VOL. 42 | NO. 41 | Friday, October 12, 2018
Visiting fans, bridesmaids leaving town with more than hangovers
The saxophone professor from Moscow, Idaho, flashes hazel eyes and smiles as she examines a pair of boots, participating in a favorite tourist pastime offered on the neon-lit strip of music and beer halls and cowboy boot emporiums that is Lower Broadway.
The tall, lean young man stands at the intersection of Lower Broadway and Fifth, waiting in the massive Saturday afternoon crowd for his chance to cross from the Tootsie’s side of the street over to the side highlighted by Ernest Tubb Record Shop.
High-rolling cowboys like Johnny Carson’s band leader and trumpet genius Doc Severinsen, corporate big dogs, the wild and crazy folks in the world of bull riding and many music stars take giant steps away from boot store fare when seeking their high-heeled swagger.
With his seemingly permanent smile, Jeffrey Lloyd, 58, is a much-valued employee at Boot Country down on Lower Broadway.
SAM STOCKARD: VIEW FROM THE HILL
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Congressman Marsha Blackburn must have been sitting back laughing as she pounded former Gov. Phil Bredesen for postponing his stance on the Kavanaugh nomination.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Anytime the Baltimore Ravens appear on the Tennessee Titans’ schedule, the rivalry that once was comes back to mind.
1. Defense, defense and more defense. The Titans defense, despite breakdowns against Buffalo, has still been a big reason for the team’s success thus far. Defense is also key to the Ravens’ success with old war horses like Terrell Suggs still leading the way. It wouldn’t be surprising to see this game end up a low-scoring affair like Titans-Ravens games of old.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
“I don’t want to appear desperate” is how sellers often respond when their listing agent tells them their house is not selling because the price is too high.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, September 2018, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Home sales in Nashville and Davidson County continue to decline as average sales prices level out.
Third quarter 2018 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates leaped this week to their highest levels in seven years amid global anxiety over rising interest rates that has gripped financial markets.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Kaylann Boyd knew she couldn’t hold others accountable if she wasn’t accountable for her own actions. She knew she couldn’t expect to bring out the best in her teammates if she wasn’t working to bring out the best in herself.
NEWSMAKERS
Attorney John E. Quinn, previously a partner at Manier & Herod, has joined Neal & Harwell, PLC, as of counsel.
BRIEFS
The Belonging Co. Church has purchased a 50,000-square-foot property at 201 Great Circle Road in MetroCenter from commercial real estate firm Southeast Venture, which developed the property.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A decade ago, small sedans were the entry point into luxury-car ownership. But because of the increasing popularity of SUVs, automakers are scrambling to create new, stylish SUVs to attract those shoppers.
STATEWIDE
MILLINGTON (AP) — Police in Tennessee say one man has been killed and another has been wounded in a shooting at a naval base.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum is opening this week in Kentucky.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Titans coach Mike Vrabel says linebacker Derrick Morgan probably will miss "a few weeks" after hurting a shoulder against the Baltimore Ravens, though left guard Quinton Spain is day to day after hurting his right shoulder.
NASHVILLE (AP) — First-year head coach Mike Vrabel knows exactly what the Titans didn't do in being shut out on its own field for the first time since this franchise moved to Tennessee way back in 1997.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens swarmed around their new defensive coordinator, Don "Wink" Martindale, celebrating after a game that will go down in the record books.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt says outside linebacker Jonathan Kongbo has a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the remainder of the season.
COURTS
GREENEVILLE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say seven companies and four men are charged in a $1 billion telemedicine fraud scheme that deceived tens of thousands of patients and more than 100 doctors.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's attorney general has joined several dozen other states to ask the federal government to take action on illegal robocalls.
ENVIRONMENT
Global warming to leave us crying in our costlier beer
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Low-income people in states that haven't expanded Medicaid are much more likely to forgo needed medical care than the poor in other states, according to a government report due out Monday amid election debates from Georgia to Utah over coverage for the needy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — After a wobbly day of trading, U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days Monday as technology companies continued to slide. Industrial and high-dividend companies rose, and the market's losses were limited relative to the steep losses it suffered last week.
Before there was Amazon — or, for that matter, Home Depot or Walmart or Kmart — there was Sears.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal budget deficit has surged to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, its highest level in six years as President Donald Trump's tax cuts caused the government to borrow more heavily in order to cover its spending.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer spending edged up a slight 0.1 percent in September, a disappointing performance in which rebounding auto sales were offset by weakness in other areas.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America said Monday that its third-quarter profits rose by 32 percent from a year ago, as higher interest rates allowed BofA to charge more for loans, and lower corporate tax rates helped it save hundreds of millions on taxes.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, with plans to shutter 142 unprofitable stores in the hopes that it can stay in business.
NATIONAL POLITICS
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration is considering using West Coast military bases or other federal properties as transit points for shipments of U.S. coal and natural gas to Asia as officials seek to bolster the domestic energy industry and circumvent environmental opposition to fossil fuel exports, according to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and two Republican lawmakers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is brushing aside threats by Saudi Arabia that it may economically retaliate for any U.S. punitive action imposed over the suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pledging a "swift, open, transparent investigation" into his disappearance.
NEW YORK (AP) — Republicans have begun to concede defeat in the evolving fight to preserve the House majority.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is backing off his claim that climate change is a hoax but says he doesn't know if it's manmade and suggests that the climate will "change back again."
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12
NASHVILLE AREA
FedEx expects to add more than 55,000 seasonal positions throughout its networks to help deliver the holidays this year, including more than 4,300 people at the FedEx Ground facility in the Nashville area.
PREDATORS
NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL is criticizing an arbitrator's decision to reduce the suspension of Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson, who pleaded no contest in July to a domestic assault charge.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Despite their power play struggles, the Predators found a way to take down their Central Division rival.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country icon Loretta Lynn doesn't mince words when it comes to CMT's decision to honor all-female artists, including Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and more, at its annual Artists of the Year show, where Lynn will be recognized as an artist of a lifetime.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The majority leader of the Tennessee Senate has been confirmed as a federal judge by the U.S. Senate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected two last-ditch efforts to save the life of Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski, apparently clearing the way for his execution despite a delay caused by legal wrangling.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the state of Tennessee not to proceed with plans to execute Edmund Zagorski by lethal injection after it refused his request to die in the electric chair.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Legal challenges continue to surround a Tennessee death row inmate whose execution has been temporarily halted.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare says its "Part B" premium for outpatient care will rise by just $1.50 a month next year. That means retirees should be able to keep more of their recently-announced Social Security cost-of-living increase.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says hackers accessed a wide swath of information — ranging from emails and phone numbers to more personal details like sites visited and places checked into — from millions of accounts as part of a security breach the company disclosed two weeks ago.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it has purged more than 800 U.S. pages and accounts for spamming users with garbage links and clickbait.
NEW YORK (AP) — As Walmart, AT&T and Disney join stalwarts such as Netflix in streaming video and creating original shows, a reality sets in: Not all will survive.
AUTO INDUSTRY
If Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to return as chairman, shareholders will have to vote on it.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker BMW is taking a majority stake in its China joint venture and investing 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in factories there, underscoring the importance of the Chinese market as the company prepares to meet increased demand for electric vehicles.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rebounded Friday, clawing back some of the week's steep losses, but the turbulent trading of the last few days left no doubt that the relative calm the markets enjoyed all summer had been shattered.
Woah, what was that? After months of relative calm, Wall Street has been jolted by a sudden run of turbulent trading.
BEIJING (AP) — China's trade surplus with the United States widened to a record $34.1 billion in September as exports to the American market rose by 13 percent over a year earlier despite a worsening tariff war.
NEW YORK (AP) — When Toys R Us closed its doors, customers mourned the loss of a beloved brand that conjured memories of their own childhood.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday escalated his attack on the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases, asserting that "the Fed is out of control" and blaming it for this week's plunge in stock prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices edged up a slight 0.1 percent in September as energy prices retreated after a big gain in August.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of millions of Social Security recipients and other retirees will get a 2.8 percent increase in benefits next year as inflation edges higher. For the average retired worker, it amounts to $39 a month.
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) — The heads of the World Bank and IMF appealed Thursday to the U.S. and China to cool their dispute over technology policy and play by world trade rules, as tumbling share prices drove home potential perils from a clash between the world's two biggest economies.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sword dancers. Gleaming palaces. Military jets streaming red, white and blue trails.
LONDON (AP) — Global business leaders are reassessing their ties with Saudi Arabia, stoking pressure on the Gulf kingdom to explain what happened to a dissident writer who disappeared after visiting its consulate in Istanbul.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It's one of President Donald Trump's favorite talking points in promoting his administration's success: the record low rate of black unemployment. But on a recent sunny afternoon in Vernon Park in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood, that victory seemed hollow.
WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump says she could be "the most bullied person" in the world, judging by "what people are saying about me."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump defended continuing huge sales of U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia on Thursday despite rising pressure from lawmakers to punish the kingdom over the disappearance of a Saudi journalist who lived in the United States and is now feared dead.