Tennessee’s annual sales tax holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday and ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday night.

Among tax-free items being sold tax-free during that period are clothing for $100 or less, school and school art supplies for $100 or less and computers for $1,500 or less, including CPUs and other bundled components such as speakers, monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables and basic software.

No items used in trade or business are exempt under these provisions. Some restrictions apply. Information, including what specific items are tax exempt

Bradley receives 2018 Turnaround Atlas Award

A Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP team led by William L. Norton III, a partner in the firm’s Nashville office, has been honored with the 2018 Global M&A Network Turnaround Atlas Award for work on the Vanguard Healthcare, LLC Chapter 11 restructuring.

Other key members of the Bradley team are partners James Blake Bailey and Michael D. Brent.

The case was among the winners for “best value-creating Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization” in the Middle Market Segments category.

More than 320 eligible restructuring and distressed M&A deals covering five continents were evaluated for this year’s awards.

Community Health to sell Arkansas health system

Franklin-based Community Health Systems, Inc., has announced that subsidiaries of the company are selling an Arkansas hospital system.

A definitive agreement has been reached to sell the two-hospital Sparks Health System and related businesses, including physician clinic operations and outpatient services, to Baptist Health in Little Rock.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Both the 492-bed Sparks Regional Medical Center in Ft. Smith, Arkansas and the 103-bed Sparks Medical Center in Van Buren, Arkansas are among the additional planned divestitures discussed on the company’s first quarter 2018 earnings call.

When the transaction is complete, Community Health Systems affiliates will continue to operate six hospitals in Arkansas.

Accounting board gets international partners

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, headquartered in Nashville, along with the American Institute of CPAs U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board, have reached a mutual recognition agreement with CPA Australia.

The agreement will provide an abbreviated qualification pathway for eligible accounting professionals in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to practice in the partner countries.

“The agreement between the U.S., Australia and New Zealand is a win for all parties and can be relied on by the U.S. Boards of Accountancy to fulfill their mission of public protection,” says Ken L. Bishop, NASBA president and CEO.

“Developed from a global perspective, it will aid in strengthening the CPA pipeline and clearly address the growing demand for credential holders to practice in other countries. We look forward to exploring additional international qualification pathways for eligible accounting professionals.”

Under the agreement, qualified U.S. CPAs will be eligible to obtain the CPA Australia credential, that is a pathway to obtaining audit rights in Australia and New Zealand, if the holders meet eligibility requirements detailed in the appendices of the MRA.

CPA Australia credential holders (who are citizens or legal residents in Australia or New Zealand) will be eligible to obtain the U.S. CPA credential if the holders meet the eligibility requirements.

Clearwater launches cyber risk dashboards

Clearwater, a healthcare cyber risk management solutions company based in Nashville, has announced the release of CyberIntelligence dashboards.

It’s the latest innovation for IRM|Pro, an Enterprise Cyber Risk Management System for healthcare providers and their partners.

With CyberIntelligence dashboards, organizations can elevate cyber risk conversations from a technical engineering discussion to an actionable, executive or board-level one – advancing healthcare organizations’ cyber risk management programs, reducing risk and increasing patient safety.

CyberIntelligence dashboards, available immediately for customers subscribing to Clearwater’s IRM|Analysis software, provide actionable insight into the most critical vulnerabilities, control deficiencies and remediation action items, allowing organizations ranging from regional hospitals to the largest integrated delivery networks to effectively manage risk across their entire enterprise.

CyberIntelligence provides boards and CEOs with real-time visibility to the greatest cyber risks across the growing landscape of technologies, enabling organizations to identify and take action on the most critical needs.

State tax revenue up for June year over year

Tennessee tax revenue exceeded budgeted estimates for June.

Overall, June revenues totaled $1.4 billion, which is $31.4 million more than the state collected in June of 2017, and $31.3 million more than the budgeted estimate for the month.

General fund revenues were more than the budgeted estimates in the amount of $31.7 million, while the four other funds that share in state tax revenues were $0.4 million less than the estimates.

Foster care children to receive ‘Love Totes’

The Tennessee Action Council is collaborating with the Tennessee Department of Children Services on a program providing “Love Totes” for children in foster care.

Helping Hands, a division of TAC, is providing a large gym bag with multiple compartments, pouches, carry strap, and an identification badge with the child’s name to provide the child in foster care with a sense of ownership.

The “Love Totes” replace the standard issued black garbage bag for moving children within the foster system.

Helping Hands also provides foster children with personal hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and bath products. “I am grateful for the generous gift from Tennessee Action Council to our Department of Children’s Services,” Senator Jack Johnson says. “I am confident that the Love Totes will be a welcomed possession for kids during their difficult transition into foster care.”

Shoney’s joins trend, drops plastic straws

Nashville-based Shoney’s restaurant is phasing out plastic straws at all of its company-owned stores by 2020.

The announcement was made by David Davoudpour, the company’s chairman and CEO.

“America has spoken and Shoney’s always listens and for the sake of the environment and our communities, we are taking action,” Davoudpour says. “We are in the people business and have spent decades doing the right things in our neighborhoods as well as our restaurants and are committed to being at the forefront of this change.”

Single-use plastic straws are inarguably bad for the environment, especially when discarded and consumed by wildlife. Davoudpour says Shoney’s will work with its suppliers to back the brand’s dedication to phasing out plastic straws.

Hankook reaches out to veterans

Nashville-based Hankook Tire America Corp., has expanded its commitment to DAV, an organization providing free services to disabled American veterans in the cities where they live.

In the fourth year of its partnership with DAV, Hankook is donating $175,000 to increase its support of DAV’s Mobile Service Office program and award a new vehicle to help veterans in Nashville get to and from their medical appointments.

Hankook is also sponsoring a new seven-passenger DAV Transportation Network vehicle at the Nashville Veteran Affairs Medical Center, which will drive Nashville-area veterans to their medical appointments. The Hankook-branded vehicle will be delivered in 2019.

“At our Tennessee Plant in Clarksville, 20 percent of our employees are U.S. military veterans, and we see firsthand the importance of them being able to access the benefits and services they deserve,” Suh says. “And with the new Hankook sponsored vehicle permanently stationed at the Nashville VA Medical Center, we’re proud to provide the mobility services that local veterans need to access proper medical care.”

Nashville to host cybersecurity event

The RSA Archer Summit will take place in Nashville Aug. 15-17.

RSA, a global cybersecurity leader delivering Business-Driven Security solutions, will be held at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel, bringing together experts, executives and industry partners to discover and discuss the future of integrated risk management and the evolution of governance, risk management, and compliance.

“This year’s RSA Archer Summit celebrates the 15th year of our customer community. By addressing today’s complex and often volatile conditions, we’ve seen integrated risk management become a cornerstone of a successful business strategy,” says David Walter, vice president, RSA Archer.

“We are excited to bring together our customers, partners and peers to gain and share insights on emerging trends in business risk to better position our customers and our solutions for the next generation of risk management practices.”

Advance Financial raises Patriot Foundation funds

Nashville-based Advance Financial’s philanthropic arm, Advance Financial Foundation, has concluded a three-year partnership with the Patriot Foundation, collecting $13,715 in donations.

In 2016, Advance Financial made a three-year commitment to donate to the Patriot Foundation all of the money received during the first quarter in its five Clarksville stores for its ongoing Advancing Education scholarship program.

The Patriot Foundation provides scholarship funding for children of killed, wounded, injured or seriously ill soldiers.

Also:

Advance Financial recently won four national awards.

The firm won a Gold Pillar award for best employer achievement, a Silver Globee for jobs growth, a Gold CEO award recognizing Tina Hodges, CEO and experience officer, and a Gold Woman World award for female executive of the year, also for Hodges.

Advance Financial’s Globee award was based on the company’s strong employment growth of 26.72 percent in 2017.

The Gold Pillar award recognized the company for its response to tax reform, in which it used $1 million in tax savings to increase employee compensation.