VOL. 42 | NO. 21 | Friday, May 25, 2018
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
The world’s most passionate devotee of Duane Allman, Big Daddy and Big Dud – the latter two being the same guy – stands by the pavilion 100 feet or so from Mill Creek in Flat Rock (or Woodbine, both names work) and smiles.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Chris Elizer is a Realtor with Keller Williams in Lewisburg and has been in the real estate business since the Great Recession. Yes, he entered the industry as it lay dying.
REAL ESTATE
April 2018 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Top commercial real estate sales, April 2018, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week, continuing at their highest levels in seven years amid the peak home buying season.
NEWSMAKERS
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia A. Clark will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award.
BRIEFS
Belmont University and Columbia State Community College have announced a partnership that allows Columbia State associate degree students to earn a bachelor’s of business administration degree from Belmont’s Jack C. Massey College of Business.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
You’ve heard of Tesla Autopilot, but perhaps not always in a good way: The semi-autonomous driving system is now under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board for the role it may have played in a March fatal accident near Mountain View, California.
CAREER CORNER
We all have bad days. Whether you woke up on the wrong side of the bed or someone cut you off on the way to work, it can make getting through the day difficult.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
As technology has continued to evolve in the last decade, marketers have been closely watching and anticipating the progression of geomarketing, or the application of location intelligence to effectively market products and services to consumers.
NASHVILLE AREA
NEW YORK (AP) — Dollar General reported a surge in first-quarter profit, but inclement weather doused enough business to leave the retailer short of Wall Street expectations almost across the board.
COURTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The former president of the nation's largest diesel fuel retailer wants to fire his trial lawyer now that he's been convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Board of Regents has appointed Jon D. Mandrell president of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Murfreesboro.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, breaking a steady climb that pushed them to their highest levels in seven years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in April, reflecting the dearth of properties being listed for sale in the U.S. right now.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal study shows math scores are 10 percentage points lower for students using vouchers to attend private schools in Washington, D.C., compared with their peers who applied but weren't selected.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Every morning, 92-year-old Sidney Kramer wraps a blood pressure cuff around his arm and steps on a scale, and readings of his heart health beam to a team of nurses — and to his daughter's smartphone — miles from his Maryland home.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the White House a proposal widely expected to roll back future fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks.
DETROIT (AP) — The Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank will spend $2.25 billion for a nearly 20 percent stake in General Motors' autonomous vehicle unit.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are mostly lower Thursday morning following big swings over the last two days. Steelmakers are rising as the Trump administration announced that it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Europe, Canada and Mexico. General Motors is surging after SoftBank of Japan said it will invest $2.25 billion in GM's autonomous car business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans boosted their spending by 0.6 percent in April, the biggest increase in five months, while a gauge of inflation remained at the Federal Reserve's optimal level for a second straight month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Thursday it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Mexico and Canada after failing to win concessions from the American allies. Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, exacerbating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears will close another 72 stores as sales plunge and losses grow. The beleaguered retailer said that it has identified about 100 stores that are no longer turning a profit, and the majority of those locations will be shuttered soon.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after President Donald Trump deemed Jeff Sessions "beleaguered" and threatened to fire him last July, members of the president's inner circle made a desperate case to save the attorney general's job.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30
SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt says linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. has changed his mind and will be staying with the Volunteers.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Police have arrested 20 people in a protest that blocked a street near the Tennessee Capitol as they called for gun control, changes to the military system and other social justice measures.
MIDSTATE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Spirits maker Brown-Forman Corp. says its CEO will retire at year's end, to be succeeded by another veteran executive at the company best known for its Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey brand.
REGION
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Mudslides triggered by the soggy remnants of Alberto forced evacuations below a dam and closed an interstate highway in the western mountains of North Carolina on Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Banks and energy companies surged Wednesday and smaller companies made huge gains as stocks got back almost all the ground they lost the day before. Investors reversed course as they hoped Italy would be able to avoid a new round of elections after all.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve's latest survey of business conditions found manufacturing activity accelerating in many parts of the country in late April and early May, even as some businesses expressed concern about uncertainty caused by rising trade tensions.
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron warned against trade wars in an impassioned speech about international cooperation Wednesday, two days before the Trump administration decides whether to hit Europe with punishing new tariffs.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart is offering its employees a new perk: affordable access to a college degree. America's largest private employer, which in the past has helped its workers get their high school or equivalency degree, hopes the new benefit will help it recruit and retain higher quality entry-level employees in a tight U.S. labor market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a weaker 2.2 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, as consumers and businesses slowed their spending. But given the economy's recent performance, analysts are still looking for a solid rebound in the current quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added 178,000 jobs in May, according to a survey, a solid total but below the average monthly gains accumulated over the winter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is proposing to ease a rule aimed at defusing the kind of risk-taking on Wall Street that helped trigger the 2008 financial meltdown.
PARIS (AP) — An international economic watchdog says threatened new trade barriers and rising oil prices could hurt long-awaited global economic growth.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government accused the Trump administration of hurting its credibility by acting erratically on trade and vowed Wednesday to fight back if Washington goes ahead with a threatened tariff hike.
NEW YORK (AP) — Asia Thomas knew she was at a disadvantage. It had been 16 years since she quit a job at McDonald's to raise her kids. When she left, restaurants didn't have kiosks to take orders, people didn't use smartphones to pay, and job seekers did applications on paper.
NATIONAL POLITICS
PHOENIX (AP) — Women running for office are due to hit another threshold with a record number of candidates for the U.S. Senate, but actually winning those seats and changing the face of the chamber are a different matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rapid-fire diplomacy played out on two continents in advance of an "expected" summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, the strengthening resolve coming after a series of high-risk, high-reward gambits by the two leaders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Democratic critics traded outraged, sometimes plainly false accusations about immigration as the debate over "lost" children and the practice of separating families caught crossing the border illegally reached a new boiling point.
TUESDAY, MAY 29
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt University's chancellor received a nearly $3 million bonus in 2016 following rounds of layoffs and budget cuts at the private school.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Diving into the midterm elections, President Donald Trump is seeking to build a stable of Republicans who will help promote his agenda and serve as a check on Democrats aiming to win majorities in Congress.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Streets will be closing in anticipation of a visit by President Donald Trump.
SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Admiral Schofield is pulling his name out of the NBA draft and returning to Tennessee for his senior season.
REGION
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The remnants of Alberto doused the Deep South with waves of rain Tuesday as the vast, soggy system pushed northward toward the Tennessee Valley.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices climbed in March with buyers paying a premium for ownership as the number of homes up for sale declines while mortgage rates rise.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. and Europe sank Tuesday following political turmoil in Italy, which stoked fears of instability in the euro bloc.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers were feeling a bit more optimistic in May following a slight decline in confidence in April.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has renewed its threat to place 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods in retaliation for what it says are China's unfair trade practices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's hard-line views on trade, a staple of his message long before he entered politics, are beginning to collide with the cold realities of global geopolitics.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Italy's political turmoil has sent a wave of concern through Europe's 19-country currency union, with serious tremors hitting the country's government debt market.
Starbucks is closing more than 8,000 U.S. stores for a few hours Tuesday to conduct anti-bias training in the company's latest effort to deal with the fallout over the arrest of two black men at one of its shops in Philadelphia.
NATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC canceled its hit reboot of "Roseanne" on Tuesday following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes."
WASHINGTON (AP) — At a West Virginia rally on tax cuts, President Donald Trump veered off on a subject that likely puzzled most of his audience.
MONDAY, MAY 28
SPORTS
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Defending national champion Florida is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA baseball tournament, making the Gators the first program to be a top seed three times.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — President Donald Trump is turning his attention to Tennessee, where he will raise money and rally supporters Tuesday in a crucial race for control of the U.S. Senate.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — German authorities are giving automaker Daimler until mid-June to submit a plan for how it will fix diesel-powered vans that don't meet emissions requirements.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
HONG KONG (AP) — European stock markets slipped Monday after small gains in Asia as investors digested the latest developments in North Korean diplomacy and Italian domestic politics. Crude oil extended losses as traders braced for possible output increases.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has proposed banning plastic products like cotton swabs, straws, stirs and balloon sticks when alternatives are easily available in an attempt to reduce litter spoiling beaches and ocean beds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's hard-line views on trade, a staple of his message long before he entered politics, are beginning to collide with the cold realities of global geopolitics.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A major tobacco company is pumping millions of dollars into a campaign to persuade San Francisco voters to reject a ban on selling flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, certain chewing tobaccos and vaping liquids with flavors like cotton candy, mango and cool cucumber.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's legal team would advise that he refuse to submit to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller unless the team can review classified information shared with select lawmakers about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russia's election meddling, Trump's personal lawyer says.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is again playing loose with the facts, claiming a drop in illegal border crossings that no longer exists while blasting a source in a news story who does.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has warned Congress that he will never sign another foot-tall, $1 trillion-plus government-wide spending bill like the one he did in March. His message to lawmakers in both parties: Get your act together before the next budget lands on my desk.
FRIDAY, MAY 25
MUSIC INDUSTRY
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (AP) — A drummer who contributed to the legendary Muscle Shoals sound has died.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Mayor David Briley declared victory after an election Thursday to serve out the term vacated by former Mayor Megan Barry, who pleaded guilty to a felony and resigned after an extramarital affair with her bodyguard.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Flinching when he heard himself described as a man who used power to prey on women, Harvey Weinstein was arraigned Friday on rape and other charges in the first criminal prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him that sparked a national reckoning over sexual misconduct.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A former Tennessee judge pleaded guilty Thursday to corruption charges including scheming to have drugs planted on a woman after he was investigated for helping her with her legal trouble in exchange for sex.
MEMPHIS (AP) — The Sons of Confederate Veterans says it has filed a notice of appeal of a judge's ruling that the removal of three statues of Confederate leaders in Memphis, Tennessee, was legal.
HEALTH CARE
The highest pay packages go to CEOs at health care companies. For the second time in three years, chief executives in the health care field led the S&P 500 in terms of total compensation. The typical CEO in the industry made $14.9 million last year, which means half earned more than that, and half made less.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A proposal to create government price controls in California for surgeries, hospital stays, doctor visits and other health care services died Friday when it failed to clear a key committee, but the author says he plans to bring it back next year.
TECHNOLOGY
BRUSSELS (AP) — Facebook said Thursday it will not compensate users in the scandal over the misuse of their personal data by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
PARIS (AP) — China's biggest tech company says the industry needs to tackle users' privacy concerns and the risks posed by advancing technologies.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The autonomous Uber SUV that struck and killed an Arizona pedestrian in March spotted the woman about six seconds before hitting her, but did not stop because the system used to automatically apply brakes in potentially dangerous situations had been disabled, according to federal investigators.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Energy companies and oil prices took their worst losses in months Friday on reports OPEC countries plan to produce more oil soon. Stock indexes finished an indecisive week with small losses.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Friday that the Fed's independence from political pressure must be respected if it is to succeed in controlling inflation, maximizing employment and regulating the financial system.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in April amid weaker demand for aircraft. But a key category that tracks business investment rose after sliding in March — a sign of health for American industry.
LONDON (AP) — Lawmakers scrutinizing Britain's exit from the European Union said Thursday that progress in trade talks with the bloc is "highly unsatisfactory," and that the country may have to stay in the tariff-free EU customs union for years after Brexit.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un may be the deal that got away.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is twisting the words of his predecessor's national intelligence director as part of his stepped-up effort to trash the credibility of the special counsel's Russia investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that President Donald Trump's budget plan won't curb the spiraling deficit as it claims.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump on Thursday called off next month's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, calling the cancellation a "tremendous setback" for peace and stressing that the US military was ready to respond to any "foolish or reckless acts" by the North.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed into law a measure that loosens key restraints for banks imposed after the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession. Savoring the legislative triumph, he called it "the next step in America's unprecedented economic comeback."
NEW YORK (AP) — The words "Donald Trump" are not heard anywhere in HBO's new documentary on Sen. John McCain, which debuts on Memorial Day. That's not a coincidence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Thursday passed a $717 billion defense policy bill that would give the military a 2.6 percent pay hike, the largest in nine years.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — "Toxic" political infighting is preventing U.S. President Donald Trump from improving relations with Moscow, Russia's former ambassador in the United States and a long-time Trump campaign contact told The Associated Press on Friday.