VOL. 40 | NO. 21 | Friday, May 20, 2016
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Terry Cowles flashes a photo of ceiling lamp fixtures on the screen and tells state legislators a vendor’s state Capitol team used its electrical training to remove, repair and reinstall fixtures, saving taxpayers $15,500.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
When Butch Jones hired Bob Shoop away from Penn State in January to oversee Tennessee’s defense, he offered some challenging marching orders.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
April sales numbers, released recently by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors (GNAR), are staggering. As has been the case for years, sales are up and inventory is down; however, this month’s numbers are some of the more astonishing of recent times.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, April 2016, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were little changed this week at or near their lows for the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Midwestern homebuyers helped spark a national increase in real estate sales during April, a sign that demand for housing remains steady despite rising prices and tight inventories.
NEWSMAKERS
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Nashville partners – William L. Norton, III and Todd Presnell – have been elected as fellows of the Tennessee Bar Foundation, an association of 818 attorneys from across the state.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Nissan’s most expensive car, the Maxima, is re-engineered and restyled for 2016 for a more luxurious and sporty experience and, thanks to a more powerful V-6, delivers 300 horsepower for the first time.
FAMILY TRAVEL
The turbulence is real as we slowly descend into Providence, Rhode Island. I wasn’t planning to descend into Providence, Rhode Island, but it’s funny how air travel can throw a wrench into well-hatched plans.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Today, you can buy almost anything on subscription, including dog toys from BarkBox, razors from Dollar Shave Club, streaming video content from Netflix, music from Spotify, beauty samples from Birchbox, ready-to-make meals from Blue Apron and even rental cars from Zipcars.
CAREER CORNER
Business networking can be a tricky subject. With that in mind, I received a great question from a reader I want to share with you. The reader writes, “A recruiter recently reached out to me about a particular job they are hiring for. I’m not a good fit for it, but I know someone who is. Should I say anything, or should I keep my mouth closed?”
I SWEAR
A wordier version of this column ran in 2008. That would have been shortly after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ran a certain editorial in which it asserted that to say there are “no ifs, ands or buts” is wrong. The correct phrase, it averred, is “no ifs, ans or buts.”
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Spring and summer are my favorite seasons. I love the many different greens of all the trees and grass, and the many different colors of flowers, whether they are growing wild along a path in the woods, laid out in a perfect pattern in a garden or cut and in a vase, adding a beautiful touch to a room.
NASHVILLE AREA
GOODLETTSVILLE (AP) - Discount retailer Dollar General on Thursday posted better-than-expected first-quarter profit as more customers spent more.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — As students across Tennessee look for summer jobs, state Department of Labor and Workforce Development officials are reminding employers about child labor laws that ensure teens are safe.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam plans to honor four Marines and a sailor killed in last year's shootings in Chattanooga as part of a Memorial Day ceremony on Friday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans signed more contracts to buy homes in April for the third straight month, driving pending home sales to the highest level in more than a decade.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people sought unemployment aid last week for the second week in a row, the latest evidence that hiring is likely solid.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods rose in April by the most since January. But much of the strength came from a surge in the volatile category of commercial aircraft. A key category that tracks business investment fell for a third straight month, a sign that manufacturing remains under stress.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hardly budging Thursday morning after big gains over the last two days. Banks and chemicals companies are down the most. However retailers, which have been pummeled in recent weeks, traded higher following a group of strong earnings reports.
ISE, Japan (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is urging fellow leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies to avert another global crisis by acting to rescue the faltering global recovery.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — After party leaders let Republican lawmakers vote as they wished, the House reversed course and approved a measure aimed at upholding an executive order that bars discrimination against LGBT employees by federal contractors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a breakthrough, House Republicans and Democrats have struck a deal with the White House to help rescue Puerto Rico from $70 billion in debt.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The sponsor of a resolution to require the state to sue the federal government over its refugee resettlement program is unhappy with Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for refusing the sign the measure.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's state parks will offer free, guided hikes to celebrate National Trails Day early next month.
FRANKLIN (AP) — A Nashville-area school district's "Be Nice" anti-bullying campaign could be about to spread all the way to state license plates.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed higher on Wall Street, as energy companies rose with the price of oil, while chemicals and mining company shares also gained.
NEW YORK (AP) — CEOs at the biggest companies got a 4.5 percent pay raise last year. That's almost double the typical American worker's, and a lot more than investors earned from owning their stocks — a big fat zero.
It pays to be healthy. Chief executives at health care companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index made millions more in compensation last year than their counterparts in other industries. A look at the top and bottom-paid CEOs last year, by industry, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm.
For the second year in a row, female CEOs earned more than their male counterparts and received bigger raises. But only a small sliver of the largest companies are run by women, and experts say gender parity at the top remains way off.
Here are the 10 highest-paid CEOs for 2015, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm.
Here are the top-paid CEOs by state for 2015, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. The survey considered public companies with at least $1 billion in revenue that filed proxy statements with federal regulators on or before April 30, 2016. It includes CEOs who were newly hired, who often receive large grants as incentives. It does not include data for Alaska, Montana or West Virginia.
Here are the three CEOs who got the biggest pay raises last year, and the deepest pay cuts, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan deal to help Puerto Rico manage its crippling finances cleared its first hurdle Wednesday with approval from a Republican-led House committee.
TUESDAY, MAY 24
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Medicaid program has to provide applicants with a fair hearing if it cannot process their requests on time, under an order that's been upheld by a federal appeals court.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee state senators have been reimbursed for out-of-state travel for meetings from Florida to Alaska, and on topics ranging from school vouchers to the dangers of radical Islam. But GOP leaders say a Democrat's trip to the White House doesn't qualify.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee's newest prison has had to halt new admissions after just four months of full operation.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Hit music producer and artist Pharrell Williams has produced the next album for country quartet Little Big Town, who will perform the first single on Tuesday's season finale of "The Voice" on NBC.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Grammy-winning country group Lady Antebellum will host the 10th annual ACM Honors show, which will be televised for the first time.
NASHVILLE AREA
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Tire maker Bridgestone is selling its business in Venezuela after six decades in the country, the latest blue chip company to abandon the country as a result of runaway inflation and strict currency controls.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans ramped up their purchases of new homes in April to the highest level since January 2008, evidence of a strong start to the spring buying season.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge is set to get an update on ongoing settlement talks in the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal after announcing a tentative deal last month for nearly half a million polluting Volkswagens in the U.S.
DETROIT (AP) — Muscle cars may look cool, but they don't offer the best protection in a crash.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter is making some big changes, at least in the context of 140 characters or less.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Facebook says it is dropping its reliance on news outlets to help determine what gets posted as a "trending topic" on the giant social network, a move adopted after a backlash over a report saying it suppressed conservative views.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks made their biggest gain since March on Tuesday as technology companies like Apple and Microsoft soared. Homebuilders also climbed after the government said sales of new homes reached an eight-year high last month. That was a sign the housing market and the broader economy are still in pretty good shape.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many of America's young adults appear to be in no hurry to move out of their old bedrooms.
NEW YORK (AP) — A strong start to the year from Best Buy was overshadowed by a lengthening string of declining quarterly sales and a pessimistic outlook that added to a chorus of woes from the retail sector.
MONDAY, MAY 23
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam has announced the launch of a $2.4 million program that will provide college counselors to 30 public high schools across the state.
STATE LEGISLATURE
FRANKLIN (AP) — Embattled state Rep. Jeremy Durham has brought criminal trespass charges against a reporter for the Nashville Scene weekly newspaper, accusing her of trying to enter his Franklin home while seeking an interview.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University says Guangxi (GWAHNG'-she) University in China will send 260 students to study at the Murfreesboro University for two years.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is making it easier for federal workers to file employment discrimination lawsuits after quitting their jobs over conditions they consider intolerable.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America Corp. was not liable for fraud and subject to a penalty of more than $1.2 billion for its actions before the economy collapsed in 2008 despite a jury's finding to the contrary, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended a quiet day slightly lower on Monday as investors sat on the sidelines waiting for more clues about whether the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates next month. Energy stocks fell along with the price of crude oil.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of gasoline has jumped by a nickel over the past two weeks to $2.32 a gallon for regular grade.
NEW YORK (AP) — Tribune Publishing rejected a second takeover bid from USA Today owner Gannett, but did say Monday that it was open to further talks.
BERLIN (AP) — German drug and chemicals company Bayer AG announced Monday that it has made a $62 billion offer to buy U.S.-based crops and seeds specialist Monsanto.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Viacom's embattled chief executive sued Monday to be restored as a director and trustee to entities that control Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. after a weekend move by media mogul Sumner Redstone stripped him of the positions.
IMF calls for 'unconditional' debt relief for Greece
FRIDAY, MAY 20
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has signed a bill into law that will phase out the state's Hall tax on earnings from stocks and bonds.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A bill to strip funding from the diversity office at Tennessee's flagship public university became law without Gov. Bill Haslam's signature on Friday.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has decided not to veto a resolution demanding a lawsuit be filed over the federal refugee resettlement program in Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam must decide Friday whether to sign, veto or allow two contentious Tennessee bills to become law without his signature.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nashville Mayor Megan Barry appointed a transgender woman to the Metro Human Relations Commission - an apparent first for Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has a 9 percentage point lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Tennessee, according to a Vanderbilt University poll released Thursday.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander is urging his fellow Tennesseans to oppose what he calls an "unsightly" wind farm near the Cumberland Mountain State Park.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously in favor of an Iowa trucking company that was trying to recover $4.7 million in legal fees from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after a class action lawsuit against the company was thrown out.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SPRING HILL (AP) - A fire at the General Motors plant in Tennessee was quickly extinguished and will not affect production at the Spring Hill facility.
DETROIT (AP) — People who bought or leased 2016 General Motors SUVs with overstated gas mileage on the window sticker will be getting compensated, the automaker said Friday.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Automaker Volkswagen and Germany's industrial union have agreed to increase wages 4.8 percent by next year in an economy where the cost of living is flat — the kind of raises that could help the 19-country eurozone lift inflation from dangerously low levels.
DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is recalling about a half-million Jeep Wrangler SUVs worldwide because the driver's air bag may not inflate in a crash.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Gap Inc. said Thursday that it is shuttering 75 Old Navy and Banana Republic stores outside North America as the struggling company looks to focus on regions where it sees it has the greatest potential for success.
DALLAS (AP) — As airport security lines get longer, the finger-pointing over blame is growing too.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is getting ready to unveil a stylish new product that's not for sale — a new look for its stores.
NEW YORK (AP) — Grab your sunglasses, a giant cup of coffee and prepare to hit the highway: 2016 is shaping up to be the summer of the road trip.
NEW YORK (AP) — The professional golfer Phil Mickelson has agreed to forfeit nearly $1 million that the Securities and Exchange Commission said was unfairly earned on a tip from an insider trading scheme conducted by a former corporate director and a professional gambler.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Surprisingly strong sales at Wal-Mart and an optimistic outlook from the world's largest retailer lifted a pall that settled over much of the sector in the past two weeks.