VOL. 40 | NO. 25 | Friday, June 17, 2016
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
There I was, cranking out another story, minding my own business, of course, when the phone rang.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
For 24 years, the Southeastern Conference has held that line against playing more than eight league football games.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
May sales data from the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors shows sales increased by 3.9 percent with median home prices increasing by 10 percent compared to May 2015.
REAL ESTATE
May 2016 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Wilson counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week for a second straight week amid continued global economic concerns. The average rates touched their lowest points in 52 weeks.
NEWSMAKERS
Bone McAllester Norton has added W. Justin Adams, an experienced business lawyer and litigator who represents companies and individuals in corporate, health care and employment transactions and disputes, often in the role of outside general counsel.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Infiniti has added more legroom, standard equipment and technological features to its QX50 compact luxury SUV this year, all while lowering its starting retail price by $550.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
We have all heard the sentiment that successful CEOs must spend sufficient time focused “on the business,” not just operating “in the business.”
CAREER CORNER
With the summer finally here, you may be planning a fun vacation. That vacation to visit a faraway, relaxing location can leave you dreaming of moving to a new place. The farther along you are in your career, the trickier moving can feel. At times, it’s hard to know where to even begin.
I SWEAR
In February 2002, I reconnected with my friend Cotton and reminisced about his indigestion-turned-heart-attack from 20 years earlier.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week but remain at levels low enough to boost home sales in the spring buying season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans pulled back from buying new homes in May, reversing strong gains made in April as sales fell sharply in the Northeast and West.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A tie vote by the Supreme Court is blocking President Barack Obama's immigration plan that sought to shield millions living in the U.S. illegally from deportation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major victory for affirmative action, a divided Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the University of Texas admissions program that takes account of race.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday placed new limits on state laws that make it a crime for motorists suspected of drunken driving to refuse alcohol tests.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is making it tougher for federal prosecutors to seek longer prison terms for people convicted of repeated violent crimes.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A new report faults Tennessee's court system for not adequately representing the diversity of the state's population.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee has been approved by the U.S. Department of Defense to offer a National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, evidence that employers are holding onto their staffs and may even step up hiring.
LONDON (AP) — Financial markets and bettors put their money on Britain's voting to remain a part of the European Union on Thursday in a historic referendum that threatens to undermine the experiment in continental unity launched in the aftermath of World War II.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Thursday as investors grow more optimistic that Britons will vote to stay in the European Union. Investors are buying stocks and selling bonds, sending banks higher. Energy companies are up with the price of oil.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren, who spearheaded a landmark acquisition that created a powerhouse national department store chain, will step down early next year, the company announced Thursday as it struggles to reinvent itself amid online competition and changing consumer habits.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A vote by an advisory panel to the Education Department could set the nation's largest accreditor of for-profit colleges firmly on a path to closing its doors, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of students at risk of losing access to federal financial aid.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nashville chamber officials are pushing for a bold, costly regional transit plan as a solution to Middle Tennessee's growing mass transportation problem.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Metro Police Department is now taking applications for its popular free teenage driving awareness class taught by Nashville police officers.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Despite adding sophisticated electronic safety features and touch screens that once were prone to glitches, most automakers improved their reliability scores this year in an annual survey of new-car buyers.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen executives face questions from minority investors over the company's scandal involving cars rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests.
TOKYO (AP) — Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which recently acknowledged it inflated mileage on its models, is forecasting a 145 billion yen ($1.4 billion) loss for the fiscal year through March 2017.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans snapped up houses in May almost as soon as properties were listed, fueling the strongest sales rate in nearly a decade.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans still want to own homes — if they can afford to. That's the finding of a report being released Wednesday by the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says 300 people have been charged this year in health care fraud sweeps across the country. That includes physicians, clinic owners and other health care professionals accused of bilking Medicare.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen came under fire Wednesday from House Republicans who charged that the central bank's policies to promote low interest rates have not boosted economic growth and have left financial markets confused about the Fed's next moves.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks gave up some early gains to finish lower Wednesday as energy companies sank with the price of oil and weak quarterly reports weighed down technology companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security beneficiaries would get a tiny increase in monthly payments next year — less than $2.50, about enough to buy a gallon of gas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecast for the U.S. economy this year and said America should raise the minimum wage to help the poor, offer paid maternity leave to encourage more women to work and overhaul the corporate tax system to boost productivity.
HOUSTON (AP) — Several professional athletes, including San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy, Denver Broncos quarterback Mark Sanchez and retired Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt, were cheated out of more than $30 million by an investment adviser in a Ponzi-like scheme, federal investigators said Tuesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has blocked efforts to expand the government's power to investigate suspected terrorists by allowing the FBI to obtain a person's digital fingerprints without first securing a judge's permission.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed the first major overhaul of toxic chemicals rules in 40 years into law on Wednesday, calling it proof that Washington can function despite intense polarization.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are unveiling new proposals to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's health care law, as Speaker Paul Ryan seeks to showcase a GOP governing agenda amid the tumult of the presidential campaign.
TUESDAY, JUNE 21
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The office of state Attorney General Herbert Slatery says some Tennesseans who have purchased electronic books could soon be getting credits or checks as a result of a price-fixing case against Apple.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Alcoholic Beverage Commission has announced that most of the Tennessee grocery stores that applied to sell wine under a new state liquor law have received a license to do so.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Annual Kids Count report on Tennessee says more than a quarter of the state's children live in poverty and worsening economic conditions explain why child well-being in the Volunteer State has dropped from 36 to 38.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd have been on a trip to Ireland for economic recruitment.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - A signed agreement shows that Volkswagen officials reneged on a pledge to recognize the United Auto Workers without another vote at the German automaker's lone U.S. plant in Tennessee, a top union official said Tuesday.
TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government said Tuesday that Mitsubishi Motors Corp. overstated mileage on its vehicles by up to 16 percent, but stopped short of slapping further penalties on the company.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Tuesday as investors were relieved to hear Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen say the Fed would remain cautious in raising interest rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the U.S. economy faces a number of uncertainties that require the Fed to proceed cautiously in raising interest rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Routine commercial use of small drones was cleared for takeoff by the Obama administration Tuesday, after years of struggling to write rules that would both protect public safety and free the benefits of a new technology.
NATIONAL POLITICS
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton plans to portray Republican Donald Trump as an erratic and unfit steward of the nation's economy, returning to Ohio to press the case that workers would bear the brunt of the business mogul's policies.
MONDAY, JUNE 20
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The University of Tennessee board of trustees will vote on tuition increases that system President Joe DiPietro says are the lowest in decades.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Twelve communities around the state, including Dickson Ashland City, and have been selected to participate in the Tennessee Downtowns revitalization program.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the process for challenging invalid patents, making it easier for companies to fight so-called patent trolls.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected challenges to assault weapons bans in Connecticut and New York, in the aftermath of the shooting attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 people dead.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Illinois smokers who sought reinstatement of a $10.1 billion class-action judgment in a long-running lawsuit against Philip Morris.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for all" plan seems even less likely now that he's all but out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but there's a way that he and Hillary Clinton could still find common ground on health care.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors are investigating former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and another unnamed executive over allegations they didn't inform investors soon enough about the company's scandal over cars rigged to cheat on U.S. diesel emissions tests.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday as investors grew more hopeful that Britain will remain in the European Union, letting go of fears that have pulled stocks down in the last two weeks.
FRIDAY, JUNE 17
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) - The Rutherford County Commission has approved a resolution asking Sheriff Robert Arnold to resign.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Seven Health Resources and Services Administration health centers in Tennessee, including Nashville's United Neighborhood Health Services, Inc., have been awarded $2.5 million to expand their oral health services.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Supporters of a man who spent 31 years in prison for a rape he did not commit are demanding that the state of Tennessee pay him what he is legally owed.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks closed out a difficult week on a modestly lower note Friday, as investors continued to monitor Britain's frenzied debate on whether to leave the European Union. The debate took on a new level of concern after the killing of a member of parliament.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes nudged down slightly in May, with builders pulling back in the Northeast and Midwest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Paris-based international group is forecasting that the U.S. economic expansion, celebrating its seventh birthday this month, should remain on track over the next two years with growth strengthening in 2017.
U.S. homebuilders are feeling more optimistic about their sales prospects this month than they have since the beginning of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, but to a low level that indicates employers are still cutting relatively few jobs.