VOL. 35 | NO. 22 | Friday, June 3, 2011
‘Silicon Valley of Music’ label fails to honor city’s rich, varied traditions
While some national writers have dubbed Nashville “the Silicon Valley of Music,” it’s not.
The thesis of Nashville as the “Silicon Vallley of music” gained traction earlier this year when Richard Florida, senior editor at The Atlantic and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, gave his take on the Grammy Awards.
Pundits may look at the fact that Jack White and other young artists and support staffs are moving in and say the city is fast evolving past its traditional country music identity.
A founding member of one of the most-influential American rock bands reinforces the notion that Nashville was and remains the place for musicians and creative people to live.
GREEN BUSINESS
Luck happens, they say, when preparation meets opportunity. So if you were to measure the success of Cool People Care, an organization that partners volunteers with non-profits, Sam Davidson could be considered a pretty lucky guy.
REALTY CHECK
The home inspection is possibly the most critical component of any residential real estate transaction. Additionally, it is the most controversial.
GET A JOB!
One element of the hiring process almost every job seeker faces is determining how and whom to select for references. With a tight job market, don’t take this lightly.
NEWSMAKERS
Robert Dittus, M.D., MPH, has been named associate vice chancellor for Public Health and Health Care and senior associate dean for Population Health Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
I SWEAR
I’ve been browsing Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977).
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The annual conference of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign is Saturday at Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam says Tennesseans don't take healthy behavior seriously enough and he hopes a health and wellness task force he's created will change that.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has signed legislation that will extend unemployment benefits for thousands of Tennesseans.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has signed legislation that would require judges to consider how to maximize a parent's involvement in a child's life when making custody decisions.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Republican sponsor of a bill targeting the influence of the state's largest teachers' union says he is willing to revisit an element of the measure that prevents payroll deductions to be used to fund lobbying efforts at the Tennessee Capitol.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jobs are scarce and food prices are likely to stay high through next year, according to new data that reinforced evidence of a U.S. economy stuck in a weak patch.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Falling home prices have shrunk equity so much that the proportion of their homes that Americans actually own is near its lowest point since World War II.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixed mortgage rates have dropped for an eighth straight week, but the low rates have done little to boost the depressed housing market.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil continues to climb as investors focused on how the world would meet energy demand in coming months.
VIENNA (AP) — OPEC's stunning admission of major dissent within its ranks has left it reeling and its status as the world's oil power-broker tarnished, perhaps beyond repair. But is a weakened cartel good or bad for consumers?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is blaming the three largest U.S. mortgage lenders for the failures of its foreclosure-prevention program. It says they've done little to help people at risk of losing their homes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American companies sold more computers, heavy machinery and telecommunications equipment in foreign markets in April, pushing exports to a record high. Imports declined, reflecting a big drop in auto imports from Japan caused by supply disruptions from the March earthquake and tsunami.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — U.S. food prices are expected to stay high through 2012 because a wet spring will likely cut the size of this fall's corn harvest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Merchants triumphed over bankers in a battle for billions Wednesday as the Senate voted to let the Federal Reserve curb the fees that stores pay financial institutions when a customer swipes a debit card. It was murkier, however, whether the nation's consumers were winners or losers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It seemed like an innovative way to buy a beer company: Start an online campaign to purchase the iconic Pabst Brewing Co. and sell shares on Facebook and Twitter to cover the $300 million cost.
HONG KONG (AP) — Citigroup Inc. said Thursday that hackers accessed the credit card information of tens of thousands of its North American customers.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is warning immigrants about scammers pledging too-good-to-true legal help for immigration cases.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There is a shortage of in-depth local journalism needed to hold government agencies, schools and businesses accountable, the federal agency that regulates television broadcasters concludes in a new report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to create a special advisory council to recommend ways to boost the economic outlook and quality of life for the estimated 60 million people who live in rural areas of the U.S., a White House official said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that 275,000 organizations have lost their tax-exempt status because they failed to file required annual reports for three straight years.