VOL. 41 | NO. 29 | Friday, July 21, 2017
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
By inchworm standards, this future moth is a monster. And it is “attacking” the truly gentle man who taught 14-year-old cellist Kate Roller how to repair the engine on a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Unusual request, perhaps, but Kate couldn’t have turned to a better guy than Andy Kimbro.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Greater Nashville Realtors President Scott Troxel drew some double takes when, after giving a summary of June real estate closings, he pronounced: “I suspect that we will come close to the record of 40,000 annual closings” that occurred in 2006.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, June 2017, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Top commercial real estate sales, June 2017, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates declined this week after two straight weeks of increases. The benchmark 30-year rate slipped back below the significant 4 percent level.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
When it comes to Southeastern Conference football coaches, there are three kinds of seats – hot, hotter and hottest.
NEWSMAKERS
Butler Snow’s Anita Modak-Truran has been elected president of the Tennessee Intellectual Property Lawyers Association. The organization is composed of patent, trademark and copyright attorneys who volunteer to educate others on emerging trends and best practices within the industry.
BRIEFS
The Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt University will be renovated beginning Aug. 1, a year-long process.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
While the actual activities take on different forms, I’ve ultimately come to the realization that I’m a change agent for companies dissatisfied with their current sales and marketing outcomes.
CAREER CORNER
A reader recently wrote me seeking advice on how his teenage daughter might find an after-school job for her high school years.
MIDSTATE
FRANKLIN (AP) — Financial personality Dave Ramsey is breaking ground on a new corporate headquarters in Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — The University of Memphis has landed the largest research contract in the school's history.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — On any given day this summer, you might find 97-year-old Lennart Ribring driving his 2016 Ford Mustang GT on a winding road near his home in Sweden. Or you might see Chris Fitzpatrick polishing his 1967 Mustang convertible in Auckland, New Zealand. Guo Xin might be working on a Mustang in his car repair shop in Beijing, while in England, a happy bride and groom drive off in a Mustang GT California Special.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. says that despite strong overall sales its quarterly profit dipped in the last quarter, squeezed by rising costs and slowing growth in China.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen's profit more than doubled in the second quarter as the German carmaker benefited from a growing European economy and moved past one-time costs for its diesel emissions scandal in the U.S.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — They couldn't pass a repeal of "Obamacare," or find the votes for a White House-backed replacement. So now Senate Republicans are lowering their sights and trying to unite behind a so-called "skinny repeal" that would merely undo just a few of the most unpopular elements of Barack Obama's law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate debate over health care has made it painfully clear: behind their self-confident "repeal and replace" slogan, Republicans were never united around an alternative to "Obamacare."
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Not that long ago, the clunky cable box looked like it was on its way out. The federal government was pressuring cable companies to open up their near-monopoly on boxes to more competition, and industry leader Comcast promised apps that could render some boxes obsolete.
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has made it clear that it won't ban Donald Trump from its service, whether the president follows its rules against harassment or not.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Big gains for Facebook, Verizon Communications and other companies reporting healthier-than-expected results nudged U.S. stock indexes a bit further into record territory on Thursday. Oil's recent rally slowed, Treasury yields inched higher and stock markets round the world were mixed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods posted the biggest gain in nearly three years last month, pulled up by a surge in demand for civilian aircraft.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for jobless aid last week, though the number of people seeking benefits remains near historic lows pointing to a healthy job market.
SINGAPORE (AP) — Amazon is introducing express delivery to Singapore in its first direct effort to tap into surging online shopping in fast-growing Southeast Asia.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Army secretary says he's angry and shocked that President Donald Trump would — in his words — "turn his back on thousands of transgender Americans serving today."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's decision to ban transgender service in the armed forces drove a wedge through military veterans in Congress, with one camp standing squarely behind the commander in chief and the other decrying his order as an ugly attack on dedicated troops.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26
STATEWIDE
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon plans to make thousands of job offers in just one day as it holds a giant job fair next week at nearly a dozen warehouses across the U.S., including Chattanooga.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A biblical passage that has long been displayed at a Tennessee city's police headquarters will be removed following a complaint.
MEMPHIS (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Memphis-area homebuilder Kim Grant Brown as the first woman to head the Tennessee Housing Development Agency's board of directors.
JOHNSON CITY (AP) — U.S. Rep. Phil Roe's office says he has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer and will undergo treatment next month in Tennessee.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — After seven years of emphatic campaign promises, Senate Republicans demonstrated Wednesday they don't have the stomach to repeal "Obamacare" when it really counts, as the Senate voted 55-45 to reject legislation undoing major portions of Barack Obama's law without replacing it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors and a major health insurer group are criticizing the latest GOP health care proposal in the Senate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators were looking to go skinny Wednesday as they struggled to repeal key parts of former President Barack Obama's health law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Where the Senate Republican effort to demolish the Obama health care law ends up is anyone's guess, but early indications are the GOP will have a hard time replacing that statute with any sweeping changes.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Anthem trumped Wall Street's second-quarter earnings expectations as its profit grew nearly 10 percent, and the nation's second-largest health insurer raised its forecast for 2017.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of new homes perked up slightly in June, a sign that more would-be buyers are seeking newly built properties.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — Automaker Volkswagen says its management has informed its supervisory board about "the current situation regarding possible cartel law issues" following a report that Germany's biggest car makers colluded for years over diesel technology and other issues.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's government says it will ban the sale of new cars and vans using diesel and gasoline starting in 2040 as authorities move to tackle air pollution.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes inched further into record territory Wednesday after AT&T, Boeing and others joined the parade of big companies reporting stronger profits than analysts expected. Stocks that pay big dividends were particularly strong after the Federal Reserve took a pause in its slow-moving campaign to lift interest rates, as Treasury yields sank lower.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's choice of a key player in his drive to scale back financial rules would likely push to relax regulations on community banks, ease restrictions on some speculative trading and soften annual tests of big banks' health.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a time of low inflation, which remains persistently below the Fed's target level.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is barring transgender people from serving in the military "in any capacity," citing "tremendous medical costs and disruption."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Energy Secretary Rick Perry has been fooled by a pair of Russian pranksters impersonating the prime minister of Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eager to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 election, the House has overwhelmingly backed a new package of sanctions against Moscow that prohibits President Donald Trump from waiving the penalties without first getting permission from Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman will not be testifying Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as originally scheduled, after the committee rescinded its subpoena.
TUESDAY, JULY 25
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Four former employees accused in a diesel fuel rebate scam at the nation's largest truck stop chain have struck a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with federal authorities.
MEMPHIS (AP) — E-commerce distributor Radial plans to add 3,000 seasonal workers at a Memphis warehouse this fall.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has blocked a District of Columbia law that makes it difficult for gun owners to get concealed carry permits.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices reached a new high in May for the sixth straight month, raising fears of another housing bubble roughly a decade after a previous one burst.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie, the Senate voted by a hair Tuesday to start debating Republican legislation to tear down much of the Obama health care law. The vote gives President Donald Trump and GOP leaders a crucial initial victory but launches a weeklong debate promising an uncertain final outcome.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump urged Republicans to "step up to the plate" for Tuesday's crucial Senate vote on their bill eviscerating much of the Obama health care law. A cliff-hanger roll call was likely, with added drama from Sen. John McCain's return to the Capitol for his first vote since being diagnosed with brain cancer.
One of the biggest insurers in the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces is warning the federal government that it must preserve cost-sharing payments for low-income customers to avoid hurting millions of people.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders are steering the Senate toward a crucial vote on their bill eviscerating much of President Barack Obama's health care law, buoyed by the near theatrical return to the Capitol of the ailing Sen. John McCain.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CANTON, Miss. (AP) — A bid by workers at Mississippi's Nissan Motor Co. plant for United Auto Workers representation could turn on a key voting bloc — 1,500 workers who are Nissan employees today, but were initially hired through contract labor agencies.
DETROIT (AP) — A German Volkswagen executive who has been in a Michigan jail for months plans to plead guilty in the company's U.S. emissions scandal, a court spokesman said Tuesday.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors' second-quarter net profit fell more than 40 percent largely due to a loss from the sale of its European unit.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Nielsen will begin to tabulate how many people get their live TV from Hulu and YouTube, giving media companies and advertisers a better idea of how many people now stream broadcast networks rather than watching them on traditional TV.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes returned to records Tuesday as corporate profits continue to come in better than analysts expected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers gained confidence this month, with more Americans pleased by current conditions and more hopeful about the future.
NATIONAL POLITICS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown is set to sign legislation Tuesday keeping alive California's signature initiative to fight global warming, which puts a cap and a price on climate-changing emissions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he's considering either re-nominating Janet Yellen for a second term as Fed chair or replacing her with someone else, possibly Gary Cohn, who leads his National Economic Council.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Continuing its focus on curbing government regulations, a Republican-led House is seeking to overturn a rule that would let consumers band together to sue their banks or credit card companies rather than use an arbitrator to resolve a dispute.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In high drama at the Capitol, Sen. John McCain on Tuesday delivered a crucial vote in the Republican drive to dismantle the health care law, a win for President Donald Trump and GOP leaders, and then leveled a broadside at how the GOP got there.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's fiery speech at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia has infuriated parents and former scouts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has spoken with advisers about firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, officials say, and launched a fresh Twitter tirade Tuesday against the man who was the first U.S. senator to endorse his candidacy.
MONDAY, JULY 24
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed forward Austin Watson to a three-year $3.3 million deal keeping him under contract through 2019-20.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators are making sure they keep Viktor Arvidsson around, re-signing the forward who made the second-biggest scoring jump in the NHL with a seven-year deal worth $29.75 million.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Local activists say federal immigration agents have arrested a large number of people in Tennessee.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Four former Tennessee school bus drivers charged with using electronic devices while behind the wheel could face 30-day jail terms if convicted under a new law.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pressured Republicans Monday to approve the Senate's wheezing health care bill, saying a showdown vote planned for this week is their "last chance to do the right thing" and erase the Obama law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate will move forward with a key vote this week on a Republican health bill but it's not yet known whether the legislation will seek to replace President Barack Obama's health care law or simply repeal it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There are many reasons why the Senate will probably reject Republicans' crowning bill razing much of former President Barack Obama's health care law. There are fewer why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might revive it and avert a GOP humiliation.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homebuyers faced surging prices and a shrinking number of properties for sale in June — causing the pace of purchases of existing homes to fall.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks mostly fell on Monday, and broad-market indexes inched modestly backward at the start of a busy week of corporate earnings reports and a meeting of the Federal Reserve. Technology stocks, though, added to their big gains for the year and helped push the Nasdaq composite to another record.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google parent Alphabet is taking a $2.7 billion write-down to cover a large fine EU antitrust enforcers assessed in June . While the search giant can shrug off the cost, uncertainty lingers over its ability to operate freely on the continent going forward.
NEW YORK (AP) — A Virginia health official says a second person has tested positive for norovirus after eating at a Chipotle before it was temporarily closed last week following reports of illnesses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has already achieved one of its two mandates: With the unemployment rate at just 4.4 percent, the Fed has essentially maximized employment.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline rose about a penny nationally over the past two weeks, to $2.32.
NEW YORK (AP) — KKR is buying health information website WebMD in a deal valued at about $2.8 billion.
MOSCOW (AP) — Major oil producers need to show greater discipline in sticking to output cuts aimed at raising the price of crude, Russia's energy minister said Monday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, disclosed in a statement to members of Congress four distinct interactions with Russians during the presidential campaign and transition period. The 11-page statement provides his first detailed account of meetings over the last year with the Russian ambassador to the United States, a Russian lawyer and a Russian banker.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House is moving to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to shift $2 billion from other programs to cover a sudden budget shortfall in its Choice program of private-sector care. But the plan was meeting resistance from many Democrats following stiff protests from veterans' groups.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans aren't usually big on raising taxes, but they're really eager to eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel on Monday clarified, but didn't apologize for, a weekend segment that The New York Times said falsely accused the newspaper of revealing intelligence information that enabled Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to elude capture by U.S. forces two years ago.
FRIDAY, JULY 21
REGION
MEMPHIS (AP) — Weather officials have issued a heat advisory for parts of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas as heat indexes rise above 100 degrees.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Republican candidate for governor Randy Boyd says he'll run more than 537 miles (864 kilometers) across the state in about 100 days to meet voters.
NASHVILLE (AP) — State officials say Tennessee has set a record for federal college aid applications.
GREENVILLE (AP) — A family whose daughters were injured when they fell from a Ferris wheel at a Tennessee county fair has filed lawsuits against the ride's owners and manufacturer.
COURTS
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal judge on Friday approved an $11.2 million settlement between the marital infidelity website Ashley Madison and users who sued after hackers released personal information, including financial data and details of their sexual proclivities.
SPARTA (AP) — A program in a Tennessee county reduces inmates' jail time if they voluntarily undergo birth control procedures, in a move that has drawn criticism from the local district attorney and the American Civil Liberties Union.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders pushed toward a Senate vote next Tuesday on resurrecting their nearly flat-lined health care bill. Their uphill drive was further complicated by the ailing GOP Sen. John McCain's potential absence and a dreary report envisioning that the number of uninsured Americans would soar.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans were never too thrilled with "Obamacare" and they definitely disapprove of Republican alternatives in Congress, so what does the public want to do on health care?
WASHINGTON (AP) — A revised Republican health care bill would drive up the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday in a report unlikely to help GOP leaders persuade their party's senators to back the reeling legislation in an upcoming showdown vote.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CANTON, Miss. (AP) — The United Auto Workers faces a strong anti-union campaign from Nissan Motor Co. as it tries to gain a foothold in the union-averse South by organizing workers at the Japanese automaker's Mississippi plant.
DETROIT (AP) — Lyft said Friday that it is setting up its own unit to develop autonomous vehicle technology, but its approach will be different from other companies and partnerships working on self-driving cars..
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California says Volkswagen will pay the state another $154 million in penalties and costs over the automaker's emissions scandal.
BERLIN (AP) — German automaker Audi says it will fit up to 850,000 diesel cars with new software to improve their emissions performance, following a similar move by rival Daimler as the auto industry tries to get ahead of public controversy over the technology.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks finished barely lower Friday as energy companies fell with oil prices and a 10-day rally for technology companies came to an end. But Wall Street mostly avoided the sharp losses that hit European stocks.
DALLAS (AP) — The ban on laptops in the cabins of planes flying from the Middle East to the U.S. is over, as federal officials say that large airports in the region have taken other steps in increase security.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — Hey veterans, you can soon shop tax free. Starting later this year, all honorably discharged veterans, no matter their branch of service, will be eligible to shop tax-free online at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service with the same discounts they enjoyed on base while in the military.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay a $2 million fine for showing "reckless disregard" for U.S. sanctions on Russia while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the oil giant's CEO, the Treasury Department said Thursday. Exxon sued the U.S. government to stop the fine.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) — Sears will begin selling its appliances on Amazon.com, including smart appliances that can be synced with Amazon's voice assistant, Alexa.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump's embattled spokesman during the first six months of his presidency, is resigning his position, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A brutal reality is settling over Capitol Hill: The Republican effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare," which has consumed the first six months of the Trump administration, may never yield results.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's legal team is evaluating potential conflicts of interest among members of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The revelation comes as Mueller's probe into Russia's election meddling appears likely to include some of the Trump family's business ties.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain is telling his best friend in the Senate to keep it together as he grapples with brain cancer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions, publicly skewered by his boss for stepping aside from the Russia-Trump investigations, declared Thursday he still loves his job and plans to stay on. Yet Donald Trump's airing of his long-simmering frustrations with Sessions raised significant new questions about the future of the nation's top prosecutor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are targeting a rule that would let consumers band together to sue their banks or credit card companies rather than use a mediator to resolve a dispute.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Battling brain cancer, Sen. John McCain on Thursday promised to return to work, making a good-natured dig at his Republican and Democratic colleagues who were jolted by news of the six-term lawmaker's diagnosis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's persistent overtures toward Russia are placing him increasingly at odds with his national security and foreign policy advisers, who have long urged a more cautious approach to dealing with the foreign adversary.