VOL. 42 | NO. 27 | Friday, July 6, 2018
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
The former boxer raises his fist softly, conversational punctuation rather than threat, as he discusses his life, from the time he illegally entered the U.S. to his proud citizenship, his career in the ring and the years since he stepped between the ropes for the final time to focus on his sons and his nightclub, San Jose Fiesta.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Art Linkletter wrote a book years ago titled “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Linkletter had hosted a television show that always included a segment during which he would interview, one on one, a group of children. Linkletter spent decades in the entrainment industry and always said he preferred to interview women 80 and older and children under 10 and younger.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, offering a slight degree of relief to would-be homebuyers.
PREDATORS
On Jan. 5, Predators prospect Patrick Harper helped guide the U.S. national team to a bronze-medal victory at the World Junior Championship, scoring a goal and adding an assist in a lopsided American win.
ELECTION 2018
The 124-member newspapers of the Tennessee Press Association are working together to present a forum for the major candidates in the gubernatorial and senate races. This week, candidates are addressing how to approach the opioid crisis.
The spread of opioid abuse claimed more than 1,600 lives in Tennessee in 2016, and it is getting worse. Methamphetamine abuse, while not getting the headlines, has increased. Gun violence and murder is increasing. What proposals do our candidates have to help Tennesseans address these public safety issues?
NEWSMAKERS
TaKeena Thompson Sandifer has joined Adams and Reese’s Nashville office and litigation practice group as special counsel, and Jacob “Jake” L. Perry has joined as an associate.
BRIEFS
Nashville’s storied Bluebird Café lauded the designation of the last full week in February as “Tennessee Songwriters Week,’’ and will help promote it by sponsoring a statewide contest for songwriters.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The 2018 Hyundai Kona and 2018 Ford EcoSport are two all-new subcompact crossover SUVs that are getting a lot of attention this year.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
When was your last vacation? Think hard. When was the last time you turned off your phone for more than three hours, left your laptop at work or put your briefcase in a closet for a week? If the answer starts with the word “Nineteen,” then read on: “In Praise of Wasting Time” by Alan Lightman is needed, pronto.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
E-commerce sales will represent 10 percent of total retail sales in the U.S. this year, market research hub eMarketer estimates.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — What would it take for President Donald Trump to get yet another Supreme Court pick? Probably the death of a justice.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The vetting of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is just beginning, but his public financial disclosures make one thing clear: He's not as wealthy as many already on the high court.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hyundai Motor Co.'s labor union said Thursday that steep auto tariffs the U.S. is considering could cost tens of thousands of American jobs, echoing concerns of the global auto industry as spiraling trade conflicts between the U.S. and other major economies heat up.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising in early trading Thursday as technology companies like Apple resume their upward march. Software company CA is soaring after chipmaker Broadcom agreed to buy it for $18.9 billion. Health care and industrial companies are also higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices rose in June from a year earlier at the fastest pace in more than six years, lifted by more expensive gas, car insurance, and higher rent.
LONDON (AP) — The British government released detailed plans Thursday for what it called a "principled pragmatic and ambitious" Brexit — plans that already triggered the resignation of two top ministers and split the governing Conservative Party, and which face likely resistance from the European Union.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Top officials at the European Central Bank expressed confidence at their last policy meeting that the eurozone economy remains "broadly on track" but expressed concern that rising trade protectionism could dampen business confidence and blunt the recovery.
LONDON (AP) — The battle for European pay TV service Sky escalated Wednesday as U.S. rivals Comcast and 21st Century Fox took turns upping the ante in their quest to expand their media empires.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's culture secretary has cleared the way for 21st Century Fox's bid for Sky following pledges that it will safeguard the independence of Sky News.
NEW YORK (AP) — Papa John's founder John Schnatter has resigned as chairman of the pizza chain's board after reportedly using a racial slur, though his image remains on the company's logo.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration says all eligible small children separated from their families as a result of its zero-tolerance immigration policy have been reunited with their parents.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Under fire for his warm embrace of Russia's Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump jolted the NATO summit Wednesday by turning a spotlight on Germany's ties to Russia and openly questioning the value of the military alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An FBI agent whose anti-Trump text messages fueled suspicions of partisan bias will tell lawmakers Thursday that his work has never been tainted by politics and that the intense scrutiny he is facing represents "just another victory notch in Putin's belt," according to prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11
MIDSTATE
TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — More National Park Service rangers will range on the Natchez Trace Parkway in unmarked vehicles.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Four Republicans have spent $33 million-plus in Tennessee's primary for governor, unleashing about $33 million of personal wealth.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Bill Lee has released an ad criticizing what he calls dishonest attack ads in the GOP gubernatorial primary, saying he's "not going down that road."
GATLINBURG (AP) — Tennessee authorities say E. coli bacteria caused the sickness that affected more than 500 people at a zipline attraction.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter says it will begin removing suspicious accounts it has locked from its counts of users' followers.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in days, the Trump administration is taking action to undercut the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.
NEW YORK (AP) — Pfizer, facing an aging population and shifting risks from the loss of patents, is reshaping the company into three businesses.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's past writings that a president should not be distracted by lawsuits and investigations could become a flashpoint in what's already shaping up to be a contentious confirmation battle.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CANTON, Miss. (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. is naming a new leader for its Mississippi assembly plant.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — BMW says it is sticking with plans to add 1,000 workers in South Carolina, even though the company will start production of a new vehicle in China.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Global stock indexes sank Wednesday after the Trump administration released a list of $200 billion in goods that could be hit with tariffs and China said it would retaliate. The dollar spiked and big exporters plunged.
NEW YORK (AP) — Papa John's founder John Schnatter is apologizing after reportedly using a racial slur during a conference call in May.
The U.S. is on pace to leapfrog both Saudi Arabia and Russia and reclaim the title of the world's biggest oil producer for the first time since the 1970s.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.3 percent in June, a slight slowing from May. But the 12-month gain was the fastest in more than six years, adding to evidence that inflation is beginning to rise after years of weak price gains.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government vowed Wednesday to take "firm and forceful measures" as the U.S. threatened to expand tariffs to thousands of Chinese imports like fish sticks, apples and French doors, the latest salvo in an escalating trade dispute that threatens to chill global economic growth.
LONDON (AP) — Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox increased Wednesday its bid to take full control of lucrative European pay TV service Sky in a prolonged battle with U.S. rival Comcast.
LONDON (AP) — Facebook is facing its first financial penalty for allowing the data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica to forage through the personal data of millions of unknowing Facebook users.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers went on record Wednesday to express their frustration with the Trump administration's growing use of tariffs as the Senate passed a nonbinding resolution designed to give Congress more say about trade penalties imposed in the name of national security.
BERLIN (AP) — The steady drum of anti-German rhetoric from the United States, one of the country's traditionally closest friends, has people wondering whether to get ready for a messy breakup.
BRUSSELS (AP) — President Donald Trump barreled into a NATO summit Wednesday with claims that a natural gas pipeline deal has left Germany "totally controlled" and "captive to Russia" as he lobbed fresh complaints about allies' "delinquent" defense spending during the opening of what was expected to be a fraught two-day meeting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unleashing in-your-face rhetoric at the NATO summit, President Donald Trump pressed the falsehood Wednesday that members of the alliance owe money to the U.S. and took sole credit for higher military spending by NATO partners — a decision that preceded his presidency.
TUESDAY, JULY 10
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — In Tennessee's U.S. Senate race, Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn is backing President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee and Democratic ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen is holding judgment until after confirmation hearings.
FORNEYS CREEK, N.C. (AP) — One of the most popular destinations in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed on Tuesday for repairs.
JACKSON (AP) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is slated to break ground on a new laboratory and regional headquarters.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is receiving a federal grant of more than $4.3 million to help prevent student obesity, manage childhood chronic disease and prevent those sicknesses in adulthood.
COURTS
MEMPHIS (AP) — A judge has ruled that the election commission in Tennessee's largest county must open all of its early voting locations two days earlier than originally planned, in response to lawsuits filed by the NAACP and Democrats.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Evidence that Roundup weed killer can cause cancer seems "weak," but experts can still make that claim at trial, a U.S. judge ruled Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh, a solidly conservative, politically connected judge, for the Supreme Court, setting up a ferocious confirmation battle with Democrats as he seeks to shift the nation's highest court ever further to the right.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With fanfare befitting the nation's pre-eminent showman, President Donald Trump on Monday poured accelerant on his campaign to shift Washington's balance of power toward conservatives and remake the federal judiciary for generations to come.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Brett Kavanaugh is the embodiment of the Republican legal establishment: an Ivy Leaguer who worked for the justice he has been nominated to replace, investigated a Democratic president, served in a Republican White House and now is an influential member of what is often called the second most powerful court in the country.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Electric car producer Tesla says it will build its first factory outside the United States in Shanghai.
BEIJING (AP) — BMW Group and the biggest Chinese SUV brand, Great Wall Motor, announced a partnership Tuesday to produce electric MINI vehicles in China as global automakers ramp up development under pressure from Beijing.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A decade ago, Apple opened a store peddling iPhone apps, unlocking the creativity of software developers and letting users truly make their mobile devices their own.
NEW YORK (AP) — Google's YouTube says it is taking several steps to ensure the veracity of news on its service by cracking down on misinformation and supporting news organizations.
ENVIRONMENT
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration is advancing its plan to replace the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's efforts against global warming with a new rule expected to be friendlier to the coal industry.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks shook off some midday doldrums and rose for the fourth day in a row Tuesday as strong results from Pepsi helped household goods companies. The market is at its highest level since early February.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The proportion of American workers that quit their jobs in May reached the highest level in 17 years, a sign that more people are confident they can find a new job, likely at higher pay.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted Tuesday that her plan to retain close ties with the European Union "absolutely keeps faith" with voters' decision to leave the bloc, as she tried to restore government unity after the resignations of two top ministers over Brexit.
BEIJING (AP) — European companies that export from China are changing the global flow of their goods to avoid higher American tariffs, a business group said Tuesday, as the impact of the U.S.-Chinese trade war spreads.
HAVANA (AP) — A 16-month freeze on new private restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts will end in December when Cuba's communist government implements new regulations meant to prevent tax evasion and the accumulation of wealth, state media said Tuesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he "can't say right now" if Russian President Vladimir Putin is a friend or foe.
MONDAY, JULY 9
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Fighting Irish and country music will come together on the gridiron, with Garth Brooks announcing plans to play the first-ever music concert at Notre Dame's football stadium.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mason Ramsey, an 11-year-old from Illinois whose version of a Hank Williams classic has been watched more than 50 million times on YouTube and has spawned multiple remixes, is releasing his first album.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Jimmy Tosh's sprawling hog farm in rural Tennessee is an unlikely battleground in the fight for control of the U.S. Senate.
COURTS
News organizations are pushing for the public release of data detailing the distribution of prescription opioids throughout the U.S., information that could show how drug manufacturers and distributors contributed to the nation's addiction and overdose crisis.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Attorneys for the state and lawyers representing 33 death row inmates traded blame in court Monday at the outset of a trial over Tennessee's new lethal injection procedure.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is going down to the wire as he makes his choice on a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, but he says with his final four options "you can't go wrong."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coming battle over a Supreme Court nominee promises to be a bruising one.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A judge in Tennessee has ordered a former school bus driver to remain behind bars while he appeals his conviction in a crash that killed six children.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A trial is set to begin in a case challenging the three-drug combination for lethal injections in Tennessee.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. appeals court on Monday approved a $10 billion settlement between Volkswagen and car owners caught up in the company's emissions cheating scandal.
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. said Monday that it altered the results of exhaust emissions and fuel economy tests of new vehicles sold in Japan, in the latest misconduct to surface at the Japanese automaker.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Automaker BMW says it will have to raise prices on the U.S.-built SUVs it sells in China due to higher tariffs.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is freezing payments under an "Obamacare" program that protects insurers with sicker patients from financial losses, a move expected to add to premium increases next year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Never mind the trade war. Here comes earnings season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increased their borrowing in May at the fastest pace in a year and a half, boosted by a big increase in credit card borrowing.
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang stressed their commitment to a multilateral trade system Monday in the wake of Washington's decision to impose widespread tariffs, saying it was to everyone's benefit.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank head Mario Draghi says that new trade barriers are the main risk to Europe's economy and that it's up to the EU to "lead by example" by supporting economic openness.
BEIJING (AP) — In his trade war with China, President Donald Trump wields one seeming advantage: The United States could ultimately slap tariffs on more than $500 billion in imported Chinese goods. Beijing has much less to tax: It imported just $130 billion in U.S. goods last year.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May dug in her heels Monday after the resignation of two top government ministers over Brexit negotiations whipped up a storm that threatened to topple her fragile minority government
WASHINGTON (AP) — So is this what a trade war looks like?
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese exporters were scrambling Monday to cope with a plunge in U.S. sales while China's state press shrugged off the impact of Washington's tariff hikes in a spiraling technology dispute.
NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks will eliminate plastic straws from all of its locations within two years, citing the environmental threat to oceans.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump gloated about a court case that didn't offer him the vindication he implied in his triumphant tweet. That capped a week of distortions, half-truths and swerves in his declarations on the economy, North Korea and other issues of the time.
FRIDAY, JULY 6
MIDSTATE
FRANKLIN (AP) — The National Park Service is awarding $637,500 to help buy and preserve part of a Civil War battlefield in Tennessee that has been threatened by development.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — By themselves, Democrats can't stop the Republican-run Senate from confirming President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court. But they're determined to make it agonizing for a pair of pivotal GOP senators to back the nominee.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The list of contenders to fill a Supreme Court vacancy by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy is narrowing, with President Donald Trump telling reporters that he's focused on two or three people ahead of his Monday announcement.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A newly unsealed lawsuit by Tennessee's attorney general says the maker of the world's top-selling painkiller directed its salesforce to target the highest prescribers, many with limited or no pain management background or training.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials say they are following a federal court order by reinstating and reissuing licenses for free for drivers who lost them solely because of unpaid court debts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is closing in on his next Supreme Court nominee, with three federal judges leading the competition to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee panel is accepting applications for two judicial vacancies.
TECHNOLOGY
MOSCOW (AP) — Google said Thursday that its document writing tool Google Documents was secure even as Russian internet users discovered scores of files that appeared to be intended for private use.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The trade dispute between the U.S. and China escalated Friday, but Wall Street focused on a solid jobs report instead.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May corralled her Cabinet inside an English country house for a long, hot day Friday, and announced that the divided government had finally agreed on a plan for a future free-trade deal with the European Union.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is fighting trade battles in all directions, not just with China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers kept up a brisk hiring pace in June by adding 213,000 jobs, a sign of confidence in the economy despite the start of a potentially punishing trade war with China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Professional and business services drove nearly a quarter of U.S. job growth in June. The category, which includes computer systems designers, engineers, consultants and administrative staff, added 50,000 jobs during a robust month of hiring. Over the past year, it has added more than a half-million jobs.
BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China launched what Beijing called the "biggest trade war in economic history" Friday, imposing tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods amid a spiraling dispute over technology.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the trade dispute between the United States and China as they impose new tariffs.
PARIS (AP) — The sovereign wealth funds of major oil-producing countries have agreed upon a common roadmap to encourage investments toward a greener economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials last month said they expect to keep raising interest rates and suggested that by the next year, they could be high enough that they could start slowing growth, according to minutes of their discussion released Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. service firms expanded at a surprisingly strong pace in June as companies saw gains in business activity and new orders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American businesses added 177,000 workers in June, a sign of health and resilience for the U.S. labor market and economy, according to a private survey.
NATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — Leandra English, the deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who unsuccessfully sued President Donald Trump for control of the consumer watchdog agency, said Friday she plans to resign next week.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned.
WASHINGTON (AP) — This spring, the Trump administration began a "zero tolerance" policy to criminally prosecute anyone caught crossing the border illegally. Because children can't be in jail with their parents, more than 2,300 families caught by Border Patrol were separated. The move prompted mass outrage in the United States and internationally. After first blaming the practice on the Democrats, Trump on June 20 signed an executive order that stopped the separation of families. A June 26 court order by a federal judge set a hard deadline to reunite the families, and that deadline is fast approaching.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The new leader of the Environmental Protection Agency is a former coal industry lobbyist who helped lead an industry fight against regulations that protect Americans' health and address climate change.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing out after months of scandals, Scott Pruitt is turning the Environmental Protection Agency over to a far less flashy deputy who is expected to continue Pruitt's rule-cutting, business-friendly ways as steward of the country's environment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by a public outcry, the Trump administration said Thursday it will meet court-ordered deadlines for reuniting families separated at the border, even as the politics of immigration remained at a boil.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross came in for an Oval Office tongue-lashing after he used a mundane soup can as a TV prop. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis got overruled by President Donald Trump's announcement that a new "Space Force" is in the offing. Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt caught a sharp admonition from Trump to "knock it off" after his ethics problems dominated cable television.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Fox News executive Bill Shine is officially joining the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before Viktor Vekselberg was tied to a scandal over the president and a porn star, the Russian oligarch had been positioning himself to extend his influence in the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is demanding that Congress "FIX OUR INSANE IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW!"