VOL. 43 | NO. 42 | Friday, October 18, 2019
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Cevahir Mustafa and her friend, Jameela Khoshaba, welcome the guy with long, white hair who walks up to the driver’s side of their black SUV after they leave Mazi International Market in downtown Little Kurdistan.
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
The temptation is to say a circus is coming to town, but this involves a less appealing bunch of clowns: Politicon arrives next weekend.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
“Third Quarter 2019 Home Sales Showed Unprecedented Growth,” reads the Greater Nashville Realtors’ news release announcing third quarter sales numbers. It might sound hyperbolic, but it’s really not overstating the situation.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, September 2019, for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates rose this week after signs of a trade truce between the U.S. and China last week pushed up the interest rate on 10-year Treasurys.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Demise exposes organizational flaw
With 10 games left in his season of reckoning, Marcus Mariota’s fate with the Tennessee Titans appears to be sealed.
The Titans are reeling from a terrible offense that is wasting solid defensive efforts week after week. Now they add in the possibility of a quarterback change after benching Marcus Mariota.
Chargers 17, Titans 3: The Chargers haven’t exactly set the league afire of late, but they’re in great shape compared to the disaster the Titans have become on offense.
UT SPORTS
Tyler Byrd could have easily transferred and sought more playing time elsewhere.
NEWSMAKERS
Robert R. McLeod has joined Butler Snow’s Nashville office and will practice with the firm’s pharmaceutical, medical device and health care litigation group.
BRIEFS
A new survey by Cheaphotels.org lists Nashville as the most expensive city in the U.S. for hotel rates.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The automotive landscape evolves every year, with various brands and models pushing the envelope in new directions. We’re rounding up the most significant vehicles for 2020, presented in alphabetical order. These are cars, trucks and SUVs that reveal major trends and shifts in the industry.
PERSONAL FINANCE
If you’re not familiar with SIM swap fraud, prepare to be terrified.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Your clothes are all laid out for tomorrow. You’ll get up in the morning, jump out of the shower, into your outfit, and out the door because it’s a big day. You’ll look sharp, competent and responsible, and you’ll feel that way, too.
CAREER CORNER
Hiring managers know finding the right candidate takes time. There are often multiple phone screens, multiple video interviews and in-person panel interviews.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park has lifted a ban on backcountry campfires.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville got plenty of scoring against Anaheim, more than needed with Pekka Rinne nearly flawless in goal.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google said it has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing research, saying an experimental quantum processor has completed a calculation in just a few minutes that would take a traditional supercomputer thousands of years.
HEALTH CARE
CHICAGO (AP) — Two centuries after its invention, the stethoscope — the very symbol of the medical profession — is facing an uncertain prognosis.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A slowing global economy is taking a toll on Caterpillar, which is cutting its outlook for the year after profits and revenue slid in the third quarter.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was weighing Wednesday whether to push for an early election or try again to pass his stalled European Union divorce deal, after Parliament blocked a fast-track plan to approve his Brexit bill before the U.K.'s scheduled departure from the bloc on Oct. 31.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top U.S. diplomat testified Tuesday that President Donald Trump was holding back military aid for Ukraine unless the country agreed to investigate Democrats and a company linked to Joe Biden's family, providing lawmakers with a detailed new account of the quid pro quo central to the impeachment probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Maybe it was a quid pro quo after all.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is again appearing before Congress to face questions about his company's massive market power, privacy lapses and tolerance of speech deemed false or hateful.
TUESDAY, OCT. 22
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee education officials are distributing almost $5.9 million in grants to aid 117 charter schools in the state.
NASHVILLE (AP) — State officials say six Tennessee cities are receiving grants to upgrade commercial buildings in their downtown areas.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Democratic Tennessee state Sen. Reggie Tate has died. He was 65.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators have signed first-round draft pick Philip Tomasino to a three-year contract.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee judge has dropped one of the charges against a man accused of riding for 20 miles atop a car driving down an interstate at high speeds.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — If they can close our plant, they can close yours, too. That's the message from workers at three shuttered General Motors factories that didn't get new products under the tentative contract agreement reached last week between GM and the United Auto Workers, who have been on strike against the company across the U.S. for over six weeks now.
SPRING HILL (AP) — A striking autoworker in Tennessee has died when a vehicle hit him along a picket line outside a General Motors plant.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to tell Congress Wednesday that the company's planned Libra cryptocurrency won't launch unless all U.S. regulators approve.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook's latest foes: nearly every U.S. state.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home sales fell 2.2% in September, as rising home prices and lower inventories have stifled homebuyers.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers will have more health insurance choices next year under the much-debated Obama health care law and premiums will dip slightly for many, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.
Biogen Inc. said Tuesday it will seek federal approval for a medicine to treat early Alzheimer's disease, a landmark step toward finding a treatment that can alter the course of the most common form of dementia.
BANKING
NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. is announcing an expansion of its policy to hire more people with criminal records, potentially giving more former offenders a second chance to find work.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A choppy day of trading on Wall Street ended Tuesday with stocks closing lower after a technology sector-led sell-off strengthened toward the end of the day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the grand vacation homes of Newport Beach were empty on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend, Molly Munger decided it was time for the U.S. to consider taxing wealth.
LONDON (AP) — For a brief moment Tuesday, Brexit was within a British prime minister's grasp.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Under Armour founder Kevin Plank will step down as CEO in the new year to become the company's executive chairman and brand chief.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A top Vatican administrator is denying the Holy See risks default over its structural deficit, saying claims in a new book about possible financial ruin are overblown.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Ambassador William Taylor provided lawmakers Tuesday with a vivid, detailed and what some lawmakers called "disturbing" account of the way President Donald Trump wanted to put the new Ukraine president "in a public box" by demanding a quid pro quo at the center of the impeachment probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A prolific political fundraiser who donated large sums to President Donald Trump's inaugural committee is expected to plead guilty to federal criminal charges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional hearing on election security broke Tuesday along stark political lines, highlighting the difficulties in getting lawmakers to address the threat outlined by federal officials who have warned that Russia and other adversaries are looking to interfere in the 2020 election and illicitly shape voter opinion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are attempting to repeal an IRS regulation that is designed to keep people from exceeding the $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump triggered outrage Tuesday by comparing the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry to a lynching, assigning the horrors of a deadly and racist chapter in U.S. history to a process laid out in the Constitution.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Ambassador William Taylor is expected Tuesday to testify on Capitol Hill, emerging as an unlikely central player in the events that are at the heart of the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called on fellow Republicans on Monday to "get tougher and fight" against the quickly moving House impeachment inquiry as Democrats blocked a GOP bid to censure Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a leader of the impeachment inquiry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Behind closed doors, President Donald Trump has made his views on Ukraine clear: "They tried to take me down."
MONDAY, OCT. 21
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt is mum on the status of Brian Maurer for Saturday's game with South Carolina after the freshman quarterback sustained concussions in back-to-back weeks.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — The bestselling country duo of all time, Brooks & Dunn, joined the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside comedian and singer Ray Stevens and record executive Jerry Bradley on Sunday evening, in a star-filled ceremony full of tributes to their lasting legacies.
STATEWIDE
CARYVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 6,000 pounds of frozen sausage patties manufactured in Tennessee have been recalled over concerns they may be contaminated with salmonella.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted endangered species status to a Tennessee freshwater fish.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans came up with an amazing goal-line stand stopping the Los Angeles Chargers.
ENVIRONMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A new business venture by former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen takes on global warming by helping companies fund solar panels in communities with dirty-power electric grids.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — New York's attorney general is accusing Exxon Mobil of lying to investors about how profitable the company will remain as governments impose stricter regulations to combat global warming.
CLEVELAND (AP) — The nation's three biggest drug distributors and a major drugmaker reached an 11th-hour, $260 million settlement over the toll of the opioids in two Ohio counties, averting what would have been the first federal trial over the crisis.
CLEVELAND (AP) — The case is about the conduct of a group of companies in two Ohio counties, but far more than that is riding on the first federal trial on the opioid crisis, expected to open Monday in Cleveland.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — If the FBI discovers that foreign hackers have infiltrated the networks of your county election office, you may not find out about it until after voting is over. And your governor and other state officials may be kept in the dark, too.
LONDON (AP) — The United States and the U.K. say they have exposed how a group of Russian hackers hijacked the tools of their Iranian counterparts to attack dozens of countries around the world.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has announced an education proposal pledging to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on public schools while ending all federal funding to create new charter schools.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing higher Monday, led by gains in technology companies and banks.
LONDON (AP) — Britain faced another week of grinding political gridlock after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was denied a chance Monday to hold a vote by lawmakers on his Brexit divorce bill.
BERLIN (AP) — China is asking the World Trade Organization for the right to impose $2.4 billion in annual penalties on the United States in a case over Chinese subsidies dating back years.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attempted for a second time to secure lawmakers' backing for his European Union divorce deal on Monday as Parliament geared up for a grueling week of political warfare over Brexit.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
With just over a year left until the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Facebook is stepping up its efforts to ensure it is not used as a tool to interfere in politics and democracies around the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is lamenting that he was forced to move next year's Group of Seven summit from his private golf club in Florida after bipartisan criticism that he was trying to profit off the presidency.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For Mick Mulvaney, the hits just keep on coming.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is planning to collect DNA samples from asylum-seekers and other migrants detained by immigration officials and will add the information to a massive FBI database used by law enforcement hunting for criminals, a Justice Department official said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three years of simmering frustration inside the State Department is boiling over on Capitol Hill as a parade of current and former diplomats testify to their concerns about the Trump administration's unorthodox policy toward Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is planning to collect DNA samples from asylum-seekers and other migrants detained by immigration officials and will add the information to a massive FBI database used by law enforcement hunting for criminals, a Justice Department official said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump describes it, the U.S. swooped into an intractable situation in the Middle East, achieved an agreement within hours that had eluded the world for years and delivered a "great day for civilization."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump dropped plans to hold an international summit at his Doral resort in Florida after realizing "it looks lousy" to steer business to his own property, his acting chief of staff said Sunday.
FRIDAY, OCT. 18
MUSIC INDUSTRY
FRANKLIN (AP) — A Tennessee-based manager of Christian music artists is accused of touching the genitals of a child when he worked for a Texas Baptist church more than a decade ago.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Mayor John Cooper says emergency shelters for the homeless will open this winter after all.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Agriculture officials say an invasive tick that could threaten the heath of cattle has been found in eight Tennessee counties.
PREDATORS
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The way Phil Kessel had been playing for the Arizona Coyotes at the start of the season, scoring a goal was just a matter of time.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A decade ago, high labor costs helped drag a bloated and debt-ridden General Motors into a government-funded bankruptcy.
DETROIT (AP) — Striking General Motors workers will stay on the picket lines for at least another week until they vote on a tentative contract with the company.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is stepping into a yearslong, politically charged fight over the federal consumer finance watchdog agency that was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The S&P 500 index closed out an uneven week of trading on Wall Street with its second straight weekly gain, even though stock indexes ended lower Friday.
CHABLIS, France (AP) — French vintners are begging for government aid. Italian farmers are scrambling for new export markets. And American shoppers are about to face supermarket sticker shock on European products.
BEIJING (AP) — China's economic growth sank to a new multi-decade low in the latest quarter as a trade war with the U.S. deepened a slump that is weighing on the global economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank appealed to their 189 member countries on Friday to resolve widening disagreements on trade and other issues, warning that the divisions threatened to make the consequences of a global slowdown even worse.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The shifting White House explanation for President Donald Trump's decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine drew alarm Friday from Republicans as the impeachment inquiry brought a new test of their alliance.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For only the fourth time in U.S. history, the House of Representatives has started a presidential impeachment inquiry. House committees are trying to determine if President Donald Trump violated his oath of office by asking a foreign country to investigate a political opponent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior State Department official accused of carrying out political retribution against career diplomats deemed insufficiently supportive of President Donald Trump has announced he is stepping down.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday selected Dan Brouillette, deputy to departing Energy Secretary Rick Perry, to lead the Energy Department, calling him a "total professional" with unparalleled experience.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hailed it as a great day for civilization, but the agreement hammered out in Ankara, Turkey, between U.S. and Turkish leaders spawned more questions than answers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House acknowledged that President Donald Trump's decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to his demand that Kyiv investigate the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, a shifting new explanation about events at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the European Union told House impeachment investigators Thursday that President Donald Trump instructed him and other envoys to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on Ukraine policy and that he was "disappointed" by the directive. Gordon Sondland spoke to lawmakers for around 10 hours.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced Thursday that he will leave his job by the end of the year, saying that under President Donald Trump the nation is nearing energy independence.
THURSDAY, OCT. 17
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — FedEx officials confirm the company has filed a building permit for its new package sorting facility and world hub in Tennessee.
JACKSON (AP) — Congress may award an extra $14 million to help fight Asian carp in Tennessee.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Teresa Phillips is retiring as Tennessee State's athletic director, a job she's held since April 2002.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The city of Nashville says emergency shelters for the homeless during the winter won't open this year because of a lack of funding and resources.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Health officials have reported Tennessee's first death from a vaping-related respiratory illness.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has appointed 38 people to a panel that will work with the U.S. Census Bureau on the 2020 Census.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country music artists cried together and prayed together at an emotional CMT Artists of the Year awards show that reflected the tight-knit community of artists who supported each other through success and loss.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A tentative four-year contract with striking General Motors gives workers a mix of pay raises, lump sum payments and an $11,000 signing bonus.
DETROIT (AP) — On the picket lines at a General Motors transmission plant in Toledo, Ohio, passing cars honked and striking workers celebrated a tentative contract deal by munching on 10 pizzas dropped off by a supporter.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home building fell last month after reaching a 12-year high in August, driven by a sharp decline in the construction of new apartments. Yet single-family home construction ticked higher for a fourth month.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is plowing ahead with her bill allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices despite a breakdown in relations with her chief bargaining partner on the issue — President Donald Trump.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing broadly higher on Wall Street as some solid corporate earnings and a breakthrough in negotiations over Britain's exit from the European Union put investors in a buying mood.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund's new leader said Thursday that a trade truce between the United States and China could trim expected losses to the world economy but won't be enough to produce strong global growth.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The slowing economy and ongoing trade disputes are dragging railroad profits down in the second half of the year.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has lost every important vote in Parliament since taking office, faces a titanic struggle Saturday when he puts his Brexit deal with the European Union before suspicious legislators.
MILAN (AP) — European producers of premium specialty agricultural products like French wine, Italian Parmesan and Spanish olives are facing a U.S. tariff hike due Friday with a mix of trepidation and indignation at being dragged into a trade war they feel they have little to do with.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. factory output slumped 0.5% in September, as a strike at General Motors caused a steep decline in auto production amid broader struggles for manufacturers.
BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's career of disdain for the European Union was a thing of the past on Thursday as he and the bloc's leaders celebrated their long-sought Brexit deal. He now faces an opponent closer to home: his own Parliament.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It rises out of what were once rolling sand dunes stretching toward the horizon, a feverish construction site by tempo and temperature that has tens of thousands of workers building what looks like a new city in the desert of Dubai.
BEIJING (AP) — China appealed to Washington for a quick end to their trade war but gave no indication Thursday what additional steps Beijing might want before carrying out what President Donald Trump says is a promise to buy up to $50 billion of American farm goods.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the European Union said Thursday that President Donald Trump directed him and other envoys to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on Ukraine policy and that he disagreed with the directive.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The U.S. and Turkey agreed Thursday to a cease-fire in the Turks' deadly attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, requiring the Kurds to vacate the area in an arrangement that largely solidifies Turkey's position and aims in the weeklong conflict. The deal includes a conditional halt to American economic sanctions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House acknowledged Thursday that President Donald Trump's decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to his demand that Kyiv investigate the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Thursday to sustain President Donald Trump's veto of Democratic-sponsored legislation reversing his raid of military base project money to pay for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Thursday it has chosen President Donald Trump's golf resort in Miami as the site for next year's Group of Seven summit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is surfacing cultural stereotypes as he depicts the Middle East as a blood-soaked sandbox where people "play" violently because that's "what they do" in that part of the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A veteran House Democrat from New York City will for now take over the House committee that the late Rep. Elijah Cummings chaired.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lead House impeachment investigator says he will release transcripts of the closed-door interviews lawmakers have conducted with current and former administration officials.
WASHINGTON (AP) — He said she's a "third-grade" politician. She said he's having a meltdown.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former top State Department aide testified in the impeachment inquiry that the Trump administration's politicization of foreign policy contributed to his resignation, while the Senate GOP leader briefed colleagues on a possible Christmas impeachment trial.