VOL. 40 | NO. 34 | Friday, August 19, 2016
Can Alan Zucker do for Titans QB what he’s done for Mannings, Taylor Swift & Danica Patrick?
As an NFL quarterback, Sunday is show time for Marcus Mariota. That’s when he suits up and does everything in his power to help the Tennessee Titans win football games.
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Republican state Rep. Jimmy Matlock insists his quest for the House Speaker’s post is not a challenge of Beth Harwell’s leadership.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
A major shearing finished, neck hairs obliterated, retired barber Joe Trotter uses a cotton square to dab Cool Mint Antiseptic on the head of Sean Allen, who has dropped in at the retirement haven that is 1505 Jefferson Street.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
July sales are off 3.3 percent from 2015, sales figures from the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors reveal, while inventory is down from 13,728 to 12,238, slightly more than 10 percent.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, July 2016, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged lower this week, remaining at historically low levels as a potential spur to home purchases.
TERRY McCORMICK: TENNESSEE TITANS
One of the most electrifying plays of the Tennessee Titans preseason opening win should make fans feeling much better about the team for the coming season.
If Marcus Mariota avoids the injury bug and remains the Titans starting quarterback for the better part or all of 2016, he would end a most frustrating streak that has haunted the franchise for nearly a decade.
DAVE LINK: UT SPORTS
Jalen Hurd knows right where he stands among Tennessee’s running backs of the past and wants to be No. 1 in career rushing yards at the end of the 2016 season.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart will retire next summer after a tumultuous tenure that included consolidation of the men's and women's athletic departments, improvements in fundraising and facilities and the settlement of a Title IX lawsuit.
NEWSMAKERS
Renata Soto, co-founder and executive director of Conexión Américas, will receive the Nelson C. Andrews Distinguished Service Award at the Nashville Public Education Foundation’s 12th annual Public Schools Hall of Fame luncheon on Oct. 17.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The 2016 GMC Sierra full-size pickup truck combines an off-road attitude in its new All-Terrain X package and an elegant vibe with subtly freshened front and rear styling.
FAMILY TRAVEL
Get out of Dodge. That was the only thing on my mind as we pulled out of downtown Dodge City, Kansas, and pointed the rental car north through the amber waves of grain that stretched for miles on both sides of the two-lane highway in rural Kansas.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
It’s not news that creating an active referral pipeline is a game-changer for B2B sales teams. A recent Nielsen consumer insights survey revealed that up to 92 percent of people trust word-of-mouth recommendations from friends more than any other form of advertising.
CAREER CORNER
Our age can be a big concern, especially if we’re looking for a job. Of the job seekers I speak to, approximately 25 percent of them have real concerns about their age.
I SWEAR
The bus arrived at Nuremberg’s Neues Museum. That would be in Germany. A group disembarked. Among them was a 91-year-old woman, whose name has not been released at this time. For purposes of this column, we shall call her Frau K.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Are we hot enough yet? I am. The heat has been relentless; however, I have enjoyed the late-afternoon showers we have occasionally. I would like for those to keep on coming. So far, with the showers, they have kept the dog days of August from looking dogged-tired.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Private prison operator Corrections Corporation of America is trying to seal from public view documents in a lawsuit that claim female visitors to a Tennessee prison were forced to undergo strip searches to prove they were menstruating.
GOODLETTSVILLE (AP) — Dollar General Corp. (DG) on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $306.5 million.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The head of the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration says a spike in on-the-job fatalities last month is "alarming."
AUTO INDUSTRY
SINGAPORE (AP) — The world's first self-driving taxis began picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday.
HEALTH CARE
NEW YORK (AP) — Mylan, in the face of heated criticism over price hikes for its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, is bulking up programs that help patients pay for the drug.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Global messaging service WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company. That means WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook — although not on the messaging service itself.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates didn't budge this week, remaining at historically low levels that continue to lure prospective home buyers.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are mostly unchanged in morning trading Thursday as investors sift through a handful of earnings reports. Drug company Mylan rose, but Signet Jewelers and Dollar General fell after the retailers reported quarterly results that disappointed investors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Slightly fewer people filed for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a sign the American job market remains healthy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods surged in July, lifted in part by the biggest increase in orders in a key investment category since January.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is nominating current World Bank President Jim Yong Kim for a second term leading the 189-nation international lending organization.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - When state lawmakers passed a new drunken driving law for people under the drinking age, they didn't realize that the change would make Tennessee the only state to run afoul of federal zero-tolerance standards.
STATEWIDE
FRANKLIN (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam on Tuesday said his administration opposed legislation that allows a state board to eliminate fees paid for underground storage tanks, including the Haslam-family owned Pilot Flying J chain of truck stops.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee officials have approved rate increases requested by health insurers offering exchange plans under the Affordable Care Act.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress are demanding more information on why the price for lifesaving EpiPens has skyrocketed.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — US homebuyers pulled back in July, as sales declined amid a shortage of available properties and steadily rising prices.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed lower on Wednesday, led by sharp declines in health-care companies as outrage over the steep price hikes for Mylan's EpiPens escalates.
NEW YORK (AP) — America has a debt problem, but it's not what you think.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — With the growth of agritourism and more people visiting local farms, Connecticut officials are joining other states in educating farmers about how to mitigate health risks for their new visitors.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Justin Timberlake is a new partner and producer of the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in the same Tennessee community where he lives.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam is visiting Columbia State Community College on Tuesday to welcome back students participating in his Tennessee Promise program that offers free tuition at the state's two-year colleges.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials say a Metro Nashville police officer has been decommissioned following his DUI arrest.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessean is putting its longtime offices in downtown Nashville up for sale.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen says it has reached an agreement with two suppliers in a dispute that forced the company to suspend production of some models in Germany.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans stepped up their purchases of new homes in July to the fastest pace in nearly nine years, the latest sign that low mortgage rates and a solid job market are helping support the residential real estate market.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks posted modest gains on Tuesday, bringing indexes nearly back to the record levels they reached last week. Homebuilders rose sharply following a big jump in sales of new homes last month, and Best Buy soared after the electronics retailer reported a surge in profit as online sales increased.
MONDAY, AUGUST 22
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Since Gov. Bill Haslam took office, a Tennessee board that enforces environmental rules has eased the burden of business owners to pay for cleaning up toxic spills at gas stations and truck stops.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — A legal dispute between Volkswagen and two suppliers has forced the carmaker to suspend production of some models, affecting nearly 28,000 workers and drawing calls from the German government for a quick solution.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed slightly lower in quiet trading Monday after drifting most of the day between gains and losses. Energy companies fell along with the price of oil while biotechnology and drug companies rose after Pfizer announced it was buying a cancer drug maker.
Ryan Lochte lost three major sponsors when swimsuit company Speedo USA, clothing giant Ralph Lauren and skin-care firm Syneron-Candela announced in quick succession Monday they were dumping the swimmer over a drunken incident during the Rio Olympics that he initially described as an armed robbery.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeff Bivins will take over as chief justice next month.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Knox County Democrats have chosen a nominee to replace longtime incumbent Rep. Joe Armstrong, who was convicted of filing a false tax return in a federal trial earlier this month.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Travelers going between Nashville and Memphis will have the opportunity to fly commercial for the first time in three years beginning next month.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee officials are scrambling to avoid losing $60 million in federal road funding because of a new state law that runs afoul of zero-tolerance standards for underage drivers who have been drinking.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper on Friday criticized Tennessee Republicans for changes to the state's underage drunken driving law that could lead to a loss of $60 million in federal highway funding.
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency says the population of black bears in middle Tennessee has been growing.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state of Tennessee has revoked the church status of a Williamson County ministry and fined it $5,000.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee has settled a federal lawsuit sparked by a student's T-shirt in support of gay rights.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Nashville has cleared its first hurdle in the Metro Council.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a few weeks, Uber will start using self-driving cars to carry passengers in Pittsburgh, raising the stakes in an intensifying race to deploy autonomous vehicles.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks took small losses Friday to end a quiet week of trading. Energy companies fell as a rally in oil prices faded and investors continue to sell the safe assets they favored earlier this year. Technology and materials companies made small gains.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration announced Thursday it will phase out its use of some private prisons, affecting thousands of federal inmates and immediately sending shares of the two publicly traded prison operators plunging.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Harley-Davidson Inc. agreed Thursday to pay $15 million to settle a U.S. government complaint over racing tuners that caused its motorcycles to emit higher-than-allowed levels of air pollution.
NEW YORK (AP) — T-Mobile is getting rid of data limits for new customers, while making unlimited data plans cheaper.