VOL. 40 | NO. 23 | Friday, June 3, 2016
David Climer's top 25 college coaches in state
The best college coach in Tennessee takes most Saturday afternoons off in the fall. He never argues with an official in a striped shirt. He doesn’t wear a whistle at practice.
David Climer's "purely subjective" list of the top 25 college coaches in Tennessee:
In 2009, all Stephanie Bradshaw wanted to do was get her family back to cleaner eating. Running a business around the pickup and delivery of farm-fresh produce wasn’t in the picture. But it soon would be.
There are dozens of farms in the Middle Tennessee area offering community supported agriculture services, either delivering meat and produce to subscribers or having subscribers pick up their allotments.
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
In a state where many people bleed orange, the University of Tennessee found itself in an unusual position during the 2016 legislative session: fighting for its life.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
This market stinks. That’s all the heck there is to it. There is nothing for sale, and when there is it can bring out the worst in people.
NEWSMAKERS
Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has added four attorneys to the firm’s Nashville office. They are:
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The hot-selling Buick Encore has a new, peppier model for 2016 that makes the affordably priced, easy to maneuver and surprisingly refined SUV even more appealing.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Sign you up. That’s one of the things of which you’re most proud: you freely give of your time. Rotary, Jaycees, Lions, your local hospital, if they need help, your name is on the list.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Do you struggle to pinpoint exactly what makes your top sales performers excel? While common, this challenge can make it impossible to consistently recruit high performers.
CAREER CORNER
In the most difficult of cases, a job search can take a year or more. The process is grueling and emotionally exhausting.
I SWEAR
Last week I wrote a brief account of my high school football career. And that got me to thinking about other memorable high school experiences.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Not long ago I visited a store I have deliberately avoided. You see, I knew that if I ever opened those doors it would be the end of my rational thinking, and the temptation to purchase various items would overwhelm my ability to keep my American Express card in my wallet.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
STATE LEGISLATURE
COOKEVILLE (AP) — In a move that will transform higher education in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill that overhauls the governing boards of some of the state's universities.
NASHVILLE (AP) — State election officials say they intend to audit the finances of embattled state Rep. Jeremy Durham.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt University officials say the school's student insurance will start covering transgender-related surgeries in order to make the campus a more inclusive environment for students who previously had gone without necessary care.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla says it has started selling a cheaper version of its Model S car, in an attempt to make the electric car more affordable for more people.
ERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors are investigating an employee at Volkswagen who allegedly asked his coworkers to delete or hide data in connection with the company's emission scandal.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yet another security outfit is reporting that millions of stolen passwords — this time, for Twitter accounts — are floating around the dark side of the internet. Should you be worried?
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government is taking a key step in relinquishing control of the internet's addressing system, fulfilling a promise made in the 1990s.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
ASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' household wealth rose in the first three months of this year as home values increased, offsetting a drop in stock prices.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Thursday and returning some of their gains from the last few days. Banks are skidding as bond yields fall and interest rates weaken. Mining and metals companies are also slipping, while lower bond yields are giving utility and phone companies a lift.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is calling on governments to do more to make their economies more competitive and create jobs as the region's aging population weighs on labor markets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, a sign that employers are hanging on to workers despite a sluggish economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials failed to force a recall of peanut butter and almond products for three months after advanced DNA testing confirmed salmonella contamination, government investigators reported Thursday.
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
STATEWIDE
GATLINBURG (AP) — A shelter near where a black bear bit a camper last month at Great Smoky Mountains National Park has reopened.
HEALTH CARE
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The American Physical Therapy Association is launching a public education campaign in response to the nation's opioid abuse epidemic. The U.S. is currently in the grip of a prescription drug epidemic and resurgence in the use of heroin stemming from painkiller abuse.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Suppose your smartphone is clever enough to grasp your physical surroundings — the room's size, the location of doors and windows and the presence of other people. What could it do with that info?
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers advertised the most open jobs in nine months in April but pulled back on filling them, a sign of caution that may reflect concerns about tepid economic growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Bank is reducing its forecast for the global economy this year — again.
MONDAY, JUNE 6
COURTS
CLINTON (AP) — Two gay rights activists have filed a lawsuit challenging a new Tennessee law that lets therapists decline to see patients based on religious values and personal principles.
REGION
Southern Baptists see 9th year of membership decline
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Despite tumbling U.S. sales and a falling stock price, General Motors CEO Mary Barra says she's sticking with a strategy of cutting low-profit sales to rental car companies and keeping prices strong.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators will hold forums at churches in Nashville and Memphis to discuss criminal justice reform.
REAL ESTATE
SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle-based real-estate information website Zillow is paying $130 million to settle a lawsuit brought by rival Move Inc.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers slowed their borrowing in April after pushing up their debt levels by a record amount in March.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes inched upward Tuesday, led by gains in energy companies as the price of oil closed above $50 a barrel for the first time in almost a year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Gannett is still in the hunt for Tribune Publishing, a day after investors in the Chicago company showed lackluster support for its board.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American workers were less productive again in the January-March quarter, although the decline wasn't as severe as first thought. Meanwhile, labor costs climbed at a faster pace than initially estimated.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ralph Lauren is closing stores, focusing more on its most popular brands and trimming layers from its management team seven months after bringing in a new CEO to reverse its declining fortunes.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday unveiled the details of the first phase of an economic overhaul aimed at reducing reliance on oil exports and preparing for the millions of young people who will be seeking jobs and affordable housing in the coming years.
FRIDAY, JUNE 3
STATEWIDE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The newest reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City has begun generating electricity.
TECHNOLOGY
PARIS (AP) — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has briefly had his Twitter account hijacked.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has added nine communities to its effort to ease access to federal aid and cut red tape for areas beset by joblessness, hunger, crime and poor housing.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks jumped Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen again managed to soothe investors' jangled nerves. The Standard & Poor's 500 index made its highest close in 2016, and oil prices also reached their highest levels of the year.
Business economists are giving a more pessimistic outlook about U.S. economic growth this year for the third consecutive month and uncertainty over the November presidential election has proven to be damaging.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated Monday that the U.S. economy is improving but remains defined by so many uncertainties that it's unclear when the Fed should resume raising interest rates.
BEIJING (AP) — U.S. envoys pressed China on Monday to cut excess steel production that is flooding global markets and to reach a diplomatic settlement to territorial disputes in the South China Sea as the two sides opened a high-level dialogue.
DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines is following other airlines by basing perks like free flights on how much passengers spend on tickets, not how many miles they fly.
MIDSTATE
SMYRNA (AP) - A Blue Angels pilot who died when his F/A-18 fighter jet crashed near Nashville, Tennessee, had wanted to fly since he was a child, relatives said.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for a third straight week yet remained near three-year lows as the home buying season progresses.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional efforts to approve the first major energy bill in nearly a decade are in jeopardy amid a partisan dispute over oil drilling, water for drought-stricken California and potential rollback of protections for the gray wolf and other wildlife.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from Google over a class action lawsuit filed by advertisers who claim the internet company displayed their ads on "low quality" web sites.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a possible preview of a speech Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will give Monday, a close ally said Friday that the Fed should be in no hurry to raise interest rates, especially after a bleak U.S. jobs report.
NEW YORK (AP) — With oddsmakers all but pulling a summer rate hike off the table after a terrible U.S. jobs report and a wash of other disheartening economic data, the nation's biggest banks took pummeling from investors Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. hiring slowed to a near-standstill in May, sowing doubts about the economy's health and complicating the Federal Reserve's efforts to raise interest rates.
Banks and other financial companies led a modest decline in U.S. stocks Friday after a report indicating that hiring slowed sharply in May put investors in a selling mood.
NEW YORK (AP) — We still don't know if USA Today owner Gannett will continue its $864 million bid for Tribune Publishing, but we do know that no one will have Tribune to kick around anymore.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Wal-Mart's CEO urged employees on Friday to reimagine its future in a fast-shifting retail landscape.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it will be testing its grocery delivery service with ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft in the next two weeks in Denver and Phoenix.
NEW YORK (AP) — Gap says sales at established stores fell 6 percent in May. That was better than the 7 percent decline forecast by Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators proposed a significant clampdown on payday lenders and other high interest loans on Thursday, the first nationwide attempt to address an industry widely thought of as taking advantage of the poor and desperate.
VIENNA (AP) — OPEC countries failed Thursday to agree on measures to influence crude supplies and prices — a missed opportunity to show the resolve that for decades let them set how much consumers and industries worldwide would pay for gas, heating and related necessities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added 173,000 jobs last month, lifted by strong gains in services industries, according to a private survey.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An unexpectedly bleak May jobs report has suddenly muddied the outlook for the U.S. economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Significant progress has been made on shortening screening lines since earlier this spring when airlines reported thousands of frustrated passengers were missing flights, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans controlling the Senate are abandoning an effort to use their power over the federal purse strings to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
ASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week after three straight weeks of increases. The drop followed a surprisingly weak employment report that deepened doubts about the economy.