VOL. 43 | NO. 25 | Friday, June 21, 2019
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
The Metro election arrives in about six weeks, the absolute most momentous Metro election since – well, since the last one, I guess. Some 100-plus candidates are running for one office or another.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Shortly after Vanderbilt’s 2018 season ended one win short of the College World Series with an extra-inning defeat, Philip Clarke changed the background on his cellphone to TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Fans at the College World Series and across the Southeastern Conference may have never seen Preacher Franklin.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Are open houses a valuable real estate tool or simply a way for real estate brokers to pad their mailing lists?
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, May 2019, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates were little changed this week. The key 30-year, fixed-rate loan hovered around an average 3.8% for the third straight week.
GUEST COLUMNIST
More than 22 year ago, a group of citizens in Englewood filed a lawsuit against their city, alleging that their Board of Commissioners did not provide adequate notice of a meeting in which it selected a route for a highway expansion project.
NEWSMAKERS
Class action plaintiffs’ attorney John Spragens has launched a new plaintiffs’ law firm representing consumers, whistleblowers and victims of abuse, discrimination, medical malpractice, serious injury and wrongful death.
BRIEFS
Nashville-based Cumberland Consulting has been recognized as one of the top three consulting firms in the 2019 Payer IT Consulting report by KLAS, a peer-reviewed health care technology research organization.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The Honda Pilot has always been a strong choice for a midsize, three-row, crossover SUV. But Kia has recently introduced an all-new model known as the Telluride that it hopes will attract shoppers with its bold styling and value.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Many people worry about running out of money in retirement. That’s understandable, since we don’t know how long we’ll live, what our future costs might be and what kind of returns we can expect on our savings.
CAREER CORNER
There’s a riddle hidden at the end of job interviews. As a candidate, you show up to an interview believing you’ll be talking about fit. And, you do – at first.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
While serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Erik Goodge was severely wounded during a deployment to Afghanistan. After returning home, the veteran became passionate about finances as he navigated his post-military life and benefits.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State University says it's receiving $2 million from the state to help retain students who excel academically but are from underserved communities.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin gets right to the point when he discusses his protege, Erik Bakich.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Kentucky center Dorie Harrison is transferring to Lipscomb.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress bears down on big tech companies, two senators want to force giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon to tell users what data they're collecting from them and how much it's worth.
LONDON (AP) — A senior Facebook executive says the social media site is in favor of regulation to address some of the dark problems of the internet.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Democratic presidential hopefuls prepare for their first 2020 primary debate this week, 74 medical and public health groups aligned on Monday to push for a series of consensus commitments to combat climate change, bluntly defined by the organizations as "a health emergency."
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that calls for upfront disclosure by hospitals of actual prices for common tests and procedures to keep costs down .
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down a section of federal law that prevented officials from registering trademarks seen as scandalous or immoral, handing a victory Monday to California fashion brand FUCT.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with businesses and the U.S. government Monday in a ruling about the public's access to information, telling a South Dakota newspaper it can't get the data it was seeking.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is rejecting an early challenge to President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs on imported steel based on national security concerns.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The U.S. stock market capped a day of listless trading with modest losses Monday as investors focused on upcoming trade talks between the U.S. and China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is continuing efforts to pressure the U.S. central bank system, saying the stock markets and economic growth would be much higher if not for its actions.
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators are discussing ways to resolve disputes ahead of a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Japan later this week, a Chinese official said Monday.
BERLIN (AP) — A closely watched survey is showing that German business confidence has fallen to a near five-year low as managers' expectations for the coming six months have deteriorated.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is meeting this week with Sept. 11 first responders following withering criticism from comedian Jon Stewart that Congress had failed to ensure that a victims' compensation fund never runs out of money.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday targeting Iran's supreme leader and his associates with financial sanctions, the latest action the U.S. has taken to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and supporting militant groups.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is suggesting the United States should not protect ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz without compensation from other countries.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates have crisscrossed the country for six months selling their vision for the United States. But, on the eve of the first debates in the campaign , a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows most Democratic voters haven't fully tuned in.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has a silent partner behind several of the accomplishments he likes to boast about: Barack Obama.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he wants to build a global coalition against Iran during urgent consultations in the Middle East, following a week of crisis that saw the United States pull back from the brink of a military strike on Iran.
FRIDAY, JUNE 21
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville's mayor is proposing a reboot on electric scooters that would eliminate the program and remove all scooters from city streets but consider adding back one or two scooter companies if they can meet safety and accessibility requirements.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are proposing more than $10 million in economic incentives for Nashville-based SmileDirectClub's expansion.
MEDIA
MORRISTOWN (AP) — Lakeway Publishers says it does not plan to close any newspapers as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and restructuring.
EDUCATION
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University's Board of Trustees has approved a 2.37% increase in tuition and fees beginning this fall.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home sales jumped 2.5% in May, as lower mortgage rates appeared to help buyers overcome affordability challenges.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roughly one in every six times someone is taken to an emergency room or checks in to the hospital, the treatment is followed by a "surprise" medical bill, according to a study released Thursday. And depending on where you live, the odds can be much higher.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Mitsubishi Motors Corp. shareholders approved on Friday the ouster of Carlos Ghosn, who was pivotal in the Japanese automaker's three-way partnership with Nissan and Renault until he was arrested on financial misconduct charges last year.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Self-driving car pioneer Waymo is teaming up with automakers Renault and Nissan to make its first journey outside the U.S. with a ride-hailing service that will dispatch a fleet of robotaxis in France and Japan.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says prosecutors must prove that people charged with violating federal gun laws knew they were not allowed to have a weapon. The government says the decision could affect thousands of prosecutions of convicted criminals who are barred from having a firearm.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday threw out the murder conviction and death sentence for a black man in Mississippi because of a prosecutor's efforts to keep African Americans off the jury. The defendant already has been tried six times and now could face a seventh trial.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With one sentence Thursday, Justice Samuel Alito signaled his willingness to throw out the Supreme Court's 84-year-old record of support for the broad powers of federal agencies, which reaches back to the New Deal.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A 40-foot-tall, World War I memorial cross can continue to stand on public land in Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in an important decision about the use of religious symbols in American life.
TECHNOLOGY
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a poll shows.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street finished a milestone-setting week on a downbeat note Friday after a late flurry of selling nudged stocks lower, ending the market's four-day winning streak.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is blacklisting five Chinese organizations involved in supercomputing, calling them national security threats and cutting them off from critical U.S. technology.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nevada are joining the legal fight against T-Mobile's $26.5 billion bid for Sprint in a case that lawyers on both sides say they hope will reach trial in October.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union insisted Friday that it will not reopen the Brexit withdrawal agreement with the U.K. government whoever succeeds Theresa May as British prime minister.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract assembler of consumer electronics for companies such as Apple, said Friday he was stepping down amid speculation he could be planning a presidential run next year.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Millions of pigs have been culled in China and Vietnam as a U.N. food agency urges Asian governments to make containing virulent African swine fever their top priority.
Wall Street capped a broad rally for stocks Thursday by driving the S&P 500 index to an all-time high.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to demonstrate a united front Thursday in the uphill effort to get a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement over the finish line.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have agreed to prolong economic sanctions against Russia for another six months over its continued destabilization of Ukraine.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Walmart agreed Thursday to pay $282 million to settle civil and criminal allegations of overseas corruption, including payment through a Brazilian subsidiary of more than $500,000 to an intermediary known as a "sorceress" for her uncanny ability to make permit problems disappear.
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of work messaging platform Slack are expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "WORK."
BEIJING (AP) — China warned Thursday that threats and tariffs will not resolve trade tensions between the two biggest economies and blasted Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for his criticism of technology giant Huawei over patents.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House intelligence committee says it will subpoena Russia-born business executive Felix Sater after he did not appear for a scheduled interview Friday to discuss his behind-the-scenes role in Donald Trump's effort to build a skyscraper in Moscow during the presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. was "cocked and loaded" to retaliate against Iran for downing an unmanned American surveillance drone, but he canceled the strikes 10 minutes before they were to be launched after being told 150 people could die.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former top White House adviser Hope Hicks was blocked by President Donald Trump's lawyers from answering questions more than 150 times in a combative interview with the House Judiciary Committee this week, according to Democrats who released a 273-page transcript on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Thursday that "Iran made a very big mistake" in shooting down a U.S. surveillance drone near the Persian Gulf but suggested it was a foolish error rather than an intentional escalation of the tensions that have led to fears of open conflict.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to block the Trump administration from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, launching a new challenge to President Donald Trump's alliance with the country amid rising tensions in the Middle East.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he's open for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump but doesn't expect quick progress on easing tensions with Washington.