VOL. 43 | NO. 21 | Friday, May 24, 2019
JIM MYERS: CULINARITY
Eighteen years ago, I found myself standing in the rain in a mud-soaked yard in Gravel Springs, Mississippi, a hare’s breath of a community between the larger Senatobia to the west and the hardly looming Looxahoma to the east.
STATEWIDE
Who knew the beginning of the Atomic Age was so funny? Sort of like the Humor in Uniform section of “Reader’s Digest,” Oak Ridge historian Ray Smith uses homespun humor to tell a condensed version of the key role his city played in the development of the atomic bombs that ended World War II.
Some “Secret City” memories stand out more than others for Monroe Malow. The 96-year-old retired chemical engineer, who now resides in a senior assisted-living home just outside of Nashville, was brought to Oak Ridge from New York in the early 1940s to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
After completing their real estate courses, passing the state real estate examinations and receiving their real estate licenses, many agents set their sights on Belle Meade.
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, April 2019, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell slightly this week, marking a fourth straight week of declines to lure prospective purchasers in the spring homebuying season.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Drake Fellows has put himself in select company. The junior right-hander has become the first Friday night starter to finish the regular season undefeated for Vanderbilt since David Price in 2007.
NEWSMAKERS
FirstBank Executive Chairman of the Board Jim Ayers was formally inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans during recent ceremonies honoring the achievements of 13 prominent Americans.
BRIEFS
Nashville-based MedEquities Realty Trust, Inc. has been acquired by Omega Healthcare Investors.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A popular selling point for electric vehicles is the notion that you never have to stop for gas. Your “gas station” is in your garage – simply plug in your vehicle to charge it overnight.
PERSONAL FINANCE
You won’t pay for health care in retirement with one lump sum. That’s the way these expenses are often presented, though, and the amounts are terrifying.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Webster’s New World dictionary defines budget as: “a plan or schedule adjusting expenses during a certain period to the estimated or fixed income for that period.”
CAREER CORNER
Hiring managers, there is someone on your recruiting team who isn’t doing their job properly, and you probably don’t even know it.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The National Trust for Historic Preservation says it has named Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee, to its 2019 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
HEALTH CARE
ATLANTA (AP) — New state abortion laws likely to become bogged down in legal challenges face another potential obstacle: prosecutors who refuse to enforce them.
JAMESTOWN (AP) — A rural Tennessee hospital that's struggling to even keep its lights on is set to see its federal funding cut next month.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A representative for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander says the Tennessee Republican has undergone surgery to remove a lump from his left leg.
TRANSPORTATION
PHOENIX (AP) — Google's self-driving vehicle division says it's bringing autonomous trucks to the Phoenix area.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans signed contracts on homes in April compared with the prior month, potentially signaling that rising prices have outweighed recent declines in mortgage rates.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Pressure from the trade dispute between the U.S. and China is weighing on the retail sector, with shares of many in the industry falling in premarket trading on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.1% rate in the first three months of the year, but much of that gain was based on temporary factors that will likely fade, leaving growth much slower in the current quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing new trade sanctions and a U.S. clampdown on its top telecommunications company, China issued a pointed reminder Wednesday that it has yet to unleash all its weapons in its trade war with the Trump administration.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump blasted special counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday, calling him a "never Trumper" who led a biased investigation on Russia's interference in the 2016 election and failed to investigate his opponents who didn't want Trump to be president.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he had nothing to with directing the U.S. Navy to keep a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller said that charging President Donald Trump with a crime was "not an option" because of federal rules, but he used his first public remarks on the Russia investigation to emphasize that he did not exonerate the president.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29
MIDSTATE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — LG Electronics Inc. has officially unveiled its first washing machine plant in the United States.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed defenseman Jarred Tinordi to a two-year, two-way contract.
UT SPORTS
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — Tennessee linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. won't play for the Volunteers as a fifth-year senior this fall.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Muslim advocacy group has filed a complaint against a Tennessee district attorney who posted several anti-Islamic remarks to social media.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The United Auto Workers union will hold a vote next month on its representation of all hourly workers at Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga.
TOKYO (AP) — Fiat Chrysler's proposal to merge with Renault was presented to Nissan on Wednesday, adding another big question to the list of uncertainties facing the Japanese automaker.
TRANSPORTATION
If you misbehave repeatedly while getting a ride from Uber, you could get booted off the app.
GENEVA (AP) — The Boeing 737 Max jet that was grounded after two deadly crashes will not fly before mid-August at the earliest, the global airline trade group said Wednesday.
HEALTH CARE
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has accepted a plea deal with a six-month prison sentence for a health care company CEO who pleaded guilty to trying to bribe an Alabama lawmaker.
ENVIRONMENT
Climate change debate in the focus at Exxon's annual meeting
HOLLY BLUFF, Miss. (AP) — Larry Walls should have been out working in his fields last week. Instead, his John Deere tractor is parked on high ground, just beyond the reach of the ever-encroaching floodwaters in the southern Mississippi Delta.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Another round of selling gripped Wall Street on Wednesday as nervous investors fled health care, technology and other high-risk stocks in favor of the safety of bonds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing new trade sanctions and a U.S. clampdown on its top telecommunications company, China issued a pointed reminder Wednesday that it has yet to unleash all its weapons in its trade war with the Trump administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has again decided not to label China or any other country as a currency manipulator. But in a report to Congress on Tuesday, the administration is keeping China on a list of countries whose trade surpluses with the United States and other indicators are closely tracked.
SHENZHEN, China (AP) — Fighting to maintain its access to major markets for next-generation communications, Chinese tech giant Huawei is challenging the constitutionality of a U.S. law that limits its sales of telecom equipment.
Anyone for steak and onion Kolsch? Or a macaroni and cheese pale ale? Those were among the flavors at the Strange Brew Festival in Reno, Nevada, this month, where competition for attention has intensified as craft beers have boomed.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller's first — and possibly last — public statement on the Russia investigation is fueling fresh calls on Capitol Hill to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, a step that Democratic leaders have so far resisted.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday he was barred from charging President Donald Trump with a crime but pointedly emphasized that his Russia report did not exonerate the president. If he could have cleared Trump of obstruction of justice he "would have said so," Mueller declared.
Text of special counsel Robert Mueller's prepared statement Wednesday on his investigation , as released by the Justice Department:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate majority leader says if there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court during next year's election cycle, the Republican-controlled Senate would likely confirm a nominee selected by President Donald Trump.
NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats won't pick their nominee for another year, but President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are acting like the 2020 presidential contest is already a two-man race.
TUESDAY, MAY 28
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has honored 10 deceased U.S. military service members as part of Memorial Day services.
SPORTS
The Southeastern Conference hired international accounting firm Deloitte to conduct a review of its football officiating, reacting in part to what Commissioner Greg Sankey called the intense, often opinionated view of referees by the public and media.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt is making some improvements to its football stadium to address what athletic director Malcolm Turner says are "very clear and obvious limitations" until a plan is devised to upgrade all of the university's athletic facilities.
COURTS
The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date for when it will consider whether to hear the appeal of convicted "Bridgegate" defendants Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is upholding an Indiana law that requires abortion providers to dispose of aborted fetuses in the same way as human remains. But the justices are staying out of the debate over a broader, blocked provision that would prevent a woman in Indiana from having an abortion based on gender, race or disability.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not take up a challenge to a Pennsylvania school district's policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their sexual identity.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether the family of a Mexican teenager who was shot to death by an American border agent can sue for damages in U.S. courts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is ruling against an Alaska resident in a case that affects people arrested by law enforcement officers who want to sue and claim their arrest was retaliation for something they said or wrote.
TOURISM
GATLINBURG (AP) — A National Park Service report says that visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park spent $953 million in communities near the park last year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's state parks are offering free hikes guided by a ranger next month, in honor of National Trails Day.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose at the slowest pace in more than six years in March, a sign weaker sales are keeping a lid on price increases.
HEALTH CARE
NEW YORK (AP) — Small business owners worried about the spread of measles may want to be sure their staffers have been vaccinated, but before issuing any orders, they should speak with a labor law attorney or human resources consultant.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Public health officials say an invasive tick has been detected in Tennessee.
AUTO INDUSTRY
PARIS (AP) — A merger between Renault and Fiat Chrysler will only happen if French jobs are protected, France's finance minister said on Tuesday.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Sports Illustrated magazine has been sold for $110 million to a company that specializes in managing fashion, entertainment and sports brands, including marketing rights to Shaquille O'Neal and Muhammad Ali.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stocks fell broadly Tuesday as anxious investors shifted money into bonds, sending yields to their lowest level in nearly two years.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart has hired a tech veteran whose resume includes stints at Amazon, Microsoft and Google for a newly elevated position of chief technology officer and chief development officer.
NEW YORK (AP) — MacKenzie Bezos, who finalized her divorce from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos earlier this year, is pledging to give away half her fortune to charity.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers felt more confident this month, shrugging off a rocky stock market and heightened trade tensions between the United States and China.
After more than a decade of rapid growth, Chinese travel to the U.S. is falling. And that has cities, malls and other tourist spots scrambling to reverse the trend.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A second conservative Republican on Tuesday blocked another attempt to pass a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid bill, delaying again a top priority for some of President Donald Trump's most loyal allies on Capitol Hill.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Boastful on the occasion of Memorial Day, President Donald Trump and his Veterans Affairs secretary are claiming full credit for health care improvements that were underway before they took office.
TOKYO (AP) — President Donald Trump is on his way back to the United States after a four-day visit to Japan.
MONDAY, MAY 27
VANDERBILT SPORTS
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt (49-10), which has won 22 of its last 23 games and is the first team to sweep the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament championships since it did so in 2007, is the No. 2 national seed for the NCAA baseball tournament.
All Times CDT. Double elimination
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — The Vanderbilt Commodores mostly breezed into the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
REGION
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The unofficial start of summer feels more like its blistering peak in parts of the Deep South, where temperatures at or near 100 degrees are setting heat records during the Memorial Day weekend.
AUTO INDUSTRY
PARIS (AP) — Fiat Chrysler proposed on Monday to merge with France's Renault to create the world's third-biggest automaker, worth $40 billion, and combine forces in the race to make electric and autonomous vehicles.
COURTS
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma is poised to become the first state to go to trial in a lawsuit against the makers of pharmaceuticals blamed for contributing to the nation's opioid crisis.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — One of the drugmakers named in Oklahoma's lawsuit over the opioid crisis has agreed to a settlement in which it will pay the state $85 million.
MEDIA
HOPE, Ark. (AP) — Over a lunch of hamburger steaks, mashed potatoes and green beans, Walter Hussman delivered his pitch to the dozen or so attendees of the Hope, Arkansas, Rotary Club meeting. He promised that if they keep paying their current rate of $36 a month for subscription to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper, even though it will no longer be printed daily or delivered to their door, they'll get a free iPad to view a digital version.
ENVIRONMENT
BERLIN (AP) — Green parties in Germany, France, Britain and elsewhere celebrated big gains in elections for the 751-seat European Parliament amid growing voter concerns over climate change, expressed in large-scale student protests over recent months.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top trade official insists that the agricultural sector cannot be included in negotiations on a new trade agreement with the United States, as the U.S. has demanded.
BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May says her Conservative Party's drubbing in EU elections shows the need for Parliament to pass a Brexit deal and take the U.K. out of the European Union.
POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump dismissed the hard realities of his trade dispute with China as mere foolishness Monday and told people to expect humans on Mars "very shortly," which isn't happening.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Real estate mogul Franklin Haney contributed $1 million to President Donald Trump's inaugural committee and all he's got to show for the money is the glare of a federal investigation.
TOKYO (AP) — All the pomp and pageantry in the world couldn't paper over the tensions between President Donald Trump and Japan's Shinzo Abe on two of their most pressing issues: North Korea and trade.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday called U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton a "war monger" and "human defect" after he described its recent tests of short-range missiles as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's governing Conservative Party was all but wiped out in the European Parliament election as voters sick of the country's stalled European Union exit flocked to uncompromisingly pro-Brexit or pro-EU parties.
FRIDAY, MAY 24
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill diverting tax dollars to private education.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's governor said Thursday that it's "past time" for a lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct to address the allegations publicly.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville's mayor is threatening to ban electric scooters unless the companies that own them immediately address problems.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The nation's largest Protestant denomination reported its twelfth year of declining membership in an annual report released Thursday.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A handful of lawmakers are throwing their name into the race to be Tennessee's next House speaker.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — Drake Fellows pitched six scoreless innings for his 11th win of the season and top-seeded Vanderbilt beat No. 4 seed Mississippi State 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday night.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Colorado and Northern Illinois coach Ricardo Patton has joined Vanderbilt's staff as a senior adviser to new coach Jerry Stackhouse.
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — JJ Bleday had five hits, Mason Hickman threw six stellar innings and top-seeded Vanderbilt cruised to an 11-1 win over No. 8 seed Auburn on Wednesday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
REAL ESTATE
Homebuyers in Salt Lake City, Atlanta and other big U.S. metropolitan areas are seeing a pickup in the number of homes for sale, especially in the most affordable segment of the market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes sank 6.9% in April, driven by a decline in the sale of homes worth less than $300,000 that are generally bought by middle class and first-time buyers.
TECHNOLOGY
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has launched 60 little satellites, the first of thousands that founder Elon Musk plans to put in orbit for global internet coverage.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — NASA has launched the final stage of a four-year effort to develop a national traffic management system for drones, testing them in cities for the first time beyond the operator's line of sight as businesses look in the future to unleash the unmanned devices in droves above busy streets and buildings.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook removed more than 3 billion fake accounts from October to March, twice as many as the previous six months, the company said Thursday.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that aims to combat the illegal robocalls torturing Americans .
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — German auto maker Volkswagen has named a new chief executive at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a company spokeswoman said Friday.
Late last year, Tesla Inc. was fully charged and cruising down the highway on Autopilot.
Shares of Tesla, suffering one of the worst stretches in company history, rebounded Thursday after CEO Elon Musk told employees that orders are up.
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, appeared in a Japanese courtroom Thursday for a hearing ahead of his trial on accusations of financial misconduct.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold court orders in Michigan and Ohio to redraw electoral maps that federal judges found were too partisan.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with receiving and publishing classified information.
NEW YORK (AP) — A banker who prosecutors say tried to buy himself a senior post in President Donald Trump's administration by making risky loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty Thursday to a financial institution bribery charge.
CHICAGO (AP) — Are older workers being discriminated against on the job? The answer appears to depend on the age of the person asked.
HEALTH CARE
U.S. regulators have approved the most expensive medicine ever, a therapy meant to cure a disorder that rapidly destroys a baby's muscle control and kills most within a couple years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration proposed Friday to roll back Obama-era discrimination protections for transgender people in health care, a move LGBT groups warn will unleash a wave of discrimination.
A coalition of Connecticut Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont and top legislative leaders, announced Thursday they have reached consensus on legislation that could lead to a public health insurance option for people and small businesses by 2022.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Republican and Democratic senators are proposing legislation to address the problem of surprise medical bills. Those are the shockingly high charges insured patients can get hit with when a hospital or doctor is not in their insurers' network.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Did you get a 7% raise last year? Congratulations, yours was in line with what CEOs at the biggest companies got. But for chief executives, that 7% was roughly $800,000.
Here are the top paid CEOs by state for 2018, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm.
NEW YORK (AP) — Shareholders are still voting overwhelmingly in favor of big pay packages for CEOs, but there are more pockets of resistance eight years after "Say on Pay" became a mandatory exercise at annual meetings.
Here are the 10 highest-paid female CEOs for 2018, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm.
Stocks on Wall Street notched modest gains Friday, erasing some of the market's steep losses from a day earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for large manufactured goods fell sharply last month, pulled down by lower demand for commercial aircraft and cars, while businesses also pulled back on investment spending.
LONDON (AP) — Theresa May ended her failed three-year quest to lead Britain out of the European Union on Friday, announcing that she will step down as Conservative Party leader June 7 and triggering a contest to choose a new prime minister who will try to complete Brexit.
BEIJING (AP) — Stepping up Beijing's propaganda offensive in the tariffs standoff with Washington, Chinese state media on Friday accused the U.S. of seeking to "colonize global business" with moves against Huawei and other Chinese technology companies.
Heightened worries that the U.S. and China are headed for a long standoff in their costly trade dispute put investors in a selling mood Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump rolled out another $16 billion in aid for farmers hurt by his trade policies, and financial markets shook Thursday on the growing realization that the U.S. and China are far from settling a bitter, year-long trade dispute.
BEIJING (AP) — China held the door open to resuming talks in the tariff war with Washington on Thursday, but lashed out at limits on access to key technologies that it said might hurt global supply chains.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The CEO of Deutsche Bank says he is ready to make "tough cuts" to improve the struggling bank's profitability and raise a "disappointing" share price as negative headlines continue to plague Germany's biggest bank.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration notified Congress on Friday that it is invoking a rarely used provision in federal law to bypass congressional review of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, two Democratic senators said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House GOP conservative complaining a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid bill leaves out money needed to address the migrant crisis at the border blocked the bill Friday, extending a tempest over hurricane and flood relief that has left the measure meandering for months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration notified Congress on Friday that it plans to send about 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East amid heightened tensions with Iran, officials said.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Japanese media say Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering a visit to Iran next month amid rising tension between Tehran and Washington, and will consult with President Donald Trump about it when he arrives in Tokyo this weekend.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. intelligence community to "quickly and fully cooperate" with Attorney General William Barr's investigation of the origins of the multiyear probe of whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is rushing to wrap up a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid package, but only after Democrats insisted on jettisoning President Donald Trump's $4.5 billion request to handle an unprecedented influx of migrants at the southern border.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly questioned President Donald Trump's fitness for office Thursday, suggesting a family or staff "intervention" after a dramatic blow-up at a White House meeting the previous day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to promote retirement security by making it easier for small businesses and other companies to offer retirement plans.
Americans generally do not have enough saved for retirement and Congress is considering a number of measures to address that.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A dozen times, Rep. Ayanna Pressley asked the witness for a yes or no answer on housing policy.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May was hunkered down with close allies Thursday as she considered whether to give in to relentless pressure to resign, or fight on to save her Brexit plan and her premiership.