VOL. 41 | NO. 38 | Friday, September 22, 2017
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Forgiveness or farewell: What should be the fate of the Achievement School District? Among Memphis legislators, it just depends.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
In three weeks, the Greater Nashville Realtors will release the September sales numbers showing record sales for the month. These sales figures will show more sales this month than there were a year ago and in all the years prior to that.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, August 2017, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term mortgage rates rose this week, lifting the 30-year fixed mortgage from the lowest levels of 2017.
DAVID CLIMER: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
Who would’ve thought the center of the Southeastern Conference football universe would be Nashville in late September?
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
Some Titans fans have been eager for a running back controversy ever since the Tennessee Titans drafted Derrick Henry in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Russell Wilson vs. Brian Orakpo. Orakpo dominated against the Jaguars on Sunday, including a strip sack of Blake Bortles that Erik Walden recovered. The Seahawks offensive line has struggled this season, but Wilson is an elusive target with an ability to escape matched by few quarterbacks in the NFL. Might the Titans put a spy on the Seahawks signal-caller to limit his scrambling?
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
It’s been a long week for Tennessee football. UT’s Sept. 30 game against Georgia at Neyland Stadium can’t get here soon enough. Not after the Vols’ 26-20 loss to Florida last Saturday in Gainesville.
BRIEFS
The Tennessee Housing Development Agency has released its list of nominees for the 2017 Tennessee’s Best Awards.
NEWSMAKERS
L. Gino Marchetti, Jr., managing partner at Taylor, Pigue, Marchetti and Blair, PLLC, has been elected to serve as the 2018-2019 president of the National Foundation for Judicial Excellence.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Throw it out. That’s what always seems to happen to your best ideas, your finest interviews, the proud moments that fall flat as pavement. Ugh.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Disasters are chaotic and complex. Just a few minutes of howling wind or shaking earth can leave years of cleaning up, rebuilding and coping with a new reality.
CAREER CORNER
Recently, I began receiving a question I haven’t heard much before: “Should I put my photo on my resume?”
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Sen. Bob Corker gave few hints Wednesday on his political future after he leaves the U.S. Senate, but he appeared to leave the door slightly ajar on a potential run for Tennessee governor next year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Football star Peyton Manning ruled out a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Republican Bob Corker, saying in a sports radio interview on Wednesday that he is giving "zero consideration" to running.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt has opted against the idea of playing all its home football games at a proposed off-campus site that it would have shared with a potential Major League Soccer expansion franchise.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal jury has convicted a Tennessee podiatrist in a scheme to defraud Medicare and other health care benefit programs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain is demanding a full accounting from the Department of Veterans Affairs on the financial status of its private-sector health care program.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are lower Thursday morning as technology companies decline and smaller companies slip after a record-setting rally. Drug and medical device maker Abbott Laboratories is climbing after regulators approved its new blood glucose monitoring system for diabetes patients. Energy companies are higher as the price of oil rises.
NEW YORK (AP) — Toys R Us, trying to reorganize under bankruptcy leading into the holiday season, was seeing overall sales fall and those at established locations drop even more sharply as it was heading for a Chapter 11 filing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at an upgraded annual rate of 3.1 percent in the spring, the fastest pace in more than two years. But growth is expected to slow sharply this quarter in the wake of a string of devastating hurricanes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 272,000 as Florida continued to absorb the economic impact of Hurricane Irma.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Social media giant Twitter will visit Capitol Hill Thursday as part of the House and Senate investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — How do you pay for an estimated $5.8 trillion tax cut?
WASHINGTON (AP) — With so many missing pieces, President Donald Trump's tax plan is what you make of it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump announced plans to go to Indiana Wednesday to sell the GOP tax overhaul plan, party leaders cheered his engagement on the high-stakes issue. When the White House said one of Trump's traveling companions would be Indiana's Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly — a top target in next year's midterm elections — the hopes turned to head-smacking disbelief.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are reckoning with an insurgent's win in Alabama that poses clear threats to their own grip on power and the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A court appearance has been rescheduled for the man charged in a mass shooting that killed one person and wounded six others at a Tennessee church.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Sitting on the largest sum of campaign money among Republicans facing re-election to the Senate, few in Tennessee thought Bob Corker wouldn't run for a third term next year. His surprise announcement Tuesday that he will retire from Congress set off a frenzy of speculation about who will try to succeed him.
HEALTH CARE
Health insurer Anthem said Wednesday that it is leaving Maine's health insurance exchange next year because of market volatility and uncertainty.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people signed contracts to buy homes in August, marking the fifth decline in the past six months. The 2.6 percent fall continues to reflect the worsening shortage nationwide of homes being listed for sale.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is working to integrate its autonomous cars with Lyft's ride-hailing software so someday Ford can carry Lyft passengers.
The Tesla Model 3 has captured the interest of both mainstream car buyers and electric vehicle enthusiasts alike. The Model 3's combination of sleek styling, long range and semiautonomous driving features gives the Model 3 an "it" factor that's hard to resist. But with a base price of $35,000, limited availability, and many of its most desirable features on the options list, the Model 3 isn't for everybody.
TECHNOLOGY
SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon says the next generation of its Fire TV video streaming device will cost $70, down from $100.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed Wednesday as smaller companies soared following a report that showed business investment climbed in August. Investors also hoped stocks will benefit from tax cuts proposed by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Middle-class American families grew richer between 2013 and 2016, their first such gains since the Great Recession upended the economy a decade ago. Yet wealthier families did even better, worsening the nation's massive disparities in wealth and income.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose a modest 1.7 percent in August, reflecting a rebound in the volatile aircraft sector. A gauge of business investment was up for a second month, providing hope that a revival in manufacturing is gaining strength.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has a new message for the NFL: Change or business is "going to go to hell."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is "not happy" with his Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price following reports that Price used a private plane for official business.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are proposing a far-reaching, $5 trillion plan Wednesday that would cut taxes for corporations and potentially for individuals, simplify the tax system and nearly double the standard deduction used by most Americans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Small business owners, large corporations and the super wealthy could fare well under President Donald Trump's tax plan. The middle-class could come out ahead, too, but the plan has too many holes to determine how individual taxpayers would be affected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is calling Facebook "anti-Trump." His tweet Wednesday comes days after the social media company agreed to provide material to congressional investigators probing Russia interference in the 2016 election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is at a crossroads after Republicans' stinging failure to repeal Barack Obama's health care law. But what's next — more partisan conflict or a pragmatic shift toward cooperation?
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee and a political force on financial issues, announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election.
Elected officials in Tennessee react to Republican Bob Corker's announcement Tuesday that he won't seek a third term in the U.S. Senate:
MIDSTATE
A probation-for-profit company that heaped fees on central Tennesseans convicted of minor offenses, even though many were too poor to pay, has agreed to a $14.3 million settlement to reimburse those charges.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee tight end Delanie Walker smothered the ball on the onside kick attempt inside the final two minutes.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Four assistant basketball coaches from Arizona, Auburn, the University of Southern California and Oklahoma State were among those arrested on federal corruption charges Tuesday after they were caught taking thousands of dollars in bribes to steer NBA-destined college stars toward certain sports agents and financial advisers, authorities said.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes slumped 3.4 percent in August, the second straight monthly decline.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices climbed steadily in July even as sales have slowed, evidence that a limited supply of available houses is distorting the real estate market.
HEALTH CARE
Long-term care costs are surging again and the most expensive option — a private nursing home room — may soon top $100,000 per year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing assured defeat, Republican leaders decided Tuesday not to even hold a vote on the GOP's latest attempt to repeal the Obama health care law, surrendering on their last-gasp effort to deliver on the party's banner campaign promise.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The partisan battle over the country's health care system will "certainly continue," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. But he stopped short of saying whether the chamber will vote on the latest Republican plan repealing the Obama health care law, which seems virtually certain to be rejected.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter is citing "newsworthiness" and the public interest as reasons why it didn't remove President Donald Trump's declaration in a tweet that North Korean leaders may not "be around much longer."
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's communications watchdog has threatened to block the access to Facebook next year if the company does not store its data locally.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Dyson Ltd., the British company best known for its vacuum cleaners, is working on an electric car that it says will be launched by 2020.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. announced a $374 million investment Tuesday at five U.S. plants to support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes finished barely higher Tuesday after a late slump erased most of an early gain. Technology companies recovered some of the losses they took a day earlier, but energy companies and banks slipped.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that the Fed is puzzled by the persistence of unusually low inflation and that it might have to adjust the timing of its interest rate policies accordingly.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers feel a bit less confident this month, their spirits pulled down by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump vowed to deliver on a major tax cut for middle-class Americans on Tuesday as the White House and congressional leaders prepared to release details on a tax overhaul proposal that would slash the corporate rate and simplify the nation's tax code.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. senators from both parties on Tuesday grilled the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission — the agency responsible for policing Wall Street — on its handling of a 2016 data breach that was disclosed only last week.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The pastor shouted "Run, run, gunshots!" and congregants hid under pews or in bathrooms as a masked man armed with two guns opened fire at a Tennessee church, killing one person and wounding six before being subdued.
MIDSTATE
A preservation group is inviting the public to vote on projects to improve Main Streets around the U.S.
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans believe they can play with the NFL's best this season, and a big win over the Seattle Seahawks is just the latest proof to back them up.
HEALTH CARE
Only one thing is certain for insurance shoppers if the latest attempt to replace former President Barack Obama's health care law succeeds: Uncertainty.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Sen. Rand Paul remained opposed Monday to the Republican bill repealing the Obama health care law despite fresh revisions, darkening White House and GOP leaders' hopes of staving off defeat in a Senate showdown this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Memo to Republican senators: Many of the states President Donald Trump won last year would lose significant federal financing under the last-ditch Republican health care bill headed for a possible showdown in the Senate this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. researchers are getting ready to recruit more than 1 million people for an unprecedented study to learn how our genes, environments and lifestyles interact.
AUTO INDUSTRY
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Auto worker Ivan Flores spends his days transporting parts for U.S.-bound Audi SUVs at a plant in central Mexico, but he laughs when asked if he could ever buy one of the $40,000 Q5 SUVs the plant produces on his $2.25 per hour salary.
RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Even before the first vehicle rolls off the line at Volvo Cars' new factory in South Carolina, the Swedish automaker has nearly doubled its investment to $1 billion and promised to build a second vehicle at the site.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors' Cadillac luxury brand is embarking on a cross-country drive to show off its version of a car that almost drives itself on the freeway.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks slammed into reverse on Monday, and the losses overshadowed gains in other areas of the market to send broad U.S. indexes lower.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. is raising its minimum hourly wage for its workers to $11 starting next month and then to $15 by the end of 2020 in a move it says will help it better recruit and retain top-quality staff and provide a better shopping experience for its customers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most business economists expect the Trump administration's efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement will make no difference to the U.S. economy or cause harm.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and congressional Republicans are finalizing a tax plan that would slash the corporate rate while likely reducing the penalty for the wealthiest Americans, with President Donald Trump ready to roll out the policy proposal at midweek.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is indulging in his favorite kind of drama — personal, aggressive, culturally volatile and entirely of his own making.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The three major long-haul airlines of the Gulf say they are aware of the new travel restrictions implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Weiner must report to prison by Nov. 6 to begin serving his 21-month sentence for sexting with a 15-year-old girl.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — After becoming a global icon and one of the world's best-selling singers of all-time, Shania Twain had to utter the scariest five words a vocalist would ever hear: "I may never sing again."
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are asking three state agencies to ensure that their policies allow residents to take cell phone photos of public records.
REGION
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — President Donald Trump will nominate people from four states to serve on the nine-member board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the White House said Thursday.
TECHNOLOGY
The federal agency responsible for ensuring that markets function properly and for protecting investors is under fire after disclosing its computer system was hacked despite repeated warnings about deficiencies in its cybersecurity measures.
NEW YORK (AP) — An automated teller machine. The cash machine. In Britain, a cashpoint. ATMs, known for spitting out $20 bills (and imposing fees if you pick the wrong one), turn 50 years old this year. They're ubiquitous — and possibly still a necessity, despite the big changes in how people pay for things.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain declared his opposition Friday to the GOP's last-ditch effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare," dealing a likely death blow to the legislation and, perhaps, to the Republican Party's years of vows to kill the program.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used Twitter Friday to slam Sen. Rand Paul and other Republicans who might oppose the GOP's last-gasp effort to topple the Obama health care law. Paul fired back, calling the Senate bill "fake repeal" and saying the White House just wants a victory without caring about the legislation's details.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Who's right — President Donald Trump and Sen. Bill Cassidy, or late-night host Jimmy Kimmel?
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's divisive and difficult, but the Republican drive to erase the Obama health care overhaul has gotten a huge boost from one of Washington's perennial incentives: Political necessity.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel used his late-night platform to continue his assault on the GOP health care bill, firing back at critics including U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and "Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday the Republicans' last-resort "Obamacare" repeal effort remains two or three votes short, forecasting days of furious lobbying ahead with a crucial deadline looming next week.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SPRING HILL (AP) — General Motors is laying off the third shift at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, SUV factory as it deals with a slowing U.S. auto market.
DETROIT (AP) — Mercedes-Benz says it will spend $1 billion to expand its Alabama facilities and start production of a new line of fully electric SUVs.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla Inc. is denying claims that it threatened to fire pro-union workers at its Fremont, California, factory and tried to prevent them from passing out union literature.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A listless day on Wall Street finished with U.S. stocks eking out small gains Friday, as strength in energy, phone and industrial companies offset losses elsewhere.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. trade panel has ruled that low-cost solar panels imported from China and other countries have caused serious injury to American manufacturers, raising the possibility of the Trump administration imposing tariffs that could double the price of solar panels from aboard.
NEW YORK (AP) — Would you be OK with letting a stranger into your house for the sake of convenience?
LONDON (AP) — London's transport authority said Friday it won't renew Uber's license to operate in the British capital, arguing that it demonstrates a lack of corporate responsibility with implications in public safety and security.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prospects are good for a public shaming in the Equifax data breach, but it's unlikely Congress will institute sweeping new regulations after hackers accessed the personal information of an estimated 143 million Americans.
NEW YORK (AP) — Allstate expects insurance losses of about $593 million in August after Hurricane Harvey left a path of destruction along the Gulf Coast.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A healthy gain in the stock market and steadily increasing home prices boosted Americans' household wealth this spring, a trend that likely adds to the nation's inequality.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a world where nearly every investment is rising, so is gold. But a big part of why many investors are buying gold is that they're worried those other investments, such as stocks and bonds, are due for a drop.
NEW YORK (AP) — Toys R Us may have filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, but the toy chain is revving up its holiday hiring.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called allegations of Russian election meddling a "hoax," and insisted the media was the "greatest influence" on the 2016 campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller's team of investigators is seeking information from the White House related to Michael Flynn's stint as national security adviser and about the response to a meeting with a Russian lawyer that was attended by President Donald Trump's oldest son, The Associated Press has learned.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans plan a retreat away from the Capitol next week to discuss a tax overhaul that congressional leaders have been working on for month.