VOL. 38 | NO. 25 | Friday, June 20, 2014
REALTY CHECK
The summer of 2014 may go down in the real estate annals as the most difficult time in the city’s history for a person to purchase residential real estate.
REAL ESTATE
May 2014 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Wilson counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Top May 2014 residential real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
NEWSMAKERS
Onlife Health, Inc., a national wellness company based in Brentwood, has named Matthew Redman vice president of account management. In this position, Redman will be responsible for all facets of sales and account management for current Onlife Health clients.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
One of the most cost-effective strategies for driving Web traffic and generating online leads is email marketing. Unfortunately, most small and mid-sized companies have an email database filled mostly of current clients, business partners and other friends of the firm.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
The most commonly cited indicator of complacency, the VIX or volatility index, recently hit a low of 10.73, a level not seen since early 2007.
I SWEAR
When I wrote about the 2014 Little Rock Film Festival, I reviewed, in three paragraphs, “I Believe in Unicorns.”
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Nashville health care executive has been named as a special adviser to Department of Veterans Affairs Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson.
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker Jr., who asked what President Richard Nixon knew about Watergate, has died. He was 88.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is siding with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander in Tennessee's Republican primary, which includes a tea party challenger.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A federal judge will hear a last-minute request to stop the East Tennessee town of Lake City from changing its name to Rocky Top.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Employees Association has elected Bryan Merritt to be its new president.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Vanderbilt will be celebrating its College World Series title during a Thursday night event on campus at the school's soccer/lacrosse stadium.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Governors from across the nation will convene in Nashville next month.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the president's power to fill high-level vacancies with temporary appointments, ruling in favor of Senate Republicans in their partisan clash with President Barack Obama.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down a 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers stepped up their spending only modestly in May, a disappointment to economists who said the weaker-than-expected gain will likely mean less of an economic rebound in the April-June quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week, the latest evidence that a sharp economic slowdown earlier this year hasn't caused employers to cut jobs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages declined this week, hovering near historically low levels.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are moving lower on Wall Street, led by a decline in banks.
The price of global crude dipped under $114 Thursday as fears diminished somewhat over supply disruptions from Iraq while U.S. oil extended gains on looser U.S. export controls.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ikea's U.S. division is raising the minimum wage for thousands of its retail workers, pegging it to the cost of living in each location, instead of its competition.
NEW YORK (AP) — Highways will be packed once again this July Fourth weekend, with 41 million Americans expected to travel at least 50 miles or more.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government wants to dramatically reduce the allowable height of buildings near hundreds of airports — a proposal that is drawing fire from real estate developers and members of Congress who say it will reduce property values.
NEW YORK (AP) — Alcoa is delving deeper into the aerospace industry, spending nearly $3 billion to acquire the British jet engine component company Firth Rixson.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Supreme Court shot down Aereo's business model this week, but that doesn't mean customers' desire for a better TV experience is gone.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a startup Internet company has to pay broadcasters when it takes television programs from the airwaves and allows subscribers to watch them on smartphones and other portable devices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an emphatic defense of privacy in the digital age, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police generally may not search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Republican panel has spent four hours questioning top judicial officials in an inquiry over the handling of a complaint against the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover has been honored by the National Association of Black Accountants.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — Law enforcement agencies across the globe are taking a page out of the hacker's handbook, using targets' own phones and computers to spy on them with methods traditionally associated with cybercriminals, two computer security groups said Tuesday.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Some 1 billion people are now using Android devices, Google said as the company kicked off its two-day developer conference Wednesday in San Francisco.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market inched modestly higher Wednesday, recovering more than half of what it lost the day before, as investors were able to set aside two disappointing economic reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank at a steep annual rate of 2.9 percent in the January-March quarter as a harsh winter contributed to the biggest contraction since the depths of the recession five years ago. But the setback is widely thought to be temporary, with growth rebounding solidly since spring.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for U.S. durable goods tumbled 1 percent in May as demand for military equipment fell sharply. But excluding defense-related goods, orders actually rose, and orders in a key category that signals business investment also increased.
The price of crude oil fluctuated on Wednesday as investors monitored the turmoil in Iraq and weighed a report claiming U.S. export controls would be loosened.
NEW YORK (AP) — Barnes & Noble is going to split its retail and Nook Media businesses into two separate public companies as it looks to boost shareholder value.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sanctions aimed at key economic sectors in Russia because of its threatening moves in Ukraine might be delayed because of positive signals from Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Obama administration officials.
TUESDAY, JUNE 24
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A new exhibit at the Tennessee State Library and Archives highlights the challenges and achievements of 19th century African-American lawmakers.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market had its biggest decline in two weeks Tuesday, led by a sell-off in blue-chip bank and energy stocks. Homebuilders rose after the government reported sales of new homes rose in May to the highest level in six years.
The price of oil was steady Tuesday as investors monitored the insurgency roiling Iraq for any signs it could affect its oil production and exports.
NEW YORK (AP) — Is the lack of fear on Wall Street something to fear?
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the government updates its estimate Wednesday of how the U.S. economy fared last quarter, the number is pretty sure to be ugly. Horrible even.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes rose in May to the highest level in six years, providing the strongest signal yet that housing is recovering from a recent slowdown.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers are more confident about the economy than they have been in more than six years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose in April from a year ago at the slowest pace in 13 months, reflecting a recent drop-off in sales.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — This is what it's like to live in Denmark, a nation with a narrower wealth gap than almost anywhere else: You've been jobless for more than a year. You have no university degree, no advanced skills. You have to pay a mortgage. And your husband is nearing retirement.
NEW YORK (AP) — Climate change is likely to exact enormous costs on U.S. regional economies in the form of lost property, reduced industrial output and more deaths, according to a report backed by a trio of men with vast business experience.
LONDON (AP) — Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was convicted of phone hacking Tuesday, but fellow editor Rebekah Brooks was acquitted after a months-long trial centering on illegal activity at the heart of Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told Congress Tuesday he would consider "every conceivable, lawful option" to deal with a continuing flood of immigrants crossing the U.S. border illegally in southern Texas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service did not follow the law when it failed to report the loss of records belonging to a senior IRS executive, the nation's top archivist told Congress Tuesday.
MONDAY, JUNE 23
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — State officials say automotive components manufacturer Hatch Stamping Co. plans a new manufacturing facility in Portland.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Grand Ole Opry member Jimmy C. Newman, known for mixing Cajun and country music, has died.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A recall of defective air bags is spreading to more manufacturers.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday made it tougher for investors to join together to sue corporations for securities fraud, a decision that could curb the number of multimillion dollar legal settlements companies pay out each year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday placed limits on the sole Obama administration program already in place to deal with power plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are closing slightly below the record levels they hit last week as investors assess a batch of corporate news.
The price of oil fell Monday as traders waited to see if an insurgency in Iraq would affect the country's oil production and exports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of previously owned U.S. homes posted the best monthly gain in nearly three years in May, providing hope that housing is beginning to regain momentum lost over the past year.
PINE HILL, Ala. (AP) — Burdened with Alabama's highest unemployment rate, long abandoned by textile mills and furniture plants, Wilcox County desperately needs jobs.
BAGHDAD (AP) — The turmoil in Iraq has thrown the OPEC member's ambitious plans to boost oil production into doubt, threatening to crimp its most vital economic lifeline.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States should join the rest of the industrialized world and offer paid leave for mothers of newborns.
FRIDAY, JUNE 20
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nashville is planning an online encyclopedia of the city's history and culture, and Mayor Karl Dean's office is holding a series of community meetings to solicit ideas for the site.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Glen Campbell's Alzheimer's disease has progressed to the point where he needs full-time professional care, his wife said Thursday, explaining her decision to place the singer in a long-term care facility and responding publicly for the first time to criticism from Campbell's eldest daughter.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The full board of the Tennessee Board of Regents has voted to increase tuition at its institutions this year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam's office is dismissing as a "political stunt" a letter signed by 15 Republican lawmakers demanding the resignation of Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman.
COURTS
MURFREESBORO (AP) - A judge has dismissed a lawsuit over a permit that was issued allowing a Middle Tennessee mosque to build a cemetery on its property.
NASHVILLE (AP) - President Barack Obama has nominated Acting U.S. Attorney David Rivera of the Middle District of Tennessee to fill the post permanently.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out an Australian company's patent for business software in a decision that clarifies standards for awarding patents, but not as much as some firms had hoped.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is likely to launch a computerized wristwatch this fall that includes more than 10 sensors to take health measurements and other data, according to a published report.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Diana Navarro loves to code, and she's not afraid to admit it. But the 18-year-old Rutgers University computer science major knows she's an anomaly: Writing software to run computer programs in 2014 is — more than ever — a man's world.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New crime data show Apple's addition of a "kill switch" to its iPhones last September has sharply reduced robberies and thefts, authorities said Thursday.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks inched past more milestones Friday, delivering the third consecutive record-high close for the Standard & Poor's 500 index and a new high for the Dow Jones industrial average.
The price of oil rose Friday and ended the week with a slight gain, as a battle for control of Iraq's biggest refinery remained undecided.
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is back to setting records.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 2 million people around the world became millionaires last year, a year-over-year increase of 15 percent, as surging stock and home markets lifted the fortunes of the wealthy. The increase raised the number of millionaires to a record 13.7 million.
NEW YORK (AP) — It turns out Starbucks isn't contributing any upfront scholarship money to an online college degree program it introduced this week.
Violence in Iraq is helping to make gasoline in the U.S. more expensive, depriving drivers of the usual price break between Memorial Day and July Fourth.
NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks is raising prices on some of its drinks by 5 cents to 20 cents starting next week, and customers can also soon expect to pay $1 more for the packaged coffee it sells in supermarkets.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight federal employees connected to the tea party investigation experienced hard drive crashes, resulting in an unknown number of lost emails, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen told lawmakers Friday in an unusually tense congressional hearing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have made the first change in their leadership since Majority Leader Eric Cantor unexpectedly lost a primary election last week. They've elected California Rep. Kevin McCarthy to replace him in the No. 2 job.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House moved toward passage of a $570 billion defense spending bill that imposes new restrictions on President Barack Obama's handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his attempts to close the U.S. prison.