News - Friday, April 22, 2022

It’s legal, it’s sold everywhere in Tennessee, but purveyors can’t tell anyone why it might help your insomnia, diabetes, anxiety or chronic pain. Federal law prohibits vendors from telling consumers why they’d actually want to buy it.

For Rep. Bryan Terry (R- Murfreesboro), medical marijuana is intensely personal. But it wasn’t always that way.

“When I first got elected, this was not an issue I had anything to do with,” says Terry, a graduate of the Oklahoma College of Medicine who performed his anesthesiology residency at the University of Tennessee. “People I knew who had some health issues got me to looking into it.”

Thomas Williams was barely out of law school when he went to the federal courthouse in Chattanooga and watched Judge Frank Wilson send Jimmy Hoffa to prison for jury tampering.

“Seeing that banty rooster stand up as the judge sentenced him was something I’d never imagined I’d see,” recalls Williams, 82.

One of the most potent ingredients of success in real estate is presence. Many clients are drawn to a Realtor whose name, face and reputation they know.

Realtor Brian Erwin, 33, has presence. But he didn’t carve it out of a ubiquitous marketing campaign, nor has he made headlines by selling tens of millions of dollars worth of real estate.

Across the country, consumers are feeling the bite of inflation and surging mortgage interest rates. Freddie Mac reports rates hit 4.6% in March, rising 1.4% since January to the highest level in more than three years.

In April, we’re seeing a continued upward trend in rates. These increases are naturally causing monthly payments to rise significantly compared to this time last year.

One of the most exciting steps in the homebuying process is walking through the dwelling in which you might one day live. Whether it’s a new or newly renovated house, touring a residence in person will help you with your purchasing decision.

If you reach retirement with a significant amount of assets, you’ve done a great job of saving and investing. But now comes another challenge – making that money last.

You might think that this task, as important as it is, won’t be as hard as accumulating the money in the first place. Yet, a sizable number of people have reached a different conclusion. In fact, 36% of retirees say managing money in retirement is more confusing than saving for retirement, and 56% say they wish they had budgeted for more unexpected expenses in retirement, according to the Edward Jones/Age Wave Four Pillars of the New Retirement study.

I thought I knew all about the information that consumer reporting agencies were collecting on me. Then I discovered The Work Number – a database that reports every paycheck I’ve received from my company, with net and gross amounts, going back to my hire date six years ago.

The pandemic upended what it meant to be a college student as newfound barriers to learning cropped up in spring 2020: In-person classes were forced online, family obligations became more pronounced and economic difficulties spread.

“All of these factors just came together to create this perfect storm,” says Mamie Voight, president and CEO of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit focused on college access. She says that students from low-income backgrounds and those with responsibilities outside of school – like jobs and kids – faced the steepest challenges.

The obvious storyline came into everyone’s mind as the pick approached: The Las Vegas native drafted by the hometown Las Vegas Aces to play in front of family and friends.

Instead, the Aces opted for another player at No. 8, but Rae Burrell, who calls Las Vegas home, didn’t have to wait much longer to hear her name called.

It is no secret that Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson needs a home run or two in this year’s NFL Draft, set for April 28-30 in Las Vegas.

As he prepares for his seventh draft as the Titans GM, Robinson has had his share of home run picks. But to continue the baseball analogy, as power hitters are often prone to do, he has had a number of strikeouts that have hurt the team’s development at some positions.

From the great (2016, 2019) to the disastrous (2018, 2020), Titans general manager Jon Robinson has had some big pendulum swings during his six drafts. Here's a look back at how each grades:

2016

1. Jack Conklin

2a. Kevin Dodd

Except for the anti-vax crowd – a self-thinning Darwinian herd – it’s time for some of us to consider another COVID shot. Turns out it’s more complicated than I had hoped.

Deciding on the first shots was a no-brainer. As soon as they were authorized for my age group, Geezer II, I made arrangements and twice stood in a substantial line at a Walmart to get jabbed. Other than some surprisingly potent soreness in the receiving arm after the first shot, there were no negative repercussions. And I felt bulletproof.

The combination of high car prices and the imminent arrival of higher interest rates can make it difficult to justify spending money on a car primarily meant for fun. But these two models can put a big smile on your face without crushing your monthly budget: the 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF and the 2022 Subaru BRZ.