News - Friday, November 19, 2021

Pulverized homes, splintered trees and decimated buildings over a mile-long debris trail. Scorched earth or waist-high floodwaters. Those images of natural disasters come to mind when the Federal Emergency Management Agency rushes in the help Americans in times of need.

In 2016, activist Verna Myers emphasized the difference between diversity and inclusion while speaking to the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.

“Diversity is being invited to the party,” she said. “Inclusion is being asked to dance.”

If Realtor Dave Johnson had a theme song, it would be “I’ve Been Everywhere” – a hit for Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and others – because, well, he’s been everywhere, man.

Johnson, 77, could change the lyrics to catalog the places he’s lived or visited. For example, he could replace the first string of locales with “I’ve been to Grosse Pointe, Jackson, Muskegon, Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and back again, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, so much to see” – and that would cover just his early years.

As temperatures drop, existing home sales continue to be plentiful, buoyed by strong demand, low interest rates and a slight uptick in new listings in recent months, the National Association of Realtors reports.

With interest rates inching upward and experts expecting further rate increases on the horizon, motivated buyers are hoping to lock in their home purchases to take advantage of what are still historically low rates.

Stand by your pan this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the day we all gather with friends and family to count our blessings. It’s a day filled with time-honored traditions and maybe a little overeating. But did you know it’s also the nation’s leading day for cooking fires?

Spencer Mercer is the newest member of KraftCPAs, joining a team of 17 partners at the 63-year-old certified public accounting firm.

A Greeneville native, Mercer began his accounting career at Kraft’s Nashville location in 2009 after receiving his master’s degree in accounting at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

The MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Fund at CHI Memorial Foundation is accepting applications for the 2022-2023 school year, focusing on awarding college scholarships to the children of breast cancer patients.

Applicants must be students who have either lost a parent to breast cancer, have a parent who is currently undergoing treatment for the disease, or have a parent who is a breast cancer survivor.

As the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving approaches, I suggest that maybe the annual celebration should be recognized as America’s top holiday. Ahead even of Christmas, the perennial No. 1.

I realize this is not a popular notion for many people. Better than the birthday of Jesus? Blasphemy!

The children attending the clinic at the Gatlinburg Golf Course were told to watch the Golf Channel when they got home because Spencer Cross was playing in a tournament for the University of Tennessee.

Not only is Cross one of the top golfers in college, they were told, he was just like them.

Titans general manager Jon Robinson did not hesitate to draft Jeffery Simmons in the 2019 NFL draft, even after he had fallen down the draft boards.

Simmons, a projected Top 10 talent in that year’s draft, dropped to the Titans at No. 19 in part because of a knee injury suffered two months before the draft while training and, in part, because of an assault issue involving a woman from his college days at Mississippi State.

Sometimes the Titans defense looks great – as it did against the Chiefs and the Rams.

Sometimes it is hanging on for dear life, as it did against Seattle, Buffalo and New Orleans and others.

The Titans are more interested in outcome than style, which at 8-2 has more often been in their favor.

The Titans have been finding ways to win while losing players – some of them marquee names like Derrick Henry and Julio Jones. Tennessee now owns the NFL’s longest active win streak at six games and will have to make sure they don’t put things on cruise control at home Sunday against the lowly Houston Texans.

When you and your life partner work together to achieve your important long-term goals such as a comfortable retirement lifestyle, the experience can be greatly rewarding. However, your success will require commitment and discipline. So, what steps should you take along the way?

Holiday gatherings may present an opportunity to talk to your parents about important money issues, including estate planning or long-term care. The need to discuss this stuff might feel particularly acute if you don’t see your folks often or these are the first holidays you’ll be together since the pandemic started.

Until recently, we never would have guessed that there would be anything called the Great Resignation. But here we are. It feels like everyone is looking for a new job – in every industry – all at the same time.

The tables have finally turned back in favor of the employee. More than 4.4 million workers voluntarily quit their jobs in September, the most ever recorded for a single month, the U.S. Department of Labor reports.

Introduced for 2021, the Volkswagen ID.4 is the German automaker’s first all-electric SUV and part of a new wave of electric vehicles for American consumers. It boasts a spacious interior and styling that’s futuristic but not too futuristic.