News - Friday, May 7, 2021

When Tennessee communities shuttered in March 2020, small businesses with a model that relies on heavy in-person traffic – restaurants, retail stores, etc. – were hit particularly hard. Now some of them are cautiously pursuing more normal operations and putting into place the hard lessons learned over the last 13 months.

Jennifer Smith has joined the Chattanooga office of Husch Blackwell as senior counsel.

Smith, who’s licensed in Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and Arkansas, joins the firm’s financial services and capital markets industry group.

She brings to Husch Blackwell an extensive background in estate planning and conservatorships.

Many historians believe Aldolph Hitler concluded his Aug. 22, 1939, briefing with his generals about the impending invasion of Poland by saying: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

In his chilling statement, Hitler was referring to the extermination of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1916.

Mollie Majors had been working in the corporate world for nearly 15 years when her employer eliminated her management position and freed her to pursue another interest – real estate.

But as Majors talked with a local Crye-Leike recruiter during an interview, she felt like she was asking the wrong questions.

There’s a chance you’ve heard the cost of lumber has skyrocketed over the past year, and if you or someone you know has bought a newly constructed home, I can guarantee you’ve heard about it, along with a curse word or two.

“For years, the price of 1,000 board feet of lumber has generally traded in the $200 to $400 range,” writes Emily Stewart, senior reporter for Vox. “It’s now well above $1,000. (One board foot is 12x12x1 inches, and the average new single-family home takes about 16,000 board feet of lumber to construct.)

Wondering why prices have increased in new home construction? Lumber prices have tripled during the past 12 months, causing the price of an average new single-family home to increase by $35,872, a new National Association of Home Builders analysis reveals.

Jimmy Dale is the new executive director of Life Care Center of Red Bank, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility. Dale most recently served as executive director at Life Care Center of Cleveland.

Before that appointment, he was executive director at Life Care Center of Copper Basin in Ducktown.

What are the chances Tennessee will become the first Southern state to legalize marijuana for recreational use?

Trick question! The answer, technically, is zero, because Virginia has already taken that step. As of July 1, possession and cultivation by adults 21 and older will be legal, and the state will tax and regulate the substance when commercial sales become legal Jan. 1, 2024.

With support from JPMorgan Chase, the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, LAUNCH and Pathway Lending are working together to strengthen the small business ecosystem for minority entrepreneurs in Chattanooga.

JPMorgan Chase recently committed $150,000 to the Urban League, which will allow it to expand its NextLevel entrepreneurship training program.

Is homeownership a goal of yours? It does offer some benefits, in addition to meeting your basic need for shelter. The equity you build in your home can be a valuable financial asset, and you might get to deduct your interest payments on your taxes.

You hit many milestone birthdays when you’re young. There’s your first birthday, of course, and also the one when you turn 10 (finally, double digits!). At 13, you’re a teenager. At 16, you’re probably thinking about driving. At 18, you can vote. At 21, you can get into bars.

The past 14 months have changed the nature of work, especially for remote workers. Many no longer spend hours in the car, making their way to one shared office building. They’re waking up and joining their colleagues via Zoom. And, this remote environment is transforming more than just our morning commute.

What’s your relationship with money? Maybe your personal finances are like a distant cousin you barely think about or an unsettling stranger you avoid. Or perhaps money feels like your enemy, frustrating you and rarely doing what you want.

In fact, 31% of Americans say they feel anxious when thinking about the current state of their personal finances, a 2020 NerdWallet survey reports.

Electric vehicle shoppers have an increasing number of models to choose from. There are nearly two dozen EVs on the market today, and that selection will only grow over the next eight months. Here are five upcoming EVs – organized by price – that the experts at Edmunds are most excited to see in 2021.