VOL. 42 | NO. 17 | Friday, April 27, 2018
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
The “debacle” called TNReady, a standardized test ruling the lives of students, teachers and administrators, is the predictable result of brain drain – not by students but by Tennessee’s leaders.
PREDATORS
Every round of the NHL playoffs presents teams an opportunity to grow as they move forward.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
When approaching the downtown area, there is plenty of time to rest while sitting idly in the traffic and to develop a strategy for dodging the potholes in the fastest-growing, bestest city in the world. During their idle time, many drivers gaze skyward and notice the shining, glimmering building at 505 Church Street.
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, March 2018, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates continued to climb this week, reaching their highest level in more than four years and denting prospective home purchasers' prospects amid the spring buying season.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
One of Music City’s great treasures is just over Owen Bradley’s bronze shoulder and the wooden fence behind it.
NEWSMAKERS
Neuroscientist Lisa Monteggia, Ph.D., has been named the Barlow Family Director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
BRIEFS
Franklin-based Metova, a provider of mobile, connected car, connected home and IoT solutions, has reached a recapitalization agreement with Lightview Capital, a Summit, New Jersey-based private equity firm.
CORRECTION
A graphic that was part of last week’s transit-vote package indicated the number of cars on the road would drop from more than 120,000 daily to about 59,000 in 2040 if the transit referendum passes.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Most of us want a special deal when we’re car shopping, a price that beats what our neighbor just got and, if we are lucky, one that’s lower than our research says we should be able to get.
CAREER CORNER
If you’re like me, “Don’t talk to strangers” was a lesson taught early on by the adults in your life. You may have even heard the phrase, “stranger danger.”
GUERRILLA MARKETING
In the lead-capture business, the formula for success is straightforward on the surface: an offer strategy that your target market finds relevant, engaging ad content in a format that grabs the consumer and an effective landing page that compels those consumers to take action.
STATEWIDE
GATLINBURG (AP) — The chief ranger at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is retiring after 35 years of federal service.
MIDSTATE
COLUMBIA (AP) — Sam Kennedy, an attorney, newspaper publisher and former Tennessee Press Association president who helped push for the state's Sunshine Law, has died at age 91.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen's new CEO, Herbert Diess, has vowed to build a more ethical culture after the company's diesel emissions scandal and outlined a new structure aimed at streamlining decision-making at the sprawling company.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla's record net loss in the first quarter and fast-burn through millions of dollars is raising questions about the company's ability to pay all its bills.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court in New York says a former Wall Street trader can be released from prison because he was improperly convicted of taking advantage of a government bailout program.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are skidding Thursday morning as the market continues a sell-off that began late the previous day. Big losses for insurer AIG are hurting financial stocks while Cardinal Health tumbles and takes the health care sector lower. Tesla is skidding after the electric car maker posted another big loss, and Wall Street reacted negatively to comments by CEO Elon Musk.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. services firms grew at a slower pace in April compared to the prior month, as companies are reporting cost pressures from possible tariffs and a shortage of available workers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first three months of this year, a weak reading but a slight improvement from the previous quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Record exports trimmed the U.S. trade deficit in March for the first time in seven months.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump acknowledged Thursday he repaid his personal lawyer for hush money given to porn actress Stormy Daniels after claiming previously he didn't know about the payments. But the money, paid just before the 2016 election to stifle her claims of an affair, "had nothing to do with the campaign," the president tweeted.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration wants to ease restrictions on oil and gas leasing and other activities across a huge swath of the American West that were put in place to protect an imperiled bird.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday reimbursement to his personal lawyer for hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels was done through a monthly retainer and "had nothing to do with the campaign."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lobbyist whose wife rented a condo to Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt at $50 a night sought EPA committee posts for a lobbying client, according to a newly released EPA memo.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee chancellor Beverly Davenport is being forced out of her post, less than 1½ years after she took over.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A cybersecurity firm is investigating an attack that disabled a Tennessee county's election website.
MARTIN (AP) — A South Korean supplier of rubber and plastic parts for home appliances and autos plans a $13 million expansion into rural west Tennessee.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Financial firm AllianceBernstein Holding LP announced Wednesday that it will move its global headquarters from New York to Nashville, bringing 1,050 jobs and an investment of more than $70 million.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a plan to pay for a $5.4 billion mass transit system that called for a new light rail system, expanded bus routes and the building of a downtown underground tunnel.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A 140-year-old Tennessee church will start serving up whiskey bottled under the name Heaven's Door in partnership with musician Bob Dylan.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gibson guitars have been such a fixture in music history that Chuck Berry was laid to rest with his, B.B. King affectionately named his "Lucille," and Eric Clapton borrowed one from George Harrison to play the solo on the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
NASHVILLE (AP) — He felt like an invisible force was drawing him into the parking lot, past the four new white crosses in the driveway, the balloons and the flowers, and the letters addressed to the dead.
PREDATORS
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Down 3-0 after a disastrous opening 20 minutes, there was no flipping of tables or peeling of paint off the walls in the Winnipeg Jets' locker room.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have agreed to terms with safety Kendrick Lewis while waiving safety Denzel Johnson.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have claimed outside linebacker Gimel President off waivers.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Cambridge Analytica, the Trump-affiliated data firm at the center of Facebook's worst privacy scandal in history, is declaring bankruptcy and shutting down.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A late slump left U.S. stocks mostly lower on Wednesday as investors appeared to grow more concerned about the possibility of rising interest rates. Apple climbed after a solid quarterly report and a forecast for strong iPhone sales.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two black men arrested for sitting at a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything settled with the city Wednesday for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — FPI Management, a property company in California, wants to hire dozens of people. Factories from New Hampshire to Michigan need workers. Hotels in Las Vegas are desperate to fill jobs.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The head of the European Union's executive has warned the United States that the bloc will not negotiate trade concessions under threat, a day after President Donald Trump granted the EU only a one-month extension on steel and aluminum tariffs.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Global military spending rose to $1.739 trillion last year, a 1.1 percent increase on 2016, a Swedish arms watchdog said Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged but says that inflation is climbing after years of being stuck below the Fed's target level.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American businesses added 204,000 new workers last month, another sign of a strength for the U.S. labor market and economy.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is trying to pass a hefty rewrite of a banking law that bears Barney Frank's name. But the former Massachusetts congressman isn't worried.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lobbyist whose wife rented a condo to Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt at $50 a night sought EPA committee posts for a lobbying client, according to a newly released EPA memo.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The special counsel leading the Russia investigation raised the prospect in March of issuing a grand jury subpoena for President Donald Trump, his former attorney said, confirming that investigators have floated the extraordinary idea of forcing a sitting president to testify under oath.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said that President Donald Trump's former bodyguard did nothing out of the ordinary when he took possession of the president's medical records last year, despite a claim by Trump's former doctor that the episode felt like a "raid."
TUESDAY, MAY 1
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The maker of the Gibson guitar, omnipresent for decades on the American music stage, is filing for bankruptcy protection after wrestling for years with debt.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Voters around the state will go to the polls in a primary election for a number of local office seats, and in Nashville, they will also be voting on whether to fund a $5.4 billion transit plan that will eventually cost about $9 billion after interest and operating fees.
PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Having home ice is supposed to be an advantage in the NHL. So far in the 2018 playoffs, the only guarantee to playing at home is a monochrome backdrop provided by fans in team-specific T-shirts.
REGION
MEMPHIS (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority's new gas-fired power plant in Tennessee is ready to run.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California and 16 other states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its plans to scrap standards on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, which help set gas mileage rules.
COURTS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ashley Judd sued Harvey Weinstein on Monday, saying the former movie mogul hurt her acting career in retaliation for her rejecting his sexual advances.
HEALTH CARE
Aetna made $1.21 billion and beat Wall Street earnings expectations in the first quarter, as the health insurer moved closer to sealing its roughly $69 billion combination with CVS Health.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks clawed back early losses Tuesday as Apple led a rally in technology companies. Smaller, more domestically-focused companies also climbed. The late push offset a slump in household goods makers and industrial companies.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Apple's tax break on its overseas profits is turning into a $102 billion boon for shareholders.
BOSTON (AP) — Amazon has unveiled plans for a major expansion in Boston's Seaport District.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers say the pace of their expansion continued to slow in April, with many factories saying their output is still growing but is crimped by shortages of workers and skills.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — Hasbro is buying the Power Rangers and some other toy brands from Saban Properties in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $522 million.
BERLIN (AP) — German Economy minister Peter Altmaier said Tuesday he's hopeful that there can be a worldwide reduction of trade barriers, despite ongoing threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union and other countries.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government will take another 30 days to decide whether to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, extending a period of uncertainty for businesses in those regions.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday it's "disgraceful" that a list of questions that the special counsel investigating Russian election interference wants to ask him was "leaked" to the news media.
WASHINGTON (AP) — New details emerged on the rift between White House chief of staff John Kelly and President Donald Trump, with one former administration official saying Kelly privately called Trump "an idiot" last year.
MONDAY, APRIL 30
STATEWIDE
GATLINBURG (AP) — A retail partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park says it had its second-best year for sales and best year for membership income in 2017.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets put on a fast-paced, thrilling playoff show that reminded everyone why they finished ahead of everybody else in the NHL's regular season.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government pleaded its case Monday for blocking AT&T from absorbing Time Warner, saying it would hurt consumers as a big antitrust trial crept toward its end and a decision by a federal judge.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Slightly more Americans signed contracts to buy homes in March, yet higher mortgage rates and a shortage of available houses are weighing on sales.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Military service. Bathroom use. Job bias. And now, health care. The Trump administration is coming under fire for rewriting a federal rule that bars discrimination in health care based on "gender identity." Critics say it's another attempt to undercut acceptance for transgender people.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Get ready for a little bit more pain at the pump this summer. Crude oil prices are at the highest level in more than three years and expected to climb higher, pushing up gasoline prices along the way.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell moderately on Monday, giving up an early gain, but still ended April higher. It was the first monthly increase for the market since January as company earnings have come in better than many expected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department says that the government borrowed a record $488 billion in the January-March quarter, but it expects borrowing needs will decline sharply for the current April-June quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans boosted their spending by 0.4 percent in March, the best showing in three months. Meanwhile, a key gauge of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve rose at the fastest pace in more than a year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is all but sure to leave interest rates unchanged this week, though steady economic growth and inflation pressures will likely keep the Fed on a path toward further rate hikes later this year.
LONDON (AP) — Walmart is selling its British unit, Asda, to local rival Sainsbury's for 7.3 billion pounds ($10.1 billion), a deal that lets the world's largest retailer focus on online sales in countries where it has stronger growth prospects and faces less-intense competition.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans boosted their spending by 0.4 percent in March, the best showing in three months. Meanwhile, a key gauge of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve rose at the fastest pace in more than a year.
NEW YORK (AP) — To gain approval for their $26.5 billion merger agreement, T-Mobile and Sprint aim to convince antitrust regulators that there is plenty of competition for wireless service beyond Verizon and AT&T.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is still waiting to hear whether its 28 member nations will be exempt from new U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs just hours before the measures could enter force.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Marco Rubio says big businesses aren't investing much of their windfall from President Donald Trump's tax cuts into their workers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The presidential news conference, a time-honored tradition going back generations, appears to be no longer.
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans started the NFL draft by selecting Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans, to help new coach Mike Vrabel tune up the defense
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Playing the Winnipeg Jets is exactly why Nashville coach Peter Laviolette wanted home-ice advantage in the NHL playoffs.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Police say hundreds of officers will be out in full force to ensure security at the annual St. Jude Rock 'N' Roll Marathon Saturday.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — In a parting shot to Memphis or any other city that would use a legal loophole to remove Confederate statues, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill that makes it harder to get around the law.
The House and Senate broke gridlock Wednesday night on problems stemming from the results of troubled TNReady testing by passing legislation saying no “adverse action” would be taken against teachers, students or schools for poor test scores.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers wrapped up an election-year legislative session late Wednesday, highlighting their last day by passing legislation that would require state and local law enforcement agencies to detain immigrants for deportation at the request of federal officials without requiring warrants or probable cause.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Thursday as Facebook leads a big rally for technology companies. The social media platform jumped after its recent data privacy scandal didn't appear to affect business in the first quarter. Other big technology companies also moved higher, as did retailers. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ford and Visa also rose after they gave strong first-quarter reports.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks finished with a split decision Friday after a wobbly day of trading. Amazon led a rally among retailers, but Exxon Mobil dragged energy companies lower to end an uneven week on Wall Street.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — MoviePass, a startup that lets customers watch a movie a day at theaters for just $10 a month, is limiting new customers to just four movies a month.
Everyone knows the tech industry is rich, but it can be challenging to get your head around just how much money it's minting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy slowed to a moderate 2.3 percent annual growth rate in the first quarter as consumer spending turned in the weakest performance in nearly five years. Still, the January-March increase came in better than expected, supporting hopes for a solid rebound for the rest of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. private-sector workers received the biggest pay raise in 11 years in the first three months of the year, a sign that the tight job market is slowly lifting wages.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union made a key breakthrough on Friday to completely ban pesticides that harm bees and their crop pollination.
DALLAS (AP) — Motorists who are paying 40 cents a gallon more than last spring should have no trouble understanding why Exxon's profit is up.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's first-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago, blowing past Wall Street expectations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose 2.6 percent in March, but a key category that tracks business investment spending fell for the third month out of the past four.
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. parliament's media committee has criticized Facebook's response to allegations that data from millions of accounts was misused during elections in the United States and Britain as they grilled one of the company's senior executives about the scandal.
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines says bookings are down since the fatal accident on one of its planes last week.
NATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's personal attorney, whose business dealings are being investigated by the FBI, and his father-in-law have lent $26 million in recent years to a taxi mogul who is shifting into the legalized marijuana industry, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is welcoming German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House on Friday for a visit of less than three hours.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House intelligence committee on Friday officially declared the end of its Russia probe, saying in its final report that it found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, yet another Trump administration official with his job on the line over ethical concerns, took heat from lawmakers over his profligate spending and lobbyist ties and tried to divert responsibility to underlings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mike Pompeo took over as America's top diplomat Thursday after being confirmed by the Senate and sworn in across the street minutes later. The new secretary of state immediately dashed off to Europe in an energetic start befitting the high-stakes issues awaiting him from Iran to North Korea.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has some financial breathing room less than a year after legislators reversed past income tax cuts to deal with persistent budget woes that followed what many voters saw as a failed fiscal experiment. Now some Republicans want to go back to slashing taxes.
PARIS (AP) — More than 70 countries committed Thursday to bolster efforts in the fight against terrorism financing associated with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job, putting the matter in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has said he won't let the bill reach Senate floor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Back in October, President Donald Trump blocked the release of hundreds of records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, agreeing to appeals from the CIA and FBI.