Heading into spring, Tennessee business leaders have a much more positive outlook about their industries, a sentiment trend that “has flipped” in the past year, the latest Tennessee Business Barometer by MTSU’s Jones College of Business finds.

The latest statewide index, which measures business leaders’ perceptions of the current and future economy, produced a score of 431 for winter 2024, the highest since spring 2021 and almost 100 points higher than the fall barometer results . The inaugural survey in July 2015 registered an index of 325.

“One year ago, Tennessee business leaders had become significantly concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the economy and business environment,” noted Michael Peasley, assistant professor of marketing and director of the university’s Office of Consumer Research, which oversees the index. “However, in the past 12 months, that trend has flipped. … Tennessee business leaders are looking forward to future growth.”

Though business leaders still have concerns surrounding key economic indicators such as inflation, staffing and recession, those concerns are lessening, and business leaders are more optimistic than worried for the first time in nearly three years.

Hall of Fame reboards ‘Night Train to Nashville’

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will explore the significance of Nashville’s pioneering R&B scene and its important role in the city becoming a world-renowned music center with its latest exhibition.

“Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited” is a 20th anniversary edition of the museum’s award-winning original exhibit, which was featured in its galleries in 2004 and 2005.

The exhibit will include many of the same items and themes, as well as recently discovered artifacts and photographs. The exhibit, which is included with museum admission, is set for April 26 through September 2025.

“Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited” explores Nashville activity in the decades following World War II, spanning 1945-1970. As Nashville’s country music industry was just getting started, the city also was a hotbed for R&B, with celebrated performers contributing to the community’s rich musical heritage, including Country Music Hall of Fame member Ray Charles, Hank Crawford, Bobby Hebb, Jimi Hendrix, Etta James and Little Richard, among many others.

During this time, R&B reigned alongside country music in the city’s clubs and studios, on radio and on nationally syndicated television.

The exhibit is supported by a free-to-access “Night Train to Nashville” online exhibit, which launched last year and was made possible by a major grant awarded from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibit is also supplemented by a newly published companion book and an opening weekend program examining the influential television show “Night Train.”

“This exhibit and its related resources offer opportunities to revisit Nashville’s often overlooked R&B legacy and its important role in our community becoming ‘Music City,’” says Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “As Nashville developed into a major recording center, it did so against a background of urban change and at a time when racial barriers were tested and sometimes broken on bandstands, inside recording studios and on the airwaves.”

Schneider Electric expands TN presence

Schneider Electric, a global energy solutions provider, is expanding its manufacturing presence in Middle Tennessee, create 355 new jobs in Mount Juliet with a new facility on Maddox Road in Wilson County.

Additionally, Schneider Electric plans to expand in Smyrna with the creation of 100 new jobs.

Together, both projects represent a total investment of approximately $85 million. The investment in both Tennessee locations will strengthen production capacity, allowing Schneider Electric to better meet its customer demand for energy management and automation products.

Upon completion, Schneider Electric will employ more than 1,900 Tennesseans across its facilities in Franklin, Maryville, Memphis, Smyrna and Mount Juliet.

Bradley named top law firm in Tennessee

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has been recognized as the “Tennessee Firm of the Year” for 2024 by Benchmark Litigation. Bradley has won the award four out of the last five years.

The Benchmark US Awards highlight the most impactful cases, the lawyers and law firms behind those cases and the litigators who helped pave the way.

Smyrna airport hangar cited in competition

Nashville’s Thomas & Hutton Engineering has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies 57th annual Engineering Excellence Awards for designing Hangar 692 at Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport in Smyrna.

The 31,000-square-foot hangar supports the airport’s plans for increasing charter and scheduled passenger airline activity. Located on the site of a World War II-era structure destroyed by fire in the 1980s, the new hangar can house aircraft as large as a Boeing 737-800. Widening the exit apron onto the taxiway allows these aircraft to make a smooth turning maneuver into the hangar, providing adequate wing clearance with the sliding door. Hangar 692 also features 2,400 square feet of leasable office space, a new 42-unit parking lot and a low-foam fire protection system.

Four TN cities make top 50 termite locales

Chew on this for a minute: Tennessee’s four largest cities made the top 50 on Orkin’s list of most termite infested cities.

Miami ranks No. 1 on Orkin’s list for the second year in a row, and once again Los Angeles ranks No. 2. While Tampa held on to third place, and New York City jumped five spots to claim fourth place on the list. Washington, D.C., rounds out the Top 5.

Nashville clocked in at No. 21, Memphis and Knoxville back-to-back at 31 and 32, and Chattanooga eked onto the list at No. 49.

Four cities are new to this year’s list, including Louisville, which climbed a whopping 34 spots to make this year’s Top 50 cities.

Orkin has developed this list based on treatment data from the cities where Orkin Pros performed the most termite treatments. The data was collected from Feb. 1, 2023, through Jan.31, and includes both residential and commercial termite control services.

As winter makes its departure, many people are looking forward to the warmer spring weather. Unfortunately, termites love spring, too. Termites thrive in warm environments, therefore, now is the perfect time for home and business owners to help protect their property.

There are more than 2,000 species of termites in the world, and 40 of them are active in the United States. They can look like ants to the untrained eye because they share common characteristics. Most termites measure between ¼ to ½ an inch long and have soft bodies with straight antennae. Termites can range in color from white to light brown, and worker termites are often lighter in color compared to winged reproductive termites or swarmers.

Nashville chosen for sustainability program

Bloomberg Philanthropies has selected Nashville to join Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities.

Nashville is one of 25 cities chosen for the three-year initiative. BASC is designed to leverage historic levels of federal funding to incubate and implement transformative local solutions to build sustainable, resilient and economically thriving communities.

Building on the longtime leadership of U.S. cities to confront the overlapping crises of climate change and racial wealth inequity, the initiative will allow the Mayor’s Office and Bloomberg’s local innovation team to work more closely with frequently underfunded communities to give them the opportunity to build a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable future.

By participating in BASC, Nashville will receive a three-member innovation team with expertise in data analysis, human-centered design, systems thinking and project management. This team will be active for three years to help the city drive progress on climate mitigation and equitable outcomes. The innovation team will also work with community-based organizations to build capacity and mobilize public, private and philanthropic investments.

With over $400 billion in federal funding available to local governments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, BASC aims to help cities access and implement the historic funding for critical local climate projects, especially in disadvantaged communities historically overburdened by long-standing inequities.

Vandy med school makes Top 10 of NIH funding

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine ranked 10th in the nation in total research grant support provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal year 2023, according to figures compiled by the nonprofit Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.

VUSM, which received $527.7 million in direct and indirect NIH grant support in FY23, has been among the top 10 U.S. medical schools in NIH funding for six of the last 10 years. The school’s clinical, research and teaching missions are provided largely through its affiliated, nonprofit Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“The significant NIH funding received by Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a testament to our investigators’ cutting-edge research and innovation,” says Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., VUMC’s Chief Scientific and Strategy Officer, and executive vice president for research.

Eight clinical departments and two basic science departments at VUSM ranked in the top 10 among medical school departments nationwide in FY23, the Blue Ridge Institute reported.

Redfin: New listings hit highest level in 17 months

New listings jumped 3.8% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis in February – the biggest increase in six months – to the highest level since September 2022, Redfin reports.

They were up 14.8% year over year, the largest annual gain since May 2021.

Active listings, or the total supply of homes for sale, hit the highest level in a year. They climbed 0.8% from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis and were little changed (-0.1%) from a year earlier – the smallest decline in months.

Nationwide, housing supply is on the rise because the “lock-in effect” is easing; eventually, homeowners who have been holding on to their ultralow mortgage rates simply have to move.