VOL. 47 | NO. 34 | Friday, August 18, 2023
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Home sales in the greater Nashville area declined in July, statistics compiled by Greater Nashville Realtors shows.
REAL ESTATE
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in more than 20 years, grim news for would-be homebuyers already challenged by a housing market that remains competitive due to a dearth of homes for sale.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Years from now, the Titans 2023 preseason opening loss in Chicago won’t be much more than a footnote to those who didn’t know what happened.
Under Mike Vrabel, the Tennessee Titans have seemingly gone above and beyond not only in reaching out to qualified minority coaches but also being at the forefront of hiring women for jobs in areas other than just media relations or sales.
With training camp now in full swing and the Titans heading into preseason week No. 2 at Minnesota, there are a few battles unfolding that are worth monitoring until the 53-man roster is set. Here are a few of the top battles and who has the early edge after 10 days or so of camp and one preseason game.
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have avoided a major injury for wide receiver Treylon Burks' left knee.
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell made a priority call to his Tennessee Titans counterpart Mike Vrabel even before the preseason game schedule was released, desiring a hard-nosed opponent with a stout front seven to test his team against in training camp.
NEWSMAKERS
Sharon O. “Sheri” Jacobs has joined Dickinson Wright in the firm’s Nashville office as of counsel.
BRIEFS
Gov. Bill Lee last week unveiled a sweeping list of public safety issues he wants lawmakers to address during an upcoming special session prompted by a shocking Nashville school shooting earlier this year that resulted in the deaths of three children and three adults.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The Honda CR-V has consistently been one of the most popular small crossover SUVs on sale in America. It’s also coming off a full 2023 redesign in which it received more rear legroom, an improved hybrid powertrain option and updated technology features.
PERSONAL FINANCE
To get the most out of summer sales, shoppers have to think ahead – sometimes way ahead.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Some people collect luxury goods such as investment pieces. Think of a Birkin bag, art by the legendary Jean-Michel Basquiat or a Rolex. Anything considered timeless or high-quality and that appreciates in value can be called an investment piece.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — People held signs without problems at the Tennessee Capitol complex Wednesday after a judge agreed to temporarily block a new rule advanced by House Republicans that had banned the public from doing so during floor and committee hearings.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Families close to a Nashville fatal school shooting broke down in tears Tuesday after a Tennessee Republican leader ordered state troopers to remove them and others from a legislative hearing room while they waited to testify in favor of gun control measures.
COURTS
BELLAIRE, Mich. (AP) — Three men accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were anarchists who considered themselves "the new founding fathers" and were preparing for bloodshed, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.
ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani turned himself in at a jail in Atlanta on Wednesday on charges related to efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government officials on Wednesday started cracking down on the co-founders of the virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, just days after a federal judge decided that the government had the authority to sanction them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A witness in the criminal case against Donald Trump over the hoarding of classified documents retracted "prior false testimony" after switching lawyers last month and provided new information that implicated the former president, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
ENERGY
A planned offshore wind farm moved a step closer to construction Tuesday with the Department of the Interior announcing it has approved the project, to be located in federal waters near Rhode Island south of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
TECHNOLOGY
TOKYO (AP) — Kazutaka Yonekura dreams of a world where everyone will have their very own digital "clone" — an online avatar that could take on some of our work and daily tasks, such as appearing in Zoom meetings in our place.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — A year ago, Chair Jerome Powell delivered a stark warning: To fight persistently high inflation, the Federal Reserve would continue to sharply raise interest rates, bringing "some pain" in the form of job losses and weaker economic growth.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street had its best day since June as pressure on stocks from the bond market relaxed a bit.
Employees of Walt Disney World's governing district on Wednesday confronted new board members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis over a decision to eliminate their access to free passes and discounts to the theme park resort, saying it makes park visits unaffordable.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. regulators on Wednesday announced a settlement with the company that runs Dollar Tree and Family Dollar aimed at improving worker safety at thousands of the bargain stores across the country.
Foot Locker is cutting its full-year outlook again and pausing its quarterly dividend as sales dropped in its fiscal second quarter with consumers continuing to be more cautious about their purchases.
CAIRO (AP) — Two tankers carrying oil products and liquefied natural gas collided in the Suez Canal, disrupting traffic through the global waterway, Egyptian authorities said Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Costa Rica President Rodrigo Chaves at the White House on Tuesday, following an agreement between the two nations on possible legal pathways for migrants.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has approved a $500 million arms sale to Taiwan as it ramps up military assistance to the island despite fervent objections from China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sixty years ago, Andrew Young and his staff had just emerged from an exhausting campaign against racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22
TENNESSEE TITANS
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The father of Tennessee Titans cornerback Caleb Farley died overnight in an explosion that destroyed the NFL player's North Carolina home and left another person injured, authorities said.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Tennessee's Republican-led Legislature is meeting in special session this week to consider a package of public safety proposals, including some stemming from a deadly shooting at a Nashville elementary school earlier this year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson, the lone Democratic member of the "Tennessee Three" who narrowly survived a Republican-led expulsion effort, has launched an exploratory committee as she considers running for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn in 2024.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried can't adequately prepare for trial in six weeks while in jail without proper access to computers, necessary medications to help him concentrate, and a better diet than bread, water and peanut butter, his lawyers told a magistrate judge Tuesday.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. housing market remains in a deep sales slump, but the worst declines may be over when it comes to home prices.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Monday approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women so their babies will be born with protection against the scary respiratory infection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed Monday to pay $225 million to settle price-fixing charges related to sales of a major cholesterol-lowering drug. The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement also requires Teva to divest its business making and selling the drug, pravastatin, a generic version of the brand-name medicine Pravachol.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Transportation is proposing new rules designed to encourage seat belt use by car and truck passengers, including those sitting in the back seat.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — IBM is selling assets of The Weather Company — including Weather.com and The Weather Channel mobile app — to private equity firm Francisco Partners.
NEW YORK (AP) — The next book from "Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff is both a recounting of the recent past and a prediction for the near future.
BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai Cabinet minister is threatening to try to shut down Facebook in the country, saying the social media platform does not do enough to screen the advertisements it runs, leaving people vulnerable to costly scams.
LONDON (AP) — British competition regulators opened a new investigation Tuesday into Microsoft's revamped bid to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, representing the last major hurdle to closing one of the biggest deals in tech history.
TRAVEL
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is extending for another year a ban on the use of U.S. passports for travel to North Korea, the State Department said Tuesday. The ban was imposed in 2017 and has been renewed every year since.
ENVIRONMENT
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday it will spend $150 million to help owners of small parcels of forestland partner with companies willing to pay them for carbon offsets and other environmental credits.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street drifted to a mixed closed ahead of a couple potentially market-shaking events later in the week.
Dick's Sporting Goods profit slipped in its second quarter and missed Wall Street's expectations as the retailer cut its full-year profit outlook, citing worries over theft at its stores.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's heavily discounted spring goods to make room for fresh fall and holiday merchandise amid customers' cautious spending, but adjusted profits and sales for the second quarter still beat Wall Street expectations.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo will meet with Chinese officials and American business leaders next week amid efforts to stabilize relations that have sunk to historic lows.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Tuesday that President Joe Biden will attend next month's Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, India.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the new White House counsel will be Ed Siskel, a former Obama administration attorney who helped craft the response to the congressional investigations into the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's aggressive response to his fourth criminal indictment in five months follows a strategy he has long used against legal and political opponents: relentless attacks, often infused with language that is either overtly racist or is coded in ways that appeal to racists.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Monday subpoenaed several FBI and IRS agents involved in the federal investigation into Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden as the party weighs whether to open an impeachment inquiry into the president this fall.
MONDAY, AUGUST 21
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans will focus on themselves during the final week of training camp after the New England Patriots canceled their two joint practices following the injury to cornerback Isaiah Bolden.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers will gavel in Monday for a special session stemming from a shooting at a Nashville elementary school that left six dead, including three young children.
REGION
HOUSTON (AP) — Sweltering temperatures lingered Sunday in a large swath of the central U.S., causing misery from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors objected Monday to the April 2026 trial date proposed by lawyers for Donald Trump in the case accusing the former president of scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
CHICAGO (AP) — Federal agents arrested a Chicago-area woman Monday on a complaint accusing her of sending emails threatening to shoot former President Donald Trump and his son Barron, according to federal prosecutors and a newly unsealed criminal complaint.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Just five years ago, a price-conscious auto shopper in the United States could choose from among a dozen new small cars selling for under $20,000. Now, there's just one: The Mitsubishi Mirage. And even the Mirage appears headed for the scrap yard.
A new car that costs under $20,000, once an unofficial threshold of affordability, is all but history in the United States.
TECHNOLOGY
BEIJING (AP) — An American research firm has been fined $1.5 million by China's government in a crackdown on information-gathering that has rattled foreign investors.
MEDIA
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Facebook on Monday of putting profits over people's safety during the emergencies created by Canada's record wildfire season.
ENVIRONMENT
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Public utility regulators in Iowa will begin a hearing Tuesday on a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline for transporting emissions of the climate-warming greenhouse gas for storage underground that has been met by resistant landowners who fear the taking of their land and dangers of a pipeline rupture.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Female soldiers face rampant sexism, harassment and other gender-related challenges in male dominated Army special operations units, according to a report Monday, eight years after the Pentagon opened all combat jobs to women.
ECONOMY
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's central bank anticipates that the country's economy, Europe's biggest, will be more or less stagnant again in the current quarter — adding to a string of weak performances.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed mixed, holding a bit firmer following its three-week losing streak.
DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines pilots have approved a new contract that will raise their pay about 41% over four years, their union said Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Still haven't seen "Barbie" or "Oppenheimer"? This Sunday, you'll be able to catch up for $4 a ticket in movie theaters nationwide.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House conservatives in a group known as the Freedom Caucus have unveiled a list of demands that they want included in a stopgap spending measure to keep the federal government running after the end of September.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he will be skipping Wednesday's first Republican presidential primary debate — and others as well.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal indictment and one in Georgia charging Donald Trump with lying about the 2020 election to overturn President Joe Biden's win have done nothing to slow the geyser of election falsehoods flowing from the former president and his supporters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Valerie Laveus remembers when she first heard about an immigration program designed to allow people to come to the U.S. from four countries, including her native Haiti.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Russia and China will look to gain more political and economic ground in the developing world at a summit in South Africa this week, when an expected joint dose of anti-West grumbling from them may take on a sharper edge with a formal move to bring Saudi Arabia closer.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18
NASHVILLE SC
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Fans line up outside Inter Miami's practice facility to watch Lionel Messi's car drive away after training sessions. Players from opposing teams wait after matches to get his signature or just a simple handshake. His No. 10 jersey is everywhere in South Florida.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's GOP-dominant Legislature will return to the state Capitol on Monday months after a deadly school shooting, equipped with a long list of proposals about mental health, school resources, tougher penalties for violent criminals and more.
WEST TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Friday set a September court hearing to discuss requests by three of five former Memphis police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols to face separate trials.
MEMPHIS (AP) — In 2004, when Michael Oher was a coveted college football recruit, the 18-year-old high schooler agreed in court to allow the Memphis couple he lived with to make decisions for him about signing contracts and any medical issues.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A district attorney in Tennessee said Thursday that his office has dropped 30 to 40 cases involving the five former officers who have been charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols.
EAST TENNESSEE
GATLINBURG (AP) — Victims of a deadly 2016 wildfire that began in Great Smoky Mountains National Park before it burned through a Tennessee tourist town will have another chance to seek compensation from the federal government.
RELIGION
Tennessee pastor Willie McLaurin, who leads the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, resigned Thursday from his position as interim president and chief executive after it came to light that he presented false information about his educational qualifications on his resume.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York federal judge expressed growing impatience Friday with what he calls ex-President Donald Trump's "repeated efforts to delay" a defamation lawsuit against him, saying he won't stop a January trial to await the outcome of a "frivolous" appeal of one of his rulings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities are searching for a member of the Proud Boys extremist group who disappeared days before his sentencing in a U.S. Capitol riot case, where prosecutors are seeking more than a decade in prison, according to a warrant made public Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a federal judge Thursday to put off until 2026 a trial in Washington on charges that the former president plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump now says he won't be holding a news conference next week to unveil what he claims is new "evidence" of fraud in Georgia's 2020 presidential election — even though no fraud has ever been substantiated — citing the advice of lawyers as he prepares to face trial in two criminal cases that stem from his election lies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida man who used a flagpole to attack officers who were trying to defend the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.
MEDIA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — BET won't be sold after all: Paramount Global decided against selling the majority stake of the network.
ENVIRONMENT
Kim Cuevas-Reyes, a 38-year-old cellphone store owner, snuck into Lahaina last Friday to see the remnants of her home with her own eyes. She took backroads and walked. What she saw stunned her.
ENERGY
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese town said Friday it has agreed to a geological study to determine its suitability as an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel.
ATLANTA (AP) — Workers have begun loading radioactive fuel into a second new nuclear reactor in Georgia, utilities said Thursday, putting the reactor on a path to begin generating electricity in the coming months.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street limped to a mixed close, marking its third losing week in a row.
BEIJING (AP) — A giant Chinese real estate developer that is struggling to avoid defaulting on $340 billion in debt said Friday it is asking a U.S. court to approve a restructuring plan for foreign bondholders and rejected what it said were news reports that suggest it filed for bankruptcy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are heading west on Friday for more rest and relaxation.
CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) — President Joe Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea agreed Friday to expand security and economic ties at a historic summit at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David. Their meeting and agreement come at a time that the three countries are on an increasingly tense ledge in their relations with China and North Korea.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Seven years ago, North Carolina became ground zero in the nationwide fight over transgender rights with the passage of a "bathroom bill" that galvanized culture warriors, canceled business projects and sporting events and influenced a gubernatorial race.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17
WEST TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS (AP) — A prominent Memphis couple with a longstanding relationship to former NFL player Michael Oher want to end a conservatorship that he's challenging in court, their lawyers said.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
Jerry Moss, a music industry giant who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert and rose from a Los Angeles garage to the heights of success with hits by Alpert, the Police, the Carpenters and hundreds of other performers, has died at 88.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Florida men have been sentenced on felony charges related to storming the U.S. Capitol during the January 2021 insurrection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in Washington Thursday in the mailing of a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House.
HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas woman was arrested and has been charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington and a member of Congress.
AUTO INDUSTRY
A federal judge on Wednesday declined to approve a proposed settlement in a class-action lawsuit prompted by a surge in Hyundai and Kia vehicle thefts, saying it fails to provide "fair and adequate" relief to vehicle owners.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
The U.S. Air Force will invest $235 million to help a start-up manufacturer build a jet with a blended-wing body that officials say could provide greater range and efficiency for military tankers and cargo planes and perhaps eventually be used to carry airline passengers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military academies must improve their leadership, stop toxic practices such as hazing and shift behavior training into the classrooms, according to a Pentagon study aimed at addressing an alarming spike in sexual assaults and misconduct.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street fell for a third straight day Thursday as rising yields in the bond market keep cranking up the pressure.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A resilient stock market helped boost gains for savers with retirement accounts through the first half of this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Social media is full of scammers promising guaranteed returns on investment, and consumers lost billions of dollars to them last year.
The U.S. labor market continues to flex its muscle as applications for jobless claims fell again last week and remain at healthy levels in the face of high interest rates and inflation.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart reported strong second-quarter sales results as the retailer's low-price model continues to attract budget conscious consumers in a tough economic environment.
Amazon will impose new fees on third-party sellers who ship their products to customers instead of using the company's fulfillment service.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan suffered a trade deficit last month as exports sank for the first time in more than two years, dragged down by a slowdown overseas.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top White House lawyer will leave next month after a nearly three-year run helping President Joe Biden weigh legal considerations as he implemented his pandemic response, battled Republican investigations and crafted major legislation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden aims to further tighten security and economic ties between Japan and South Korea, two nations that have struggled to stay on speaking terms, as he welcomes their leaders to the rustic Camp David presidential retreat Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has devoted the past several weeks to promoting the positive impacts of his policies — but his efforts have yet to meaningfully register with the public.
BEIJING (AP) — China says it would welcome a visit by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo following the imposition of foreign investment controls by her agency that have stung numerous Chinese companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden proclaimed Wednesday his administration is "turning things around" for Americans when it comes to the economy, with his signature climate, health care and tax package giving people "more breathing room" on prices and investing anew in clean energy jobs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of people have been charged with the theft of more than $830 million in COVID-19 emergency aid following a nationwide operation conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.