VOL. 38 | NO. 30 | Friday, July 25, 2014
UT SPORTS
Elliott and Evan Berry didn’t need a tour guide when they arrived for summer school at the University of Tennessee in June.
REALTY CHECK
Scott Ractliffe is a senior vice president with Pinnacle Financial Partners, where he serves in the mortgage advisor capacity and routinely distributes information to those in the real estate field.
REAL ESTATE
Top June 2014 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
NEWSMAKERS
Watkins College of Art, Design & Film has added two members to its Board of Trustees, attorney Laurence M. (Larry) Papel and William (Bill) Warfield, president of Brookside Properties, Inc. Each will serve a three-year term.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
CAREER CORNER
One of the best ways to advance a career in a competitive market is through networking. In many ways, it’s both the easiest and hardest part of a search. Today, I received two questions on the topic of networking best practices.
I SWEAR
“Got a pair of nickels for a dime?”
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
It is probably no surprise to anyone that cream cheese is one of America’s most widely used cheeses. The soft, creamy, texture provides the perfect media for depth and smoothness to desserts and dips, and it makes wonderful light and flaky pastry crusts.
STATEWIDE
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Journal Communications Inc. of Milwaukee and E.W. Scripps Co. of Cincinnati have an agreement to merge broadcasting operations while spinning off newspaper holdings into a separate public entity, the companies announced late Wednesday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. mortgage rates declined slightly this week, hovering near their lows for the year.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — American electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. is teaming up with Japanese electronics company Panasonic Corp. to build a battery manufacturing plant in the U.S. expected to create 6,500 jobs.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, but jobless claims remain at pre-recession levels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a grim start to 2014, the U.S. economy has rebounded with vigor and should show renewed strength into next year.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are sharply lower following weak corporate earnings. Exxon Mobil and Whole Foods slumped.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election-year rebuttal to Republicans, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Thursday requiring federal contractors to give their workers more rights in labor disputes. The move comes one day after House GOP lawmakers voted to sue Obama for allegedly misusing presidential powers.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Target has hired Pepsi executive Brian Cornell as its new chairman and CEO as it looks to recover from a huge data breach and troubles in Canada.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is racing to wrap up legislation addressing chronic problems at the Veterans Affairs Department and a shortfall in highway money ahead of its five-week summer break. Deep divisions cast doubt on any resolution to the surge of immigrants at the border.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided House approved a Republican plan Wednesday to launch a campaign-season lawsuit against President Barack Obama, accusing him of exceeding the bounds of his constitutional authority. Obama and other Democrats derided the effort as a stunt aimed at tossing political red meat to conservative voters.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Department of Correction is accepting applications for its Citizens' Correctional Academy.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A Texas lawyer has filed a lawsuit against General Motors on behalf of 658 people who were injured or killed in crashes allegedly caused by faulty ignition switches.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota remains No. 1 in global vehicles sales after the first six months of this year, followed by Volkswagen which bumped General Motors out of second place as the U.S. automaker grapples with a recall scandal.
DETROIT (AP) — The four-door Mini Cooper Countryman was the only one of 12 cars to earn a top rating of "good" in new frontal crash tests.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — An auto parts shortage has caused the cancellation of several shifts at the General Motors truck assembly plant in Fort Wayne.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing mixed after the Federal Reserve said the economy was strengthening enough for the central bank to continue cutting its stimulus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A private survey shows that businesses hired at a healthy pace in July, though the job gains slowed from the previous month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy has rebounded with vigor from a grim start to 2014 and should show renewed strength into next year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is further slowing the pace of its bond purchases because it thinks an improving U.S. economy needs less help. But it's offering no clearer hint of when it will start raising its key short-term interest rate.
MUMBAI, India (AP) — The world's largest online retailer is facing off in India against a new name in e-commerce that was founded by former Amazon employees.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators blocked an election-year bill Wednesday to limit tax breaks for U.S. companies that move operations overseas.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pointing the finger at Republicans for congressional inaction, President Barack Obama chided lawmakers Wednesday for spending the waning days before their month-long summer break trying to sue him rather than addressing economic issues that could boost the middle class.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate delivered an unexpectedly strong vote Tuesday in favor of taking action later this year to resolve the chronic funding problems that have bedeviled highway and transit programs, a sign that Congress may have reached the limit of its patience with short-term fixes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill to deal with the immigration surge at the border appears headed for procedural defeat in the Senate as lawmakers trade blame over their inaction on the crisis.
TUESDAY, JULY 29
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Students from Middle Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University are designing a solar-powered house that will one day become home to a low-income family. But first, they hope to win the U.S. Department of Energy's 2015 Solar Decathlon.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Immigrant advocates say they are baffled by a letter that Gov. Bill Haslam sent to President Barack Obama that says his administration should have been informed about the placement of 760 unaccompanied immigrant children in Tennessee.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose in May from a year earlier at the weakest pace in 15 months, as home sales remain modest.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers are more confident about the economy than they have been in nearly seven years.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market fell modestly on Tuesday as investors focused on a batch of big economic reports ahead.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 35 percent of Americans have debts and unpaid bills that have been reported to collection agencies, according to a study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is set to take up legislation to keep federal highway money flowing to states, with just three days left before the government plans to start slowing down payments.
MONDAY, JULY 28
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Some businesses in seven Tennessee counties are eligible for federal economic injury disaster loans as a result of rain, flooding, wind and hail last month.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — With an especially long primary ballot, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett is recommending that voters cast their ballots early.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in June, as the real estate market appears to have cooled off this summer.
NEW YORK (AP) — Real estate website operator Zillow is buying competitor Trulia in a $3.5 billion all-stock deal.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare's finances are looking brighter, the government said Monday. The program's giant hospital trust fund won't be exhausted until 2030 — four years later than last year's estimate.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan's quarterly profit rose nearly 37 percent, helped by a favorable exchange rate and healthy sales in North America and China.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is proposing a $12 million civil fine against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply in three separate cases with safety regulations related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — A national survey finds the average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has plummeted 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks to $3.58.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Major U.S. companies are starting to reap their most rapid growth in fertile lands of opportunity far from home.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ending little changed as traders wait for key economic and earnings reports later this week.
LONDON (AP) — Lloyds Banking Group says it will pay 218 million pounds ($400 million) to U.S. and British authorities to settle allegations it manipulated benchmark interest rates.
NEW YORK (AP) — Dollar Tree is buying rival discounter Family Dollar, giving it a wider reach in the intensifying fight for deal-seeking customers.
SPRINGDALE, Ark. (AP) — Tyson Foods plans to sell its poultry businesses in Mexico and Brazil for $575 million in cash to help pay debt from its recently announced acquisition of Hillshire Brands.
FRIDAY, JULY 25
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee has received about 2.5 percent of the unaccompanied children crossing into the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits plunged last week, a sign that the economy is building strength.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
A war breaks out between Israel and Hamas. An airliner is shot out of the sky in Ukraine. A Portuguese bank's finances look shaky.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rebounded in June after a May decline, helped by a recovery in demand in a key category that signals business investment plans.
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors got some bad news about the American shopper on Friday, driving down stocks and sending the Dow Jones industrial average to a loss for the week.
The price of oil traded around $102 a barrel on Friday, nearly unchanged, as worries over supplies and geopolitical tensions eased.
CHICAGO (AP) — Fast food workers say they're prepared to escalate their campaign for higher wages and union representation, starting with a national convention in suburban Chicago where more than 1,000 workers are expected to discuss the future of the effort that has spread to dozens of cities in less than two years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The risk of losing your job is getting smaller and smaller.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund foresees the global economy expanding less than it had previously forecast, slowed by weaker growth in the United States, Russia and developing economies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay $275 million to settle U.S. civil charges that it misled investors about risky mortgage bonds it sold ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. long-term mortgage rates were stable to slightly higher this week, remaining near their lows for the year.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Congress scheduled to recess in a week, the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees offered competing new proposals Thursday to fix a veterans health care program scandalized by long waits and falsified records covering up the delays.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More families with higher incomes could claim the popular child tax credit under a bill that won approval Friday in the House. But in a dispute that divides Republicans and Democrats, millions of the poorest low-income families would still lose the credit in 2018, when enhancements championed by President Barack Obama are set to expire.