VOL. 39 | NO. 34 | Friday, August 21, 2015
REALTY CHECK
“We buy Ugly Houses” and “We will pay cash for your home” signs are proliferating some neighborhoods again.
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate transactions, July 2015, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged lower this week, with the key 30-year loan rate remaining under 4 percent.
TENNESSEE TITANS
The Tennessee Titans welcome back a familiar face Sunday night when Jeff Fisher rolls back into Nashville as coach of the St. Louis Rams.
UT SPORTS
With Tennessee’s football team three weeks into fall camp, the offensive depth charts are set at some positions, while others remain open.
NEWSMAKERS
Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover has announced the appointment of Eloise Abernathy Alexis as the new associate vice president for Institutional Advancement. Alexis will serve as TSU’s chief advancement officer providing strategic advocacy and leadership for alumni relations, annual giving and development.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Ford’s first dedicated hybrid for North American consumers, the C-Max gasoline-electric hybrid hatchback, is turning out to be an acquired taste. Sales are declining for the second straight year, lower gas prices have led the C-Max and other hybrids to lose their luster and Consumer Reports predicts the plug-in C-Max Energi’s reliability to be worse than average.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Many sales managers want to be leaders, but they have trouble motivating their teams to willingly follow.
CAREER CORNER
In the job market today, millennials are one of the groups most likely to be unemployed. Last week, ABC Family premiered a new reality TV show to shed light on this issue, “Job or No Job.”
I SWEAR
Carole King famously sang, “[I]t’s too late, baby now, it’s too late,/ Though we really did try to make it.” Something in this song created a gluey intangible not-yet-named noun that affixed itself to my soul. When I hear the words “Somethin’ inside has died, and I can’t hide/ And I just can’t fake it,” I feel a shudder throughout my being.
NASHVILLE AREA
GOODLETTSVILLE (AP) - Dollar General Corp. on Thursday reported a boost in second-quarter profit, topping Wall Street expectations on higher sales.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt Law School is naming its social justice program after the late civil rights lawyer George Barrett.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Wednesday upheld the state's lethal injection process for executing inmates.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Library and Archives is providing more than $305,000 in grants to help libraries upgrade their computer equipment and software.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple has announced plans for a new product event on Sept. 9 in San Francisco, where the giant tech company is expected to show off new iPhones and other gadgets.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates dropped this week to their lowest levels since May, in a week marked by turmoil in global markets that was stoked by economic developments in China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Slightly more Americans signed contracts to buy homes in July, as pending sales edged up after dipping in June.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stocks moved sharply higher Thursday afternoon as investors took advantage of this week's big sell-off to add to their holdings. The stock market is rebounding from a sharp six-day slump that was triggered by concerns about the health of the Chinese economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that employers remain confident in the economy and are laying off few workers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy posted a much bigger rebound in growth during the spring than previously reported, thanks to improvements in a number of areas including consumer spending and business investment.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is giving customers a head start on holiday shopping, launching its annual layaway program two weeks earlier than last year.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said Wednesday that he hopes his home state of Tennessee won't emulate Washington policymakers by spending on transportation projects without finding ways to pay for them.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State education officials say Tennessee public high school students improved on the ACT for the third straight year.
NASHVILLE (AP) - With new tests on the way in math and English for students in grades three through 11, a survey released Wednesday shows Tennessee teachers worried that they're spending too much time on testing and test preparation.
MARYVILLE (AP) — DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee's plant in Maryville is expanding with a $400 million investment expected to bring 500 new jobs to East Tennessee.
GREENEVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam says it's too soon to tell what the site of the Greene Valley Developmental Center will be used for after the facility closes next year.
REGION
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Brown-Forman Corp., the producer of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income rose 4 percent, driven by sales growth across much of its spirits lineup to overcome a negative impact from foreign exchange.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The Dow Jones industrial average rocketed more than 600 points Wednesday, its biggest gain in seven years, snapping a six-day losing streak that had Americans nervously checking their investment balances.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Wednesday he's less inclined to support a Fed rate hike in September amid recent global turmoil, including falling oil prices and a slowdown in China.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart says it will stop selling the AR-15 and other semi-automatic weapons at its stores because fewer people are buying them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans have just absorbed a financial beating — at least as measured by their stock holdings. It's the kind of blow that can feed a sense of helplessness about retirement, college savings and higher-than-expected bills.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods rose in July, and demand in a key category that tracks business investment plans jumped by the largest amount in 13 months.
BEIJING (AP) — Employees of one of China's biggest securities firms and one current and one former employee of its market regulator are under investigation on suspicion of illegal stock trading, state media reported Wednesday, amid the collapse of a stock price boom.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An unforeseen flood of revenue is shrinking federal deficits to the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure, Congress' nonpartisan budget adviser said Tuesday. But in a report that will fuel both parties in their autumn clash over spending, the analysts also warned that perilously high shortfalls will roar back unless lawmakers act.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — While a New Jersey judge approved the state's $225 million settlement with ExxonMobil, he expressed concern over delayed cleanup at a polluted creek, which a state lawmaker says could open up a route to appeal the decision.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Supreme Court is refusing to hear an appeal from former TV judge Joe Brown over a jail sentence for contempt of court.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office is investigating allegations of Tennessee walking horse abuse at a local stable.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A former Democratic congressman and a prominent Republican political operative on Tuesday called for ending untraceable spending for and against candidates in Tennessee and around the country.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A China-based injection molding company is investing nearly $5 million to locate its first U.S. headquarters in Knoxville.
BROWNSVILLE (AP) — The 6.5 square miles of land known as the Memphis Regional Megasite was meant to lure the next massive industrial investment to Tennessee.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans stepped up their purchases of new homes in July, with sales surging in the Northeast.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key housing index shows that U.S. home prices rose solidly in June, another sign of renewed health in the housing market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home rents jumped in July as house prices showed signs of flagging.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Americans are less happy with their cars and trucks than at any time in more than a decade, and it's largely because they're getting sick of dealing with recalls.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A rally in U.S. stocks evaporated in the minutes before the closing bell Tuesday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 200 points and extending Wall Street's losing streak to six days.
NEW YORK (AP) — Don't do anything rash. Amid the scary slide on Wall Street, that's the advice from the professionals to 401(k) holders and other ordinary investors.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey judge approved a $225 million deal Tuesday between Gov. Chris Christie's administration and ExxonMobil over dozens of polluted sites and nearly 2,000 retail gas stations, ending an 11-year legal battle that the state calls historic and opponents call a sell-out.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in August to the strongest reading in seven months after having fallen sharply in July.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans have just absorbed a financial beating — at least as measured by their stock holdings. It's the kind of blow that can feed a sense of helplessness about retirement, college savings and higher-than-expected bills.
BEIJING (AP) — China cut interest rates Tuesday for a fifth time in nine months in a new effort to shore up slowing economic growth.
MONDAY, AUGUST 24
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam is visiting several community colleges this week to help kickoff his Tennessee Promise program.
TECHNOLOGY
TORONTO (AP) — The hack of the cheating website Ashley Madison has triggered extortion crimes and led to two unconfirmed reports of suicides, Canadian police said Monday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Lawyers hired to compensate victims of General Motors' faulty ignition switches have rejected 91 percent of the claims submitted.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stocks slid again Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average briefly plunging more than 1,000 points in a sell-off that sent a shiver of fear from Wall Street to Main Street.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of U.S. oil closed under $40 a barrel on Monday for the first time since the days of the global economic crisis on fears of a slowdown in the world economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China is exporting something new to the world economy: Fear.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For much of the economy's fitful and sluggish six-year recovery from the Great Recession, analysts have foreseen a sunnier future: Growth would pick up in six months, or in a year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Well, that was fun while it lasted. For years, investors in U.S. stocks shrugged off threats — a government shutdown, fear of a euro collapse, a near U.S. debt default — and just kept on buying.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Dubai closed around 7 percent lower on Sunday on the back of a further slide in oil prices.
MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian ruble plunged 2.3 percent on Monday to hit a seven-month low amid a further drop in oil prices, the country's key export.
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — Giulia Pugliese is a typical teenager. She likes to look good, and she's particular about what she wears.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of gasoline has remained steady over the past two weeks, holding at $2.71 a gallon.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pushing back against fossil fuel interests, President Barack Obama is pressing to give ordinary Americans more power to choose what kind of power they use.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - A federal appeals court has reaffirmed its prior judgment that the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act does not violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
MURFREESBORO (AP) - As observers wait to see whether Attorney General Herbert Slatery has any interest in filling an upcoming vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court, Gov. Bill Haslam said he hasn't had any discussion about it with his close friend and former top legal adviser.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's former chief of staff, Mark Cate, will earn $120,000 per year as a "project coordinator" developing the new Tennessee State Museum to be built near the state Capitol.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - A white whiskey named after a legendary Tennessee moonshiner is introducing a new bottle after a legal dispute over similarities to Jack Daniel's shape and design.
NASHVILLE (AP) — More than 4,500 acres of open space in Nashville has been preserved over the past eight years.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Nashville hotel has canceled reservations for a white supremacist organization this weekend.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State education officials said Thursday that new assessments in math and English for students in grades three through 11 will provide a better measurement of their progress and make sure they're on track to succeed after graduation.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating reports that air bags on some older Honda Accords may not inflate in a crash.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Growing concerns about a slowdown in China shook markets around the world on Friday, driving the U.S. stock market to its biggest drop in nearly four years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The damage spans the globe. Thailand's baht. Kazakhstan's tenge. South Africa's rand. Peru's nuevo sol.
NEW YORK (AP) — A barrel of U.S. crude oil fell below $40 per barrel for the first time since the end of the global economic crisis.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's president asked the main opposition party Friday to try to form a new government, a day after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned and called an early election next month to deal with a governing party rebellion over Greece's third bailout deal.