VOL. 42 | NO. 16 | Friday, April 20, 2018
What you need to know to cast an informed vote on transit referendum
Ralph Schulz got stuck in traffic. It was on a Thursday, around 1 p.m., and he says it took him 23 minutes to drive along Broadway for two blocks, between Third and Fifth avenues.
If the transit package is approved by voters on May 1, expect changes to follow this timeline:
If a transit plan can have parents, this one has at least three:
When talk of tunneling under downtown Nashville first surfaced last fall, many wondered if it could be done. After all, common wisdom had it that Nashville is built on limestone, so subways are out of the question.
Additional sources of information to consult in advance of voting on the transit referendum
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Why should UT Knoxville be limited to its annual Sex Week when Tennessee legislators are celebrating year-round?
PREDATORS
In their formative years, forwards Austin Watson and Colton Sissons were goal-scorers, a significant part of the reason the Predators drafted them in the first and second round, respectively.
NEW YORK (AP) — Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning and P.K. Subban of the Nashville Predators are the finalists for the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mario Lemieux had one question for Sidney Crosby after the Pittsburgh star slipped past his boss as the Penguins' career playoff scoring leader during a Game 4 romp over Philadelphia.
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche will go with backup goaltender Andrew Hammond for Game 5 in Nashville after starter Jonathan Bernier suffered a lower-body injury.
DENVER (AP) — Now that was more of the start Nashville was looking for. The finish? Not as much.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
By the end of next weekend, six new picks – give or take a few due to potential trades – will become the newest Tennessee Titans draft class.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Reaching the divisional round of the AFC playoffs has paid off with three prime-time games for the Tennessee Titans this year — the most since 2009.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
These multiple-offer scenarios are getting old, and buyers are mad as heck and aren’t going to take it anymore. That is until this weekend when they will dust the frustration off their jackets and boots and dive back into the fray.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, March 2018, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed upward this week, slightly worsening affordability for homebuyers.
NEWSMAKERS
Littler, an employment and labor law practice representing management, has grown its Nashville office with the relocation of two attorneys and the addition of a new associate.
BRIEFS
Camping World Holdings, Inc. has agreed to buy Cullum & Maxey Camping Center in Nashville.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
It’s 3 a.m., and you’re still awake. Bedbugs are the least of your worries; the TV’s off, the lights are off, but your brain isn’t.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Most of us know the new-car basic warranty, often referred to as the “bumper-to-bumper warranty,” is designed to protect the owner against any factory defects during the first few years of ownership. But did you know this coverage doesn’t actually apply to the bumpers? The vehicle’s bumpers are considered body panels and so aren’t covered.
CAREER CORNER
I recently had the privilege of interviewing Margaret Heffernan, whose incredibly impressive career includes running five companies in the United States and the United Kingdom, being a college professor, authoring five books and giving multiple TED Talks. Originally from Texas, Margaret has lived all over, including in the U.K.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
New York Times best-selling author Robert Cialdini is known for his expertise on the subject of persuasion – specifically the role it plays in driving consumers to purchase a particular product or service.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators Foundation is giving out grants totaling more than $600,000.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Seven Tennessee counties have been chosen by the state for a program that evaluates potential industrial sites.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennesseans will be able to buy liquor on Sunday after Gov. Bill Haslam signed a law allowing seven-day sales of wines and spirits.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Legislature has passed a $37.5 billion budget following days of controversy after Memphis was punished for removing Confederate statues and student testing failures threatened to hold up passage.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers scrambled to pass legislation Thursday to make sure no students, teachers or schools suffer as a result of repeated failures with the state assessment test.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee House has passed a bill that calls for a monument to unborn children to be placed on the state capitol grounds.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Republican-led Tennessee Legislature on Thursday passed a controversial bill aimed at imposing work requirements on people receiving Medicaid benefits. In Tennessee, the Medicaid program is called TennCare.
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has endorsed Marsha Blackburn in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat from Tennessee.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Kushner Cos. has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for information related to an Associated Press report that the company filed dozens of false documents about its buildings in New York City.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Tennessee man who dressed as Spider-Man and washed windows at a children's hospital has been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison on child pornography charges.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer has said all along that his appointment as athletic director at his alma mater wasn't a mere short-term arrangement.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Prosecutors say one person is in custody in an investigation of current and former managers at automaker Porsche, a unit of Volkswagen, over the company's diesel emissions scandal.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of government health advisers is recommending approval of a medicine made from the marijuana plant to treat childhood epilepsy, moving the medication closer to the U.S. market.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — An audit of Facebook's privacy practices for the Federal Trade Commission found no problems even though the company knew at the time that a data-mining firm improperly obtained private data from millions of users — raising questions about the usefulness of such audits.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A steep slide in technology companies weighed on U.S. stocks Friday, pulling the market lower for the second day in a row.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wells Fargo will pay $1 billion to federal regulators to settle charges tied to misconduct at its mortgage and auto lending business, the latest punishment levied against the banking giant for widespread customer abuses.
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's six big Wall Street banks posted record, or near record, profits in the first quarter, and they can thank one person in particular: President Donald Trump.
NEW YORK (AP) — SunTrust Banks Inc. says accounts for 1.5 million clients could be compromised following a potential case of data theft.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says oil-producing cartel OPEC "is at it again," and that efforts to maintain high prices "will not be accepted!"
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines sought more time last year to inspect fan blades like the one that snapped off during one of its flights Tuesday in an engine failure that left a passenger dead.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Rashon Nelson initially brushed it off when the Starbucks manager told him he couldn't use the restroom because he wasn't a paying customer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund is warning that the healthiest global economy in years is being threatened by rising debt levels and a simmering trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a series of startlingly candid conversations, President Donald Trump told former FBI Director James Comey that he had serious concerns about the judgment of a top adviser, asked about the possibility of jailing journalists and described a boast from Vladimir Putin about Russian prostitutes, according to Comey's notes of the talks obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday night.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans largely fear the country's relationship with Russia and China will get worse in the coming year, and despite signs of diplomatic progress with Kim Jong Un on nuclear weapons, nearly half say the same about North Korea.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump since the early days of his campaign, is joining the team of lawyers representing the president in the special counsel's Russia investigation.
HAVANA (AP) — Raul Castro said Thursday that he expected 57-year-old Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez to serve two five-year terms as president and eventually take Castro's place as head of the Communist Party, potentially dominating Cuban politics until 2031.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving toward oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, fulfilling a longtime Republican priority that most Democrats fiercely oppose.