VOL. 41 | NO. 24 | Friday, June 16, 2017
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
As Congress fiddles with an Obamacare replacement, one likely to cut billions in Medicaid spending, health care experts warn a decrease in funding could be hard on Tennessee.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Len Rossi used to be known for using “the sleeper” and “the Boston crab” and especially for delivering “the dropkick” – his specialty – while slaughtering foes in wrestling rings all over the United States, Canada and even in Japan. (Gauging the extent of actual damage done to his opponents kinda depends on whether you are one of the folks believing pro wrestling, like Santa Claus, is 100 percent real and that Elvis is still alive.)
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
There were a staggering 3,943 closings for the month in the Nashville area in May, a 6.6 percent increase over May of 2016, figures released by The Greater Nashville Realtors reveal.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, May 2017, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged up this week as the benchmark 30-year rate bounced back from a seven-month low.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
When the Vanderbilt baseball team finished its season one step short of its goal – the College World Series – there was a sense of profound disappointment for the Commodores. That’s to be expected. The last pitch of any season is cause for sadness if you’re a committed baseball program that doesn’t achieve the ultimate goal.
PREDATORS
As if the Nashville Predators’ march to the Stanley Cup Final wasn’t riveting enough on its own, the journey has also provided fans with some unexpected glimpses into the team’s future.
NEWSMAKERS
The Nashville School of Law recognized three leaders in the legal community at its recent 24th annual Recognition Dinner. Alumni Mary Frances Rudy and Larry R. Williams are graduate honorees, and the Hon. Robert E. Corlew III is faculty honoree.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Ford’s brawny 2017 F-150 Raptor pickup truck is raking in the accolades, with its more powerful engine and new 10-speed transmission. And for the first time, it’s being offered in the automaker’s SuperCrew body style, which makes it roomier than ever.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
LinkedIn is one of the few social platforms that still allows your network to see your organic, unpaid content. It also is the single-largest social platform focused exclusively on the business sector.
CAREER CORNER
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Austin to meet a number of folks who work at the job website Indeed.com. If you’ve looked for a job in the last 10 years, there’s a good chance you’ve visited Indeed.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Senate Speaker Randy McNally has been named to the executive committee of the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The former home Tennessee Regulatory Authority has been sold for $8.9 million.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates dropped slightly this week.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes ticked higher in morning trading Thursday after the price of oil stabilized, at least for now.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Slightly more people sought US unemployment benefits last week, but the number of applications remained at a historically low level that suggests the job market is healthy.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans would cut Medicaid, end penalties for people not buying insurance and erase a raft of tax increases as part of their long-awaited plan to scuttle President Barack Obama's health care law, congressional aides and lobbyists say.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is telling Democrats that next year could be the year they take back control of the House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is growing older and more ethnically diverse, a trend that could put strains on government programs from Medicare to education, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators complained about their party's secretive health care bill Wednesday, a day before GOP leaders planned to finally release their plan for erasing much of President Barack Obama's health care law.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The health insurance company co-founded by the brother of President Donald Trump's son-in-law says it wants to return to New Jersey's health exchange marketplace and expand in four other states – including Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Consumer Reports magazine has ranked Chattanooga's EPB Fiber as the country's best television service provider and fourth-best among internet providers.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans bought homes at a quicker pace in May, but the housing market may soon face turmoil because of a shortage of properties for sale and surging prices.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A retired Tennessee Highway Patrol sergeant has pleaded guilty to transporting a woman into the country illegally.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Energy stocks dove again on Wednesday as oil dropped to its lowest price since last summer, extending their dismal start to the year. Gains for health care and technology stocks helped hem in losses for broader market indexes.
LONDON (AP) — Oil prices fell further to a new seven-month low on Wednesday, with the international benchmark for crude sliding below $46 a barrel.
DETROIT (AP) — Travis Kalanick, the combative and embattled CEO of ride-hailing giant Uber, has resigned under pressure from investors at a pivotal time for the company.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — With a boost from President Donald Trump, House Republicans will revive efforts to shift responsibility for the nation's air traffic control operations to a private, non-profit corporation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sinister portrait of Russia's cyberattacks on the U.S. emerged Wednesday as current and former U.S. officials told Congress Moscow stockpiled stolen information and selectively disseminated it during the 2016 presidential campaign to undermine the American political process.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House plans to privately negotiate a massive overhaul of the tax system with Republican leaders in Congress, possibly giving rank-and-file members little if any say over the finished product, according to a top aide to President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are angling toward a Senate vote next week on their marquee effort to erase much of President Barack Obama's health care law. But there's plenty of grumbling from senators across the GOP spectrum, and leaders haven't yet nailed down the support they'll need to prevail.
TUESDAY, JUNE 20
NASHVILLE AREA
DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge has approved a $6.5 million settlement in a wage dispute involving 28,000 current or former exotic dancers at a chain of clubs operating in 18 states.
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro has hired former Volunteers football coach Phillip Fulmer as his special adviser for community, athletics and university relations.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A federal trial will likely move to another Tennessee city in the case against eight ex-employees of the truck stop chain owned by the family of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam
DAYTON (AP) — An auto parts supplier says it will lay off 160 people in Tennessee as it moves some business operations to another plant in the Midwest.
MIDSTATE
MANCHESTER (AP) — Two deputies were injured Monday in a shooting at a Tennessee county courthouse, and authorities said the shooter died.
TECHNOLOGY
PARIS (AP) — Drones are no longer aviation's next big thing. They are a big thing right now, as evidenced by the drones of all shapes and sizes showcased at the Paris Air Show.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is increasingly claiming territory once held exclusively by department stores and it's doing so again, essentially placing a dressing room in your house.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is trying to turn its search engine into an employment engine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes retreated from their record heights Tuesday after a slump in the price of oil weighed on energy companies.
CHICAGO (AP) — An investor group headed by a former Chicago alderman has submitted a bid to buy the Chicago Sun-Times.
BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Tuesday to seek a broad agreement on trade at next month's Group of 20 summit and told German business leaders that she won't give up on a free-trade deal between Europe and the U.S.
RHINEBECK, N.Y. (AP) — Last goodbyes are said in these woods with wildflowers placed on a shrouded body, or with the beloved wrapped in a favorite childhood blanket. Dirt shoveled back into the graves leaves behind slowly sinking mounds of earth on the forest floor, marked with stones.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans steered toward a potential showdown vote on their long-awaited health care bill next week, despite indications that they've yet to solidify the 50 GOP votes they'll need to avert an embarrassing defeat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House plans to introduce its tax overhaul during the first two weeks of September, says Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's top economic aide.
WASHINGTON (AP) — If Republicans can't pass a budget, forget about a major overhaul of the nation's tax code — at least if they want a GOP-only approach with President Donald Trump that would avoid Democratic delaying tactics.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than one-third of Americans support President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a new poll shows, and just 18 percent of respondents agree with his claim that pulling out of the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions will help the U.S. economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say federal courts are acting properly in blocking President Donald Trump's travel ban, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
MONDAY, JUNE 19
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is wading into the thicket of partisan redistricting in a case from Wisconsin.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says the government can't refuse to register trademarks that are considered offensive.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal in a long-running copyright dispute over a YouTube video that shows a baby dancing to Prince's song, "Let's Go Crazy."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down a North Carolina law that bars convicted sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Distillers are launching a 25-stop whiskey tour across Tennessee.
TECHNOLOGY
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Google is intensifying its campaign against online extremism, saying it will put more resources toward identifying and removing videos related to terrorism and hate groups.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple and other big-name technology stocks got back to their winning ways Monday and helped drive U.S. indexes once again to record heights.
PHOENIX (AP) — American Airlines is warning passengers that it may have to ground flights in Phoenix during a heat wave that could send the temperature soaring to 120 degrees.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday urged technology CEOs to pitch in on President Donald Trump's effort to modernize government.
ROME (AP) — Italy's premier says that world leaders will keep up the pressure on President Donald Trump to re-think his opposition to the Paris climate pact.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and one of his personal lawyers have contradicted each other over whether the president is under investigation by the special counsel probing Russians' meddling in the 2016 election and possible links with the Trump campaign.
FRIDAY, JUNE 16
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Close the book on this year's legislative session in Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslam has no more bills or resolutions awaiting his consideration.
COLLIERVILLE (AP) — Republican school board member Kevin Vaughan won a special election Thursday to fill a Tennessee House seat vacated by a lawmaker who resigned amid a sexual harassment investigation.
COLLIERVILLE (AP) — A Republican school board member and a Democratic trial attorney are competing to fill a Tennessee House seat vacated by a lawmaker who resigned amid a sexual harassment investigation.
NASHVILLE AREA
PHOENIX (AP) — Southern Baptists on Wednesday formally condemned the political movement known as the "alt-right," in a national meeting that was thrown into turmoil after leaders initially refused to take up the issue.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam won't endorse any of the Republicans seeking the nomination to succeed him, but said he has spoken to several potential candidates about the emotionally taxing nature of a running a statewide campaign in Tennessee.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that the Tennessee State Fairgrounds is allowed to ban gun shows at the facility.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A leading Republican senator is calling for immediate action to stabilize shaky health insurance markets around the country, amid concerns that the GOP will get blamed if constituents' lives are disrupted.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors say Genesis Healthcare has agreed to pay $53.6 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims for unnecessary therapy and nursing care.
U.S. regulators have approved new competition for EpiPen, the emergency allergy medicine that made Mylan a poster child for pharmaceutical greed.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen is unveiling a new version of its Polo subcompact, the sixth edition of a car that has sold 14 million units since it was introduced in 1975.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Volkswagen has named a new head of its lone U.S. assembly plant and will have the position report to the CEO of its American operations rather than directly to headquarters in Germany.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's $13.4 billion deal for Whole Foods sent grocery stores, big retailers, and food makers and distributors plunging Friday. Energy companies rose while other stocks were little changed.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is buying Whole Foods in a stunning move that gives it hundreds of stores across the U.S. — a brand-new laboratory for radical retail experiments that could revolutionize the way people buy groceries.
Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods Market is sending the stocks of grocery store operators and other companies that compete with Whole Foods plunging.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeff Bezos wants to give away some his fortune, and he's looking for the public's help to figure out how to do it.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart says it's buying online men's clothing retailer Bonobos for $310 million in cash, showing that its appetite for hip clothing brands shows no sign of abating as it looks for ways to gain on Amazon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homebuilders slowed down the pace of construction for the third straight month in May, a possible sign that the shortage of houses for sale might worsen.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America is cutting an unspecified number of positions in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nike wants to be more nimble on its feet and sell more shoes directly to customers online as part of a restructuring in which it plans to cut about 1,400 jobs and reduce the number of sneaker styles it offers by a quarter.
U.S. homebuilders are feeling slightly less optimistic, a shift that follows a big drop in sales of new homes in April.
Forget frequent flier miles, last-minute getaways and even road trips. Nearly half of Americans say they won't be taking a vacation this summer, mostly because they can't afford it, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
NATIONAL POLITICS
MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Friday he was restoring some travel and economic restrictions on Cuba that were lifted as part of the Obama administration's historic easing. He challenged the communist government of Raul Castro to negotiate a better deal for Cubans and Cuban-Americans.
A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of the week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump appeared to confirm Friday that he is under investigation for obstruction of justice, claiming that he is being investigated for firing FBI Director James Comey by the man who told him to do it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House lacks a unified plan to increase the government's borrowing cap as a likely September deadline is drawing near, said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is ordering more money and a bigger role for private companies in designing apprenticeship programs meant to fill some of the 6 million open jobs in the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the day that gunfire shattered the morning calm of suburban Washington, dozens of family members of those killed by past gun violence had gathered in the capital to lobby against Republican-backed legislation to make it easier to buy gun silencers.