VOL. 42 | NO. 20 | Friday, May 18, 2018
ATLANTA (AP) — The NFL draft is heading to Music City. League owners awarded the 2019 draft to Nashville during their annual spring meetings on Wednesday, clearly impressed with the city's turnout for events such as the NHL Stanley Cup Final and a party to unveil redesigned uniforms for the Tennessee Titans.
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
When Van Halen front man David Lee Roth opened a bottle of Jack Daniel’s on stage back in the ’80s, the last thing he thought about was taxes and court appeals when he took a big swig of whiskey.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
One interesting aspect of residential real estate is how some insignificant, irrelevant places in town become landmarks thanks to the marketing and consequent branding of developers and their Realtors. The names bestowed upon these sites become woven into the realty tapestry.
NEWSMAKERS
Anderson Benson, an independent Nashville-based insurance and risk management firm, has hired two new account managers. Sarah Anderson and Cynthia Russell have joined the firm.
BRIEFS
Saint Thomas Health and Acadia Healthcare are partnering to create a new 76-bed psychiatric inpatient hospital at Metro Center in Nashville.
NASHVILLE AREA
Ever get stuck behind a slow-pedaling batch of bachelorettes and wish you could lock them away somewhere? Help is at hand.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Over the past few years, car shoppers have flocked to crossovers and SUVs because of their higher seating position, added cargo space and ease of entry. As a result, sedan sales have slowed to a crawl.
PREDATORS
Only a couple of seasons ago, the Predators could point to their trip to the second round of the playoffs as progress, a sign the team was once again moving in the right direction.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Engaging videos, impactful testimonials and beautiful graphics can all be parts of an efficient website. Although it may look and function seamlessly, you cannot judge the success of your website simply on the aesthetics or mechanics. You’ll have to consult the hard numbers to judge the success of a website and, if necessary, determine how to alter that success.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Wash your hands thoroughly.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton, Kelly Clarkson, Kelsea Ballerini, Sam Hunt and Luke Bryan will be performing live at the CMT Awards show next month.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Middle Tennessee State University says it has struck an agreement with its research partner in China to for a joint ginseng institute.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans seem confident that their young wide receivers will quickly make an impact this year.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Former Tennessee wide receiver CJ Fayton is returning to his alma mater in a new position.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress delivered a victory to President Donald Trump by expanding private care for veterans as an alternative to the troubled Veterans Affairs health system.
COURTS
JACKSON (AP) — Federal prosecutors say an Oregon couple featured on the television show "Weed Country" has been indicted on marijuana-related charges in Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and the Knoxville News Sentinel are asking a judge to give the public access to all records in the state's lawsuit against the makers of the world's top-selling painkiller.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes fell 1.5 percent in April, held down by a shortage of affordable houses in the most desirable areas and sharp pullback in purchases in the western United States.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Three investors are looking to buy stakes in Uber in an offer that values the company at $62 billion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that U.S. automakers and auto workers would be "very happy" with the outcome of talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which have stalled amid a dispute over rules for car production.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks turned higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it's not in a hurry to raise interest rates too quickly. Retailers and technology companies led the way as the market erased some early losses.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas casinos could watch tens of thousands of employees walk off the job for the first time in more than three decades after union members voted to authorize a strike at any time starting June 1, a move that could cripple the city's world-famous resorts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials earlier this month suggested that another rate hike was on the way soon, while also noting several risks facing the economy from rising wage pressures to potential harm from administration trade policies.
NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast and Disney are on the verge of a head-to-head bidding war for Fox's entertainment properties.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government pledged Wednesday to work conscientiously with Washington ahead of a visit by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to Beijing to work on resolving a sprawling trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas casinos could watch tens of thousands of employees walk off the job for the first time in more than three decades after union members voted to authorize a strike at any time starting June 1, a move that could cripple the city's world-famous resorts.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump cast doubt Wednesday on the prospects for talks that are designed to head off a trade war between the United States and China.
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter says it's adding special labels to tweets from some U.S. political candidates ahead of this year's midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump indicated Wednesday that he's eager to sign a bill that would dismantle a chunk of the rules framework for banks, installed to prevent recurrence of the 2008 financial crisis that brought millions of lots jobs and foreclosed homes.
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Democrats gave Atlanta lawyer Stacey Abrams a chance to become the first black female governor in American history on a primary night that ended well for several women seeking office.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is increasing the pressure on the Justice Department, declining to say whether he has confidence in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after the White House negotiated rare access to classified documents for Trump's congressional allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and South Korea are laboring to keep the highly anticipated U.S. summit with North Korea on track, even after President Donald Trump abruptly said "there's a very substantial chance" it won't happen as scheduled.
TUESDAY, MAY 22
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Mayor David Briley has added a long-debated $125 million flood protection system for the downtown area to the city's proposed capital improvements budget.
NASHVILLE (AP) — In a blow to the owner of Opry Mills Mall, the Tennessee Supreme Court has let stand a lower court's ruling that stripped $150 million of insurance coverage for the 2010 flood.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal transportation panel is recommending to states that all new large school buses be equipped with seatbelts.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have promoted Jeff Kealty and Brian Poile to assistant general manager positions following the departure of Paul Fenton.
Paul Fenton was hired as general manager of the Minnesota Wild on Monday, after 20 seasons in the front office with the division rival Nashville Predators.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. said Tuesday it plans to spend $2.3 billion acquiring an additional 60 percent stake in EMI Music Publishing, home to the Motown catalog and contemporary artists like Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Pharrell Williams.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. clung to its health insurance gains last year, an unexpected outcome after President Donald Trump's repeated tries to take apart the Obama-era coverage expansion, according to a major government survey released Tuesday.
TECHNOLOGY
SEATTLE (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union and other privacy activists are asking Amazon to stop marketing a powerful facial recognition tool to police, saying law enforcement agencies could use the technology to "easily build a system to automate the identification and tracking of anyone."
BRUSSELS (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced tough questions from European Union lawmakers Tuesday over what one of them branded Zuckerberg's "digital monster," and he apologized for the way the social network has been used to produce fake news, interfere in elections and sweep up people's personal data.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks faded Tuesday afternoon and finished the day mostly lower as industrial companies and retailers fell. Smaller and more U.S.-focused companies slumped after setting records the last few days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Federal Reserve survey shows that despite an ultra-low 3.9 percent unemployment rate, about one-third of U.S. adults faced financial insecurity last year and often struggled to pay unexpected expenses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress was taking a final step Tuesday toward dismantling a chunk of the rules framework for banks installed to prevent a recurrence of the 2008 financial crisis that brought millions of lost jobs and foreclosed homes.
NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney's CEO Marvin Ellison, one of only a handful of African American CEOs to lead a Fortune 500 company, is leaving to become the top executive at Lowe's.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Stock Exchange for the first time in its 226-year history will be led by a woman.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union expressed doubt Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump will accept an offer of trade talks and other incentives to permanently exempt the bloc from punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum exports next week.
SHANGHAI (AP) — Global airlines are obeying Beijing's demands to refer to Taiwan explicitly as a part of China, despite the White House's call this month to stand firm against such "Orwellian nonsense." The Associated Press found 20 carriers, including Air Canada, British Airways and Lufthansa, that now refer to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers Chinese territory, as a part of China on their global websites.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and China are working toward an agreement that would ease U.S. sanctions that were imposed on ZTE Corp. and let the Chinese telecommunications giant stay in business.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency reversed course Tuesday and allowed a reporter for The Associated Press to cover a meeting on water contaminants after she was earlier grabbed by the shoulders and shoved out of the building by a security guard.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to teacher walkouts across the country, congressional Democrats on Tuesday proposed raising teachers' salaries by canceling the tax cut for the nation's top 1 percent of earners.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's parliament on Tuesday adopted a wide-ranging bill that could freeze crucial exports to the United States and imports to Russia from the U.S. and other countries.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ratcheting up pressure on the Russia investigation, the White House announced that top FBI and Justice Department officials have agreed to meet with congressional leaders and "review" highly classified information the lawmakers have been seeking on the handling of the probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has raised tariffs on steel from Vietnam that Washington says originated in China and evaded anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Weeks before his planned North Korea summit, President Donald Trump is staring down a dealmaker's worst nightmare: overpromising and under-delivering.
MONDAY, MAY 21
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre has been hired for the same role with Major League Soccer's expansion franchise in Nashville.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says he's allowing legislation billed as a push against sanctuary cities to become law without his signature, saying it has stirred up irrational fear on both sides.
MIDSTATE
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Fort Campbell's 101st Combat Aviation Brigade is preparing for deployment to Afghanistan and will hold a color-casing ceremony at the Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says employers can prohibit their workers from banding together to dispute their pay and conditions in the workplace, an important victory for business interests.
TECHNOLOGY
BRUSSELS (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to have his meeting Tuesday with the leaders of the European parliament about data privacy be broadcast publicly through web streaming.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Industrial and technology companies led stocks to solid gains Monday after the U.S. and China appeared to make significant progress in trade talks. That helped ease concerns among investors that the world's two biggest economies might be headed for a trade war.
NEW YORK (AP) — Barack and Michelle Obama are getting into the television business with Monday's announcement that they had signed a multi-year deal with Netflix.
NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric will tie its train engine division to the railroad equipment maker Wabtec in deal worth about $11 billion as GE CEO John Flannery continues to break off parts of the conglomerate.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's government says it does not intend to refer U.S. media conglomerate Comcast's 22 billion pound ($30.7 billion) takeover offer for London-based Sky to competition authorities, saying the proposed merger doesn't raise concerns on public interest grounds.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing the risk of a mutually harmful trade war, the world's two biggest economies have put their differences on hold. Yet it's far from clear that a fragile truce between the United States and China can hold.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face "the strongest sanctions in history," as it sought to turn up heat on Tehran after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government said Monday it cannot guarantee that renewed trade tension with Washington can be avoided after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared a temporary truce in a spiraling dispute that prompted worries of a chilling of global commerce.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday hailed his administration's temporary truce with China on trade, even as his Treasury secretary and China struck a note of caution on the latest agreement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will "demand" that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign, an extraordinary order that came hours before his legal team said the special counsel indicated the investigation into the president could be concluded by September.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is skimming over the facts involving the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
FRIDAY, MAY 18
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — An updated child abuse reporting policy has resulted in 611 reports in one Tennessee school district during this school year.
STATEWIDE
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says legislation billed as a push against sanctuary cities is stirring up fear on both sides of the issue, and he's not sure that fear is legitimate.
HONG KONG (AP) — China is sending conciliatory signals as U.S. and Chinese negotiators meet in Washington to try to head off a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
Despite a choppy week of trading and a mixed finish for U.S. stocks, the market extended its recent streak of relative calm Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Interest rates are charging higher, and that can be a good or bad thing depending on whether you're saving or borrowing.
BOSTON (AP) — The unemployment rate in Massachusetts remained steady at 3.5 percent in April while estimates showed the state adding more than 6,000 jobs.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an embarrassment for House Republican leaders, conservatives on Friday scuttled a bill that combines stricter work and job training requirements for food stamp recipients with a renewal of farm subsidies popular in GOP-leaning farm country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's attorney said Friday the special counsel in the Russia probe has narrowed the scope of potential questions for the president, even as Trump advanced an unverified theory that the Justice Department planted a spy in his 2016 campaign and is now "out to frame him."
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rising temperatures have made Tennessee more hospitable to armadillos over the past three decades.
MEMPHIS (AP) — Records show that the University of Tennessee has pumped millions from its endowment into private investment funds, including many in the Cayman Islands.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tyson Foods Inc. will receive a state economic incentives package worth $20 million to build a new chicken production complex in Tennessee, a project that's expected to include $322 million in private investment and 1,600 new jobs within five years.
MURFREESBORO (AP) — A Tennessee county constable shot and killed by a suspected horse thief in 1878 has been honored in Washington.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Running late for work or just miss that bus? You could have a good excuse: Your electric clock might be running a bit cuckoo.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stock indexes closed slightly lower Thursday after a day of mostly choppy trading, wiping out some of the market's gains from a day earlier.
NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney blamed weak clothing sales on bad spring weather and said it would offer more plus-size fashions to try and boost sales.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state TV is reporting that the country has signed an agreement with a British consortium to develop an oil field, just as another major company, France's Total, says it will withdraw from Iran because of renewed U.S. sanctions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday played down the prospect of successful trade talks with China and said the Asian economic powerhouse has become "very spoiled."
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The anticipation of legal sports gambling throughout the United States has prompted a flurry of deals among gambling and technology firms who want a foothold in a market worth billions.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is donating his first quarter salary to the Department of Veterans Affairs, as his search continues for a nominee to lead the agency.