VOL. 41 | NO. 18 | Friday, May 5, 2017
Why do companies, organizations or individual professionals rebrand? Is it really necessary, and why is so much attention paid to considerations such as fonts and colors? The Ledger asked two national rebranding experts to explain.
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Legislation that slipped through the House of Representatives honoring an unknown author who penned a Nathan Bedford Forrest apologist biography was enabled by the climate within the Republican-controlled body, a Memphis legislator says.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Last week, word spread that a woman who was walking about her attic had fallen through the ceiling and onto the floor below. She experienced a mean fall that injured several vertebrae and opened a gash in her scalp that required several staples to close.
REAL ESTATE
April 2017 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Wilson counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates barely moved this week after rising last week for the first time in five weeks. The benchmark 30-year rate remained above the key threshold of 4 percent.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
Just when we think we’ve figured out Titans G.M. Jon Robinson, he reinvents himself. On the first night of the recent NFL draft, we assumed Robinson would play it safe, trading the No. 5 overall pick to acquire more draft capital.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
It’s easy to look at the Tennessee Titans’ 2017 draft and conclude General Manager Jon Robinson drafted for need.
We would be remiss if we let this draft get away without paying some sort of respect to long-time Titans scout and front office executive Blake Beddingfield, who was shown the door Monday after 18 years with the organization.
NEWSMAKERS
Adams and Reese Government Relations Team leader Brad A. Lampley has been named partner in charge of the firm’s Nashville office.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Car shoppers looking for a Mazda Miata coupe have a new choice for 2017: the new Mazda MX-5 Miata RF, with a targa-looking, power hard top.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
If marketers had a zodiac calendar, we might call 2017 “The Year of the Video.” Online video is enjoying the spotlight, due in part to its increasingly crucial role in social media, and consumption is also at an all-time high. That is a definite plus for video marketing.
CAREER CORNER
You’ve made it through four years of college. Now what? Getting your first job after graduation can feel like a daunting task. We have such high hopes of finding the perfect career quickly and easily – until we hit a wall. Based on a recent Wall Street Journal piece, many college graduates can relate.
PREDATORS
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Anaheim Ducks finally cleared a major psychological hurdle with their gritty Game 7 victory over Edmonton on Wednesday night. After four consecutive years of failure in winner-take-all showdowns, they stood up to an upstart opponent and finished a series strong.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A push by Gov. Bill Haslam's administration to outsource hospitality services at a Tennessee state park has drawn no bidders.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A judge has granted a divorce decree to a lesbian couple after a custody battle that was targeted by dozens of conservative Tennessee lawmakers who tried to intervene in the case.
MIDSTATE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials have announced two projects to improve Swan Lake, an attraction at Dunbar Cave State Park in Clarksville.
HEALTH CARE
While Republicans rewrite the Affordable Care Act in Washington, the immediate future of the law has grown hazier with the nation's third-largest health insurer saying that it will completely divorce itself from state-based insurance exchanges.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co.'s profit rose by 27 percent in the fiscal year that ended in March to 663.5 billion yen ($5.8 billion), as strong sales in the U.S., China and Europe and the sale of its stake in a parts maker offset damage from the strong yen, the company said Thursday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates inched higher this week. The benchmark 30-year rate remained above the key threshold of 4 percent.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stocks were broadly lower in morning trading Thursday as investors sized up the latest batch of earnings reports from retailers and other companies. Real estate stocks fell the most. Oil prices headed higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans sought jobless benefits last week, and the number of people collecting unemployment checks felt to the lowest level since 1988 — more evidence the U.S. job market remains strong.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation at the wholesale level jumped in April by the largest amount in three months, fueled by rising prices of food and energy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Lower sales dragged down Macy's profit during the first quarter as customers' habits shift to more online shopping and retail locations lose traffic.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — For weeks, President Donald Trump had been seething.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several Republican senators are questioning the timing of President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey. But even as the issue emerges as a potential distraction from the GOP's legislative agenda, most are dismissing Democratic calls for a special counsel, and their hand-wringing looks unlikely to lead to any concrete action.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
STATE LEGISLATURE
The Legislature wrapped up its business for the year, adjourning Wednesday after taking up a spate of last-minute bills, including postponing a bill increasing the amount of campaign contributions lawmakers could accept.
House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh pushed his K-12 education fund to passage Tuesday, but the possibility of funding and Senate approval will have to wait until 2018.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers nearly checked off the last of their lingering legislative priorities Tuesday, as they moved to require metal detectors for gun-banning city facilities and pushed to let older adults without a college degree or certificate attend community college for free.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Board of Education has reinstated the teaching license of a former teacher who pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a student in 2007.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen's board chairman has defended the decision not to publish results of the investigation it commissioned into its scandal over cars rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests, saying it could expose the company to legal risks.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Energy companies jumped with the price of oil Wednesday, but overall, stocks finished only slightly higher as a quiet week of trading continued.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government ran the second highest monthly surplus on record this April as tax revenues were pushed higher by a change in the deadline for corporate tax payments.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla will soon begin selling solar roof tiles.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is hoping it can soon raise stamp prices by a penny or more.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a dozen Republican senators voiced concerns Wednesday over President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, in a series of statements suggesting the GOP was not yet prepared to close ranks behind its president. But most Republicans also refused to embrace Democratic calls for a special counsel and it was not clear their hand-wringing would result in any action.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days before his firing by President Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey told U.S. lawmakers he had asked the Justice Department for more resources to pursue the bureau's investigation into Russia's interference in last year's presidential election, three U.S. officials said Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprising win for environmentalists and Democrats and a blow to the fossil-fuel industry, the Senate on Wednesday failed in a bid to reverse an Obama-era regulation restricting harmful methane emissions that escape from oil and gas wells on federal land.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump defended his firing of FBI Director James Comey, asserting in a flurry of tweets Wednesday that Republicans and Democrats "will be thanking me." Trump did not mention any effect the firing might have on the probe into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With his shocking dismissal of FBI Director James Comey, Donald Trump is propelling the presidency into rarely traversed territory.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly fired James Comey as director of the FBI in the midst of the law enforcement agency's investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign was connected to Russian meddling in the election. In a letter to Comey, Trump said the dismissal was necessary to restore the public's trust and confidence.
TUESDAY, MAY 9
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett and Keith Urban lead the 2017 CMT Music Awards nominations with four each, including nods in the video of the year and social superstar categories.
STATE LEGISLATURE
A day after the House targeted Nashville with a tough bill on short-term rentals, the Senate deferred action on legislation blocking the Metro Council from enacting any prohibitions.
The House of Representatives took the first legislative step Monday toward rewriting the state Constitution with a measure recognizing liberties come from Almighty God rather than governments.
The state Senate approved a $37 billion budget Monday complete with the governor’s IMPROVE Act package of fuel tax increases and tax reductions.
NASHVILLE (AP) — An effort to require large online retailers to collect sales taxes on items bought in Tennessee has been stripped out of a bill on the House floor.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Four married lesbian couples expecting children through artificial insemination filed a lawsuit Monday over concerns that a new Tennessee statute requiring use of the "natural and ordinary meaning" of words in state law could strip them of their rights as parents.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill seeking to allow state lawmakers who live within 50 miles of the Capitol to be reimbursed for occasional hotel stays in Nashville has been removed from consideration for the year.
MIDSTATE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — Authorities say former longtime Montgomery County Sheriff Billy R. Smith has died.
SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee senior associate athletic director Mike Ward has announced he will be stepping down this summer.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld as lawful the government's bailout of American International Group in the heat of the financial crisis. It overturned a lower-court decision favoring the insurance giant's former CEO.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has reversed course and decided that it is willing to offer Obamacare insurance plans in the Knoxville area in 2018.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans trying to craft a health care overhaul discussed Tuesday how to ease provisions in the House-passed bill phasing out President Barack Obama's expansion of Medicaid. On television talk shows and congressional town hall meetings, meanwhile, attention on the GOP drive to repeal Obama's law showed no signs of fading.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats asked Republicans Tuesday to drop their bid to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, offering to help improve the nation's health care system if they did. On television talk shows and congressional town hall meetings, the GOP drive showed no signs of fading from public view.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Nasdaq composite index ticked higher to another record Tuesday, but a drop by energy stocks held other indexes back.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Donald Trump wrote "The Art Of The Deal," but it was Florida's Seminole Indians who made a truly amazing deal to buy the opulent casino built by the man who is now president of the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wants to show that his economic vision of America — making products again, raising great buildings and mining coal — is already coming true, despite the lack of legislation powering that dream. So when the latest jobs report came out, the White House eagerly trumpeted the robust results. But it was out of tune.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Steady job growth has left U.S. employers with an increasingly shallow pool of unemployed workers to consider hiring, something that could lead to faster wage gains.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Irate passengers swarmed ticket counters and some started a near-riot at Fort Lauderdale's airport after Spirit Airlines canceled nine flights, blaming the decision on pilots' failure to show up.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is delaying a decision on whether to withdraw from the landmark international climate deal struck in Paris under the Obama administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans relentlessly complained about big budget deficits during Democratic President Barack Obama's two terms, but now a growing number in the GOP are pushing for deep tax cuts even if they add to the government's $20 trillion debt.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Plenty can go wrong when foreign money mixes with immigration green cards, real estate deals and political connections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the day the White House threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, emerged as a key conduit between the United States and Canada.
MONDAY, MAY 8
STATE LEGISLATURE
Legislation requiring one hour of physical education per week for elementary students stumbled and fell Monday when it hit a procedural hurdle.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators may have been the last team in the Western Conference this postseason. Now they're the NHL's first team to reach a conference final.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — It took plenty of blood, sweat and tears for Republican leaders to finally push their health care bill through the House last week. Don't expect the process to be less complicated in the Senate, though more of the angst in that more decorous chamber will likely be behind closed doors.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — Facebook says it has deleted tens of thousands of accounts in Britain ahead of the June 8 general election in a drive to battle fake news.
NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast and Charter have agreed to cooperate on upcoming cellphone services as both cable companies face growing threats from national wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A turn higher in the last few minutes of trading was enough to nudge U.S. indexes to more record highs Monday as fear seemed to drain out of the market.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sinclair Broadcast Group, already the nation's largest local TV station operator, wants to be even bigger.
NEW YORK (AP) — Coach will spend $2.4 billion for Kate Spade, tying together two premier brands in the luxury goods sector that have fought to snare younger shoppers.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will not reappoint half the expert members of a board that advises the Environmental Protection Agency on the integrity of its science. The decision is the latest in a series of moves that could benefit polluters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Sunday that his support for historically black colleges and universities remains "unwavering."
FRIDAY, MAY 5
STATE LEGISLATURE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican state senator from Tennessee picked by President Donald Trump to be Army secretary has withdrawn from consideration.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has signed legislation requiring words in Tennessee law to be interpreted as having their "natural and ordinary meaning." Gay rights groups call it a sneaky way of denying same-sex couples the legal rights and protections granted to a "husband," a "wife," a "father" or "mother."
NASHVILLE (AP) — A resolution calling for the body of President James K. Polk to be exhumed from the grounds of the Tennessee Capitol won't be taken up in the state House this session.
Putting a day of acrimony behind it, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $37 billion budget plan, stripping away nearly $320 million in amendments placed on it the previous day.
NASHVILLE (AP) — House Republicans have resolved their differences over the state's $37 billion annual spending plan.
The House of Representatives adjourned in apparent disarray today after arguing over amendments to $37 billion budget plan, some saying discord stemmed from votes on the governor’s IMPROVE Act.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee could soon tighten amusement park safety regulations after people were injured on rides in two incidents last year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two Nashville bars could serve alcohol for 23 hours a day in a bill passed by the Tennessee Senate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The House has given final approval to a bill that would allow Tennessee drivers to choose license plates with the phrase "In God We Trust" on them.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee tourism officials say 110 million people visited the state last year, a 4.4 percent jump from 2015.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee judge facing federal charges has entered a plea of not guilty to federal charges that stemmed from an investigation that he helped a woman with her legal troubles in exchange for sex.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Garcia's custom-made guitar is truckin' to auction in New York City.
NASHVILLE (AP) — As a member of the country trio Pistol Annies, singer-songwriter Angaleena Presley often got questions about the lack of women on country radio, which she responded to with a safe sound bite about musical trends being cyclical and being hopeful for change.
MIDSTATE
LEBANON (AP) — A prosecutor says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has concluded an officer was justified in shooting a suspect after a high-speed chase in March.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A jailed Tennessee sheriff has been sentenced to about four years in prison for charges related to profiting from the sale of electronic cigarettes to inmates.
COURTS
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis jury has awarded a Virginia woman a record-setting $110.5 million in the latest lawsuit alleging that using Johnson & Johnson's baby powder caused cancer.
HEALTH CARE
BRANCHBURG, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump's praise of Australia's government-funded health care system has raised the ire of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a leading advocate of such single-payer systems.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are claiming a triumph by pushing their legislative centerpiece scuttling much of President Barack Obama's health care law through the House. It was a perilous journey, and its Senate pathway will be at least as bumpy with little doubt the measure will change, assuming it survives.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Health insurer Anthem is not ready to give up its $48-billlion bid for rival Cigna and now hopes to find a favorable audience in the U.S. Supreme Court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Relieved Republicans muscled their health care bill through the House Thursday, taking their biggest step toward dismantling the Obama health care overhaul since Donald Trump took office. They won passage only after overcoming their own divisions that nearly sank the measure six weeks ago.
The Republican push to replace the Affordable Care Act was revived this week in Congress by a small change to their plan designed to combat concerns over coverage for those with pre-existing health problems.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government's highway safety agency is investigating complaints that the brakes can malfunction on some Nissan SUVs.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A solid pickup in hiring last month helped push the stock market to record highs Friday. The gains were driven by energy, technology and industrial companies.
NEW YORK (AP) — Retire by your mid-60s? How 1960s.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring in the United States rebounded in April as employers added a brisk 211,000 jobs, a sign that the economy's slump in the first three months of the year could prove temporary.
WASHINGTON (AP) — By many measures the job market is in its best shape since before the Great Recession. The unemployment rate is just 4.4 percent, its lowest level in a decade. Employers have added a solid average of 186,000 jobs a month over the past year.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Before billionaire Warren Buffett takes the stage Saturday to spend hours answering at his conglomerate's annual meeting, his investors had to weigh questions about climate change and disclosing political contributions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage giant Fannie Mae posted net income of $2.8 billion for the first quarter, an increase from a year earlier for the government-controlled company.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has delivered to President Donald Trump the first significant legislation of his presidency, a bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill that would keep the government running through September — putting off, for now, battles over Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall and his promised military buildup.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans took a major step toward their long-promised goal of unwinding the stricter financial rules created after the 2008 crisis, pushing forward sweeping legislation that would undo much of President Barack Obama's landmark banking law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is seeking to further weaken enforcement of an IRS rule barring churches and tax-exempt groups from endorsing political candidates, in a long-anticipated executive order on religious freedom that has disappointed some of his supporters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's first foreign trip will include stops in Israel, the Vatican and Saudi Arabia before visits to NATO and a summit in Italy.