The Tennessee Titans and WeGo Public Transit are partnering once again to offer a convenient and comfortable ride to and from home games with the Titans Express.

The special event train will operate for all preseason and regular season home games, beginning with Saturday’s preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Service begins in Lebanon with stops in Hamilton Springs, Martha, Mt. Juliet, Hermitage and Donelson before arriving in downtown Nashville approximately one hour before kickoff. The return train to Lebanon leaves Riverfront Station one hour after the game ends.

Tickets for the entire season are on sale now. Round-trip train tickets are $15 each, plus a $2 processing fee. Children ages 4 and younger will not need a ticket to board; however, they are required to sit in a parent’s lap.

Tickets must be purchased online at least one hour in advance of the train departing. Tickets are not available for purchase on the train on game days. Weekday Star tickets and passes are not valid on the Titans Express.

Parking is free at all outlying stations and passengers may tailgate at the outlying train stations before the game as well as on the train.

Air bag inflaters one step closer to recall

U.S. auto safety regulators say they stand by a conclusion that more than 50 million air bag inflaters are dangerous and should not be in use, taking another step toward a massive recall.

The decision last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involves inflaters made by ARC Automotive Inc. in Knoxville and another parts manufacturer. It comes despite opposition from automakers.

The inflaters in about 49 million vehicles from 13 manufacturers can explode and hurl shrapnel into drivers and passengers.

The agency has said the inflaters are responsible for at least seven injuries and two deaths in the United States and Canada since 2009.

NHTSA said seven of the inflaters have blown apart in the field in the U.S., each showing evidence of insufficient welds or too much pressure in a canister designed to contain the explosion and fill the air bags in a crash.

In addition, the agency said 23 inflaters have ruptured in testing with causes common to the inflaters that blew apart in the field. Also, four inflaters have ruptured outside the U.S., killing at least one person, the agency said.

“To be sure, the overwhelming majority of the subject inflaters will not rupture upon deployment,” NHSTA wrote. “However, based on the evidence linking past ruptures to the same friction welding process, all of the subject inflaters are at risk of rupturing.”

But several automakers argued in public comments that years of investigations by NHTSA did not establish a systemic design defect. Some said none of the millions of inflaters in their vehicles have ruptured due to the cause pointed out by the agency.

NHTSA said the only way to know which of the ARC-designed inflaters will blow apart is for them to deploy in a crash. The federal motor vehicle safety act “does not allow such a defect to go unaddressed,” the agency said.

Nissan partners for Centers of Excellence

Nissan announced the launch of Centers of Excellence in Decherd in collaboration with the Tennessee Board of Regents, Tennessee College of Applied Technology and several local schools.

This initiative aims to enhance workforce development and support the growth of the automotive industry in the United States.

The first cohort of students begin this August in Franklin, Grundy, Tullahoma and Warren County high schools. Nissan employees will serve as full-time Centers of Excellence instructors in partnership with TCAT McMinnville and TCAT Shelbyville.

The program is designed to prepare students for careers in the automotive sector by offering a curriculum that combines theoretical knowledge with practical experience. Courses will be offered in advanced manufacturing, mechatronics and Industry 4.0 technologies, among others. Each course was designed in collaboration with industry experts to align with current standards and anticipate future job market demands.

Students in the program will have the opportunity to earn industry-recognized certifications and accreditations upon completion, demonstrating their acquired skills and knowledge to potential employers. Specific certifications include the four Manufacturing Skill Standards Council Certified production technician certificates, OSHA 10, Lean Six Sigma and Fanuc Robot Operator Level I.

Volunteer Tennessee announces planning grants

Volunteer Tennessee has announced three recipients of its 2024-25 Tennessee AmeriCorps Planning Grant opportunity. These grants were awarded to East Tennessee State University, Tennessee Charitable Care Network, and United Way of West Tennessee with a total investment of nearly $200,000.

These planning grants provide up to $75,000 per organization to develop an AmeriCorps program that will place AmeriCorps members in service solely within Tennessee.

• East Tennessee State University – Funding Awarded: $74,542. ETSU proposes to develop an AmeriCorps program serving the seven-county region of Northeast Tennessee that will focus on the AmeriCorps focus area of Veterans and Military Families.

• Tennessee Charitable Care Network – Funding Awarded: $56,999. The Tennessee Charitable Care Network proposes to develop an AmeriCorps program serving in the State of Tennessee that will focus on the healthy futures AmeriCorps focus area.

• United Way of West Tennessee – Funding Awarded: $66,197. The United Way of West Tennessee proposes to develop an AmeriCorps program serving in Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Madison, McNairy, and Weakley counties that will address the AmeriCorps focus areas of economic opportunity, education and healthy futures.

This funding allows the recipients to plan and prepare a program that aligns with one or more of the six AmeriCorps-identified focus areas: disaster services, economic opportunity, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and military families. The goal is for these organizations to apply for a 2025-26 program grant.

Redfin: Renters growing 3x faster than homeowners

The number of renter households in America grew 1.9% year over year in the second quarter to a record 45.2 million.

That’s more than three times faster than the number of homeowner households, which grew 0.6% to a record 86.3 million, based on a Redfin analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data going back to 1994.

The number of renter households grew at the second-fastest pace since 2021, while the number of homeowner households grew at the slowest pace since 2019.

Growth in the number of renter households hit a peak of 2.8% in the first quarter of 2024. That was the largest gain since 2015.

A renter household is defined as one where the head of the household reports to the Census that they are renting out the property, while a homeowner household is one where the head of household reports they own the property. The number of homeowner and renter households are both at record highs because the U.S. population is at a record high.

Renter households have formed faster than homeowner households for three straight quarters, partly because homebuying costs have risen much faster than rents.

USDA teams with state on food supply chain

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced it has a cooperative agreement with Tennessee under the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program.

Through this agreement, USDA and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) are working together to offer over $5.5 million in competitive grant funding for projects designed to build resilience across the food supply chain. TDA is accepting applications for this program funding through Aug. 31.

In May 2023, USDA announced the availability of up to $420 million through RFSI to strengthen local and regional food systems. Through this program, AMS has entered into cooperative agreements with state agencies, commissions or departments responsible for agriculture, commercial food processing, seafood, or food system and distribution activities or commerce activities in states or U.S. territories. RFSI is authorized by the American Rescue Plan.

“This partnership between USDA and Tennessee is allowing critical funding to reach areas of the supply chain that need it most,” says USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The projects funded through this program will create new opportunities for the region’s small and mid-size producers to thrive, expand access to nutritious food options and increase supply chain resiliency.”

Using RFSI funding, TDA will fund projects that increase access to commercial kitchens and co-packing facilities. Additional funded projects will expand processing capacity, including adding product types, increasing production volumes, and supporting new wholesale or retail product lines. The state’s priorities are informed by stakeholder engagement and outreach to underserved producers to better understand their needs.

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VUMC adds new tremors, Parkinson’s treatment

The movement disorder neurology and neurosurgery team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is set to add focused ultrasound treatment as a new tool in the treatment of essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease.

FUS is a minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of tremors or Parkinson’s disease. Performed in an outpatient clinic with MRI as the navigation tool, FUS uses sound waves to target precise spots in the brain that are responsible for movement disorder symptoms with no surgical incision or anesthesia.

“This technology is rapidly growing in the treatment of essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease, and other indications are being studied,” says Dario Englot, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurological surgery and the director of functional neurosurgery at VUMC. “We are excited for the ways it can impact and improve patients’ quality of life.”

Essential tremor is a common movement disorder that most often impacts people’s arms but can impact the head, legs, torso and voice. In the U.S. an estimated 7 million people have essential tremor – that’s about the population of Tennessee in 2022. Nearly 1 million people in the U.S. suffer from Parkinson’s disease, a chronic, progressive brain disorder that affects individuals’ movement and quality of life.