VOL. 40 | NO. 15 | Friday, April 8, 2016
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
Quick question about the Titans: Who has the most to prove?
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
In real estate transactions involving the sale of a person’s primary residence – especially homes that have housed that person’s family for many years – there are emotions that run parallel to the stages of grief or loss.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
When Chuchi hugs me after his black beans and rice, I mentally thank Barack Obama (I’ll get back to him much later) for leading me to one of Nashville’s most urban intersections, where I sit at an alfresco café table, watching the traffic whip by and listening to sirens and parking-lot conversation conducted, for the most part, in a foreign language.
NASHVILLE AREA
More than 1,500 high school students will gather at the Tennessee State Capitol April 7-10 and 14-17 as part of the 63rd annual Tennessee YMCA Youth in Government (YIG) conferences.
NEWSMAKERS
Ingram Content Group has selected Shawn Morin, formerly president and chief operating officer, as chief executive officer and president, effective immediately. John R. Ingram will continue to be active as chairman of the company.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
With a starting retail price of about $23,000, the 2016 Chrysler 200 combines value with the power and sporty sounds that Detroit is known for.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
In the world of sales, we are conditioned to live life by the month. We are driven by monthly sales goals and monthly paychecks.
CAREER CORNER
Yesterday, I found myself saying something I often say this time of year: “One of my all-time favorite things is to go to a job fair!”
I SWEAR
The vicinity of April Fool’s Day is an apt time to reflect on a tale often told to first-year law students. In contracts class, perhaps.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
This month, hubby and I went on a short vacation, and when we returned my three grandchildren, who live in Tennessee, were on spring break and came to spend the week with us.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans agreed Thursday to trade the No. 1 overall pick in this month's NFL draft to the Los Angeles Rams.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee lawmakers are planning to vote Thursday on the state's nearly $35 billion spending plan for the budget year beginning July 1.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Records of Tennessee Supreme Court cases that were previously only available by visiting Nashville can now be requested online.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Federal prosecutors say a former bank employee has admitted to embezzling more than $130,000 in a fraudulent loan scheme.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged down this week to their lowest levels of the year, offering a continued incentive for purchasing during the spring home-buying season.
HEALTH CARE
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. spending on prescription drugs rose 8.5 percent last year, slightly less than in 2014, driven mainly by growing use of ultra-expensive new drugs and price hikes on other medicines.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the World Bank on Thursday lamented the weak state of the global economy and warned that the kind of tax evasion exposed in the Panama Papers investigation is fueling poverty around the world.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are edging mostly lower Thursday morning. Tech stocks are falling after dour projections from Seagate Technology. Strong first-quarter results from Delta are giving airlines a boost.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits plunged last week, matching a March figure that was the lowest level since 1973.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer prices rose a modest 0.1 percent in March as a drop in grocery prices offset higher energy costs.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America's first-quarter profit fell more than 18 percent from a year earlier, hurt by weak performance in its trading unit.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A proposal to add an amendment to the state constitution that would give the Tennessee Legislature full discretion to determine the funding and eligibility of public schools has failed.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The chief executives of Williams-Sonoma, Hilton Worldwide, T-Mobile and dozens of other major corporations have signed a letter asking Tennessee lawmakers to reject a transgender bathroom bill, saying it is discriminatory.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Several country music artists and songwriters have condemned proposed laws that critics say discriminate against LGBT people, but anyone looking for reaction from the record labels and production companies on Nashville's Music Row has heard only the sound of silence.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill that would have allowed Tennesseans to weigh in on whether to decriminalize possession of low-level amounts of marijuana has failed in the Legislature.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Economic development officials say eight counties have been chosen to participate in a state program that evaluates properties for future industrial use.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — South Korean tiremaker Hankook announced Wednesday that it is relocating its North American headquarters from New Jersey to Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is speaking in Nashville this week during a conference at Tennessee State University.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday declined to take up Volkswagen's challenge of a union vote at its lone U.S. assembly plant in Tennessee.
BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen said Wednesday that its top managers' bonuses will be cut significantly, citing the need to send a "signal" on executives' pay following the automaker's diesel emissions scandal.
DETROIT (AP) — Demand for Tesla's new Model 3 has been eye-popping, with consumers pre-ordering about $13.7 billion worth of the electric sedans nearly two years before they go on sale.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed again Wednesday as quarterly results from JPMorgan Chase gave banks a big lift. Economic news from China powered industrial and technology companies in the U.S. and stock exchanges overseas.
NEW YORK (AP) — About 39,000 Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday morning after little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly eight months ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Five of the biggest U.S. banks have six months to get their disaster plans in shape. That's the message regulators issued Wednesday after giving the banks failing grades for the strategies they would deploy if they tumbled into bankruptcy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales fell last month as Americans cut back on their car purchases, the latest sign that consumers are reluctant to spend freely.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. producer prices fell in March for the fifth time in the past eight months, reflecting a drop in food prices which offset the biggest increase in energy prices in 10 months. Even with the increase in energy, inflation remained at modest levels.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A project to speed development of cancer-fighting drugs that harness the immune system has academic and drug industry researchers collaborating and sharing their findings like never before.
NEW YORK (AP) — Peabody Energy, the nation's largest coal miner, has filed for bankruptcy protection as a crosscurrent of environmental, technological and economic changes wreaks havoc across the industry.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for Speaker Paul Ryan that raises questions about his stewardship of the House despite his high profile on the national stage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee chairman says lawmakers must act quickly to help Puerto Rico manage its $70 billion debt as multimillion-dollar payments to creditors loom.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
MUSIC INDUSTRY
LONDON (AP) — Adele had the world's best-selling album last year, a global smash that helped music revenues record their first significant growth since the dawn of the digital age two decades ago.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam says he won't wait the full 10 days to decide whether to sign or veto a bill seeking to make the Bible the official book of Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell on Tuesday touted a new initiative to improve health care access in the state, but Democrats quickly derided it as an election-year "charade" to deflect criticism of lawmakers who rejected the governor's Insure Tennessee proposal.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The sponsor of a Tennessee transgender bathroom bill told a Senate committee Tuesday that he has to consider a state attorney general's opinion before going forward. The move came the same day the White House called the proposal "mean-spirited."
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Rep. Curry Todd, a retired Memphis police officer who has pleaded guilty to drunken driving and gun charges, is speaking out against Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to keep retired law enforcement officers with DUI convictions from being able to carry firearms in public.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee bill that would allow mental health therapists to turn away patients based on the counselors' religious beliefs and personal principles passed Monday and is on its way to the governor.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee courts are going to make it easier for people who have been arrested but never convicted of a crime to have their criminal records wiped clean.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville's mayor has announced she will devote $10 million in city money to affordable housing projects.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The children of a couple who met at Tennessee State University in the 1930s have donated $250,000 to the schools in their parents' honor.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says people who use its Messenger chat service will soon be able to order flowers, shop for shoes and talk with a variety of businesses by sending them direct text messages.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks posted solid gains on Tuesday, led by gains in energy companies after news reports said Saudi Arabia and Russia were working toward an agreement to cut oil production. Investors also worked through the initial batch of earnings from the first quarter of the year.
NEW YORK (AP) — With eight years left on their deal to broadcast the NCAA Tournament, CBS and Turner are tacking on another eight.
DENVER (AP) — Garden-care giant Ortho said Tuesday it will stop using a class of chemicals widely believed to harm bees.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and other Democrats on Tuesday seized on Equal Pay Day — a symbolic event dramatizing how much longer it takes a woman to earn as much as a man — to court women voters and call out Republicans for inaction on the issue.
MONDAY, APRIL 11
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's attorney general says a transgender bathroom bill that is moving through the state Legislature could put the state's federal education funding at risk. If he's right, it could jeopardize more than $1.2 billion in federal money for K-12 and higher education.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - After 15 years of federal oversight, the Tennessee Department of Children's Services has finally met all of the goals set out after a 2001 settlement over its treatment of foster care children.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee State Library and Archives is planning to collect digital records of how World War I affected Tennesseans.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Metro Public Health Department is offering its 12th annual Backyard Inspection Day to help residents find out how to reduce the mosquito population.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the U.S. economy improving, President Barack Obama will meet with the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve to discuss the longer-term economic outlook.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks gave up an early gain and closed slightly lower as investors hold dim expectations for company earnings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Monday announced a roughly $5 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs over the sale of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The government accused the bank of misleading investors about the quality of its loans.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Growth in developing East Asia and the Pacific is expected to remain resilient despite the slowdown in China and a gloomy global outlook, the World Bank said Monday.
The owner of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper and media group is in early talks over a bid for the ailing U.S. internet company Yahoo.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
MUSIC INDUSTRY
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - The Grammy Foundation has awarded a nearly $20,000 grant to a university music center to digitize a historical collection of live bluegrass audio recordings.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee lawmaker is effectively being quarantined from lawmakers, lobbyists and interns after the state's attorney general determined that he could pose a risk to "unsuspecting women" at the state Capitol complex.
A timeline of state House Majority Whip Jeremy Durham, who has been moved out of the legislative office complex amid an attorney general's investigation into inappropriate conduct toward women:
STATEWIDE
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Federal regulators have approved media company Gannett's purchase of newspaper company Journal Media Group for $280 million.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Self-driving cars are more likely to hurt than help public safety because of unsolved technical issues, engineers and safety advocates told the government Friday, countering a push by innovators to speed government approval.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla Motors says worldwide orders for its new lower-priced Model 3 electric car have hit 325,000.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates slid this week to their lowest level since February 2015, luring prospective purchasers during the spring home-buying season.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed slightly higher on Wall Street, led by energy companies as the price of crude oil turned sharply higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Commerce Department says U.S. wholesale businesses reduced their stockpiles for the fifth straight month in February, while their sales dropped for the fourth straight month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The cost of mailing a letter is going down. Beginning Sunday, the price of a first-class stamp drops two cents, to 47 cents.
PANAMA CITY (AP) — Rich and influential people around the globe have found themselves under siege since a major data leak revealed their ties to secretive financial accounts and shell companies in low-tax havens used to hide wealth.
BEIJING (AP) — The American government has cited Chinese Internet controls as a trade barrier in a report that comes as Beijing tries to block its public from seeing news online about the finances of leaders' families.
BERLIN (AP) — The European Union has threatened to sanction countries like Panama if they continue to refuse to cooperate fully to fight money laundering and tax evasion, after a leak of data showed the tiny country remains a key destination for people who want to hide money.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The head of a payday lending enterprise accused of charging as much as 700 percent interest on short-term loans has been indicted on federal racketeering charges in Philadelphia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Their words move markets. Their plans stir speculation. Their tenures spark debate.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Opposition from top Senate Democrats has stalled two of the president's nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate refused Thursday to come to the aid of airline passengers squeezed by the ever-shrinking size of their seats.