VOL. 43 | NO. 7 | Friday, February 15, 2019
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
The Vanderbilt trauma surgeon neatly put his finger on what, to me, was the real puzzler for the evening:
JIM MYERS: CULINARITY
With apologies to both Shakespeare and Star Trek fans, the theme for my first Ledger column, “By Any Other Name,’’ hints at the peculiar challenge of naming things.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
How important is home ownership? It is something everyone should attempt?
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, January 2019, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week to a 12-month low, an enticement for prospective homebuyers in the upcoming season.
NEWSMAKERS
Ruby Z. Shellaway, an attorney who has held key roles in higher education, federal government and in the private sector, has been named vice chancellor, general counsel and university secretary at Vanderbilt University.
BRIEFS
Nashville business leaders and philanthropists Pam and Phil Pfeffer have made a significant investment in Lipscomb University’s College of Business to establish the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business, Lipscomb University President L. Randolph Lowry says.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Two of the best-selling small SUVs on the market today are the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4, with the CR-V being Edmunds’ top-ranked small SUV.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Buy-buy. If you’re in retail, those words cause mixed feelings. They’re what you wish people are doing, but they sound like what people are saying. Here’s the evidence: Toys R Us, Sears, Macy’s, wow. What’s going on? Better question, as author Mark Pilkington asks in “Retail Therapy,” how can we stop it?
PERSONAL FINANCE
Plenty has been written about American workers’ failure to plan adequately for retirement. Their employers seem to be doing an even worse job.
CAREER CORNER
It’s the month of love, and I hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day. Every year, I write a column about why it’s important to love your job. This year, let’s look at it another way.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
From their TVs to their phones, consumers are bombarded with thousands of ads, videos and images that leave their eyes tired and your brand fighting for attention.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Prominent businesses, top Republicans and political action committees helped Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee raise nearly $2.5 million for his inauguration last month.
MEMPHIS (AP) — Russell Sugarmon Jr., a former Tennessee state senator, civil rights leader and Memphis judge, has died.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Comcast is suing the state of Tennessee to recoup $17.1 million paid in taxes, claiming the state miscalculated what the company owed for its video and internet services.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Democratic lawmakers in Tennessee say the General Assembly should ban shackling pregnant women in detention, particularly during childbirth.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that tariffs on autos imported from Europe are something "we certainly think about" as the White House reviews a Commerce Department report on whether imported vehicles and parts pose a threat to U.S. national security.
DETROIT (AP) — Nearly four years ago, the U.S. government's highway safety agency began investigating air bag inflators made by ARC Automotive of Tennessee when two people were hit by flying shrapnel after crashes.
TOKYO (AP) — The newly appointed star defender for former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday that he believes the case against his client does "not meet international standards" and could scare international businesses away from Japan.
PREDATORS
DALLAS (AP) — Filip Forsberg answered for the Nashville Predators when they needed it in the second period.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's offense was bad. Vanderbilt's was worse.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies to the states, an outcome that could help efforts to rein in police seizure of property from criminal suspects.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee nurse charged with reckless homicide after a medication error killed a patient pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a Nashville courtroom packed with other nurses who came in scrubs to show their support.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Samsung is expected to show off its latest smartphones Wednesday, the latest effort by a phone maker to come up with new features compelling enough to end a sales slump.
ENVIRONMENT
RIMINI, Mont. (AP) — Every day many millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the U.S. and into surrounding streams and ponds without being treated, The Associated Press has found.
BERLIN (AP) — Commodities giant Glencore said Wednesday it will cap how much coal it mines amid shareholder pressure for it to help reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases.
HEALTH CARE
CVS Health is setting 2019 earnings expectations well below Wall Street forecasts, as the company struggles to fix part of its business while blending in a major acquisition and attempting to change how customers use its stores.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street capped another day of listless trading Wednesday with a slight gain, extending the market's winning streak to a third day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve policymakers last month noted greater threats to the U.S. economy, ranging from adverse effects of the government shutdown to rising trade tensions, and opted to emphasize that they would be "patient" in raising interest rates.
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines is lashing out at the union representing its mechanics, suggesting that they are purposely grounding planes in order to gain leverage in new contract negotiations.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The failing Payless ShoeSource chain will honor gift cards and store credit until March 11 as the company liquidates all operations.
PARIS (AP) — A French court ordered Swiss bank UBS to pay more than 3.7 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in fines for helping wealthy French clients evade tax authorities, wrapping up one of France's biggest-ever tax evasion trials.
NATIONAL POLITICS
LONDON (AP) — A hacking group has targeted European democratic institutions including think tanks and non-profit groups ahead of highly anticipated EU parliamentary elections in May, Microsoft said.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A prosecutor said Tuesday that family members of an armed black man who was fatally shot from behind by a white Nashville police officer want a slew of records made public in the officer's first-degree murder case.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won't hear the case of a Tennessee death row inmate who claimed his rights were violated when he was forced to represent himself at trial.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back on the Supreme Court bench, eight weeks after surgery for lung cancer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is staying out of a lawsuit involving the television show "Empire."
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee says his upcoming budget proposal will include repealing the $10 million amusement tax on gym memberships.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has set up a website that will accept public comments on bills that have passed and are awaiting his decision.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — More than a decade after the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the idea of creating a database of ministers credibly accused of sexual abuse, leaders said on Monday night the possibility is on the table.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials with the Tennessee Department of Health say 85 percent of all maternity deaths in 2017 could have been prevented, with substance abuse being determined as the leading contribution in those deaths.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese carmaker Honda plans to close its car factory in western England in 2021, a fresh blow to the British economy as it struggles with the uncertainty associated with leaving the European Union next month.
ENVIRONMENT
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement on the first specific EU standards for trucks, seeking to get polluting CO2 levels down.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks shook off an early wobble on Wall Street Tuesday, finishing modestly higher and extending the market's gains into a fourth week.
NEW YORK (AP) — Payless ShoeSource has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is shuttering its remaining stores in North America.
PARIS (AP) — Human rights advocates are meeting in Paris to discuss the strategy of the G7 group of industrialized nations for ending violence and discrimination against women.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and China resume talks Tuesday aimed at ending a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions ahead of a deadline for a massive U.S. tariff hike.
PARIS (AP) — Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's iconic couturier whose designs had an unprecedented impact on the entire fashion industry, died Tuesday in Paris, prompting an outpouring of love and admiration for the man in the trademark white ponytail, high starched collar and dark enigmatic glasses who dominated high fashion for the past 50 years.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart beat expectations on quarterly profit and revenue, and e-commerce sales surged during the critical holiday period.
BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will be traveling to European Union headquarters to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations, was told Tuesday on the eve of the talks that her most important demand is not even up for discussion.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials, according to a new congressional report citing whistleblowers within the administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A person familiar with FBI internal discussions says after FBI Director James Comey was fired the bureau developed a plan to protect evidence in its Russia investigation. The concern was that other senior officials might be dismissed as well.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants to see North Korea eventually give up its nuclear weapons program, but adds he's not in any rush because U.S. relations with Pyongyang are good going into next week's summit.
BOSTON (AP) — Democrats in Congress are accusing the Education Department of interfering with an investigation by the agency's independent watchdog.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is moving closer toward his goal of creating a Space Force, just not as the separate military department he envisioned.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Roger Stone to appear in court to consider whether to revoke his bail after the longtime Donald Trump confidant posted a photo on Instagram of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun.
LONDON (AP) — Twitter says it's tightening up rules for European Union political ads ahead of bloc-wide elections set for the spring, following similar moves by fellow tech giants Facebook and Google.
DENVER (AP) — America's suburbs are today's great political battleground, long seen as an independent pivot between the country's liberal cities and conservative small towns and rural expanse.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is criticizing California's lead role in a multistate lawsuit challenging his emergency declaration to pay for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose insurgent 2016 presidential campaign reshaped Democratic politics, announced Tuesday that he is running for president in 2020.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt is renaming its student recreation and wellness center in honor of former athletic director David Williams II.
UT SPORTS
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Duke keeps finding its way back to No. 1.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers issued a scathing report Monday that calls for tougher rules to keep Facebook and other tech firms from acting like "digital gangsters" and intentionally violating data privacy and competition laws.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LONDON (AP) — Honda will close a car factory in western England with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs, British media and a local lawmaker said Monday, in another blow to a British economy made jittery by Brexit.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says that its reaction will be "swift and adequate" if U.S. authorities conclude that European cars are a threat to national security and should be hit with punitive tariffs.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union warned U.S. President Donald Trump Monday that the bloc will step back from a commitment to buy more American soybeans and liquid gas if European cars are hit with punitive tariffs.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon, which ships millions of packages a year to shopper's doorsteps, says it wants to be greener.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government on Monday accused the United States of trying to block its industrial development by alleging that Chinese mobile network gear poses a cybersecurity threat to countries rolling out new internet systems.
NATIONAL POLITICS
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Republican operative, who last year rounded up votes for a GOP candidate running for Congress, conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation, North Carolina's elections director said Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview that aired Sunday that a "crime may have been committed" when President Donald Trump fired the head of the FBI and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — When President Donald Trump visited Beto O'Rourke's hometown to argue that walling off the southern border would make the U.S. safer, the former Democratic congressman and possible 2020 presidential hopeful was ready.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is going after the "horror show" known as the diversity visa lottery program. His description of it is pure fiction.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nearly half of Tennessee students enrolled in higher education during the 2016-2017 school year needed some sort of remedial classes during their first year of college, according to new state data.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation says its top state parks official has been fired over allegations of workplace misconduct.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Pekke Rinne and Viktor Arvidsson gave Nashville more of the same Thursday night. A little extra from newcomer Brian Boyle helped make the difference.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is spending big to give coach Jeremy Pruitt a more experienced staff with some familiar faces.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a wide range of anti-abortion legislation following newly elected Gov. Bill Lee's promise to support any bill reducing the number of abortions throughout the state.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has returned to work at the building for the first time since lung cancer surgery in late December.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A new Tennessee attorney general opinion says judges can apply hate crime enhancements when sentencing cases that target transgender individuals.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The attorney for a white police officer charged with fatally shooting an armed black man is calling for legal discovery documents to be sealed from the public.
REGION
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority board voted Thursday to close a coal-fired power plant in Kentucky, rejecting pressure from President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a move that will further reduce its dependence on coal.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year in space put astronaut Scott Kelly's immune system on high alert and changed the activity of some of his genes compared to his Earth-bound identical twin.
ENVIRONMENT
Under pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it would move toward setting safety limits for a class of highly toxic chemicals contaminating drinking water around the country. Environmentalists, congressional Democrats and state officials countered that the agency wasn't moving fast enough.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — A Memphis, Tennessee facility that distributes retail products for Verizon says it is closing.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 400 points Friday as renewed optimism over trade talks between the U.S. and China put investors in a buying mood.
Amazon's breakup with New York was still fresh when other cities started sending their own valentines to the online giant.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon jilted New York City on Valentine's Day, scrapping plans to build a massive headquarters campus in Queens amid fierce opposition from politicians angry about nearly $3 billion in tax breaks and the company's anti-union stance.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It's been a complicated few weeks for Amazon, what with its abrupt pullout from a massive New York City development, extortion claims related to intimate photos taken by its founder Jeff Bezos and increasing antitrust scrutiny in Europe .
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production fell 0.6 percent in January, stemming in large part from an 8.8 percent plunge in the making of motor vehicles and auto parts.
BEIJING (AP) — President Donald Trump said that "there's a possibility" he would extend a March 2 deadline in trade talks with China if the two countries are closing in on a deal.
MOSCOW (AP) — A veteran U.S. investment fund manager was detained in Moscow on Friday and faces fraud charges in a case that's likely to rattle the Russian business community.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite President Donald Trump's tough talk on trade, his administration has granted hundreds of companies permission to import millions of tons of steel made in China, Japan and other countries without paying the hefty tariff he put in place to protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Amazon dumps NYC headquarters and its promised 25,000 jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average tax refund and the total amount of refunds issued declined for the second straight week, potentially intensifying a political flashpoint seized by Democrats as proof that the Republican-written tax law hurts the middle class.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks drifted to a mixed finish on Wall Street as losses for banks and consumer products makers outweighed gains elsewhere in the market.
NEW YORK (AP) — The nine companies and organizations tasked with servicing the accounts of the nation's 30 million student loan borrowers repeatedly failed to do their jobs properly over a period of years and their regulator neglected to hold them responsible, a new report finds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains at levels low enough to show that most workers enjoy job security.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales fell in December, posting the biggest drop since September 2009 and delivering more evidence that last year's holiday sales fizzled unexpectedly. Even e-commerce suffered a big setback.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered an embarrassing defeat by lawmakers Thursday in a vote that left her bid to secure a European Union divorce deal stuck between an intransigent EU and a resistant U.K. Parliament — with Brexit just six weeks away.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices fell for a second straight month in January as energy costs fell sharply again. The monthly declines were more evidence that inflation remains under control.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defiant in the face of a stinging budget defeat, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Friday to get more federal dollars for his long-promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, relying on a broad interpretation of his powers that was certain to trigger stiff legal challenges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency at the southern border while acknowledging that rapid construction of a wall is not a necessity, but rather his preference. In justifying the extraordinary step, he brushed aside his administration's conclusions that drugs come into the country primarily at official points of entry, not over remote territory that a barrier could seal off.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency to build his long-promised border wall ends one political problem for the White House and its allies on Capitol Hill, but launches another.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday barred longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone from making public comments that could influence potential jurors in the criminal case brought by the special counsel in the Russia probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will spend about $8 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. It's a far greater sum than the roughly $1.4 billion Congress set aside for that purpose in legislation Trump is expected to sign to prevent another partial government shutdown.
WASHINGTON (AP) — If President Donald Trump declares an emergency to build the wall with Mexico, he still needs money to pay for it. And shifting money from other accounts to deliver the $5.7 billion he wants is not without political problems.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's not just about President Donald Trump's border wall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first two Democratic presidential debates for the 2020 election will have two heats with room for a total of 20 candidates who meet certain polling or grassroots fundraising thresholds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview aired Thursday that he worried that investigations into President Donald Trump's ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice would be shut down after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley says he's praying that President Donald Trump will sign the border security deal into law to prevent a government shutdown.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsel's Russia probe, a judge has ruled.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed William Barr as attorney general, placing the veteran government official and lawyer atop the Justice Department as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Russian interference in the 2016 election.