Loews Hotels plans to consolidate back-office functions in Nashville for its 19 hotels and resorts, a move that will create 200 jobs over about two years and give a much-needed boost to downtown office leasing activity.

The New York-based company has leased 40,000 square feet of space in the Fifth Third Center for the shared services center, which it plans to open in September.

Nashville was among four U.S. cities that made a final cut for the project from an initial list of 10. Loews plans to centralize tasks such as accounting, payroll and purchasing in the new office space.

Rising floodwaters didn't disrupt operations at most Nashville- area hospitals, but industry players still were busy making news of their own, from an acquisition deal to an HCA filing to return to being a publicly traded company.

Sumner Regional Health Systems' bankruptcy filing, with plans to sell for an estimated $155 million to Brentwood-based hospital operator LifePoint Hospitals Inc., came as no surprise. The Gallatin-based system has been dealing with high debt brought on by rapid expansion, as well as concerns about reliability of its financials after revenues were overstated.

Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst at CRT Capital in Stamford, Conn., believes LifePoint is paying a fairly steep price for fairly weak assets. The deal still requires approval of the Sumner County Commission, and other companies could make rival offers under a court-directed bidding process.

The U.S. Justice Department has asked the Psychiatric Solutions hospital chain for documents related to pay, stock sales and stock options for certain senior executives, although the Franklin-based company says it doesn't expect an adverse outcome from the inquiry.

The hospital company also received another subpoena related to its communications with investment firms and investors and other stock-related documents.

The investigation probably is related to 2010 management compensation packages established only two weeks before news broke about Psychiatric Solutions being for sale and whether its board was aware of Chief Executive Officer Joey Jacobs' private intentions to sell the company, analyst John Ransom of Raymond James in Tampa said in a research note.

An initial public offering by Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. is set to be priced tonight, which would allow shares of the Franklin-based aluminum products producer to make their trading debut Thursday morning.

Noranda plans to offer 16.67 million shares at $14 to $16 each with plans to use proceeds of roughly $250 million to repay debt.

It, however, remains to be seen if the IPO will go forward in a volatile stock market. Last week, four companies postponed IPOs that had been scheduled for U.S. stock markets.

O’Charley’s lost $4.3 million in the first quarter, surprising analysts who had been looking for a profit of about the same number. Sales at the Nashvile-based restaurant chain fell 7 percent to $271 million.

Per diluted share, O’Charley’s lost 21 cents even though the Street had expected a proft of 20 cents. CEO Jeff Warne said the big shortfall was due in large part to customers trading down to smaller and cheaper menu items without replacing their spending with appetizers or desserts. The average O’Charley’s concept guest check fell more than 5 percent versus a year ago to $12.45.

Tennessee’s revenue collections may have finally turned a corner.

Revenue collections in April were up 2.2 percent compared to a year ago — ending “an unprecedented 22 consecutive months of negative collections,” Finance and Administration Commissioner Dave Goetz said in a news release.

Collections for the month were $1.24 billion. That’s $43.4 million more than the state budgeted.

Sales taxes were up 5.6 percent compared to April 2009, bringing in $548.8 million. That’s $9.7 million more than the state budgeted for April, and the first time this year that it has exceeded expectations.

Health-care tech company HealthStream signed a seven-year lease extension at its Cummins Station offices.

The terms of the deal, which covers about 32,000 square feet, were specified in the company's quarterly SEC filing.

"On April 22, 2010, the Company renewed a lease, and expanded the square footage, for its principal office located in Nashville, Tennessee for a seven year period. The initial term of the renewed lease will end on April 30, 2017, and includes a two year renewal option. The monthly rental payments at this location will be as follows: $50,434 through April 2012, $53,430 through April 2013, $53,725 through April 2014, $54,021 through April 2015, and $57,027 through April 2017. The lease also includes certain periods of free rent and tenant improvement allowances," the filing read.

The Nashville Business Journal is moving its office from downtown to Midtown.

Publisher Kate Herman said the move to the Plaza 18 Building at 1800 Church Street will improve the staff’s access to businesses in the West End and MetroCenter while still remaining close to downtown. It also offers ample free parking for staff and guests.

The 25-year-old newspaper is currently located at 344 Fourth Ave. N, in a first floor office at the Public Square Garage, where it has been for seven years.

CHICAGO-Bankrupt General Growth Properties, the target of one of retails biggest tug-of-war battles in for the past few months, still managed to post positive figures in the first quarter. According to Q1 data released Monday by the REIT, core funds from operations was $254.1 million, or 78 cents per fully diluted share, for the first quarter 2010, compared to a loss of $122.9 million, or 38 cents, for Q1 2009.

A bankruptcy court on Friday agreed to allow GGP to partner with Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management on an $8.5 billion plan to emerge from its financial troubles. Simon Property Group, based in Indianapolis, pulled its competing bid after the court decision.

NEW YORK CITY—More than $700 million worth of industrial properties fell into trouble in February, increasing the total outstanding distress to $6.8 billion by the end of March, according to the latest Real Capital Analytics figures. Workout activity of just $58 million did little to offset the second largest monthly increase this cycle in distress inventory for industrial property.

But the sector is still faring considerably better than other asset classes—with office, retail, apartment and hotels posting distress figures between $25 billion and $33 billion. What’s more, industrial accounts for only around 5% of outstanding CMBS balances. The sector’s strength is due largely to a lack of hot money in the market during real estate’s mid-2000s heyday and a willingness to work through troubled loans. But it’s also left investors cooling their heels on the curb with few purchasing prospects.

Movie Gallery Inc., the owner of struggling movie rental chain Hollywood Video, said Tuesday that it plans to close its remaining stores, including several in the Nashville area, as consumers more than ever get their movies through the mail, at vending machines or across high-speed Internet connections.

There are about 10 Hollywood Video or Movie Gallery stores in the Nashville area, including in Clarksville, La Vergne and Murfreesboro.

The No. 2 rental chain behind Blockbuster Inc., filed a notice with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond that it will terminate its business operations after defaulting on a loan from one of its creditors.

Loews Hotels is expected to announce Wednesday that it is bringing more than 200 jobs to downtown Nashville as part of a "financial shared services center" that will be based in Fifth Third Center.

Mayor Karl Dean and Loews Hotels Chairman and CEO Jonathan Tisch will make the announcement during a 9 a.m. news conference in the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.

Look for shares of Brookdale Senior Living to be solidly in the red today after the local nursing home chain's largest investor said it plans to sell 10 million of its shares by next Monday.

The move by Fortress Investment Group comes six months after a similar sale lightened its holdings in Brentwood-based Brookdale by 11 million shares to about 42 percent. If completed, this week's offering will trim New York-based Fortress' stake to about 27 percent, less than half its holdings a year ago.

Leon Moore, big-shot Sumner County land developer who has seen at least three of his projects enter bankruptcy, has filed for bankruptcy himself.

Moore is seeking Chapter 7 liquidation under a filing submitted Monday in federal court.

Details of Moore's personal financial situation are unclear, as his filing is largely incomplete, indicating only he has less than 50 creditors. It does not show not how much he owes or how much he has.

Vanguard Health Systems is “marching forward” on its acquisition of Detroit Medical Center, as well as other development projects in the Nashville health care company’s pipeline.

On a conference call with analysts this morning, leaders of the Nashville-based hospital chain said they are interested in acquisitions beyond the Midwestern deals that would push Vanguard’s revenues well north of $5 billion.

Asked whether the company will remain active or “take a breather” from acquisitions given the size of its Detroit deal and the planned Chicago purchase of two hospitals, Vanguard Chairman and CEO Charlie Martin indicated that there’s no plan to sit on the sidelines.

National hotel chain Loews will announce Wednesday that it is moving a large number of back-office jobs to downtown Nashville.

It is not clear if the company’s New York headquarters will be among those, but Loews Chairman and CEO Jonathan Tisch is traveling to Nashville to join Mayor Karl Dean and state Economic Development Commissioner Matt Kisber to announce the news.

Nashville-based Sitel Corp. is completing the shutdown of its Memphis operations, with the final 135 employees being laid off on June 18, according to Department of Labor and Workforce Development documents.

The business outsourcing provider, formerly known as ClientLogic, handles sales, back-office services, technical support and other functions for companies.

In January, the company announced it was laying off 426 employees at its 1699 Sycamore View Road facility.

The National Association of Music Merchants still plans to hold its summer trade show in Nashville June 18 to 20.

In a statement e-mailed today, President and CEO Joe Lamond said the show will proceed as planned at the Nashville Convention Center despite last week’s historic flooding that damaged some of the downtown entertainment district.

“We’ve had a long history with Nashville and we are delighted to be in a position to support this city with our … economic impact for the city during this difficult period,” Lamond said.

Psychiatric Solutions Inc. profits were up 3 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Earnings were $28.2 million on revenue of $476.0 million. Earnings per diluted share came in at 51 cents, compared to analysts’ average estimate of 52 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Analysts had predicted revenue of $469 million for the quarter.

In March, PSI confirmed that it has been approached by third parties regarding a possible sale of the company and has formed a special committee of its board of directors to consider offers. In releasing its first-quarter earnings, PSI again emphasizes that a sale is not certain, and it is not making public comments until the matter is settled.

National Health Investors, Inc.

(NYSE: NHI)

National Health Investors, Inc.

(NYSE: NHI)

Murfreesboro-based National Health Investors Inc. announced today an 8.4 percent increase in its normalized Funds From Operations. For the first quarter, NHI reported a Normalized FFO of $17.2 million, or 62 cents per basic share, compared to $15.1 million, or 55 cents per basic share, for the year-ago quarter. The company reported Funds From Operations of $18.4 million, compared to $17 million for the year-ago quarter; and revenue of $20.4 million compared to $14.7 million a year ago. The company reported net income of $15.9 million, compared to $15 million in the year-ago period. Analysts, on average, had estimated earnings of 61 cents per share on an FFO of $18.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters. The company is forecasting an increase in normalized FFO for 2010 from 15.0 percent to 17.2 percent compared with 2009.

Nashville-based Louisiana Pacific Corporation’s reported a loss of $23 million, or 18 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter. The company had lost $43 million, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. The company reported revenue of $296.6 million, up 44 percent over the $205.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Analysts, on average, had estimated a loss of 11 cents per share on revenue of $292.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

LP manufactures wood materials for interior and exterior use in residential, industrial and light commercial construction.

Nashville-based HealthSpring Inc. announced today it plans to buy back $100 million worth of the company’s common stock.

HealthSpring currently has about 57.9 million shares outstanding, the company said in a news release. At its current price (shares closed up 67 cents at $16.16 today), $100 million would buy about 10.5 percent of outstanding shares. HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) plans to use unrestricted cash on hand and unrestricted cash generated from operations to fund the stock repurchase program, which will expire on June 30, 2011.

Saint Thomas Health Services today named Dr. Michael Schatzlein as president and CEO, ending a nearly year-long search for someone to lead the five-hospital system.

Schatzlein, 59, comes to Saint Thomas from Lutheran Health Network and Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he currently is president and CEO. His first day at Saint Thomas will be July 1.

Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated

(NYSE: HR)

Nashville-based Healthcare Realty Trust Inc.’s earnings were down in the first quarter, compared to the same period a year ago. Healthcare Realty Trust reported net income of $4.6 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, compared to $20.8 million one year ago. The company reported revenue of $64.6 million, compared to $62.1 million in the year-ago period. Finally, the company reported $19.2 million in funds from operations, or 32 cents per share, compared to $25 million in the year ago quarter. Analysts had expected earnings of 32 cents per share on revenue of $66.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

BioMimetic Therapeutics Inc.’s losses widened 6.3 percent to $8.5 million in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Losses came in at 39 cents per diluted share, compared to average analyst estimates of 48 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue for the quarter remained flat at $400,000, consisting of income from royalties and sublicense fees. Analysts had predicted revenue of $510,000 for the quarter.

Gov. Phil Bredesen will lead a Tennessee delegation at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo this month.

Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber, Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr and International Investment Director Lori Odom will also go.

They will leave Friday and return May 22 from a trip designed to promote trade, investment and tourism between Tennessee and China.

We’ll know the upper reaches of the Nashville home market have recovered from the Great Recession when this column fails to include at least a couple of transactions that make readers cringe at the brutality the marketplace can mete out. We’re not there yet. See sales number 2 and 3, below.

A broader indicator also gives little cause for cheer just yet. At $1.33 million, the average sale price of the houses on this list was down 15 percent from April 2009’s average and 31 percent from the average in 2008.

It all started in a Harvard library.

Samuel Lynch, embarking on doctoral work at the Massachusetts university in the 1980s, agreed to some free labor – hitting the books to help an oncology researcher advance his side project on wound healing.

One thing led to another. The initial research progressed to further studies. Discoveries led to patents.

At the afternoon press event, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber provided the bulk of a presentation aimed at "setting the record straight" on the state's TNInvestco program and arguing for the passage of a bill that would expand it by $80 million.

Kisber said there’s already been a "strong, positive" impact from the program, which thus far has plugged $2.5 million into nine companies and has two deals in the works. Backing him up was Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Ralph Schulz, who said expansion of TNInvestco "means more capital for small businesses in Tennessee and more jobs for Tennesseans at a time we need that job growth." Representatives from TNInvestco-funded companies New Day Pharmacy and TrakLok each said the funding has helped their businesses grow and create jobs.

Hospital and health plan operator Vanguard Health Systems reported a nearly $33 million loss in the third quarter of its fiscal 2010 thanks to cost associated with a $950 million refinancing completed in the quarter and a drop in patient service revenues.

The Nashville-based company reported a slight – 0.4 percent – increase in total revenues for the quarter ended March 31, bringing in $861 million.

Although Vanguard’s health plan premium revenues rose by $29.5 million on enrollment growth, patient service revenues fell by nearly $26.3 million. Factor in the $73.2 million of debt extinguishment costs related to the comprehensive refinancing it completed in the quarter and Vanguard reported a net loss of $32.8 million in Q3.

Fifteen months after its previous chief executive officer resigned under pressure from the medical staff, Saint Thomas Health Services today announced the appointment of Michael H. Schatzlein as its new president and CEO.

Schatzlein starts work at STHS on July 1. He comes to Nashville from Lutheran Health Network and its Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he was also president and CEO. Franklin-based Community Health Systems Inc. owns Lutheran.

With 99 percent of all damaged private property assessed, repairs from last week’s flooding are expected to total at least $1.56 billion, Mayor Karl Dean said Monday.

The dollar-figure, which has risen as the surveying process has unfolded, came after evaluations from Metro’s codes, planning and other departments. It doesn’t include the cost to repair public infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks and bridges.

According to Dean, Metro Public Works has conducted an initial assessment, and “the news is very good.” Still, he doesn’t know when Metro officials will have a final cost projection for damages to public infrastructure, but said the process is “almost done.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona and California, bringing the number of U.S. bank failures to 68 this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over The Bank of Bonifay, based in Bonifay, Fla., which had $242.9 million in assets and $230.2 million in deposits; and Access Bank, in Champlin, Minn., with $32 million in assets and $32 million in deposits.

The agency also seized Towne Bank of Arizona in Mesa, Ariz., with $120.2 million in assets and $113.2 million in deposits; and 1st Pacific Bank of California in San Diego, with $335.8 million in assets and $291.2 million in deposits.

NEW YORK — As regulators sought answers and the main exchanges were on the defensive as to what happened during Thursday's swoon on the Dow Jones industrial average, some veteran market observers questioned whether our modern financial frameworks serve any purpose beyond making money for those involved.

In afternoon trading Thursday, heavy losses for the Dow industrials rapidly transformed into a 1,000-point plunge, while shares of Procter & Gamble Co. plummeted nearly 40 percent and other "unusual" activity was recorded for a large number of stocks.

Unconfirmed reports that large "high-frequency trading" programs generated by computers went wrong made the rounds, while the New York Stock Exchange said it wasn't responsible for activity that occurred after its circuit breakers came in place to slow the flow of trading.

HCA Inc. made its long-awaited decision on Friday to offer stock to the public once more, saying it plans a $4.6 billion initial public stock offering to help repay some of its hefty debt and allow the private equity firms that took it private in 2006 to get some cash out.

The Nashville-based hospital chain's financial move would be the biggest public stock offering by a U.S.-based company since the credit crisis began to take hold two years ago. It comes amid recent wild swings on Wall Street and what analysts say appears to a dwindling investor appetite for new stocks with heavy debt.

It appears likely to be mid-June at the earliest when executives will hit the road in a bid to pitch the shares to potential investors.

WASHINGTON — The economy got what it needed in April: a burst of hiring that added a net 290,000 jobs, the biggest monthly total in four years. It showed employers are gaining confidence as the recovery takes deeper root.

People who had given up on finding jobs are gaining confidence, too, and are now looking for work. That's why the unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent and probably will go higher.

The new jobs, generated by sectors across the economy, are the first sign that the recovery is adding significant numbers of new jobs — even if not enough to absorb the influx of job seekers.

WASHINGTON — Although credit-rating agencies played a crucial role in creating the nation's severe financial crisis, the legislation to revamp financial regulation that Congress is considering would give them a dangerous pass.

Neither the Senate Banking Committee bill that's being debated now nor the version that the House of Representatives passed last year would require credit-rating agencies to do any due diligence when they rate complex financial instruments.

It was the failure to verify the soundness of underlying loans that led to the global financial meltdown; complex mortgage-backed bonds with investment-grade ratings were sold worldwide, but later proved to be junk.

AmSurg Corp. reported flat first-quarter profits, citing the effects of severe snowstorm and the weak economy.

Net earning from continuing operations attributable to common shareholders rose 2 percent to $12.8 million from $12.6 million a year earlier.

Per share, the Nashville-based outpatient surgery-centers operator met analysts’ average earnings estimate of 42 cents a share for the recent period. That was up from 40 cents last year.

Revenues rose 6 percent to $172.5 million.

J.B. Baker, president and CEO of Volunteer Express Inc., has been an industry leader over his 37-year career in trucking. He started out as a salesman and rose to the top job at a carrier that now operates across a third of the United States.

He has led his company to the threshold of $50 million per year in revenues and dealt with challenges from soaring diesel prices to rising floodwaters that threatened vehicles and his customers' warehouses in recent days.

This spring, the Tennessee Trucking Association presented Baker with a lifetime achievement award that also recognized Baker's service as a TTA executive committee member and past chairman. Talking about the honor, Baker's eyes welled with tears as he described it as "such a big compliment from my peers." Baker was only the eighth recipient of the Pinnacle Award in the trucking association's history.

The Turtle Creek Apartments at 121 Hickory Trace Road have been sold for $7 million.

According to court records and the Davidson County Register of Deeds website, the property was purchased by Palatine Capital Partners Management, LLC, doing business as PAL MF Nashville, LLC.

According to Davidson County Chancery Court records, the property, owned by Turtle Creek Realty Co., fell into receivership in March 2009. In February, the court approved this week’s sale after the receiver got 15 offers, the highest of which was from Palatine Capital Partners.

Controversial urban design overlays proposed for a handful of Antioch-area neighborhoods were withdrawn last week after the sponsor reached a compromise with bank investors.

Streets and lots were cleared a few years ago to make way for a new neighborhood called Fawn Crossing off Mt. View Road in Southeast Davidson County, but the project went unfinished as the housing market deteriorated.

Four top executives of Community Health Systems this week sold a combined $8.5 million worth of the hospital company’s shares, which have risen more than a quarter in the past three months.

The four officers were led by Chief Financial Officer Larry Cash, who exercised options to buy 240,000 shares and then sold those shares. Cash pocketed more than $4.8 million from the transaction. He still owns shares worth more than $15 million and options to acquire another 480,000 shares.

After a quarter of unexpectedly high profits, local Medicare Advantage plan administrator HealthSpring is looking ahead to the health care reform provisions that may trim its bottom line.

Specifically, HealthSpring will be required to bring its medical loss ratio — the amount of premium revenue spent on members’ medical care — to 85 percent by 2014 to comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In the first quarter of 2010, HealthSpring’s MLR was 78.1 percent; it had a $33.8 million profit.

Rutherford County leaders are projecting a $407.2 million budget for next fiscal year, a slight spending increase that won't force a third straight property tax increase.

The current tax rate of $2.735 per $100 of assessed value will change to an expected state certified rate of $2.44815 to keep revenues the same after property values increased during reappraisals, County Finance Director Lisa Nolen told members of the County Commission's Budget, Finance & Investment Committee Thursday night.

WASHINGTON — The Senate is weighing the most sweeping rewrite of financial rules since the Great Depression, landmark changes aimed at preventing a recurrence of the crisis that knocked the financial system to its knees two years ago.

The House already has passed its version of the bill, which proponents say would improve oversight of complex investments and give regulators the tools to address looming financial threats.

Here are some questions and answers about what would change under the proposed financial overhaul:

Fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the economic rebound is lifting the labor market.

Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 448,000 in the week ended April 24, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the lowest level in a month, Labor Department figures showed Thursday in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance and those getting extended payments decreased.

WASHINGTON — Putting a bigger stamp on the Federal Reserve, President Barack Obama on Thursday chose Janet Yellen as vice chairwoman of the central bank and filled two other vacancies on the board, which has enormous power over Americans' pocketbooks.

The nominations are subject to Senate approval. If the Senate confirms all three nominees, Obama will have appointed five of the seven members of the Federal Reserve Board.

His moves come as the Fed, whose decisions influence economic activity, employment and inflation, is facing political and economic challenges.

The bidding war between Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management over the fate of General Growth Properties appears to have reached a stalemate, as the two firms are now offering similarly priced and structured reorganization plans for the bankrupt REIT. If neither firm raises its offer, General Growth’s decision will now come down to details such as the issuance of warrants and concerns over potential anti-trust objections, industry sources say.

On Thursday, Simon executives met with General Growth’s board of directors to outline Simon’s new bid. According to the terms of its revised plan, Simon would match Brookfield Asset Management’s proposed $15 price per share and would also backstop a $1.5 billion credit facility to allow General Growth to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

For about a year, Levin Management Corp., a Plainfield, N.J.-based real estate services firm which manages a 12.3-million-square-foot retail portfolio, has been getting an increasing number of calls from people looking to start retail businesses.

Today, approximately 20 percent of all calls the company’s leasing department takes are from potential tenants who have either no stores or only one or two locations, says Matthew Harding, company president and COO. Some of the proposals are admittedly laughable, with the “prospective tenants” having no real ideas and telling Levin they will sell whatever it is the firm wants them to sell. They see an empty space in a mall and call to ask “What would you like us to put in the there?” Harding notes.

In March, the delinquent unpaid balance for CMBS rose $3.23 billion, up to $51.05 billion from $47.82 billion a month prior, according to Horsham, Pa.-based Realpoint LLC.

Overall, the delinquent unpaid balance is up 268 percent from a year ago and is now more than 23 times the low point of $2.21 billion in March 2007. The distressed 90+-day, foreclosure and REO categories grew in aggregate for the 27th straight month—up by $2.57 billion from the previous month. The total unpaid balance for CMBS pools reviewed by Realpoint for the March remittance was $798.22 billion, up slightly from $797.1 billion in February.

The former Sumner County Archives building brought $240,000 at the April 22 auction.

At a time when county commissioners are making tough calls on how to trim operating expenses to accommodate a nearly $3 million shortfall, the additional money is good news, officials said.

“I think that right now, as tight as things are, this is going to be very helpful,” County Executive Anthony Holt said.

It could also help prevent some unpleasant cuts, commissioners said.

“It will help to relieve the pressure of making so many cuts,” Com. Jerry Stone, vice-chair of the county budget committee said, citing a recent discussion of the county-matched senior tax relief program “That additional money could eliminate cutting things like that.”

The nation's largest health-care technology trade group has agreed to lease 25,000 square feet or more in a proposed Nashville Medical Trade Center downtown, a move the Dallas-based developer sees as a boost to the innovative project's credibility and its chances of success.

The nearly 30,000-member Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society plans to use its space, a small part of an eventual 15-story medical trade center, as a showroom to demonstrate high-tech clinical systems and other products.

"Right now, if you look at health-care information technology, that's really the sweet spot of growth in the health-care industry," said Bill Winsor, chief executive officer of Market Center Management, the Dallas developer of what could be a $250 million building.

Franklin is one of the top 10 cities in the United States for startup companies according to a BusinessWeek.com story that used data from ZoomProspector.com.

The website, which helps companies decide where to locate, ranked Franklin No. 8, thanks in part to its labor force’s high percentage of college degrees (52.6 percent), and its percentage of creative professionals (15.1 percent).

Boulder, Colo. was No. 1, followed by Boca Raton, Fla.; Santa Monica, Calif.; Bend, Ore.; Irvine, Calif.; Cambridge, Mass.; Bellevue, Wash.; Franklin; San Francisco; and Rockville, Md.

Brentwood-based American HomePatient has reached an agreement to go private, the company announced today, in a move that should allow it to avoid bankruptcy.

American HomePatient (OTCBB: AHOM) has been trading for less than $1 since February 2008 and hit a low of 10 cents per share in December. Under the deal, American HomePatient would reincorporate from Delaware to Nevada, and Highland Capital Management, which already owns 48 percent of the company’s stock, would pay 67 cents a share to buy out other stockholders.

NOLENSVILLE — When Turner and Associates Realty Inc. develops its latest Dollar General store site, it won't look like a typical store in the discount chain.

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"The building is not like any of the other Dollar Generals he has built," project engineer Kevin Gangaware said about developer Monte Turner.

The 9,100-square-foot store will include brick and stone materials, and the façade will be far more sophisticated than that of the chain's other stores.

FRANKLIN — Franklin is on track to become one of only a handful of Tennessee cities making green construction practices a requirement — at least when it comes to municipal buildings.

A proposed ordinance requiring that all new government-owned buildings of 5,000 square feet or larger must meet the "silver" level of environmental guidelines developed by the U.S. Green Building Council has cleared the city's sustainability commission for approval. Renovations of public buildings would be included in the ordinance as well.

If approved later this year, Franklin would be the first in Williamson County to join the growing list of American cities requiring that municipal buildings use Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design sustainable building practices.

Murfreesboro investor Mark Pirtle bought the roughly seven-acres of undeveloped land in the Carpenter Village mixed-use development off Medical Center Parkway for $1.35 million.

The deal adds to Pirtle's portfolio in the area around the new Middle Tennessee Medical Center.

He plans to sell a portion of the 7.13-acre Carpenter Village property for a 15,000 square foot medical office building. The rest of the property will be available for a 2.5-acre restaurant/retail pad and a one-acre office pad.

The economic recession may have stalled work at the former Bank of America building in East Nashville, but space is ready to be sold or leased.

The 110,000-square-foot building at 800 Main St. is undergoing renovation and being repurposed for office/retail space.

The facility has been fully gutted, and while no contracts have been signed, developers hope to attract commercial business that will complement the East Nashville community.

DETROIT — General Motors Co. will invest $890 million at five factories to make its V-8 engines more fuel efficient, preserving or creating roughly 1,600 jobs.

The automaker announced the investments Tuesday at factories in Tonawanda, N.Y.; St. Catherines, Ontario; Bay City, Mich.; Bedford, Ind.; and Defiance, Ohio.

The spending, which has been in the works for a long time, will help GM meet government fuel economy standards that become fully effective in 2016.

Spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the investments will help the company boost the fuel efficiency of its pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and high-performance cars. The new engines will have aluminum blocks, which are up to 100 pounds lighter than the current cast-iron ones on some GM V-8s, and more efficient technology that injects fuel directly into the combustion chambers.

DETROIT — An aftereffect of the government auto bailout has been altered consumer perceptions: Buyers are more aware of Detroit brands and more willing to at least walk into their showrooms.

For Ford the attention has translated into sales: The automaker on Tuesday posted a $2.1 billion profit for the first quarter and is gaining in U.S. market share.

Many buyers heading into Ford dealerships are happy to be there, thanking the company for not taking federal money, then driving away in a new Ford, according to the company.

Site Selection magazine has named the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce's Partnership 2010 economic development team one of the top 10 economic development groups in the country. Carlyle Carroll, the chamber's vice president of recruitment, accepted the award at a conference in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"We are honored to be chosen as one of the top 10 economic development groups out of 15,000 nationwide," said Janet Miller, the chamber's chief economic development and marketing officer. "This award reaffirms the importance of our efforts to strengthen our region's economy and create high-quality jobs throughout Middle Tennessee."

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership 2010 team has been named one of the 10 best economic development groups in the country by Site Selection magazine.

The economic development magazine, which circulates to 44,000 worldwide, also gave awards to groups in Baldwin County, Ala.; Baton Rouge, La.; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Houston; Kansas City; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia and Chicago.

The awards were handed out Monday during a conference in Colorado Springs, Colo. The winners, who will appear in the magazine's May issue, were not ranked.

HealthStream Inc. earnings fell 8.1 percent to $807,000 in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Earnings per diluted share came in at 4 cents, on par with analysts’ estimates, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue was $14.8 million, compared to analyst expectations of $15.0 million.

“Results from our first quarter of 2010 show continuing profitable growth and solid operational performance. Our quarterly operating income was up 51 percent over the same quarter last year. I believe that our strong first quarter performance posititions us well for future growth,” CEO Robert Frist Jr. said in a statement.

Brentwood-based America Service Group earnings were up 357 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Earnings were $3.2 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $164.1 million. Analysts, on average, had estimated earnings of 22 cents per share on revenue of $158 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

President and CEO Richard Hallworth said the company's improvements in gross margins justify an increase in full-year guidance. Health care expenses for the first quarter of 2010 were 90.5 percent of revenue, compared to 92.8 percent of revenue a year ago. The company was debt free as of March 31, which Hallworth said positions America Service Group to take advantage of new business opportunities.

Tennessee has the 13th best business tax system in the country according to a ranking released today by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

Tennessee’s ranking was driven by its lack of a personal income tax, its lack of a capital gains tax, its low property taxes (2.18 percent as a percentage of income, which was seventh lowest in the nation, the SBE said), cheap diesel taxes (18.4 cents per gallon, which ranked seventh lowest), and low gasoline taxes (21.4 cents per gallon, 16th lowest).

Tennessee's ranking was dragged down by sales taxes (44th) and unemployment taxes (30th).

The Nashville Medical Trade Center has landed its first anchor tenant: the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

The national health care IT association will take 4,000 square feet of space in the planned $250 million medical trade center, according to a NashvillePost.com source close to the agreement.

Details of the deal are set to be announced at a 2 p.m. press conference at the Capitol. Gov. Phil Bredesen, Commissioner Matt Kisber, Mayor Karl Dean, Bill Winsor of NMTC developer Market Center Management and HIMSS representatives will be in attendance.

America Service Group posted a more than 25 percent increase in revenue and 350 percent spike in income for the first quarter of 2010.

The company held expenses in check during the quarter, with its contract-related costs falling as a percentage of revenue from 93 percent to less than 91 percent. Net income was $3.1 million, or 35 cents per share, up from $674,000, or 8 cents per diluted share. Analyst had been looking for just 22 cents.

The prison health contractor's total revenues were $164 million, up slightly from Q1 2009, due in large part to the April launch of a contract with the State of Michigan Department of Corrections.

American HomePatient and its largest investors have negotiated a way out of the home health provider’s debt morass and will take the company private this summer.

Brentwood-based HomePatient has been in arrears on more than $200 million in debt since last August but has negotiated 10 extensions with its debt holders since then. Now, the company said it plans to reincorporate in Nevada and buy out for 67 cents per share the investors not affiliated with Highland Capital Management, the Dallas-based firm that owns 48 percent of its stock. The buyout price is more than double the stock’s high since the fall of 2008, but well below the $3 levels at which it was changing hands for most of 2005.

WASHINGTON — Confidence is growing that the economic rebound will strengthen. And to make sure it does, the Federal Reserve is considered certain to hold interest rates at record lows when it meets this week.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues open a two-day meeting today at a time when the economic outlook has been brightening. Employers are creating jobs, Americans are spending more and manufacturers are boosting production.

Other signs point to a still-bumpy recovery. Unemployment remains near double digits and is expected to stay high all this year. Banks aren't lending at normal levels, and demand for loans is still low.

Despite a burst in home sales last month as buyers scrambled to take advantage of a soon-to-expire homebuyers tax credit, the housing market is still fragile. So is the commercial real estate industry.

CHICAGO — Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said Monday that it has agreed to buy rival Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group for about $1.17 billion in cash and stock as it tries to expand its vacationer business.

Shares of both companies soared.

The deal will give Hertz, already the world's largest car rental company by locations, a third more sites around the globe, boosting its total to 9,800. More important, it also will give Hertz's leisure segment a much-needed boost when it assumes control of the Dollar and Thrifty brands.

"Together we will be able to compete even more effectively and efficiently against other multi-brand car rental companies, offering customers a full range of rental options in the U.S.," Hertz CEO Mark Frissora said in a statement.

Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle intends to make a final ruling by Wednesday on whether the state can permanently close a pair of Springfield businesses accused of selling bogus health-insurance policies to thousands of consumers nationwide.

Hobbs took testimony on the financial condition of the unlicensed insurance operation on Monday, hearing from state regulators who raided the American Trade Association and Smart Data Solutions LLC in late March.

The state has since taken control of the companies' operations and bank accounts.

SAN FRANCISCO — Joey Windham used to have a stockbroker, but no longer. Instead he has relied on a history professor, an accountant and a doctor who post their trades online.

Windham, the owner of a manufacturing company in Dallas, is part of a small but dedicated band of investors who have bid their brokers and financial advisers goodbye and have turned to the Internet to handle investment decisions themselves.

Do-it-yourself-investing websites, such as Covestor, kaChing and MarketRiders, hold particular appeal for people who are frustrated and fed up after two bear markets that lost them more money than they've made.

Noranda, the Franklin-based producer of aluminum products, this morning filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission that added pricing details to its planned initial public offering.

In its amended S-1, Noranda said it plans to sell up to 19.2 million at $14 to $16 per share. Selling all those shares – which includes an overallotment – at $15 would generate about $288 million, 11 percent more than than the ballpark $250 million the company had used in earlier filings.

Murfreesboro's Carpenter Village property on Medical Center Parkway sold to local investor Mark Pirtle last week for $1.35 million.

Pirtle added to his growing Medical Center property portfolio with this 7.13-acre property and is under contract to sell a portion of the development for a 15,000-square-foot medical office building.

Mike Baggett and Tony Vaughn of Colliers International's newly named Nashville office represented the seller, BB&T Bank. Baggett also represented Pirtle.

Following the sale to the office building user, the balance will be available as a 2.5-acre restaurant/retail pad and a one-acre office pad. Baggett and Vaughn will handle the marketing of the property.

Local investor Mark Pirtle has added to his portfolio of property near Murfreesboro’s Medical Center Parkway with the purchase of a 7.13 acre site in Carpenter Village, located at the intersection of Medical Center Parkway and Memorial Boulevard, for $1.35 million.

According to a news release, Pirtle is under contract to sell a portion of the development for a 15,000-square-foot medical office building.

Mike Baggett and Tony Vaughn, both brokers with the Nashville office of Colliers International — which last week changed its name and affiliation from NAI Nashville — represented the seller, BB&T Bank. Baggett also represented Pirtle in the transaction.

Home prices experienced their first annual increase in more three years in February — but the good fortune was not shared in the Nashville area, according to data released today by First American CoreLogic.

In the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin area, home prices in February declined 3.97 percent, including distressed sales, a slight improvement over the 4.21 percent decline witnessed in January, according to FACL. Excluding distressed sales, prices declined 1.57 percent in February, compared to a 2.46 percent decline in January.

A Nashville-based automotive company is selling part of its operation to retire debt.

Vista-Pro Automotive is selling some assets of its Centrum Reman LLC — including its Sparta-based LTD Parts division — to Alabama-based BBB Industries LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The sale is not expected to lead to any layoffs, according to Steve Hoane, Vista-Pro’s vice president for sales and marketing. The company employs about 60 people in Nashville and about 1,600 nationwide.

Over the past two years, Brentwood-based holding company Centrum Equities XV has scooped up businesses from struggling automotive parts suppliers.

After several months of declines, contracts for future construction in Tennessee jumped up — way up — in March, according to data released today by New York-based McGraw-Hill Construction.

Contracts for each of three building categories — nonresidential, residential and nonbuilding — were up compared to March 2009, with a total of $1.3 billion in contracts being awarded across the state last month. That’s essentially twice the $510.6 million awarded last March.

Banks that received federal assistance during the financial crisis reduced lending more aggressively and gave bigger pay raises to employees than institutions that didn't get aid, a USA TODAY/American University review found.

The reduction of credit during the worst of the recession raises questions about whether the $247 billion assistance program achieved one of its primary goals: to stimulate the economy by reviving the flow of credit to businesses and individuals.

USA TODAY and the American University Investigative Reporting Project used federal bank data to conduct the first comprehensive analysis comparing the behavior of 940 banks in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and 7,400 banks outside it.

WASHINGTON — The government's controversial financial bailouts of automakers, major banks and other industries could cost taxpayers $87 billion when all is said and done, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday.

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That's far less than expected — the price tag for the original bank-bailout legislation alone was $700 billion. However, many banks have since repaid their loans, with interest. The new bailout cost projections, if they bear out, could mitigate the public anger toward Washington that the bailouts generated.

The consumer confidence rating in Middle Tennessee nearly doubled in April, sales of new homes took off nationally in March, and orders for manufactured goods soared.

Despite other lingering gray clouds over the economy, could the corporate and consumer forecasts finally have found their legs?

The local population felt better about almost all aspects of the economy in a survey earlier this week than it did in February, according to the Middle Tennessee State University's Office of Consumer Research, which periodically gauges consumer sentiment in Davidson, Williamson and Rutherford counties.

A Nashville-based pharmacy that has found a new way to supply medication to nursing home patients is among three firms that are the first to benefit from a $120 million state-funded venture capital program called TNInvestco.

All three are early-stage companies credited with providing services that are different from the old way of doing things. The venture capital recipients also include Brentwood-based software developer onFocus Healthcare and a Knoxville firm that has come up with new technology to lock cargo containers.

WASHINGTON — Democrats are showing little willingness to alter financial overhaul legislation any further and are ready for a showdown vote today, hoping to splinter solid Republican opposition or to cast the minority party as an ally of Wall Street.

Republican leaders seem prepared to take that risk — for now — if they can force Democratic concessions.

The top negotiators on the sweeping bill — Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd and Republican Sen. Richard Shelby — professed to be close to a deal Sunday during a joint appearance on NBC's Meet the Press. But, as Shelby said, "inches sometimes are miles."

The recession has hurt incomes more severely in Nashville than in the surrounding suburbs, new figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show.

Total personal income grew just 2.2 percent in Davidson County to $27.8 billion in 2008 from the year before, the latest figures available from the federal agency.

Williamson County had nearly double that rate, at 4.3 percent.

"I think you're seeing the differential impact of the recession,'' said David Penn, an economist who tracks local conditions for Middle Tennessee State University.

Government documents surrounding a $120 million state venture capital program will not be made public for five years after a Davidson County chancellor ruled Tuesday that the material is sensitive and should remain under wraps.

That means a Franklin-based venture capital firm shut out of the program won't immediately get to see how the state rated 25 firms that applied for tax credits under the state's TNInvestco program or view the winning scores of six firms chosen to participate.

The ruling drew far different reactions from would-be investors whose applications were rejected and state economic development officials who say the ruling safeguards the government's right to handle business discussions in private.

Venture capital firms and angel investors around the country are trying a new investment model. Rather than target a small number of high-potential entrepreneurial companies with very large investments, there is a growing trend of investing smaller amounts of seed capital, called microfunds, with several entrepreneurs all of whom have promising ideas.

The venture capital firm Solidus Co. has pulled together a group from the Nashville entrepreneurship community to create a microfund to support local entrepreneurs and to help accelerate the growth of startups in the Middle Tennessee area.

JumpStart Foundry is focusing on very early-stage concepts. Over the next 12 months, the microfund intends to select 10 to 14 entrepreneurs for the program who will receive financial, business and technological support to accelerate their businesses' growth.

Jeff Balser replaced the retiring Dr. Harry Jacobson as vice chancellor for health affairs for Vanderbilt University Medical Center about a year ago, at a time when the medical center was struggling to balance more than $250 million in uncompensated care and a 16 percent drop in endowment while opening a new health clinic at 100 Oaks Mall and a $169 million Critical Care Tower. Balser recently spoke with Nashville Business Journal to update the medical center's progress.

Vanderbilt had more than $250 million in uncompensated care last year. Where does that figure stand today, and what has Vanderbilt been doing to support its charity care activities?

The Orchard (Nasdaq: ORCD) is betting on a fruitful relationship with Music City.

The company, which officially launched the opening of its Nashville office Thursday with a party at Tin Roof, bills itself as the largest distributor and marketer of music in the world not connected to a major label. Brad Navin, CEO of the New York-based company, said he wants to help leading independent labels, publishers, select individual artists — anybody who controls masters be successful in the digital world.

Unemployment in Davidson County trickled down again in March, ending the month at 9.1 percent, compared to 9.2 percent in February, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

March unemployment in Davidson County was lower than both the state average of 10.6 percent, and the national average of 9.7 percent. It remains higher, however, than March unemployment one year ago, when the Davidson County rate stood at 8.5 percent.

According to the Department of Labor, unemployment rates decreased in 85 counties, increased in seven and remained the same in three.

Lincoln County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 7.4 percent, down from 8 percent in February. Scott County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 19.8 percent, up from 18.4 in February, followed by Marshall County at 18.4 percent, down from 19 percent in February.

Vanguard Health Systems’ deal to purchase a chain of eight nonprofit hospitals in Detroit cleared a key hurdle Thursday with the Detroit City Council approving 15 years of tax breaks for the Nashville-based hospital company.

Voting 7-1, the council approved a Renaissance Zone permit for the Detroit Medical Center, which exempts Vanguard from paying most city, county and state taxes for 12 years and at reduced rates for another three years.

Last week, during a march downtown commemorating the 50th anniversary of a major civil rights protest, a speaker decried construction of the $633 million Music City Center at a time when the city’s social services are being cut due to tight budgets — a common, if oversimplified, argument these days.

But it wasn’t Emily Evans.

Jason Dinger is the vice president of Saint Thomas Health Services Ventures, a “social venture fund” that provides early-stage funding to nonprofit and for-profit health care services entities that lower costs, improve clinical outcomes, enhance patient satisfaction and provide necessary services to underserved populations.

STHS Ventures’ portfolio includes The Dispensary of Hope, the Saint Thomas Research Institute, sleep center operator SOVA and The Corner Pharmacy. Dinger recently talked with Post reporter Erin Lawley about his work.

To Tim Smith, confusion is costly — especially when it comes to copyright management in the entertainment sector.

Smith’s MyWerx, which was founded in late 2008, applies aspects of social networking and wiki platforms to allow content creators from the music, video and film worlds manage the copyright information of their life’s work in real time. MyWerx’s patent-pending technology organizes works by date of creation, location, inspiration, percentage splits and more.

Commercial real estate lenders have prolonged dealing with distressed loans for close to two years. But they may no longer be able to remain passive.

Speakers at the Bankers Forum on Distressed Properties and Real Estate Loan Workouts, which took place in New York City on Apr. 19 and 20, said they are seeing the amount of distressed retail property continue to grow. In spite of a recent spike in retail sales, the leasing market remains challenging and retail property NOIs continue to fall. Up to now, banks have spent much of their time dealing with troubled construction and residential loans. But in 2010, they are turning more attention to resolving office and retail loans.

Moody's reported that the Moody’s/REAL All Property Type Aggregate Index declined 2.6 percent in February after rising in each of the three previous months.

The index, which is a repeat sales measure of commercial real estate prices, indicates that values are now down 41.8 percent from the peak measured in October 2007. Prices have fallen 25.8 percent in the last 12 months. The index stands at 111.7 with 100 equaling the average prices paid for commercial real estate assets in 2000.

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Moody’s had cautioned that the price increases witnessed from November to January were not sustainable. According to the report, “With continued low volume in February and a larger proportion of repeat-sales considered distressed, it is unsurprising that prices have once again headed lower.”

A new survey finds that most commercial real estate investors perceive the U.S. market as at or near the bottom, according to Colliers International’s 2010 Global Investor Sentiment Survey. The majority of respondents to the survey, which was released last week, pegged the recovery at 6 o’clock on the “global property clock.”

The global property clock equates market cycles to specific times, with 12 o’clock representing the top of the market and six o’clock representing the bottom. Each six-hour period in between designates rising (after 6:00 to 12:00) or declining (after 12:00 to 6:00) cycles.

BOSTON — The Great Recession unofficially ended in August 2009, but the national unemployment rate will likely climb higher before receding. Moody’s Economy.com projects the unemployment rate will peak at 10.2% later this year, up from the current level of 9.7%.

“The downturn that we went through was the worst since the Great Depression, and it’s been about double the typical recession,” said Augustine Faucher, director of macroeconomics for Moody’s Economy.com, during the opening session of the Urban Land Institute’s Spring Council Forum in Boston. The three-day conference has attracted about 3,000 attendees.

During a series of breakout sessions on the first day of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Real Estate Summit in Boston, industry leaders last week weighed in on an assortment of timely issues. The federal budget deficit (conservatively estimated to total $8.5 trillion over the next 10 years combined), the political climate in Washington, and the art of risk taking were among the topics on the minds of panelists. What follows are a few snippets from the panel discussions.

Peter Linneman, professor of real estate, finance, and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, commenting on the budget deficit:

Although final figures for the first quarter won’t be available until late May, early estimates show that commercial mortgage delinquency rates rose to 5.5%, up from 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to Oakland, Calif.-based Foresight Analytics, a unit of Trepp LLC. The analysis is based on earnings reports and call report filings from many small banks.

Over the last three quarters of 2009, Foresight’s commercial mortgage delinquency estimates have been within four-tenths of a percentage point from actual figures.

The commercial real estate brokerage firm known as NAI Nashville is now Colliers International after swapping national brands. The move marks the return of the Colliers' brand to Nashville.

"It's the second-most recognized commercial real estate brand — that's the reason we're glad to be part of that family," said Bert Mathews, a principal in Mathews Partners LLC. Mathews Partners had done business as NAI Nashville through an affiliation with the NAI Global network.

Colliers International's former Nashville affiliate, once known as Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, became Cassidy Turley last month after joining with several other firms nationwide to launch a new company.

Healthways Inc. reported first-quarter net income of $9.4 million, reversing a net loss of $14.8 million a year ago largely related to costs to settle a lawsuit.

Quarterly results of 27 cents a share for the recent quarter matched the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenues fell roughly 2 percent to $179 million from $183 million last year.

The Franklin-based disease management and wellness services provider, meanwhile, reaffirmed its forecast of full-year 2010 net income of $1.05 to $1.18 on revenues of $677 million to $718 million.

The unemployment rate in the greater Nashville area is on a downward trend, sliding in at 9.5 percent in March after hitting 10 percent in January.

The highest it's been in the Nashville-Murfreesboro metro area this recession was 10.1 percent last June, according to data from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Unemployment was at 4.5 percent for the area in December 2007, when the recession started.

Nationwide, the city with the lowest unemployment is New Orleans, where reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina continues to keep the labor force relatively busy. In February, the rate there was 6.5 percent, the lowest rate for a metro area with a population of 1 million or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

DETROIT — The Detroit City Council voted Thursday to provide 15 years of tax breaks to help Vanguard, the Nashville-based hospital company, invest $850 million in a system of local hospitals and health facilities, marking what one official called the largest private investment in city history.

Council members voted 7-1 to create a "renaissance zone" for the Detroit Medical Center's central campus. The designation will allow enough of a tax break for Vanguard to make the investment, DMC President and Chief Executive Mike Duggan said after the vote.

The nonprofit, eight-hospital system signed a letter of intent last month for the sale to Vanguard. Terms include Vanguard making capital improvements during the next five years.

A subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has leased 25,000 square feet of office space near the Mall at Green Hills with plans for 100 employees.

The new lease would boost occupancy of the Green Hills Office Building — owned by developer John Rochford's Battleship Partners — to 100 percent.

Most new hires will be associate care coordinators with medical backgrounds and care coordinator assistants to handle clerical tasks for CHOICES, the state's long-term care program.

Nashville's Lower Broadway has always moved to its own beat of boots, guitars and bars, record shops and honky-tonks. From Fifth Avenue to the Cumberland River, the strip is steeped in the dreams of musicians and the joints that gave them a stage.

Over the years, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Robert's Western World and Ernest Tubbs' Records have become the mainstays, with other businesses arriving to tap into the gutsy core of Music City history.

Two newcomers have opened recently. Each brings a distinct personality, another layer of rhythm and twang to the vibrant locale.

Don't own a car? Share one.

The WeCar made its debut downtown Thursday at Fourth and Commerce Street with a few remarks by Mayor Karl Dean and then a ride-along in one of the program's Nissan Cubes.

"If you live downtown and need a car, the WeCar is for you," said Tom Turner with the Nashville Downtown Partnership.

"This is car sharing made simple."

A person also can grab a bus or bicycle to go downtown and then avail themselves of one of the cars that will be at four locations. Businesses can use them, too.