VOL. 41 | NO. 21 | Friday, May 26, 2017
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
A volley of gunshots slightly interrupts my calm as I stand on one of my favorite knolls in the Nashville National Cemetery.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
I was a big fan of the Beatles, as some may know, for most of my life. Then I had read hundreds of books and wrote a couple about the lads from Liverpool. Now, I am a historian and have a radio show to prove it. The intro to the show identifies me as a historian, so I must be.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week to their lowest levels of the year. The benchmark 30-year rate dipped below the key 4 percent mark.
PREDATORS
Just five games into this history-making hockey season, the Nashville Predators faced an early character test.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — By coach Peter Laviolette's math, the Nashville Predators have been pretty good for all but 10 minutes of the Stanley Cup Final.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
At the 2015 SEC Media Days, Tennessee coach Butch Jones referred to his school as “the original Wide Receiver U.”
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Honda has brought its first five-door Civic hatchback to the U.S. from England, and it comes with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the passenger room of a sedan and SUV-like cargo space.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Suppose you have 10 ounces of red dye and your associate has 10 ounces of yellow dye. The assignment is for each of you to create 10 ounces of the perfect shade of orange. The fair solution: exchange five ounces of each color.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Legendary country singer Alan Jackson is going to play a free outdoor concert in Music City in advance of the Nashville Predators first home game in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.
NASHVILLE AREA
GOODLETTSVILLE — Dollar General Corporation today reported Net sales increased 6.5 percent to $5.61 billion in the 2017 first quarter compared to $5.27 billion in the 2016 first quarter.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Nissan and its Infiniti luxury brand reported that sales rose 3 percent last month, an early sign that May sales could beat analysts' expectations of only a tiny gain.
DETROIT (AP) — When General Motors CEO Mary Barra introduced the Chevrolet Bolt at the CES gadget show last year, she took a shot at Tesla.
HONG KONG (AP) — Ride-hailing giant Uber has reported another multimillion dollar loss even as its revenues grow.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were flat to slightly lower this week, as the key 30-year rate marked a new low for the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. construction fell in April by the largest amount in a year, reflecting weakness in homebuilding, non-residential construction and government projects.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Yet another sign that the job market continues to improve is driving stocks and bond yields higher on Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is on track for its first up day in three and is close to its record high.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. private businesses added a robust 253,000 jobs in May, a private survey found, a sign that employers expect economic growth to keep plowing ahead.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, the second straight week of increases, though levels remain historically low.
NATIONAL POLITICS
BERLIN (AP) — World leaders pledged Thursday to keep up the fight against global warming and urged Donald Trump to be part of that effort, hours before the U.S. president was due to announce whether he would pull out of the Paris climate accord.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will announce his decision on whether to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord during a Rose Garden event Thursday afternoon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Catanzaro, a former oil and gas lobbyist, can help shape the Trump administration's energy policies. Shahira Knight can weigh in on retirement matters even though she previously worked for Fidelity, a financial company specializing in retirement services.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31
PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The winning team went nearly two full periods without a shot. The hottest goaltender in the playoffs was only tested 11 times in 58 minutes — and lost.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Tennessee man is calling himself a "dumb redneck with a bad idea" after police filed charges against him for throwing a catfish onto the rink in Pittsburgh during the opening of the Stanley Cup Final.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country's biggest stars will pay tribute to Southern rocker Gregg Allman at the CMT Music Awards with performances from Jason Aldean, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker and more.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A staffing agency for the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee is holding job fair to hire more than 200 production workers at the factory.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Kellogg Co. says it plans to shut down a distribution plant in Memphis and lay off 172 workers.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The National Park Service says it expects to release a review in mid- to late July of its response to a November wildfire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that turned deadly.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville officials are proposing sanctuary city-like standards in response to President Donald Trump's policies on immigration.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Police Department is once again offering a free driver awareness class for teenagers that will be taught by police officers.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — As a thyroid cancer survivor battling nerve damage and other complications, Lisa Dammert was in such dire financial straits in 2014 that she and her husband did the unthinkable: They let their health insurance lapse for a while.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans retreated from signing contracts to buy homes in April for the second straight month, a possible sign that a declining number of homes on the market are stifling sales during the traditional spring buying season.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes edged lower for the second day in a row Wednesday as a sharp drop for banks and a rare loss for technology companies canceled out gains for drugmakers and consumer-focused companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy kept growing in April through late May, with more regions citing worker shortages across a widening range of occupations, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — President Donald Trump keeps criticizing Germany's trade surplus with the United States. Germans say their products are just better and people want to buy them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from a landmark global climate agreement, a White House official said Wednesday, though Trump and aides were looking for "caveats in the language" related to the exit and had not made a final decision.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has been handing out his cellphone number to world leaders and urging them to call him directly, an unusual invitation that breaks diplomatic protocol and is raising concerns about the security and secrecy of the U.S. commander in chief's communications.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has called the House-passed health care bill a "great plan," but a new poll finds that three out of four Americans do not believe it fulfills most of his promises.
SHANGHAI (AP) — The arrest and disappearance of three labor activists investigating a Chinese company that produces Ivanka Trump-branded shoes in China prompted a call for her brand to cease working with the supplier and raised questions about whether the first family's commercial interests would muddy U.S. leadership on human rights.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will provide documents to the Senate intelligence committee as part of its probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, The Associated Press has learned.
TUESDAY, MAY 30
PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The first period of their first Stanley Cup Final game was a rough one for the Nashville Predators. They had a goal waved off. They fell behind 3-0 and looked overmatched at times.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — This is what the Pittsburgh Penguins do. They find a way. Even on nights when they blow a three-goal lead, they go an entire period (and then some) without registering a single shot and the opponent is fresher, quicker and, for long stretches, demonstrably better.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — George Strait, Dolly Parton, Kelsea Ballerini, Eric Church, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson and Shel Silverstein will be honored by the Academy of Country Music during a television special.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — About two out of three registered voters in the state think Tennessee students whose parents brought or kept them in the country illegally should be eligible for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities, according to a poll released by Vanderbilt University on Tuesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has signed a law that will make it easier for people convicted of mostly low-level offenses to get their criminal records wiped clean.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican state Sen. Mark Green says he has made up his mind about whether to rejoin the governor's race in Tennessee, but he doesn't want to make his decision public until later this week.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Groups interested in submitting urban forestry tree planting project proposals may do so through June 23.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Following a spate of crimes at nearby apartment complexes, a proposed plan would allow the Middle Tennessee State University police department to work off-campus at the request of the Murfreesboro Police Department.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee teacher who led police on a nationwide manhunt after running away with a 15-year-old student says he will plead not guilty to federal charges.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices climbed in March at the strongest rate in nearly three year as a dwindling supply of houses for sale is causing prices to significantly outpace income growth.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A seven-day winning streak for stocks came to a quiet end Tuesday as banks, especially smaller ones, dropped along with bond yields and interest rates. Energy companies also sank.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers were slightly less confident in May for the second straight month, but they remain bullish by historical measures.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increased their spending in April at the fastest pace in four months, bolstered by a solid gain in incomes. The strong results underscored expectations that the economy is poised to rebound after a lackluster start to the year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon, the internet goliath that revolutionized the way much of the world buys books, toilet paper and TVs, hit a new milestone Tuesday. Its stock surpassed the $1,000 mark for the first time.
HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — Even after an online spending spree, it may be hard for Wal-Mart to escape the Amazon in the room.
MONDAY, MAY 29
PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The dynasty that once appeared so certain is again in the offing for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With the Predators preparing for their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final, it’s difficult to recall that this team began the playoffs with very few expectations six weeks ago.
HEALTH CARE
Dawn Erin went nearly 20 years without health insurance before the Affordable Care Act, bouncing between free clinics for frequent and painful bladder infections.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
HONG KONG (AP) — World stock markets were listless Monday as investors look to a raft of economic data this week and as holidays in several key markets crimped trading volume.
DALLAS (AP) — If you're planning a big vacation trip this summer, move over. You're going to have lots of company.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is considering overhauling his White House staff and bringing back top campaign strategists, frustrated by what he views as his team's inability to contain the burgeoning crisis involving alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has reopened his Twitter spigot now that his foreign trip is over, so brace yourself. The intensifying investigations into Russian interference in the election and the potential involvement of associates have reached his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and appear to have caught the president in a bare-knuckled mood.
FRIDAY, MAY 26
PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins kept getting by even as their star players kept skating off the ice in pain. Even as the targets on their back as Stanley Cup champions kept getting bigger. Even as Columbus and Washington and Ottawa kept pushing and prodding, poking and pinching.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Newly released figures indicate Nashville has overtaken Memphis as Tennessee's largest city.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Senate has voted to name Nashville's new federal courthouse after former Sen. Fred Thompson, the late actor who appeared in at least 20 movies and in the TV series "Law & Order."
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has signed a bill that requires cities and counties in Tennessee to buy metal detectors, hire security guards and check bags at many public buildings, parks and buses, or let handgun permit holders bring in their guns.
STATEWIDE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Businessman Randy Boyd will happily talk at length about his role in creating Tennessee's free community college tuition program and his plans to attract more companies to the state and cut regulations to keep others from leaving.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee has entered into a five-year contract with real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle as part of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to outsource jobs on college campuses and other state-owned properties to the private sector, state officials announced Friday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee tax preparer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for filing fraudulent tax returns with phony deductions worth $443,600.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A new report on drug overdose deaths as of 2015 in Tennessee says that the fatalities are primarily white, mostly male and increasingly less likely to have prescriptions for the drugs.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — In 2014, Infiniti leased more than 28,000 Q50 luxury sedans for as little as $329 per month in a growing U.S. market. The leases accounted for more than three-quarters of Q50 sales.
HEALTH CARE
People shopping for insurance through the Affordable Care Act in yet more regions could face higher prices and fewer choices next year as insurance companies lay out their early plans for 2018.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are little changed Friday afternoon in quiet trading ahead of the Memorial Day holiday. Household goods companies are rising as beauty products makers Ulta and Coty climb. Technology companies, which have led the market's recent rally, are slightly lower. Indexes remain near record highs following a six-day winning streak.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods dropped in April for the first time in five months, and a key category that tracks business investment went nowhere for the second straight month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy started 2017 out with a whimper, but it wasn't quite as weak as first thought. The government revised up its January-March growth reading to a rate of 1.2 percent — better than an earlier estimate of 0.7 percent but well below President Donald Trump's ambitious growth targets.
The typical big-company CEO raked in $11.5 million last year in salary, stock and other compensation, according to a study by executive data firm Equilar for The Associated Press. That's an 8.5 percent raise from a year earlier, the biggest in three years.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Summer travelers may well find themselves stuck in long security lines and squeezed into cramped seats. For frequent travelers, or those who can and want to pay extra, perks are available including upgrades to first-class seats, airport lounges and free food.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Restaurants, grocers and other businesses celebrated on Thursday as House Republicans backed off efforts to eliminate the cap on fees that banks can charge retailers when customers use a debit card.
VIENNA (AP) — OPEC and other oil nations meeting Thursday were set to extend their production cuts in an effort to shore up prices. But the intended impact could be short-lived.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears' extended decline in sales persisted during the first quarter and the storied retailer vowed additional spending cuts to offset its slowing business.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has vowed to revive the coal industry and regularly promises to "put our miners back to work." But one of his top White House advisers apparently does not share Trump's affinity for coal.
Trump criticizes German trade surplus, again
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Republican multimillionaire Greg Gianforte won Montana's only U.S. House seat on Thursday despite being charged a day earlier with assault after witnesses said he grabbed a reporter by the neck and threw him to the ground.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's proposal to sell nearly half the U.S. emergency oil stockpile is renewing debate about whether the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is still needed amid an ongoing oil production boom that has seen U.S. imports drop sharply in the past decade.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and 21 other Republicans on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to follow through on his campaign pledge to pull out of the Paris climate accord.
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — The Republican candidate in the nationally-watched election Thursday for Montana's sole congressional seat has been charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly grabbing a reporter by the neck and throwing him to the ground.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American factories grew at a slightly faster pace in May, another sign that manufacturing remains healthy.