VOL. 45 | NO. 30 | Friday, July 23, 2021
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, June 2021, for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage rates fell for the fourth straight week, undercut by worries that the surging delta coronavirus variant and the worsening pandemic in hotspots around the world could derail what has been a strong economic recovery.
NEWSMAKERS
Charles K. Grant, a shareholder in the Nashville office of Baker Donelson, has been appointed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee to serve on its Board of Professional Responsibility.
BRIEFS
Nashville-based MacNeill Pride Group, a designer and manufacturer of outdoor products and sporting goods, has acquired Klymit, a leading outdoor gear designer.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Americans are holding onto their vehicles longer than ever, with the average age of a car in 2020 rising to a record 12.1 years, data from IHS Markit reveals. But if you own a car for long enough and something goes wrong mechanically, you’re likely to see an amber check engine light somewhere in the gauge cluster.
PERSONAL FINANCE
In some ways, the U.S. credit reporting system has improved. Credit freezes, which lock our credit information to deter identity theft, are now free and fast. We have free weekly access to our credit reports, courtesy of the credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, until April 20. Free credit scores provided by banks, credit card issuers and other companies allow us to easily monitor for signs of fraud and other problems.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
When you’re frequently bombarded with ads for credit cards at big banks, it’s easy to overlook credit cards at a local credit union. These not-for-profit organizations typically require membership based on location or affiliation with an employer, a family member or an organization.
CAREER CORNER
There’s a shortage of workers. It’s hard to say exactly how we got here since there are so many factors involved. But, you can see the results of this shortage everywhere you look.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
You need it.... now. Actually, the document you’re looking for was needed yesterday. You had it then, it was here five minutes ago, and it’s gone now – probably buried beneath 50 other pieces of paper you’ll also need soon and won’t be able to find.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The number of murders in Tennessee jumped 37% last year compared to 2019, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's 2020 Crime in Tennessee report reveals.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials say four horses have tested positive for a bacterial illness known as Potomac horse fever.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's corrections leader plans to retire this fall after almost four decades with the department.
COURTS
DENVER (AP) — A U.S. appeals court has ruled against a web designer who didn't want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples and sued to challenge Colorado's anti-discrimination law, another twist in a series of court rulings nationwide about whether businesses denying services to LGBTQ people amounts to bias or freedom of speech.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee man who ran a Ponzi scheme disguised as a holistic wellness business was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices for U.S. homes rose faster in May than they have in 17 years as surging demand for housing outstripped the supply.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step against climate change, President Joe Biden is proposing a return to aggressive Obama-era vehicle mileage standards over five years. He's then aiming for even tougher anti-pollution rules after that to forcefully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nudge 40% of U.S. drivers into electric vehicles by decade's end.
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Tesla's quarterly profit has surpassed $1 billion for the first time thanks to the electric car pioneer's ability to navigate through a pandemic-driven computer chip shortage that has caused major headaches for other automakers.
TRANSPORTATION
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The fuel needle is moving closer to "empty" at some U.S. airports.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says that requiring all federal workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus is "under consideration," as the more infectious Delta variant surges across the United States and a significant chunk of Americans still refuse the shot.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The state of California. New York City. Hospitals and nursing homes. Colleges and universities. Employers are putting COVID-19 vaccine requirements into place and it's getting attention. But what happens if workers refuse?
California and New York City announced Monday that they would require all government employees to get the coronavirus vaccine or face weekly COVID-19 testing, and the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to receive the shot.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Moderna said Monday it plans to expand the size of its COVID-19 vaccine study in younger children to better detect rare side effects, such as a type of heart inflammation recently flagged by U.S. health authorities.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks closed lower on Wall Street, pulling major indexes back slightly from the records they set a day earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The signs and banners are dotted along suburban commercial strips and hanging in shop windows and restaurants, evidence of a new desperation among America's service-industry employers: "Now Hiring, $15 an hour."
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence was largely unchanged between June and July, holding to the lofty heights that were last seen near the beginning of 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic throttled the U.S. and global economies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is sharply upgrading its economic outlook this year for the world's wealthy countries, especially the United States, as COVID-19 vaccinations help sustain solid rebounds from the pandemic recession. But the 190-country lending agency has downgraded its forecast for poorer countries, most of which are struggling to vaccinate.
For the first time in nearly two decades, only half of U.S. households donated to a charity, according to a study released Tuesday. The findings confirm a trend worrying experts: Donations to charitable causes are reaching record highs, but the giving is done by a smaller and smaller slice of the population.
ATLANTA (AP) — Free from the pandemic lockdowns of last year, more shoppers are venturing into stores and relying just a bit less on brown UPS trucks.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin's price surged again Monday after speculation that Amazon may be entering the cryptocurrency sector after it posted a job seeking a "digital currency and blockchain product lead."
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — "This is how I'm going to die, defending this entrance," Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell recalled thinking, testifying Tuesday at the emotional opening hearing of the congressional panel investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Republicans want former President Donald Trump to have at least some influence over their party's direction even as many who side with the GOP say they are uneasy about its future.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators and the White House were locked in intense negotiations Tuesday to salvage a bipartisan infrastructure deal, with pressure mounting on all sides to wrap up talks and show progress on President Joe Biden's top priority.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In their search for a new approach to arms control, Moscow and Washington are likely to soon encounter an old bugaboo: Russia's demand that the U.S. stop resisting limits on its missile defenses, which the Russians view as a long-term threat and the Americans see as a deterrent to war.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is making his first visit to an agency of the U.S. intelligence community, looking to emphasize his confidence in national security leaders after his predecessor's incendiary battles against what he often derided as the "deep state."
MONDAY, JULY 26
SPORTS
Barring a dramatic change of direction, Texas and Oklahoma are moving toward taking the Red River Rivalry to the Southeastern Conference in a seismic shift that will have repercussions in college sports from coast to coast.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee paid thousands of dollars for social media influencers to promote a contentious new initiative that uses $2.5 million in taxpayer dollars to offer flight vouchers largely to out-of-state residents.
MIDSTATE
Integrated Biometric Technology, LLC officials announced today that the company will establish new operations and locate its corporate headquarters in Franklin.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Museum will soon allow the public to view the busts of three military leaders, including a former Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating eight new leaders for U.S. attorney positions across the country, including in the office overseeing the prosecutions of hundreds of defendants charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes fell for a third straight month in June, dropping by 6.6%. to the lowest level in more than a year.
TRANSPORTATION
A shortage of jet fuel, coupled with supply chain issues and an urgent demand from firefighting aircraft, continues to cause problems at airports around the West.
TECHNOLOGY
BEIJING (AP) — China's industry ministry has announced a 6-month campaign to clean up what it says are serious problems with internet apps violating consumer rights, cyber security and "disturbing market order."
ENVIRONMENT
ROME (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that climate change and conflict are both a consequence and a driver of poverty, income inequality and food prices.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Two companies seeking to build thousands of miles of pipeline across the Midwest are promising the effort will aid rather than hinder the fight against climate change, though some environmental groups remain skeptical.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines, as the aggressive delta variant spreads and some communities report troubling increases in hospitalizations among unvaccinated people.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States served notice Monday that it will keep existing COVID-19 travel restrictions on international travel in place for now due to concerns about the surging infection rate because of the delta variant.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The United States is in an "unnecessary predicament" of soaring COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation's top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.
TOKYO (AP) — First, the sun. Now: the wind and the rain.
LONDON (AP) — Chaos and confusion over travel rules and measures to contain new virus outbreaks are contributing to another cruel summer for Europe's battered tourism industry.
PARIS (AP) — France's parliament approved a law early Monday requiring special virus passes for all restaurants and domestic travel and mandating vaccinations for all health workers.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks shook off a wobbly start and finished slightly higher on Wall Street, edging major indexes a bit further into record territory.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation uncomfortably high and the COVID-19 Delta variant raising economic concerns, a divided Federal Reserve will meet this week to discuss when and how it should dial back its ultra-low-interest rate policies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is banking on the idea of making life more affordable for middle-class families — and that's where the recent bout of inflation poses both a political and an economic risk.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one California river, and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. Fishermen who make their living off adult salmon, once they enter the Pacific Ocean, are sounding the alarm as blistering heat waves and extended drought in the U.S. West raise water temperatures and imperil fish from Idaho to California.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators ran into new problems Monday as they raced to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal, with pressure mounting on all sides to show progress on President Joe Biden's top priority.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, didn't realize the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection until his wife called him.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi are expected to announce on Monday that they've agreed to end the U.S. military's combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year, according to a senior Biden administration official.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday named a second Republican critic of Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, to a special committee investigating the Capitol riot and pledged that the Democratic-majority panel will "get to the truth." Kinzinger said he "humbly accepted" the appointment even as his party's leadership is boycotting the inquiry.
FRIDAY, JULY 23
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — In his first interview in six months, disgraced country star Morgan Wallen said it was ignorant of him to use a racial slur.
PREDATORS
MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said captain Shea Weber will not play next season because of injuries and that the defenseman's career may be over.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A conservative talk radio host from Tennessee who had been a vaccine skeptic until he was hospitalized from COVID-19 now says his listeners should get vaccinated.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt University announced the launch Thursday of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements, honoring the influential activist who taught non-violence to protesters during the civil rights struggles last century.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that had been prominently displayed inside the Tennessee Capitol for decades — over objections from Black lawmakers and activists — was removed from its pedestal Friday.
REGION
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority is launching a five-episode web series to promote electric vehicles, according to a news release from the utility.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee panel has sent Gov. Bill Lee three options to fill a judicial vacancy that covers five counties.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A drug manufacturer announced Thursday that it has reached a $35 million agreement that would settle a Tennessee lawsuit by local governments and a child born dependent to opioids over the company's role in the opioid epidemic, though steps remain to finalize the deal.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling some older Chevrolet Bolts for a second time to fix persistent battery problems that can set the electric cars ablaze.
ENVIRONMENT
Efforts to increase how much philanthropic funding goes to minority-led environmental organizations are gaining momentum, with one group's push for transparency from the nation's top climate donors drawing big-name support.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
BERLIN (AP) — Germany is listing Spain and the Netherlands as "high-incidence areas," meaning that most people arriving from those countries who aren't fully vaccinated will have to go into quarantine from next week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican politicians are under increasing pressure to speak out to persuade COVID-19 vaccine skeptics to roll up their sleeves and take the shots as a new, more contagious variant sends caseloads soaring. But after months of ignoring — and, in some cases, stoking — misinformation about the virus, new polling suggests it may be too late to change the minds of many who are refusing.
Should vaccinated people mask up with COVID-19 cases rising?
LONDON (AP) — The British government has sought to ease food supply pressures in England by exempting more than 10,000 workers from quarantine rules that led to staff shortages and empty shelves and fears of panic-buying.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street notched more record highs on Friday, ending the week on a strong note after opening it with a stumble.
NEW YORK (AP) — Spending at restaurants, shops and entertainment venues has come back in force as vaccines become more common and it fueled a revenue surge at American Express during the second quarter.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Friday that she will start taking emergency measures next week to keep the government from an unprecedented default on the national debt, warning that a default would cause "irreparable harm to the U.S. economy and the livelihoods of all Americans."
ATLANTA (AP) — At first glance, Herschel Walker has a coveted political profile for a potential Senate candidate in Georgia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unfazed by Republican threats of a boycott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection will take on its "deadly serious" work whether Republicans participate or not.
THURSDAY, JULY 22
NASHVILLE SC
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Joe Willis made seven saves and Nashville played a scoreless draw with the Columbus Crew to extend its unbeaten streak to six games.
SPORTS
The last time Texas got a wandering eye for another conference it fueled a series of realignments in college sports that nearly killed the Big 12.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Harold Love Jr. raised his voice over the blare of traffic from the interstate above as he stood near the spot where his family's home was razed to rubble a half-century ago. Love recounted the fight his father put up in the 1960s, before he was born, to reroute the highway he was sure would stifle and isolate Nashville's Black community.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday came out in full defense of his administration's firing of the state's vaccination chief and rollback of outreach for childhood vaccines, both of which have sparked national scrutiny over Tennessee's inoculation efforts against COVID-19.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A decadeslong effort to remove a bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader from the Tennessee Capitol cleared its final hurdle Thursday, with state leaders approving the final vote needed to allow the statue to be relocated to a museum.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two Tennessee Republican lawmakers said Wednesday they received assurances that the state's health agency won't vaccinate minors for COVID-19 without parental consent, doubling back on a decades-old provision about children's vaccination rights that was a lightning rod in the firing of the state's top vaccine official.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials say they are partnering on an initiative to add electric vehicle charging stations at state parks.
COURTS
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Tennessee's district attorney for Hamilton County used county funds to supplement state pay for his wife and brother-in-law, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday he hoped the Senate would confirm the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to help front the federal effort against gun violence.
REAL ESTATE
AUTO INDUSTRY
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in June, snapping a four-month losing streak, while strong demand for higher-end properties and ultra-low mortgage rates helped push prices to new highs.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Daimler AG's luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz says it is stepping up its transition to electric cars, doubling the share of sales planned by 2025 and sketching out a market scenario in which new car sales would "in essence" be fully electric by the end of the decade.
TRANSPORTATION
DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines and Southwest Airlines both posted second-quarter profits on Thursday thanks to generous federal pandemic relief that covers most of their labor costs.
MEDIA
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands' Data Protection Authority said Thursday it has fined TikTok 750,000 euros ($885,000) for not offering a privacy statement in Dutch, saying many children who use the popular video sharing app would be unable to understand the information.
HEALTH CARE
As a $26 billion settlement over the toll of opioids looms, some public health experts are citing the 1998 agreement with tobacco companies as a cautionary tale of runaway government spending and missed opportunities for saving more lives.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
CINCINNATI (AP) — President Joe Biden expressed pointed frustration over the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and pleaded that it's "gigantically important" for Americans to step up and get inoculated against the virus as it surges once again.
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo hit another six-month high in new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, one day before the Olympics begin, as worries grow of a worsening of infections during the Games.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden offered an absolute guarantee Wednesday that people who get their COVID-19 vaccines are completely protected from infection, sickness and death from the coronavirus. The reality is not that cut and dried.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Major indexes edged higher on Wall Street after a day of muted trading, preserving their gains for the week.
Small businesses in the U.S. that depend on tourism and vacationers say business is bouncing back, as Americans rebook postponed trips and spend freely on food, entertainment and souvenirs.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Facing unease over the spread of a more-contagious variant of the coronavirus, the European Central Bank said it would maintain its stimulus in the form of ultra-low interest rates until inflation "durably" reaches its 2% target.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week from the lowest point of the pandemic, even as the job market appears to be rebounding on the strength of a reopened economy.
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that a compromise deal that will allow the completion of a Russian gas pipeline to Europe without the imposition of further U.S. sanctions is "good for Ukraine."
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — CSX railroad's second-quarter profit more than doubled as the economy continued to rebound from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and it hauled 27% more freight than a year ago.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection "will do the job it set out to do" despite Republicans' vow to boycott the probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are raising new concerns about the thoroughness of the FBI's background investigation into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI revealed that it had received thousands of tips and had provided "all relevant" ones to the White House counsel's office.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced new sanctions Thursday against a Cuban official and a government special brigade that it says was involved in human rights abuses during a government crackdown on protests on the island earlier this month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats accused Republicans Wednesday of a "shameless, cynical" ploy that would damage the economy and the government's credit rating after the chamber's GOP leader said his party would vote against raising the federal debt limit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The overwhelming majority of Americans -- about 8 in 10 -- favor plans to increase funding for roads, bridges and ports and for pipes that supply drinking water. But that's about as far as Democrats and Republicans intersect on infrastructure, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.