VOL. 35 | NO. 33 | Friday, August 19, 2011
Ready to ditch the co-pay and enjoy the advantages of house calls, text and video conferences?
Imagine texting your physician with a question about a new medication or video conferencing when you become ill while traveling.
Nashville International Airport is now home to the first airport-based, primary-care clinic and retail location in the country, providing basic health services for the nearly 5,000 workers and 9 million annual travelers passing through the city.
Kelly Newell was out of cash. The Joelton resident, who has an in-home transcription business, found herself a little short and decided to go into Check into Cash for a $200 payday loan, the legal limit at the time.
GREEN BUSINESS
In 2008, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Energy Efficient Schools Initiative, which provides funds to schools for energy-efficient projects. At that time, a 12-member energy-efficient schools council was tasked with approving technical guidelines for schools, creating incentive levels and energy management programs. The council also hired Ron Graham as the executive director of EESI.
REALTY CHECK
Cats are a strange phenomenon. Many people loathe them, while others hold them dear to their hearts.
REAL ESTATE
Data collected by Chandler Reports, which has been publishing Real Estate Market Data since 1968.
NEWSMAKERS
Skanska HealthRealty, a health care real estate development company, has announced that vice president John Patterson has transferred to the Nashville office from Houston.
GET A JOB!
Use your creativity to get a new job or a better position with your present employer.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Sell or stay? Stay or sell?
I SWEAR
“Ask and ye shall receive.” I’ve heard that for years. May even have read it somewhere. But I certainly have proved it to be true. Repeatedly, over time.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
A few years back, we took all of our children and some of their friends to Panama City for a week’s vacation. We really had a great time and enjoyed the beach. The weather was fantastic. We did, however, learn a few “family vacation” lessons while there. One: We don’t think we will do it again. Two: take more money. (Just kidding about the first one! Second one is real.)
STATEWIDE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — States competing for industrial investments would be "dead wrong" to claim that Tennessee doesn't keep its commitments in economic development deals, Gov. Bill Haslam said Wednesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Bill Hagerty, commissioner of Tennessee Economic and Community Development, has been named chairman of the board for the Tennessee Technology Development Corp.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixed mortgage rates edged up this week from their lowest levels in decades. But few have been able to capitalize on them.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is investing $5 billion in Bank of America, sending its shares soaring by 24 percent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreclosures made up roughly one-third of all home sales this spring. While that's a smaller share of sales from the previous quarter, it's six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With Steve Jobs bowing out as CEO, Apple Inc. must persuade investors and consumers that it doesn't need the force behind the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad in charge to keep the technology hits coming.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose Thursday afternoon as concerns grew about the potential impact of Hurricane Irene on U.S. oil and gas supplies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Singles, take note: With marriages at an all-time low, states in the South and West rank among the highest for couples hearing wedding bells. But many of these states also have higher rates of divorce.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' views on the economy have dimmed this summer. But so far, the growing pessimism doesn't seem to be taking a toll on President Barack Obama's re-election prospects.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Circuit Court Judge Jeff Bivens to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Metro Nashville School Board has voted unanimously to start the 2012-13 school year on Aug. 1 under a "balanced calendar" approach.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A surge in demand for autos and aircraft drove orders for long-lasting manufactured goods higher in July, easing fears that the economy might be on the verge of another recession.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose Wednesday following news of stronger U.S. manufacturing activity.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage applications to purchase a home fell last week to a 15-year low, despite the lowest mortgage rates in decades. Many potential buyers are holding off because they are worried about job security and fear the economy could slip back into another recession.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A new survey from a large benefits consultant says nearly one of every 10 mid-sized or big employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014.
BEIJING (AP) — A Communist Party leader has told China's Internet companies to tighten control over material online as Beijing cracks down on dissent and tries to block the rise of Middle East-style protests.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cell phone and landline customers experienced connection problems after Tuesday's earthquake, but there were no immediate reports of trouble for police and rescue workers.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Lamar Alexander is donating his pre-U.S. Senate papers his alma mater, Vanderbilt University.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee running back Chris Johnson says he is flying to Nashville to meet with the Titans' general manager, a move that might bring both sides closer to getting a deal done and end his holdout.
LEBANON (AP) - This year's Wilson County Fair set a new attendance record this year with more than 545,000 visits to the weeklong event and beating the previous attendance record of a little over 505,000 in 2009.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Two rights groups have joined a Nashville attorney's lawsuit, seeking to stop the Davidson County Sheriff's Office immigration enforcement program.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average is closing with its biggest gain in nearly two weeks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes fell for the third straight month in July, a sign that housing remains a drag on the economy. If the current pace continues, 2011 would be the worst year for new-home sales in nearly half a century.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Stocks rose around the world on Tuesday as investors shrugged off signs of deteriorating economic sentiment in Europe and hoped the Federal Reserve would act to keep the U.S. from sliding back into recession.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose above $85 per barrel Tuesday on encouraging economic news from Asia and Europe.
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss bank UBS AG said Tuesday it is cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide as part of an effort to save 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) annually by the end of 2013.
NEW YORK (AP) — The president of Standard & Poor's is stepping down, an announcement coming only weeks after the rating agency's unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The odds of getting re-elected have gotten better for Rep. Renee Ellmers and other Republican freshmen in the House — thanks to GOP calculations in redrawing congressional maps.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The dramatic advance of Libyan rebels over the forces of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi offers vindication, at least for now, for President Barack Obama's decision to refrain from using U.S. troops on Libyan soil and to let NATO take the lead in degrading Gadhafi's military power. But there are still hazards for the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As a "supercommittee" tries to find $1.5 trillion in new deficit cuts this fall, Republicans will be pressing a far more ambitious goal: passing an amendment to the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.
MONDAY, AUGUST 22
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE(AP) - Restaurant operator O'Charley's Inc. said Monday the president of its O'Charley's chain has left the company.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Country superstars Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks are among the newest inductees to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The heavily traveled Interstate 65 just north of downtown Nashville is going to be widened.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — As you exit off Interstate 40 for the final 15 miles before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the little voice from the back poses the eternal question: "Are we there yet?"
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans are warning Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood he must cut subsidies for air service to 10 rural communities unless he can show it would be too difficult for residents to reach a larger airport.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes are closing with modest gains after a four-week losing streak.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans at risk of foreclosure is rising, reflecting the U.S. economy's continued struggles.
NEW YORK (AP) — A new survey says salaried U.S. workers can expect another year of modest raises in 2012.
NEW YORK (AP) — International oil prices fell Monday on the prospect that exports from Libya will return to the market at a time of economic weakness.
DEARBORN, Michigan (AP) — Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. have decided to work together on a gas-electric hybrid engine to power pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Lowe's Cos., the nation's second-largest home improvement retailer, said Monday that it will buy back up to $5 billion of its common stock.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee state agencies are assembling plans for how they would cope with losing up to 30 percent of their federal funds in anticipation of coming spending cuts
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee education officials say they're taking steps to address teachers' concerns about a new evaluation system that for the first time will use students' standardized test scores as part of the process.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Eleven Tennessee sites, from Fort Nashborough in downtown Nashville to Vanderbilt University's Alumni Memorial Hall, have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority board voted unanimously Thursday to finish construction of the 37-year-old Bellefonte nuclear plant in northeast Alabama and to increase rates for average residential customers by $1.60 a month in October.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's July unemployment rate of 9.8 percent remained unchanged from the previous month.
JOHNSON CITY (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam says there are varying views among Tennessee's congressional delegation about the urgency for national rules governing the collection of online sales tax collections by retailers like Amazon.com.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University is partnering with the U.S. Army to develop research for unmanned aircraft technology that has been a vital asset for the military in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment rates rose in July in more than half the states for the second straight month, evidence that job growth remains weak nationwide.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Discouraging economic data from around the globe have heightened fears that another recession is on the way.
MILAN (AP) — Global stocks slid again Friday as fears of a possible U.S. recession combined with ongoing worries over Europe's debt crisis, which is stoking acute fears over the continent's banking sector.
SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices fell to near $81 a barrel Friday in Asia, extending a sell-off fueled by investor fears that a slowing global economy will undermine demand for crude.
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors flocked to gold Friday, sending it to the latest of a series of records, as fears about recession in the world's major economies infected financial markets.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America Corp., the nation's largest bank, said Friday that it plans to cut 3,500 jobs by the end of September.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has fallen to its lowest level on records dating to 1971.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people who bought previously occupied homes fell in July for the third time in four months. This year is on pace to be the worst in 14 years for home sales, as more Americans worry that the economy could slip back into another recession.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose back above 400,000 last week. Still, the four-week average, a more reliable gauge of the job market, fell to the lowest level since mid-April.
ASHINGTON (AP) — More expensive gas, food, clothes and other necessities are squeezing consumers who are already struggling with stagnant pay and worried about a weak economy.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a microcosm of the budget battling that has consumed Congress all year: The Obama administration wants federal agencies to save money while Republicans push for additional savings to take a substantial bite out of the government's towering pile of IOUs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Blue Dogs may be losing their bark. Despite polls showing a desire for more compromise in Washington, the political climate for moderate to conservative Democrats in the House has continued to deteriorate.