of customers at the country's largest diesel retailer. Haslam announced at the company's Knoxville headquarters that he has suspended several members of the sales team after an affidavit filed in federal court disclosed secretly recorded conversations in which Pilot staff boasted about taking advantage of less-sophisticated trucking company customers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rejecting the Medicaid expansion in the federal health care law could have unexpected consequences for states where Republican lawmakers remain steadfastly opposed to what they scorn as "Obamacare."
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Davidson County Election Administrator Albert Tieche has hired an attorney to help him respond to a report on the commission's management of last year's elections.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University has an agreement to purchase the former Middle Tennessee Medical Center site near downtown.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - The rock band 3 Doors Down has called off four U.S. appearances following the arrest of the group's bassist, who was accused of driving intoxicated and causing a fatal interstate crash in a Nashville suburb.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says it will hear an appeal from automaker Daimler AG that seeks to shut down a U.S. lawsuit over allegations that its unit in Argentina played a role in that country's 'dirty war" in the 1970s.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected a First Amendment challenge by tobacco companies to a 2009 law that restricts how they can market their products.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing modestly higher on Wall Street, led by energy companies as oil prices rise back following a plunge last week.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose for a third straight day Monday, while natural gas plunged on forecasts for more seasonal weather.
NEW YORK (AP) — Washington's budget tightening is having a minimal effect on businesses, a survey of business economists released Monday shows.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes dipped in March as the supply remained tight. But the sales pace remained ahead of last year's.
NEW YORK (AP) — It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers. Flight delays piled up all along the East Coast Monday as thousands of air traffic controllers were forced to take an unpaid day off because of federal budget cuts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — While world finance leaders say the global economy has improved slightly this year, they said the outlook for the future was uneven with growth and job creation still too weak.
NEW YORK (AP) — News Corp. has reached a $139 million settlement in shareholder lawsuits over the British phone hacking scandal and the controversial purchase of an entertainment company run by founder Rupert Murdoch's daughter.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Caterpillar says its first-quarter net income shrank and it predicted smaller 2013 sales and profits because its mining business is slowing down.
HOUSTON (AP) — Halliburton says it lost $18 million in the first quarter, pulled down by $637 million in charges related to its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Some illuminating books already have been written about Google's catalytic role in a technological upheaval that is redefining the way people work, play, learn, shop and communicate.
FRIDAY, APRIL 19
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Country star George Jones has been hospitalized. Jones postponed weekend concerts in Atlanta and Salem, Va., after doctors admitted him to a Nashville hospital on Thursday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Willie Nelson said Thursday that he will turn an upcoming Texas concert into a benefit for victims of the explosion at a fertilizer plant not far from where he grew up.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The 108th Tennessee General Assembly adjourned on Friday, the first time in 45 years that lawmakers have finished as early as April in the first year of a session.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A measure that seeks to change the approval process for charter schools in Tennessee has failed this session.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A proposal to redraw Tennessee's judicial districts for the first time since 1984 was killed on Friday when House members voted against it.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A watered down version of a proposal that originally sought to lift a ban on switchblades and knives with blades longer than 4 inches is headed to the governor for his consideration.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal seeking to ban basing government hiring preferences on race, gender or ethnicity is dead this session.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Legislation that provides requirements for setting up a distillery in Tennessee is headed to the governor for his consideration.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal that would allow school districts to allow people with police training to be armed in schools has passed the Senate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The sponsor of a bill seeking to boost the amount of money political groups can give to candidates and to do away with reporting requirements for donations by corporations on Thursday dropped an effort to revive the failed measure.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam's $32.8 billion budget has cleared the Tennessee General Assembly.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Cleveland Browns owner and Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam on Friday again denied any wrongdoing and said he wasn't stepping aside, a day after an FBI affidavit alleged his truck stop chain had defrauded customers with diesel fuel rebates.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Cleveland Browns owner and Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam on Friday again denied any wrongdoing and said he wasn't stepping aside, even as federal authorities alleged that he was aware of a widespread scheme to defraud customers of the truck stop chain.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam is urging people to reserve judgment about an FBI raid of his family's Pilot Flying J chain of truck stops.
NASHVILLE (AP) — When Pilot, the country's largest truck stop chain, bought its nearest competitor Flying J out of bankruptcy in 2009, federal trade officials worried the combined entity owned by the powerful Haslam family could corner the market on diesel fuel.
AUTO INDUSTRY
GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — Toyota will start building the Lexus ES 350 at a factory in Georgetown, Ky., starting in 2015, producing a luxury brand vehicle for the first time in the United States.
DETROIT (AP) — Nissan is recalling more than 19,000 Nissan and Infiniti SUVs because a brake part can fail and make it harder for the driver to stop the car.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Volkswagen is dropping the third assembly shift at its Chattanooga plant. As first reported by WRCB-TV, the move will eliminate 500 temporary jobs.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - An audit of the Davidson County Election Commission found that the agency has controls in place to ensure the integrity of elections.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Davidson County District Attorney Torry Johnson says the manager of the Black Keys did not break the law by offering to give tickets to one of the band's performances to a lawyer opposed to a bill to crack down on ticket scalping.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Weekend travel at the east end of the downtown Nashville loop could be slow.
HEALTH CARE
UnitedHealth Group, the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, warned Thursday that funding cuts for the privately-run versions of the federal Medicare program will force it to reconsider its expectations for earnings growth next year.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the third year in a row, the nation's economic recovery has hit a springtime soft spot. Reflecting that weakness, only 1 in 4 Americans now expects his or her own financial situation to improve over the next year, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.
NEW YORK (AP) — Strong earnings from a pair of technology giants helped the stock market recover some of its losses Friday, a positive end to Wall Street's worst week in five months.
The price of oil rose above $88 a barrel on Friday as traders cautiously returned to commodity markets following sharp sell-offs this week.
Buyout specialist Blackstone Group LP is dropping its effort to acquire Dell as the computer maker faces slumping sales in personal computers and worsening financial projections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration has accepted Boeing's revamped battery system for its beleaguered 787 Dreamliners and agreed to lift its grounding order, according to a congressional official.
NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft says revenue and net income surged in the latest quarter, but much the gains were due to the recognition of sales that occurred before the launch of the latest versions of Windows and Office.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's latest quarterly results provided further proof that the Internet search leader is figuring out how to make more money as Web surfers migrate from personal computers to mobile devices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Labor secretary nominee Thomas Perez sought to assure senators Thursday that he would approach the job with an open mind and a willingness to work with business and labor groups alike to create new jobs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of the U.S. economy's future health declined slightly in March, signaling that growth could slow this spring.