VOL. 41 | NO. 34 | Friday, August 25, 2017
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, July 2017, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans retreated from buying homes in July as sales sank to their lowest level of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were unchanged to lower this week, with the benchmark 30-year rate marking a new low for the year and its lowest point since last November.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
If Year 1 was a good start and Year 2 was another step in the right direction, what should we expect of Marcus Mariota in Year 3?
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
By now you’ve filed away your memories of the 2017 eclipse and stored your viewing glasses in a safe place until 2566, Middle Tennessee’s next solar eclipse.
Starters playing longer. If you only watch one preseason game each year, Week 3 is the one to see (Sunday, noon, Fox). You’ll see Marcus Mariota and probably the rest of the Titans’ starters for at least a half and maybe even a series in the third quarter.
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
Oops. I goofed last year. So did lots of other people who thought Tennessee’s football team would win the SEC East Division and go to the league championship game for the first time since 2007. I predicted the Vols would go 10-2 in the regular season, 6-2 in the SEC, tie Georgia for the East Division title, go to the SEC Championship Game, lose to Alabama for a second time and go to the Orange Bowl.
NEWSMAKERS
XMI, a provider of business process management services for entrepreneurial, high growth businesses, has added Joshua Farber, MBA, CPA, as vice president and managing director of financial operations.
BRIEFS
Inova Payroll, headquartered in Nashville, has earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing private companies in the U.S.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
They say you can choose your mood. If you want to be happy tomorrow, then be happy. Want to get rid of the blahs? It’s all mind-over-matter: pick some other way to be and don’t forget to tell yourself.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” indicates it’s not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent. Instead, It’s the one that is most adaptable to change.
CAREER CORNER
I have to confess that I’m an introvert. People I’ve met in person are often surprised by this little-known fact. They assume that public speaking and networking skills equate to extroversion.
REGION
ATLANTA (AP) — Colonial Pipeline plans to shut down a key line that supplies gasoline to the South due to storm-related refinery shutdowns and Harvey's effect on its facilities west of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee secretary of state's office says it has begun offering online voter registration.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee city says a lawsuit over a no-gun policy at the fair should be dismissed because of a new state law.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — A Tennessee sheriff says a school resource officer has been charged with assaulting a student.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people signed contracts to buy homes in July, the fourth decline in the past five months.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — More than $1 million in weapons parts and sensitive military equipment was stolen out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and sold in a vast black market, some of it to foreign buyers through eBay, according to testimony at a federal trial this week.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are climbing Thursday morning after the Commerce Department said spending by U.S. consumers grew in July, along with wages and salaries. Health care companies are making some of the biggest gains, along with retailers and technology companies. Investors are also pleased with economic reports from Europe and China. Packaged food companies are slumping again after a weak quarterly report and disappointing guidance from Campbell Soup.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's and Best Buy are expanding their same-day delivery as they aim to become more competitive with online leader Amazon.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When management upheaval, allegations of corporate espionage, and revelations of sexual harassment sent Uber into a public relations sinkhole, its long overshadowed rival Lyft shifted into overdrive.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending increased in July at the fastest pace in three months, while incomes grew by the largest amount since February, both encouraging signs for future economic growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the numbers remained low and consistent with a healthy job market.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A grand jury used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a June 2016 meeting with President Donald Trump's eldest son, The Associated Press has learned.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The massive flooding Harvey has caused in Texas and Louisiana comes as Congress weighs renewing a federal flood insurance program that continually pays out more than it takes in through premiums, potentially leaving taxpayers on the hook for $24.6 billion and counting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have pledged to overhaul the nation's complex tax code. To slash taxes, they say they'll curb a web of expensive deductions and credits to allow more revenue to flow to the government.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville's mayor is denouncing a statement against same-sex marriage that evangelical leaders named after the city.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee economic development officials are accepting applications for projects to help elementary, middle and high school students develop career and job skills.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — More than $1 million in weapons parts and sensitive military equipment was stolen out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and sold in a vast black market, some of it to foreign buyers through eBay, according to testimony at a federal trial this week.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Tom Clancy's widow wants a court to rule that the author's estate is the exclusive owner of the rights to his famous character Jack Ryan.
AUTO INDUSTRY
"Buy American" is a slogan that's getting a lot of attention lately, but it can be tough to put into practice when you're car shopping.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed Wednesday as investors cheered a report of stronger economic growth. Technology companies, retailers and travel providers all made solid gains.
DALLAS (AP) — Hurricane Harvey is sending pump prices higher for U.S. motorists and causing temporary shifts in the flow of oil and gasoline around the world after taking down a huge chunk of U.S. refining capacity.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the storm damage in Texas is staggering, but he isn't sure yet how much insurance companies will have to pay in claims.
NEW YORK (AP) — Home Depot has agreed to pay the U.S. government $5.7 million to settle charges that it sold recalled washing machines, fire extinguishers and other faulty products.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Houston's population is growing quickly, but when Harvey hit last weekend there were far fewer homes and other properties in the area with flood insurance than just five years ago, according to an Associated Press investigation.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donna Brown visited a Whole Foods for the first time in at least five months with one goal: see how much Amazon had cut prices. She did buy almond milk, yogurt and lunch meat, but doesn't plan to quit her usual grocers, Walmart and HEB, where she says she finds bigger selections and lower prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy rebounded sharply in the spring, growing at the fastest pace in more than two years amid brisk consumer spending on autos and other goods.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added a healthy 237,000 jobs in August with broad gains across several industries including construction, manufacturing and leisure and hospitality, according to a private survey.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that his push to overhaul the nation's tax system would "bring back Main Street by reducing the crushing tax burden," offering a populist appeal to a still-forming tax plan that would heavily benefit corporate America.
DALLAS (AP) — Pollutants have been released from refineries operated by Exxon, Shell and other companies as torrential rains damaged storage tanks and other industrial facilities on the Texas Coast.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two weeks before Harvey's flood waters engulfed much of Houston, President Donald Trump quietly rolled back an order by his predecessor that would have made it easier for storm-ravaged communities to use federal emergency aid to rebuild bridges, roads and other structures so they can better withstand future disasters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused epic flooding, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president's border wall.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Legislative leaders are setting up a special committee to examine whether medical marijuana should be legalized in Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
HENDERSONVILLE (AP) — Republican Sen. Bob Corker said Tuesday he doesn't believe he has lost support in Tennessee over his criticism of President Donald Trump's response to a deadly white nationalist protest.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's call to remove a bust of a Confederate cavalry general and early Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol building is getting its first hearing this week.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The clock is ticking for the Tennessee Titans, who have had two ugly preseason losses and need to clean up what coach Mike Mularkey says are too many mistakes.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a defamation lawsuit by Sarah Palin against The New York Times, saying the former Alaska governor failed to show the newspaper knew it was publishing false statements in an editorial before quickly correcting them.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices climbed higher in June with gains that are eclipsing income growth — creating affordability pressures for would-be buyers.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says about 500,000 fewer Americans had no health insurance the first three months of this year, but that slight dip was not statistically significant from the same period in 2016.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook has collected $89.6 million as part of a lucrative 10-year deal that he signed as an incentive to keep the iPhone maker at the forefront of the technology industry after he took over the reins in 2011 from company co-founder Steve Jobs.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A video about a robotic aircraft delivering medicine to a remote village in the Amazon is the best-in-show winner at the New York State Fair's first competition for short videos using cameras on drones.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Volkswagen is recalling almost 281,000 CC and Passat sedans and wagons in the U.S. because the fuel pumps can fail and cause the cars to suddenly stall.
BEIJING (AP) — Automakers Renault and Nissan say they will develop electric cars with a Chinese state-owned partner, adding to a series of tie-ups between global auto brands and local partners in the biggest electric vehicle market.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — No ring of the doorbell, just a text. No tip for the driver? No problem in this test, where Domino's and Ford are teaming up to see if customers will warm to the idea of pizza delivered by driverless cars.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — North Korea's latest missile launch jolted the U.S. stock market Tuesday, but major indexes pulled back from those early losses and mostly finished higher as the weakening dollar gave technology and industrial companies a boost.
DALLAS (AP) — One big Harvey loser: United Airlines.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers give today's economy the highest grade in more than 16 years.
NEW YORK (AP) — Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms — a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.
WASHINGTON (AP) — By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas — a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future global warming could bring, scientists say.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says "all options are on the table" after North Korea launched ballistic missiles over Japan.
MONDAY, AUGUST 28
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mayor Megan Barry says the city of Nashville has dropped the salary history section on its job applications in an effort to address the gender pay gap.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country music star Chris Young is donating $100,000 for disaster relief efforts in Texas.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Van Morrison, Graham Nash, John Prine, the Drive-by Truckers and The Lumineers will perform on the Americana Honors and Awards show on Sept. 13.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Chicago coach John Fox thinks having a whole week to prepare for an opponent helped Mike Glennon turn in a strong performance for the Bears.
HEALTH CARE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania man is suing health insurer Aetna, saying his sister learned he was taking HIV medication after the company mailed him an envelope with a large, clear window that showed information on where to purchase the drugs.
TECHNOLOGY
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The founder of the internet's oldest white supremacist site said he was trying to get back online Monday after a company revoked its domain name following complaints that it promotes hatred and is linked to dozens of murders.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks finished little changed on Monday as investors focused on the effects of Tropical Storm Harvey. Insurance companies and oil drillers stumbled while refineries rose along with gasoline prices.
NEW YORK (AP) — A half-gallon of milk was 50 cents cheaper at a Whole Foods in New York. Ground beef was down by $2 a pound. And an organic avocado cost a buck less.
Massive flooding caused by Harvey along Texas' refinery-rich coast could have long-standing and far-reaching consequences for the state's oil and gas industry and the larger U.S. economy. The storm's remnants left much of Houston underwater on Sunday, and the National Weather Service says it's not over yet: Some parts of Houston and its suburbs could end up with as much as 50 inches (1.3 meters) of rain.
NEW YORK (AP) — Charities are stepping up their donation requests in the wake of Harvey, a severe, Category 4 hurricane that has devastated South Texas and could still lead to worse flooding in the days ahead.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's personal lawyer acknowledged Monday that the president's company pursued a Trump Tower in Moscow during the Republican primary, but that the plan was abandoned "for a variety of business reasons." He said that at one point he sent an email to the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin about approvals from the Russian government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Local police departments will soon have access to grenade launchers, high-caliber weapons and other surplus U.S. military gear after President Donald Trump signed an order Monday reviving a Pentagon program that civil rights groups say inflames tensions between officers and their communities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of delays, President Donald Trump is expected to decide soon on the fate of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children as he faces a looming court deadline and is digging in on appeals to his base.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is accusing Canada and Mexico of being "very difficult" at the negotiating table over the North American Free Trade Agreement, and threatening anew to terminate the deal.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Dutch giant Royal Philips announced plan Thursday to build a health technology center in Tennessee that officials expect will create more than 800 jobs in the Nashville area over the next two years.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is dropping efforts to outsource management of Tennessee's state parks and will let his successor decide whether to renew the privatization attempt.
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — Sen. Bob Corker refuses to say whether he'll seek a third term, but he has carefully said and done all the right things to avoid provoking a spirited primary challenge next year.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Jerry Lee Lewis is one of the early pioneers of rock 'n' roll music, but he doesn't understand why his contributions to country music haven't been recognized by the Country Music Hall of Fame.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The country music community honored the late Glen Campbell during the 11th annual Academy of Country Music Honors in Nashville, Tennessee, following his death this month at the age of 81.
MIDSTATE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — LG Electronics Inc. has broken ground in Tennessee at the site of the South Korean appliance manufacturer's first washing machine plant in the United States.
MURFREESBORO (AP) — A family that sued after the arrests of three children at a Tennessee elementary school has accepted a settlement totaling $86,500 from local governments.
HEALTH CARE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The lone U.S. county still at risk of leaving shoppers with no choices next year on the federal health law's insurance marketplace has landed an insurer.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The 25 million people who live among the Appalachian mountains have struggled to keep up with health gains of the rest of the nation, falling behind in most major public health indicators, according to a study released Thursday .
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A Volkswagen engineer who had a key role in the company's diesel emissions scandal was sentenced Friday to more than three years in prison and a $200,000 fine, a steeper punishment than prosecutors requested.
LONDON (AP) — Ford's Dagenham diesel engine plant is a marvel of mechanization — a steel and chrome hangar full of LED lighting, robots and computer-controlled machine tools.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — In the name of convenience, Amazon and Walmart are pushing people to shop by just talking to a digital assistant.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose on Friday, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index cruised to its first winning week in the last three.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday emphatically defended the web of regulations the Fed helped enact after the 2008 financial crisis, saying it helped restore the banking system's health and disputing criticism that the rules have hurt lending.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods sank 6.8 percent in July, the biggest fall in nearly three years, led by a drop in the volatile category of civilian aircraft. But a gauge of business investment rose last month.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is moving swiftly to make big changes at Whole Foods, saying it plans to cut prices on bananas, eggs, salmon, beef and more as soon as it completes its $13.7 billion takeover next week.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — Against a backdrop of strengthening growth but chronically low inflation, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and other central bankers are taking their measure of the global economy at their annual conference in the shadow of Wyoming's Grand Teton Mountains.
DALLAS (AP) — The Caribou Coffee Co. is rounding out its menu by acquiring the Bruegger's Bagels chain.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears continued to struggle in its second quarter with declining sales amid heightened competition from the likes of Walmart to Amazon. It now says it will close even more stores.
NATIONAL POLITICS
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday slapped sweeping financial sanctions on Venezuela, barring banks from any new financial deals with the government or state-run oil giant PDVSA.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fanning the flames of GOP discord, President Donald Trump is accusing Republican congressional leaders of botching efforts to avoid an unprecedented default on the national debt. "Could have been so easy-now a mess!" Trump tweeted.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Republican National Committee walked the tightrope Friday in carefully but resolutely denouncing white supremacist groups without criticizing President Donald Trump, who waffled in his own statements in the wake of the deadly clash in Virginia this month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top adviser to President Donald Trump says he's under "enormous pressure" both to quit and remain in the White House and says the administration "must do better" in condemning hate groups after the violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out on Thursday at Republican leaders in Congress, suggesting efforts to increase the country's borrowing limit to avoid an economic-rattling default on the nation's debt are "a mess!"
NEW YORK (AP) — The scope of Wells Fargo's fake accounts scandal grew significantly on Thursday, with the bank now saying that 3.5 million accounts were potentially opened without customers' permission between 2009 and 2016.
HOUSTON (AP) — House Republican leaders have committed support for Harvey relief.