VOL. 38 | NO. 32 | Friday, August 8, 2014
REALTY CHECK
The Nashville real estate market has traditionally included two selling seasons, the spring and the fall markets.
REAL ESTATE
Top first half 2014 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Slowly but surely, the landscape appears to be changing for the Tennessee Titans.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans and the team's co-chairwomen are holding a football safety clinic just for mothers at LP Field.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE – One week into fall camp, University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and his assistants are just getting started.
NEWSMAKERS
Diversified Trust, an employee-owned, southeast-based comprehensive wealth management firm that manages more than $5 billion in client assets, has announced the hiring of three senior professionals in its Nashville office: Adam Dretler, senior vice president, Lamar Stanley, vice president, Katie Williams, vice president
GUERRILLA MARKETING
The essence of a brand isn’t so much about rational arguments; instead, it’s how it makes the market feel emotionally.
CAREER CORNER
Job seeking can be a long, difficult process.
I SWEAR
If you’re passing through Aberdeen, North Carolina, you should have no trouble finding Railhouse Brewery on East South Street. Moore County’s only microbrewery stands in the middle of downtown, just a few feet from the train track.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
If you follow my column, you know I love to grill out. If you don’t read it often, I’ll tell you now: I love to grill out.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Newly installed state Supreme Court Justice Jeff Bivins is campaigning Thursday in favor of a ballot measure to amend the Tennessee Constitution to maintain merit selection of appeals judges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal panel that sets sentencing policy eased penalties this year for potentially tens of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders. Now, defense lawyers and prisoner advocates are pushing for similar treatment for a different category of defendants: swindlers, embezzlers, insider traders and other white-collar criminals.
STATEWIDE
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits shot up last week, after having held at relatively low levels over the past month, but Tennessee claims dropped by 1,090.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's business taxes are starting to pick up.
NASHVILLE AREA
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The largest private prison company in America paid $260,000 to a group of shift supervisors in Kentucky to settle claims that they were denied overtime, according to an agreement unsealed Wednesday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. auto loans jumped to the highest level in eight years this spring, fueled by a big increase in lending to risky borrowers, according to a report Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — More people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, although jobless claims continue to be close to pre-recession levels.
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market crept higher Thursday following a mixed batch of corporate news. In Europe, investors brushed aside more worrying news on the economy and nudged markets up.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates declined this week, approaching their lows for the year.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cut its annual profit outlook on Thursday as the world's largest retailer faced another quarter of sluggish sales and traffic declines.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Hillsong United, Lecrae, Mandisa and Matt Maher lead the 45th annual Dove Awards nominations for artists with five apiece for gospel and Christian music excellence.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is taking direct aim at mobile payment systems such as Square by introducing the Amazon Local Register, a credit-card processing device and mobile app designed to help small business owners accept payments through their smartphones and tablets.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The clock is ticking for hundreds of thousands of people who have unresolved issues affecting their coverage under the new health care law.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal panel that sets sentencing policy eased penalties this year for potentially tens of thousands of drug dealers. Now, defense lawyers and prisoner advocates are pushing for similar treatment for an arguably less-sympathetic category of defendants: swindlers, embezzlers, insider traders and other white-collar criminals.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added to their stockpiles at a slightly slower pace in June compared with May, possibly reflecting weaker sales in the past two months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales were essentially flat in July, providing evidence that consumers have yet to shed their doubts about the economy despite recent job gains.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's Inc. on Wednesday reported a 4 percent profit increase in its fiscal second quarter as business rebounded from slow sales earlier in the year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Technology and health care companies are helping U.S. stocks close higher, despite a mixed batch of economic news and a pullback in Japan's economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Faced with tougher and more resistant weeds, corn and soybean farmers are anxiously awaiting government decisions on a new version of a popular herbicide — and on genetically modified seeds to grow crops designed to resist it.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market isn't the only place that's been signaling jitters among investors. The $2.3 trillion market for risky U.S. corporate debt has also been under pressure.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 12
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Although it is unclear exactly how many provisional ballots remain uncounted in Tennessee's 4th Congressional District's Republican primary, the ballots counted so far make an upset look increasingly unlikely.
MURFREESBORO (AP) - Six journalists have been named to the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame at Middle Tennessee State University.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Actor Charles Esten has more at stake in the new season of the ABC drama "Nashville" than resolving the cliffhanger that left his character, singer-songwriter Deacon Claybourne, in the midst of a lyricist love triangle.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Grammy-winning country trio Lady Antebellum will headline the sixth annual Jack Daniel's New Year's Eve Bash in Nashville.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Tennessee appeals court is considering whether 10 death row inmates have the right to know about the drugs that will be used in their executions and whether their lawyers can get the names of the people who will kill them.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge told lawyers on Monday he'll encourage settlements in lawsuits brought on behalf of nearly 1,000 plaintiffs against General Motors for defective ignition switches.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first screening test for colon cancer that uses patients' DNA to help spot potentially deadly tumors and growths.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market pulled back slightly Tuesday, following two days of gains, as investors focused on the damage that ongoing geopolitical tensions were causing the global economy.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Farmers will produce a record-breaking corn harvest this year, surpassing earlier expectations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which on Tuesday revised upward its estimate of this year's corn crop to 14 billion bushels to exceed last year's 13.9 billion bushel record.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple's high-paying technology jobs are primarily filled by white and Asian men, just like its industry peers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government ran a lower deficit this July than a year ago, keeping it on course to record the lowest deficit in six years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers in June advertised the most monthly job openings in more than 13 years.
MONDAY, AUGUST 11
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Sen. Jim Summerville has resigned from the Republican Caucus following a loss in last week's election primary.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper announced Monday he will seek another eight-year term after three Democrats were retained on the Supreme Court.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Voters who cast provisional ballots in the election involving scandal-plagued U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais have until the close of business today to present proper identification so their votes count. But election officials say it could still be days before all the provisional ballots are counted.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The campaign of scandal-battered U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais said it's consulting with election attorneys in case the incumbent's 35-vote lead over his opponent in the Republican primary is challenged.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Highway Patrol is taking applications for the fall class of its Citizens' Trooper Academy for classes to be held in Nashville and Jackson.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — Volkswagen of America is recalling 151,389 Tiguan SUVs due to the possibility of stalling.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — As an AIDS activist in the early 1990s, Gregg Gonsalves traveled to Washington to challenge the Food and Drug Administration.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators are warning consumers about the risks of using virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing slightly higher as investors turn their focus to corporate news and as tensions ease in Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service lost $2 billion this spring despite increasing its volume and charging consumers more money to send mail, officials said Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Barneys has agreed to pay $525,000 to resolve allegations that minorities were singled out as suspected shoplifters at its flagship store, part of a spate of racial profiling complaints against major retailers last year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The much-debated Keystone XL pipeline could produce four times more global warming pollution than the State Department calculated earlier this year, a new study concludes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar has evacuated a handful of employees from Liberia. Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. has suspended a drilling project. British Airways has canceled flights to the region. ExxonMobil and Chevron are waiting to see whether health officials can contain the danger.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Lamar Alexander became the latest U.S. senator to fend off a tea party challenge in a primary race Thursday, defeating a state lawmaker who had used a familiar tactic in trying to cast him as an out of touch insider.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Scandal-plagued Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais and challenger Jim Tracy's race was still too close to call Friday as election officials in Tennessee's largely rural 4th Congressional District tallied outstanding votes.
NASHVILLE (AP) — After losing his seat in Thursday's election primary, Republican Sen. Stacey Campfield posted a blog that simply said "that was fun" and featured a YouTube video of Frank Sinatra singing "My Way."
THOMPSON'S STATION (AP) — Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Victoria Jackson has lost her bid as an independent candidate for a seat on the Williamson County Commission.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is issuing six more recalls totaling more than 312,000 vehicles as the company cleans up past safety issues.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing higher as investors were relieved by reports of easing tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. workers were more productive in the April-June quarter and labor costs rose slightly, a sharp turnaround from grim first-quarter figures.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A survey by the Federal Reserve shows that a quarter of U.S. households say they're "just getting by" financially.
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald's says a global sales figure fell 2.5 percent in July, dragged down by persistent weakness in the U.S. and a food safety scare in China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers expanded their borrowing at a slower rate in June compared to the prior month.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia retaliated Thursday for sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine by banning most food imports from the West, dealing a blow to Europe that also takes aim at hurting the U.S., Canada and Australia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — North Dakotans, enriched by an oil boom, stepped up their spending at triple the national pace in the three years that followed the Great Recession. In Nevada, smacked hard by the housing bust, consumers barely increased their spending.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government-controlled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted profits for the April-June period as the U.S. housing market continued to recover. Gains in recent years have enabled them to fully repay their government aid after being rescued during the financial crisis in 2008.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose slightly this week but remained near their lows for the year.