VOL. 38 | NO. 34 | Friday, August 22, 2014
If you graduated from Belmont 20 years ago, you might not recognize the campus today.
SPORTS
Coach Derek Mason is determined to put his own mark of toughness on the Vanderbilt University football program as it continues its climb into the ranks of conference heavyweights.
KNOXVILLE – Pull out your 2014 schedules, UT fans.
Exciting. Now, there’s a word that hasn’t been associated much with the Tennessee Titans in recent years.
REALTY CHECK
This one may get me in trouble with some of my peers, but it is important, so here goes.
NEWSMAKERS
Robin Steaban, MSN, R.N., VUMC associate chief nursing officer and chief administrative officer at the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute, has been promoted to the newly created position of chief nursing officer for Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinics.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
The new-hire failure rate is astonishing and expensive, and even worse for sales candidates, who can be among the toughest to properly vet.
CAREER CORNER
Can you keep a secret? Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” Keeping private information private, especially about your job search, can be a tall order.
I SWEAR
Structures, both residential and commercial – especially restaurants and bars – near train tracks are often dubbed rail houses by artists, architects, developers, entrepreneurs and owners.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
This past Sunday evening, our church had a special choir program and dinner. This is always an enjoyable time because we get to sit back and listen to the beautiful music the choir has performed during the past year, then eat a wonderful meal afterward.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The heads of two state legislative committees have asked the State Board of Education to hold a hearing to address alleged concerns about a new advanced placement U.S. history course.
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Rep. Brenda Gilmore has been elected to two national leadership positions.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Treasury Department is planning a series of web-based seminars on saving for college.
MIDSTATE
GALLATIN (AP) — Company and state officials are celebrating the groundbreaking at Italian gun-maker Beretta USA's new plant in Tennessee on Thursday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in July, a sign that buying has improved as mortgage rates have slipped, the number of listings has risen and the rate of price increases has slowed.
TECHNOLOGY
CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple will show off its newest products Sept. 9. The iPhone and iPad maker set the date in invitations mailed Thursday to reporters and others who typically come to see the unveiling of Apple's latest twists on technology.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 298,000, a low level that signals employers are cutting few jobs and hiring is likely to remain strong.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a bleak start to the year, the U.S. economy grew at a brisk annual rate of 4.2 percent in the April-June quarter, the government said Thursday, slightly faster than it had first estimated.
The escalating conflict in Ukraine combined with disappointing earnings and profit outlooks from several retailers dragged stocks lower Thursday afternoon, eclipsing some good news on the U.S. economy. Trading was light ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. banks' earnings rose 5.2 percent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, as banks reduced their expenses and lending marked its fastest pace since 2007.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a grim start to the year, the economy roared back to life in the spring, supporting expectations that the second half of 2014 will turn out far better than the first half.
TEWKSBURY, Mass. (AP) — A six-week standoff between thousands of employees of a New England supermarket chain and management has ended with the news that the beloved former CEO is back in control after buying the entire company.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - George Barrett, a longtime Tennessee civil rights lawyer known for handling a case that ultimately desegregated the state's public colleges and universities, has died. He was 86.
MIDSTATE
FRANKLIN (AP) - The Harpeth River Watershed Association has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Franklin over its wastewater treatment plant.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SPRING HILL (AP) - General Motors is moving production of the next-generation Cadillac SRX crossover SUV from Mexico to a factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Volkswagen workers who oppose the United Auto Workers at the German automaker's plant in Chattanooga are looking to form their own union.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Five things to know about the Nov. 4 general election and other ballot issues in Tennessee:
NASHVILLE (AP) - For U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the elder statesman of Tennessee politics, a primary challenge by a little-known tea party opponent was supposed to be little more than a glorified victory lap around the state.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Election officials have certified that Memphis voters have submitted enough signatures for a November referendum on supermarket wine sales, bringing the total number of communities holding a vote on the issue to 75.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The appointment of Judge Timothy Easter to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has created a vacancy for a circuit court judge in Middle Tennessee.
HEALTH CARE
Insurers can no longer reject customers with expensive medical conditions thanks to the health care overhaul. But consumer advocates warn that companies are still using wiggle room to discourage the sickest — and costliest — patients from enrolling.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
Even in a daylong sideways drift, the Standard & Poor's 500 index managed to eke out its third record close in three days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Financial firms that sell securities backed by loans, like the kind that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, will have to give investors details on borrowers' credit record and income under action taken Wednesday by federal regulators.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday forecast that the U.S. economy will grow by just 1.5 percent in 2014, undermined by a poor performance during the first three months of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Burger King is drawing a lot of flak over plans to shift its legal address to a foreign country by merging with Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain.
NEW YORK (AP) — Time Warner Cable said Wednesday service was largely restored after a problem that occurred during routine maintenance caused a nationwide outage of its Internet service for hours.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Republican state lawmaker is calling Gov. Bill Haslam a "traitor to the party" over efforts by a political action committee run by supporters to defeat lawmakers who opposed the administration on Common Core education standards.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two former Hanover Corp. employees have been sentenced in connection with an $18 million Ponzi scheme.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — TTI Floor Care North America, the maker of Hoover, Dirt Devil and Oreck vacuum cleaners, is expanding its Tennessee plant and plans to double its work force at the facility over the next five years.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is hoping to become the ESPN of video games.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices increased at a slower pace in June — a cooldown that could continue for several more months.
COURTS
Families of passengers who were on the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine are starting to sort through the long process of gaining compensation for their loss.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Veterans Affairs Department says investigators have found no proof that delays in care caused any deaths at a VA hospital in Phoenix, deflating an explosive allegation that helped expose a troubled health care system in which veterans waited months for appointments while employees falsified records to cover up the delays.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
It was a big round-number day for the stock market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Economists appear to be of two minds about the Federal Reserve.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence this month reached its highest point in nearly seven years, boosted by strong job gains.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Business orders for long-lasting manufactured goods shot up by the largest amount on record in July. But most of the strength came from demand for commercial aircraft, which tends to fluctuate sharply from month to month. Outside of transportation, orders dipped.
NEW YORK (AP) — The corporate parent of CNN, TNT and TBS on Tuesday offered voluntary buyouts to 600 veteran employees, part of an overall cost-cutting effort at the Atlanta-based broadcasting company founded by Ted Turner.
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. health agency recommended Tuesday that nations regulate electronic cigarettes and ban them from use indoors until the exhaled vapor is proven not to harm bystanders.
MONDAY, AUGUST 25
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Republican state senator who challenged scandal-plagued U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais conceded his 38-vote primary loss to the incumbent on Monday, saying he decided not to challenge the results.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Here's a sign more households are going without cable or satellite TV: TiVo Inc. is making a digital video recorder just for so-called cord-cutters.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten or 12 times a year, Beatrice Adams' daughter would race her frail mother to the emergency room for high blood pressure or pain from a list of chronic illnesses.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
Summer doldrums? Not on Wall Street. The stock market notched another first on Monday as the Standard & Poor's 500 index nudged briefly past the 2,000-point mark and closed with its second record high in a week.
Some of the newest incarnations of fantasy football look a lot more like gambling than intricate, outsmart-your-opponent strategy games.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans bought new homes in July, evidence that the housing sector is struggling to gain traction more than five years into the economic recovery.
NEW YORK (AP) — A majority of economists believe the Federal Reserve is doing the right things to help repair the U.S. economy, according to a survey released Monday by the National Association of Business Economists.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Taxes? Who wants to think about taxes around Labor Day?
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of gasoline has dipped 4 cents per gallon in the past two weeks, and prices in California have fallen 5 cents in the same time period.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is backing off earlier plans to demolish the 60-year-old Cordell Hull office building located next to the state Capitol in Nashville and instead hopes to renovate it.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Gordon Ball has named the leadership of his campaign team for his challenge to Republican incumbent Lamar Alexander.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam is recognizing 168 Tennessee schools for their achievement and growth.
NASHVILLE (AP) - More than 60 communities have collected enough signatures to place a referendum for supermarket wine sales on the November ballot, according to a coalition that's tracking the petitions.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Private prison operator Corrections Corporation of America has named former Tennessee finance chief Mark Emkes to its board of directors.
Family Dollar has rejected a takeover bid from dollar-store competitor Dollar General, saying it would be too hard for the deal to pass antitrust regulators. Family Dollar's board said it supports its existing deal to be acquired by Dollar Tree.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Model aircraft hobbyists, research universities and commercial drone interests filed lawsuits Friday challenging a government directive that they say imposes tough new limits on the use of model aircraft and broadens the agency's ban on commercial drone flights.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A United Auto Workers leader says a new local in Chattanooga has signed up the equivalent of what would have been a winning margin for the union vote at Volkswagen's plant in Tennessee.
HEALTH CARE
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The state of Oregon filed a lawsuit Friday against Oracle Corp. and several of its executives over the technology company's role in creating the troubled website for the state's online health insurance exchange.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Seeking to quell a politically charged controversy, the Obama administration announced new measures Friday to allow religious nonprofits and some companies to opt out of paying for birth control for female employees while still ensuring those employees have access to contraception.
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats is standing by his vote for President Barack Obama's health care law, a fresh sign that the unpopular mandate may be losing some of its political punch.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A fourth straight monthly increase in sales of existing homes provided the latest evidence Thursday that the U.S. housing market is rebounding from a weak start to the year.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market paused Friday, following four days of gains, after a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen left investors unsure about how the nation's most important financial voice feels about raising interest rates in the coming months.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — If anyone thought Janet Yellen might clarify her view of the U.S. job market in her speech here Friday, the Federal Reserve chair had a message:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The central bankers meeting this week at their annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, aren't exactly in sync. Many are taking steps that clash with the policies of others.
NEW YORK (AP) — A report from the Census Bureau is the latest evidence that the rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bank of America's record $16.65 billion settlement for its role in selling shoddy mortgage bonds — $7 billion of it geared for consumer relief — offers a glint of hope for desperate homeowners.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates declined this week, with the 30-year loan rate hitting its 52-week low.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two days after the Federal Reserve revealed an intensifying internal debate over interest rates, Chair Janet Yellen will address the annual Fed conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with investors seeking any clear hints of when it will start raising rates.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The charity stunt has lured athletes, celebrities, politicians and rock stars and gone viral on the Internet, but don't look for U.S. diplomats to get in on the fun.