VOL. 38 | NO. 31 | Friday, August 1, 2014
In sales, it’s all about leads. And Nashville is about to get 2,500 of them in the highly-competitive field of hosting major conventions.
The Wildhorse Saloon rode onto Second Avenue in 1994 on a wave of Garth Brooks’ music and country line dancing, the start of a 20-year roller coaster ride for the gigantic downtown Nashville venue.
Rutherford County and Murfreesboro are leading a hotel boom in the Greater Nashville region, driven by the area’s overall economic growth and demand by youth athletic tournament participants and parents.
IN THE WEEDS
As the food scene grows in Nashville, so do the businesses that support it. Jesse Goldstein, a chef and former brand manager at the iconic Loveless Cafe, started his own company, Food Sheriff Consumable Branding (food-sheriff.com), in January.
REALTY CHECK
Forbes magazine has included Nashville in yet another list of wonderfulness.
REAL ESTATE
January through June 2014 residential real estate transactions of $500,000 or more for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Ever since the seventh-round pick won the kick return job in 2010 and went on to play in the Pro Bowl that season, Marc Mariani has been a favorite of Titans’ fans.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE – Don’t look for University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones to play favorites when fall training camp begins Friday (Aug. 1).
NEWSMAKERS
William F. Carpenter III, chairman and CEO, LifePoint Hospitals, will continue to serve as chairman of the Nashville Health Care Council board of directors for the second year.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
There’s no denying virtual scrapbooking site Pinterest’s explosive growth, now boasting more than 40 million active users per month.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
Ni hao! I write to you this week from Hong Kong. For the next 12 months I will be working remotely from China in order to closely evaluate conditions within the Asian economies.
CAREER CORNER
One of the chief complaints I hear from job seekers is that their lousy college education is to blame for their poor career success.
I SWEAR
I was checking something out online the other day when I came across the word glamazon.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Cornbread salad in summer is like chili in winter – a must-have. It’s like a cool garden salad with Southern charm. It’s also a potluck favorite.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - More than two dozen incumbent Republican and Democratic state lawmakers face challengers in Thursday's primary elections, and several could swing on narrow margins.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, a 40-year veteran of Tennessee politics, is facing a challenge Thursday from two tea party-styled candidates who have tried to cast him as out of touch with the state's increasingly conservative electorate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican voters will decide Thursday whether to re-nominate Lamar Alexander, a 40-year veteran of Tennessee politics, to a third term in the U.S. Senate.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee State Library and Archives and Ancestry.com are collaborating on genealogy events in Nashville next month.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending has soared since the Great Recession ended five years ago in U.S. states with oil and gas drilling booms and has lagged in states hit especially hard by the housing bust.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose slightly this week but remained near their lows for the year.
More U.S. flights arrived late in June than the month before, continuing a string of poor performances by the nation's airlines.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, as jobless claims remain at relatively low levels that point toward stronger economic growth.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged lower in late morning trading as investors assessed the latest company earnings and the outlook for the economy. Investors are still troubled by the potential for escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fannie Mae is reporting net income of $3.7 billion from April through June as the housing market continued to recover.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bank of America is nearing a $16 billion to $17 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a person directly familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans are expected to have an easier time getting government-paid health care from local doctors under a bill that President Barack Obama is set to sign into law Thursday.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Singer Gary LeVox has lost his voice, forcing Rascal Flatts to cancel three shows in the Pacific Northwest this week.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Five things to know about Thursday's primary elections and other ballot issues in Tennessee:
NASHVILLE (AP) — State Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr. has presented the Anderson County school system with a $2,000 check for getting parents to complete an online tutorial about the importance of saving for college.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A three-judge panel is now considering whether Tennessee's law barring recognition of same-sex marriages is constitutional.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler Group's second-quarter net profit rose 22 percent, fueled by rising sales in the U.S.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2025, self-driving cars could be the norm, people could have more leisure time and goods could become cheaper. Or, there could be chronic unemployment and an even wider income gap, human interaction could become a luxury and the wealthy could live in walled cities with robots serving as labor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says it will sell $67 billion in Treasury securities next week as part of its regular quarterly refunding auctions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit fell in June to its lowest level since January as imports dropped sharply, led by lower shipments of cellphones, petroleum, and cars.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks stabilized on Wednesday after energy stocks and earnings from a major beer brewer helped the market stem its recent declines.
Growing political heat and possible customer backlash helped dissuade Walgreen from trying to trim its tax bill by reorganizing overseas as part of an acquisition.
Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox is abandoning its attempt to take over Time Warner in a proposed deal that would have combined two of the world's biggest media companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Africa's economy rises, American businesses are at risk of being left behind.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - The members of folk duo The Civil Wars have made it official: They're breaking up.
MIDSTATE
FRANKLIN (AP) — Community Health Systems Inc. has agreed to pay $98 million to settle federal claims of improper billing by the hospital company.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville has announced it will make cuts and reshuffle its newsroom.
NEW YORK (AP) — The game of survival is on for newspapers, as USA Today owner Gannett on Tuesday became the most recent major media entity to say it will divide its print and broadcast divisions into separate companies.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A federal judge has approved an agreement by the nation's largest public utility to pay $27.8 million to settle claims from Tennessee property owners who suffered damages from a huge, 2008 spill of toxin-laden coal ash sludge.
NASHVILLE (AP) - An influx of campaign spending on three Tennessee Supreme Court seats has transformed what is traditionally a sleepy affair into a hard-fought campaign that has raised questions about the role of partisan politics in the judiciary.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has received the Wellness Champion Award in the Working for a Healthier Tennessee competition.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose in June by the smallest year-over-year amount in 20 months, slowed by modest sales and more properties coming on the market.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 5 percent jump in quarterly profit Tuesday, outpacing expectations as vehicle sales grew in North America and Europe, offsetting a drop in Japan.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care law has become a tale of two Americas. States that fully embraced the law's coverage expansion are experiencing a significant drop in the number of uninsured residents, according to a major new survey released Tuesday. States whose leaders still object to "Obamacare" are seeing much less change.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. services firms grew at the fastest rate in more than eight years in July, the latest sign of an economy picking up speed in the second half of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories increased in June, led by demand for aircraft, industrial machinery and computers and electronics.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Economists have long argued that a rising wealth gap has complicated the U.S. rebound from the Great Recession.
NEW YORK (AP) — Renewed concerns that tensions could flare up between Russian and Ukraine pushed U.S. stocks sharply lower Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — As the Ebola outbreak in West Africa grows, airlines around the globe are closely monitoring the situation but have yet to make any drastic changes. Below are some key questions about the disease, what airlines are doing and how safe it is to fly.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to strengthen America's financial foothold in Africa, President Barack Obama announced $33 billion in commitments Tuesday aimed at shifting U.S. ties with Africa beyond humanitarian aid and toward more equal economic partnerships.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Small wonder Congress has kept federal highway and transit programs teetering on the edge of insolvency for years, unable to find a politically acceptable long-term source of funds. The public can't make up its mind on how to pay for them either.
MONDAY, AUGUST 4
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A record number of voters have cast ballots during early voting for the Tennessee primary election.
AUTO INDUSTRY
A fund set up by General Motors to pay for deaths and injuries caused by its vehicles with faulty ignitions is accepting claims.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
Solid earnings from Berkshire Hathaway and a bank rescue in Europe gave investors enough encouragement to send stock prices higher.
Walgreen's top financial officer is leaving the largest U.S. drugstore chain as it nears a key decision about its future that could involve a politically touchy overseas reorganization.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart, in its latest bid to compete with nemesis Amazon.com, is rebuilding its website to further personalize the online shopping experience of each customer.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Barack Obama immerses himself in talks on Africa's regional security, democracy building and business investment this week, the world's attention — and much of his own — will be on an extraordinary array of urgent overseas crises.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 1
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The nation's largest public utility has agreed to pay $27.8 million to settle claims from Tennessee property owners who suffered damages from a huge spill of toxin-laden coal ash sludge.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Three Southeast flowers are now protected under the Endangered Species Act.
NEW YORK (AP) — Journal Communications Inc. of Milwaukee and E.W. Scripps Co. of Cincinnati have agreed to combine their broadcasting operations while spinning off newspaper holdings into a separate public entity.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Big discounts helped U.S. auto sales sizzle in July.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Chrysler says its U.S. sales rose 20 percent in July from a year ago, its best performance for the month in nine years.
As General Motors prepares to report monthly sales results on Friday, a look its numbers from June show just how intent the company is on keeping new-car sales on the rise during a record spate of safety recalls.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is closing out its worst week in two years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of U.S. consumer confidence slipped in July although it remained at levels signaling further gains in consumer spending.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in three months in June, providing momentum for the economy going into the second half of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers extended their solid hiring into July by adding 209,000 jobs. It was the sixth straight month of job growth above 200,000, evidence that businesses are gradually shedding the caution that had marked the 5-year-old recovery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For millions of workers, happy days aren't quite here again.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama moved Thursday to require federal contractors to give their workers more rights in labor disputes, putting his pen to an executive order the day after the House voted to sue him for allegedly exceeding his presidential powers. In an election-year dare to Republicans, Obama said congressional obstinacy would only embolden him to take even more aggressive actions on his own.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the economy is getting stronger and, quote, "engines are revving a bit louder."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress gave final approval Thursday to a $10.8 billion bill to keep federal highway funds flowing to states through the summer construction season and the fall elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders struggled to round up votes from recalcitrant conservatives for a bill dealing with the immigrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border and head home for a five-week summer break boasting of acting to address the crisis.