By James Crawford Nesting Nashville Nationally, home prices have mostly outpaced broader consumer inflation over the past decade. This is certainly the case in Nashville. From 2010 to mid-2020 the median home price rose 61% nationally. The key reason: steadily shrinking supply coupled with steadily rising demand. Americans saw inflation of 18% and a wage hike at 30% over the same 10-year period. Yet incredibly, the percentage of income devoted to a mortgage principal and interest payment to buy a median price home is essentially unchanged, reflecting the awesome power of low mortgage rates which hit an all-time low in…
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NASHVILLE, TN — On Saturday, Oct. 17, the first Saturday for Early Voting, at 10 a.m., the Pounding 4 Change Coalition, along with Pastor Howard Jones, Jr.’s Together Movement and other organizations and individuals will ride to the polls. They will caravan from Nissan Stadium through the city and end up at the Bordeaux Library on Clarksville Pike to vote. The Pounding 4 Change movement is totally focused on this election and helping people to vote. They will take people to the polls anyway possible-vans, cars and motorcycles so that these citizens will get to the vote. Social distancing…
MURFREESBORO, TN — In response to recent community concerns, the team at Middle Point Landfill provided an update recently on early efforts to determine potential sources of off-site odor. Since last week, Middle Point has received 40 reports of potential offsite odor. Fourteen of those reports provided enough detailed information – in real-time or close to real-time – for the team at Middle Point to respond and investigate. Of those, five were considered to have been potentially attributable to onsite operations, based on detailed descriptions, weather conditions, and wind speed/direction. “Some of the odor descriptions we received do not match…
NASHVILLE, TN – On September 4, 2018 Metro Council voted down a measure that would have let voters weigh in on the soccer stadium deal. Then At Large Councilman John Cooper, now Mayor John Cooper, voted for a referendum vote. That was then, this is now. Cooper met with the Davidson County Election Commission two weeks ago urging them to block the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, the anti-tax referendum that also includes a provision aimed at stopping the soccer stadium construction at the Nashville Fairgrounds. The Mayor got the election commission to punt on whether to put the measure on…
MEMPHIS, TN —House Democratic Leader Karen Camper of Memphis has been named one of the 100 Most Influential African American Leaders by African Leadership magazine (ALM). The magazine lists Rep. Camper as #94 and as a Rising Star on its 2020 just-released listing. In a press release, ALM Publisher Dr. Kem Giami says the members of this year’s list are “outstanding global citizens and torchbearers for the global African community for leadership and service to humanity, not only in the U.S. but also around the world. They are bridge-builders and trailblazers in almost every sphere of our human existence.” …
By Justin Owen These two staggering statistics offer important context for this post: 1) If you serve two terms on the Metro Nashville City Council, you get lifetime health insurance. 2) The city of Nashville has more than twice the debt held by the entire state of Tennessee. The lifetime council benefits are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the city’s fiscal woes. But they are a tip that must be lopped off if the city is going to seriously pursue reforms to restore some fiscal sanity. Despite his earlier failure to use his historically high…
By Peter White NASHVILLE, TN — Day-laborers and Uber drivers have a lot in common. Neither get sick leave or workers compensation. They don’t get health insurance or paid family leave or unemployment compensation. The work can be dangerous and lacks the legal protections for health and safety that W-2 workers get. What used to be called the underground or hidden economy is now in plain sight and involves one out of three American workers. It has a new name: the gig economy. In 2017 Roberto Moreno applied to be an Uber driver. He waited six months for them to…
MURFREESBORO, TN — The weather was perfect, but because of COVID-19, a lot was different about MTSU Homecoming 2020. Tailgating was not allowed. The pregame Homecoming Parade became an “MTShUbox Parade,” with dozens of homemade entries showcased virtually. The announced crowd of 6,500 at Floyd Stadium had to socially distance and wear face coverings to maintain Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health protocols. But the Band of Blue played on from the stands and the Homecoming Court was recognized on a stadium concourse on a beautiful fall afternoon. Drew Carpenter, a senior community and public health major from Kingsport,…
NASHVILLE, TN — During the week of Sept. 21–26, community members came together to donate over 10,000 new or like-new children’s books and raise $43,000 in donations for The Big Book DRIVE, hosted by children’s literacy nonprofit Book’em. All donations support Book’em’s mission to get books into the hands of Nashville kids who dream of being book owners. Children growing up in homes with at least 20 books will stay in school nearly three years longer than children growing up with no books in their home, not taking into account parent’s education, occupation and socioeconomic status. Book’em supports making literacy…
By Doug Haaland, Humana Tennessee and Alabama Medicare President The annual Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan open enrollment period, Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, is the time when eligible individuals – including the nearly 1,380,678 people in Tennessee who are enrolled in Medicare – can access 2021 plan information. Here are some tips to safely select a plan without needing to leave home during this COVID-19 pandemic: Look online: Go to Medicare.gov to compare plans, benefits and get estimated costs. You can also enter prescription names to ensure those medications are covered. Insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans can…