VOL. 36 | NO. 29 | Friday, July 20, 2012
REAL ESTATE
June 2012 real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
NEWSMAKERS
The Belcourt Theatre board of directors has promoted managing director Stephanie Silverman to executive director. In addition, the board elected new officers for its 2012-2013 term:
GUERRILLA MARKETING
It’s an undeniable truth in business. If you fail to adapt to the changing marketplace or the changing needs of your customer, your business will die. It can be tough to face this reality and venture into the unknown once you get comfortable with tried and true strategies that used to work without fail.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
At the beginning of the year, expectations ran high. Some economists forecasted U.S. GDP growth rates above 4 percent, European credit spreads indicated crisis containment, and China’s economy appeared to be on a government-conceived glide to slower, non-inflationary growth. As expectations ran high, the first quarter provided stock market investors with the best index returns in 14 years.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Today was one of those good thing/bad thing kinds of days.
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
I recently bought a hybrid car. After a few weeks of driving the car, I suddenly became aware that my driving habits were changing significantly. You see, the car has a little indicator on the dashboard that constantly monitors the gas mileage. If I drive the car gently, I can get well over 40 miles per gallon in town on the model that I bought. I’m not sure if this is true for everyone, but in my case I find myself playing a little game with my car. I drive it as gently as possible in an attempt to increase the gas mileage.
I SWEAR
Two tigers – an adult and a child – are standing in the den of the older one. At hand is a recently slaughtered gazelle. The larger tiger digs in and gestures to his companion to do likewise. In Joseph Campbell’s words, “The little one backs off” and says, “I’m a vegetarian.”
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
My niece, Becca Bona, sent me a recipe recently for Peanut Butter S’mores Turnovers. She and her sister are always cooking up something. Well, this recipe perked up my “cooking senses,” and for good reason – it is so delicious I had to share with you. It is a great twist on an old classic!
MIDSTATE
SMYRNA (AP) — Smyrna police have arrested the former chief and former treasurer of the Smyrna Rescue Squad for theft of funds from the squad's bank accounts.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Stronger demand from North America and the world's developing markets helped German automaker Volkswagen record an 18 percent jump in second-quarter earnings.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell again, this time dropping below 3.50 percent for the first time on records dating back 60 years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 35,000 last week, a figure that may have been distorted by seasonal factors.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks soared in the U.S. and Europe Thursday after the European Central Bank president vowed to "do whatever it takes" to keep the continent's monetary union intact.
Oil prices rose Thursday after the president of the European Central Bank vowed to save the eurozone.
BOSTON (AP) — Public Radio International says it has been acquired by Boston media station WGBH.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies cut back on orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods last month, outside volatile aircraft and other transportation equipment. The decline suggests businesses are losing confidence in the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — A jump in Exxon Mobil's net income couldn't mask broader problems for America's largest oil company.
NEW YORK (AP) — Coke and Pepsi are chasing after the sweet spot: a soda with no calories, no artificial sweeteners and no funny aftertaste.
The parent company of United Airlines said its second-quarter net income dropped 37 percent as it continued to hit obstacles in its integration of Continental.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sprint Nextel's loss widened in the second quarter as the country's third-largest wireless carrier wrote down the value of its moribund Nextel network.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Thursday were in line to pass legislation that would freeze major government regulations until the unemployment rate, now at 8.2 percent, drops to 6 percent or below. The latest GOP attempt to rein in Obama administration's rulemaking, like previous anti-regulation bills, is virtually certain to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is stepping up efforts to tackle health care fraud by scrutinizing claims data from insurers and federal programs in hopes of weeding out bogus billing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has debated, sniped and voted on the politically fraught issue of tax cuts, and next week it'll be the House's turn. Still, Americans won't know until after the November elections how much more of their paychecks will go to the government next year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he had no active role in Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, after he exited in February 1999 to take over Salt Lake City's Winter Olympics bid. But according to Bain associates and others familiar with Romney's actions at the time, he stayed in regular contact with his partners over the following months, tending to his partnership interests and negotiating his separation from the company.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans warning of the devastating impact from looming defense cuts will hit four presidential battleground states next week, ratcheting up the political pressure on President Barack Obama even though Congress endorsed the reductions.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A former campaign aide for Republican Lou Ann Zelenik has funded a second political action committee to take out negative ads against freshman U.S. Rep. Diane Black in the Aug. 2 primary.
FRANKLIN (AP) - The Harpeth River is flowing freely for the first time in 50 years.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - A judge has upheld a state statute that restricts the possession of firearms in a case involving a Williamson County man who carried a pistol at a state park.
NASHVILLE - Pharos Capital Group, LLC, a private equity firm based in Nashville and Dallas, has hired Tina Hahn as senior vice president of investor relations, the firm announced today.
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 21 states have simplified how they collect taxes in hopes of recovering an estimated $20 billion in sales taxes that go uncollected by out-of-state online merchants every year. But the nation's governors say they still need help from Congress.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board is now accepting applications for State and National Archival Partnership grants.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota bounced back from safety recalls and natural disasters, selling 4.97 million vehicles globally in the first half of the year to retake its crown as the world's top automaker from General Motors Co.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Plummeting sales in Europe — and no hope for a quick fix in the troubled region — hurt Ford's second-quarter profit and forced the company to lower its full-year earnings forecast.
PARIS (AP) — Green technology is the answer to the declining fortunes of France's auto industry, according to a new government plan to turn the sector around.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Weak earnings reports from big U.S. companies are sending the Standard & Poor's 500 index slightly lower at the close, but the Dow Jones industrial average is eking out a gain.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices changed course Wednesday as gloomy economic news raised hopes that global central banks will take more steps to stimulate growth.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The record drought gripping half the country will help push food prices up by 3 percent to 4 percent next year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sandy Weill is having a change of heart.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans bought fewer new homes in June after sales jumped to a two-year high in May. The steep decline suggests a weaker job market and slower growth could make the housing recovery uneven.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are criticizing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for failing to alert Congress four years ago that banks could have been manipulating a key global interest rate.
BOSTON (AP) — American Airlines CEO Tom Horton wants to set the record straight: It was he who approached US Airways CEO Doug Parker about the possibility of combining the two airlines, not the other way around.
Caterpillar Inc. says its second-quarter profit soared 67 percent because of growing demand for its construction and mining equipment, and the company boosted its outlook for the year.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is bracing for a tax-cut showdown that is all about Democrats and Republicans showing voters their differences over taxing the well-off while accusing each other of threatening to shove the government over a fiscal cliff.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Do you make more than $200,000 annually, or $250,000 between you and your spouse? Do you expect to inherit an estate worth more than $1 million next year?
TUESDAY, JULY 24
NASHVILLE AREA
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Nashville Predators have matched the staggering offering sheet made by the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Shea Weber.
NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of HealthStream Inc. jumped Tuesday after the company raised its full-year revenue outlook, saying it expects better results from its learning business.
NASHVILLE (AP) - An Iraq war veteran who filed a lawsuit against the Metro Nashville police department for reassigning him and then firing him after a deployment has won an appeal over back pay and damages.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A super political action committee is working against U.S. Rep. Diane Black in the Aug. 2 primary and its sole contributor was formerly the chief fundraiser for Black's opponent, Lou Ann Zelenik.
MURFREESBORO (AP) - A Texas man accused of making a bomb threat against a Murfreesboro mosque has pleaded not guilty.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of Decatur County Fire Chief Kenny Fox.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A parade of grim news, from weak corporate earnings to a pullback at U.S. factories to spreading fault lines in Europe's debt crisis, sent investors fleeing stocks for a third straight day on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil is up slightly as China's manufacturing sector appeared to be getting stronger.
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. on Tuesday said it saw declining smartphone sales in the second quarter, leading to the best profitability ever in its wireless arm as it saved on phone subsidies.
LONDON (AP) — What are the odds of a UFO sighting during the London Olympics opening ceremony? Or of the final torch bearer tripping as they ascend to light the flame? Or would you prefer a more traditional wager on the battle for gold between Russia and Spain in synchronized swimming duos?
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas cattleman Ken Grecian sold 20 pairs of cows and calves a few weeks after drought had sucked his pastures dry and no rain was in the forecast. He sold 20 more pairs Friday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is voicing confidence the Obama administration and Congress will avert a fiscal crisis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A standoff with Congress that results in the January expiration of wide-ranging tax cuts would mean 114 million families would see average tax increases of $1,600 next year, the White House says.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pilots' rights when dealing with Federal Aviation Administration disciplinary proceedings would receive a boost under a bill passed by Congress on Monday — a measure written by a senator who was ordered to take remedial flying lessons by the agency after he landed his plane on a closed runway.
WASHINGTON (AP) — BP focused too much on the little details of personal worker safety instead of the big systemic hazards that led to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and wasn't as strict on overall safety when drilling rigs involved other companies that they hired, a government safety panel concludes.
MONDAY, JULY 23
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Nashville church that broke away from the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee is asking the state Supreme Court to hear a dispute over who owns the church property.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee ranks eighth in the country for the volume of federal grants its university research centers receive, but those dollars are not paying off in terms of new products, companies and jobs.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is offering free radon test kits through next Monday.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
DALLAS (AP) — Get ready to spend more on travel. Airlines are raising ticket prices again after a long lull that coincided with falling fuel costs.
NEW YORK (AP) — On Tuesday, Apple is set to report financial results for the second quarter. Analysts are expecting net income of $9.8 billion. But whatever figure Apple reports won't reflect its true profit, because the company hides some of it with an unusual tax maneuver.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe is on the brink again. The crisis over too much debt in the 17 countries that use the euro flared dangerously on Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fear that Spain may need a bailout sent its borrowing costs soaring, the euro to a two-year low against the dollar and stocks around the world tumbling as investors pulled back Monday from all manner of risk.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell Monday as concerns increased about Europe's debt-ridden economies.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — That wasn't so bad, after all.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate-passed bills to cut farm subsidies and food stamps and overhaul the financially teetering Postal Service have been put on hold by House Republican leaders wary of igniting internal party fights or risking voters' ire three months before the election.
FRIDAY, JULY 20
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Senate Majority Leader and heart surgeon Bill Frist is calling on states to get going on their health insurance exchanges.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's unemployment rate rose 0.2 percent in June to 8.1 percent.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) - Tennessee Muslims who won a court battle to occupy their new mosque learned Thursday they won't be able to begin worshipping there for the start of Ramadan because it needs about two weeks more of construction work.
MURFREESBORO (AP) — The 1862 Civil War raid by Confederate Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest in Murfreesboro will be commemorated this weekend in the city.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — The guitar-maker Fender, finding itself playing before a hostile crowd, is reversing course on becoming a publicly traded company.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The French-Japanese auto alliance of Renault and Nissan is investing $160 million in its South Korean unit to produce Nissan-branded vehicles mostly destined for the United States, taking advantage of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement and a more favorable exchange rate.
DETROIT (AP) — The raft of gloomy economic news may be starting to hurt U.S. auto sales.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Friday as problems in debt-riddled Europe came to a fore.
Oil slipped below $92 a barrel Friday, after a big jump the day before, as weak demand was weighed against rising Middle East tensions.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft said Thursday that an accounting adjustment to reflect a weak online ad business led to its first quarterly loss in its 26 years as a public company.
Google's second-quarter earnings rose 11 percent despite a deepening decline in the prices paid for its Internet search advertising.
Prices for corn and soybeans hit all-time highs Thursday as questions built about the extent of damage to the crops from the merciless summer heat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average rates on fixed mortgages fell again this week to record lows, creating more incentive for buyers to enter the recovering housing market.
ATLANTA (AP) — Gay rights advocates were surprised Thursday that the president of fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has taken a public position against same-sex marriage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A raft of economic news Thursday sketched a picture of a weakening U.S. economy held back by sluggish home buying and factory production.
DALLAS (AP) — The CEOs of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways met over breakfast Thursday to talk about potential merger scenarios.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is telling owners of one version of the brand-new Ford Escape not to drive the SUVs until dealers can fix fuel lines that can crack and spill gasoline, causing engine fires.
NEW YORK (AP) — It's tough being a big bank these days.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Risky lending caused private student loan debt to balloon in the past decade, leaving many Americans struggling to pay off loans that they can't afford, a government study says.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House pressed ahead Thursday to complete a $608 billion defense spending bill for next year that adds billions to President Barack Obama's request and breaks a budget deal that Congress backed last year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Thursday killed a measure backed by President Barack Obama that would encourage companies to bring overseas jobs back to the United States.