VOL. 42 | NO. 44 | Friday, November 2, 2018
ROGERS COLUMN
Libertarians have flooded the Tennessee ballot for governor in an effort to show how hard it is to get on the Tennessee ballot. Let me explain.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Carlene Carter doesn’t resemble the scarred survivor who occupies part of her soul as she sits on the sun-drenched porch overlooking a rented corner of East Nashville and welcomes her fourth husband, Joe Breen – a Julliard-trained classical singer, filmmaker, Broadway veteran and soap opera actor – as he returns from a neighborhood stroll with their two rescue mutts.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Belle Meade has long been considered the bellwether for the upper-end housing market as the neighborhood is loaded with old and new money.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates declined this week, in a quiet pause after weeks of market anxiety over rising interest rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Spending on U.S. construction projects was essentially unchanged in September, the weakest showing since June, as an increase in home construction was offset by a slide in spending on government projects.
TENNESSEE TITANS
In the business world, a degree from Harvard is gold, openings doors for professionals in all walks of life and presenting opportunities for success.
1. A sense of desperation. Both the Titans and Cowboys are coming off bye weeks and have mediocre 3-4 records entering Monday night’s game. The Titans, losers of three consecutive after a 3-1 start, are running the risk of sinking toward the bottom of the AFC South with another loss.
UT SPORTS
If they’re heading to the gym for some extra work, they always have a few teammates tagging along. If they need a ride to the store, they just text a teammate instead of using an Uber. If they hit the floor during practice, they can depend on a teammate to extend a helping hand.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is delaying the start of construction on a Neyland Stadium renovation project to review all aspects of the plan.
NEWSMAKERS
Frost Brown Todd has named Thomas H. Lee member-in-charge of the firm’s Nashville office. Lee succeeds Mekesha Montgomery, who led FBT’s Nashville team of attorneys for the past seven years and will now become chair of the firm’s Manufacturing Industry Team while continuing to chair the Member Personnel Committee.
BRIEFS
Nashville’s Major League Soccer team has hired Mike Jacobs as general manager for soccer operations.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A diligent first-time car buyer will spend hours checking out competing vehicles, test-driving, and choosing must-have car features. Then comes the decision to buy a new car or used one, or to lease. In short, if you’re the typical first-time car shopper, you have a lot of research to do.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Let’s shatter one myth right now: Airline passengers typically can’t talk their way into upgrades from the cheapest coach seats to first class just by dressing up and asking politely.
PREDATORS
DENVER (AP) — Colton Sissons put an exclamation point on his run of success against the Colorado Avalanche.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials say a carbon monoxide leak at a Nashville hotel has sickened more than a dozen people.
HEALTH CARE
Health insurers are extending their postelection streak before the opening bell thanks to several ballot initiatives and the increased chance that a divided Congress that may not repeal the Affordable Care Act.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The personality looming over the 2018 midterms was President Donald Trump. The issue was health care, the top concern for voters as they decided how to cast their ballots.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is providing resources to help residents who want quit smoking during the Great American Smokeout .
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan reported Thursday an 8 percent fall in profit for the latest quarter as declining sales offset the benefits of cost cuts.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla's board has named one of its own as chairman to replace Elon Musk, complying with terms of a fraud settlement with U.S. securities regulators.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. are taking small losses Thursday morning after a big rally the day before. Technology companies are slipping after chipmaker Qualcomm gave a disappointing revenue forecast for the current quarter and homebuilders are down after a weak fourth quarter. Health care companies are broadly higher after a big gain a day ago following the U.S. midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve appears on track to raise interest rates once more this year but will likely hold off on any action when its latest policy meeting ends Thursday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Google is planning a major expansion in New York City, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal .
Economic growth across the 19-country eurozone is set to slow down further in coming years and become increasingly reliant on domestic factors like consumer spending, the European Union said Thursday.
BEIJING (AP) — Growth in Chinese exports to the United States ticked up in October as traders rushed to beat a new tariff hike in a battle over Beijing's technology policy.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Beyond trying to get their hands on the Holy Grail of President Donald Trump's business dealings — his tax returns — House Democrats are prepared to use their new majority and subpoena power to go after financial records that could back up their claims that he's using his presidency to enrich himself and his family.
NEW YORK (AP) — Come January, the banking industry is going to be on Rep. Maxine Waters' time.
WASHINGTON (AP) — This week's midterm elections offered revealing lessons for both parties as battle lines begin to emerge for the 2020 presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Suddenly facing life under divided government, President Donald Trump and congressional leaders talked bipartisanship but then bluntly previewed the fault lines to come. Trump threatened to go after House Democrats who try to investigate him, while Rep. Nancy Pelosi said her party would be "a check and balance" against the White House.
NEW YORK (AP) — The White House has suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Donald Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7
COURTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A jury has sided with workers who say they were sickened after they were tapped to clean up a massive 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee.
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — A day after securing enough votes to become Tennessee's next governor, Republican Bill Lee says he will soon reveal his top policy proposals and cabinet selections as he transitions into the office.
ATLANTA (AP) — For some, it's a privilege lost. Others are disillusioned by a system they say does nothing for them. Others still are turned off by the anger and divisiveness they see as ripping the country apart.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats seized the House majority from President Donald Trump's Republican Party on Tuesday in a suburban revolt that threatened what's left of the president's governing agenda. But the GOP gained ground in the Senate and preserved key governorships, beating back a "blue wave" that never fully materialized.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrats took back the House with a surge of fresh new candidates and an outpouring of voter enthusiasm Tuesday, breaking the GOP's monopoly on power in Washington and setting the stage for a multitude of investigations of President Donald Trump that could engulf his administration over the next two years.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Democrats began their Tuesday feeling like they had their best chance in years to regain some political clout in their conservative state.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn won a grueling, expensive contest Tuesday to become the first female U.S. senator from Tennessee, keeping a key midterm seat under GOP control.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican businessman and political newcomer Bill Lee will become Tennessee's next governor, after he bested Democratic former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean on Tuesday
MEMPHIS (AP) — Republicans netted a clean sweep Tuesday in races for the three open U.S. House seats in Tennessee.
U.S. Senate
1,966 of 1,969 precincts - 99 percent
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Darius Garland and Simi Shittu had some early jitters, but they disappeared quickly in their much-anticipated debuts.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The smartphone industry has been searching for a breakthrough to revive a market mired in an innovation lull and a sales slump. There's now a potential catalyst on the horizon.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied Wednesday as investors were relieved to see that the U.S. midterm elections went largely as they expected they would. Big-name technology and consumer and health care companies soared as the S&P 500 index closed at its highest level in four weeks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Democrats now in control of the House, President Donald Trump faces a tough test of whether he can forge compromises with a group of lawmakers who, he had warned his supporters, would wreck the U.S. economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increased their borrowing by a solid amount in September. But the gain was less than half the big August surge as borrowing in the category that includes credit cards fell.
NEW YORK (AP) — The outcome of the midterm elections was good for the stock market in general, mostly because it didn't produce any big surprises, but it was especially good for the health care industry and several other companies.
LONDON (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has rejected a request to appear before an international parliamentary committee delving into the questions around fake news.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was pushed out Wednesday as the country's chief law enforcement officer after enduring more than a year of blistering and personal attacks from President Donald Trump over his recusal from the Russia investigation.
NEW YORK (AP) — President Trump's combative relationship with the media deteriorated further Wednesday with a news conference where he called some reporters rude and accused a PBS reporter of posing a racist question when she asked him about white nationalists.
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Beto O'Rourke didn't sound like someone giving a farewell speech after losing a Senate race in deep-red Texas by less than 3 points. If anything, his concession to Ted Cruz was a signal that voters could be hearing a lot more from him.
PARIS (AP) — President Donald Trump's Russian business ties, Jared Kushner's relationship with the Saudi crown prince, Ivanka Trump's Chinese trademarks — all could come under new scrutiny by the Democrats when they take over the House of Representatives.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a pivotal moment for Nancy Pelosi — the beginning of a triumphal return as the nation's first female House speaker, or the start of a political reckoning over who should lead Democrats in the Donald Trump era.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
TENNESSEE TITANS
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kevin Byard secured the interception that sparked the sluggish Tennessee Titans and turned toward midfield.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — State officials say barge builder Arcosa Marine is investing more than $10 million to expand its operations in Middle Tennessee.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge has ruled a white nationalist group isn't responsible for covering the cost of hiring law enforcement officers or repairing damage done by protesters if the group hosts a conference at a state-owned facility in Tennessee.
TECHNOLOGY
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have begun deploying a new surveillance tool: "gait recognition" software that uses people's body shapes and how they walk to identify them, even when their faces are hidden from cameras.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Technology and health care stocks are leading indexes broadly higher on Wall Street as results of the midterm elections came in largely as investors had expected.
NEW YORK (AP) — After a yearlong search for a second home, Amazon is now reportedly looking to build offices in two cities instead of one, a surprise move that could still have a major impact on the communities it ultimately selects.
BEIJING (AP) — Leaders of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other global financial organizations warned Tuesday that trade tensions pose a growing risk for emerging economies.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The "largest-ever" U.S. sanctions list targeting Iran drew mockery from Iranian officials on Tuesday for including mothballed Boeing 747s, a bank that closed years earlier and a sunken oil tanker that exploded off China months ago.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care and immigration were high on voters' minds as they cast ballots in the midterm elections, according to a wide-ranging survey of the American electorate conducted by The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tweetstorms and a trade war. Kanye in the Oval Office. Kavanaugh in the hearing room.
LONDON (AP) — Facebook said it blocked 115 accounts for suspected "coordinated inauthentic behavior" linked to foreign groups attempting to interfere in Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed defenseman Matt Donovan to a two-year, two-way contract.
ELECTION 2018
NEW YORK (AP) — Ride-share companies are capitalizing on voter enthusiasm ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections by offering free or discounted rides to the polls in shared cars, bikes and scooters.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen says he's willing to work with President Donald Trump but will put Tennessee first.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The day of reckoning for American politics has nearly arrived. Voters on Tuesday will decide the $5 billion debate between President Donald Trump's take-no-prisoner politics and the Democratic Party's super-charged campaign to end the GOP's monopoly in Washington and statehouses across the nation.
MEMPHIS (AP) — Concerns about voter registrations and the security of electronic voting machines are looming over the upcoming election in Tennessee's largest county.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — President Donald Trump appeared to distance himself from the fate of House Republican candidates Sunday as he devotes his final two days before Tuesday's midterm elections to helping Senate and gubernatorial candidates.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Enrollment for health insurance on the federally facilitated marketplace is now open, and many Tennesseans will have some new choices in 2019.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Four Tennessee death row inmates are asking a federal court to allow them to have a firing squad used as an execution method.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ended the court fight over repealed Obama-era "net neutrality" rules that required internet providers to treat all online traffic equally.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge denied the Justice Department's efforts to halt legal proceedings in a case accusing President Donald Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution — opening the door for Trump's critics to soon gain access to financial records related to his Washington, D.C., hotel.
TECHNOLOGY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee and Alabama will get their largest solar power projects yet, to supply a Facebook data center with 100 percent renewable energy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon is undergoing a significant restructuring under new CEO Hans Vestberg, including its dominant wireless division, as it prepares to roll out its 5G technology.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook and other social platforms have been fighting online misinformation and hate speech for two years. With the U.S. midterm elections just a few days away, there are signs that they're making some headway, although they're still a very long way from winning the war.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising in midday trading on Wall Street as technology stocks recover some of the big losses they took over the last month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. services firms expanded at a slightly slower rate in October, after achieving a record pace in September in a sign of the economy's strength and endurance.
NEW YORK (AP) — Retail giant Amazon Inc. is in "advanced talks" to open its second headquarters in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett's company more than quadrupled its third-quarter profits because of a huge paper gain in the value of its investments, although its insurance and railroad businesses also improved.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — For Democrats, the midterm elections have been a beacon in the dark, a chance to re-emerge from the political wilderness and repudiate a president they view as a dangerous force.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration was caught between allies at home and abroad and the reality of global economics as it reinstated sanctions Monday on Iran, forced to carve out exemptions for important allies and back off on measures that could have been even more punishing for Tehran.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the final days before pivotal midterm elections, President Donald Trump is painting a distorted picture of immigration while exaggerating his record of achieving economic gains for non-whites and improving health care for veterans.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2
ELECTION 2018
FRANKLIN (AP) — Patricia Linder is the kind of undecided voter Democrats are looking for.
NASHVILLE (AP) — About 1.38 million Tennesseans have cast early or absentee ballots, nearly presidential-year-level turnout that Senate race rivals deem positive for their campaigns.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A spokesperson for Facebook says the company accidentally removed an anti-abortion group's ad supporting Tennessee U.S. Senate nominee Marsha Blackburn.
PREDATORS
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Pekka Rinne didn't miss a beat after being sidelined for two weeks.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — After four decades with only six executions, Tennessee is on schedule to execute three inmates this year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee inmate grimaced and waved goodbye before saying "let's rock," moments before he became the first man executed in the electric chair in that state since 2007, put to death Thursday for shooting two men and slitting their throats during a drug deal decades ago.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is scheduled to execute a double-murderer in the electric chair Thursday evening.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski has selected his final meal before Thursday's scheduled execution.
REGION
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority's use of a nearly $7 million executive helicopter was not always cost effective, and broke federal travel rules and its own policies, the organization's inspector general said in a new report.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Drug overdose deaths hit the highest level ever recorded in the United States last year, with an estimated 200 people dying per day, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Most of that was the result of a record number of opioid-related deaths.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal website where consumers can get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act was up and running Thursday after a slow start as sign-up season for 2019 opened days before the midterm elections.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. securities investigators have subpoenaed information from Tesla about production forecasts for the Model 3 electric car that were made last year, the company acknowledged in a regulatory filing Friday.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — When Google employees staged a global walkout Thursday to protest the company's treatment of women, they made themselves the most visible example of a surprising trend: high-paid engineers emerging from their comfortable bubbles to speak out.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon wants to get more kids thinking about becoming computer engineers.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Carrying signs with messages such as "Don't be evil," several hundred Google employees around the world briefly walked off the job Thursday in a protest against what they said is the tech company's mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against executives.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks slipped Friday as Apple absorbed its worst loss in more than four years. Thanks to gains over the previous three days, the S&P 500 index finished with its biggest weekly increase since March.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses ramped up hiring in October, and wages rose by the largest year-over-year amount in nearly a decade, a combination that is pulling a rising share of Americans into the job market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Record imports expanded the U.S. trade deficit for the fourth straight month in September, as the politically sensitive trade deficit in goods with China hit a record.
The United States is pumping record amounts of oil, vaulting over Russia to become the world's biggest producer of crude.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England warned Thursday that Britain could suffer an economic shock if it crashes out of the European Union without a deal, saying it could cause gridlock at ports and an inflation-rearing fall in the pound that could require an increase to interest rates.
NEW YORK (AP) — The biggest buyers of stocks are coming back.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American manufacturers grew at a slower pace in October as factories contended with supply disruptions caused by disputes with China, Europe and other trading partners.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday announced the reimposition of all U.S. sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping had an "extremely positive" phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump about trade and other issues, the foreign ministry said Friday.
The story of money in politics doesn't stop with spending on races for Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to receive his final briefing on election security Thursday before polls close next Tuesday.