Subject: Layoffs and Downsizing

• Vetoing the guns-in-bars bill, Bredesen plays the martyr instead of fighting the good fight

  June 4, 2009

• House Republicans Stamp Feet, Shake Fists to Protest Helping Laid-Off Workers

  Rep. Brian Kelsey: Let them eat cake! After months of Culture War grandstanding, the House finally took up legislation this afternoon to help ordinary out-of-work Tennesseans, and Republicans threw a hissy fit. The bill raises unemployment taxes on businesses a little bit to keep the state's unemployment trust fund from going broke as the economy craters. The state also would accept $140 million in federal stimulus money to expand jobless benefits in ways that most other states did years ago.

  June 1, 2009

• Gannett Layoffs Hit The Tennessean

  August 15, 2008

• Morningstar Predicts Further Losses at Gannett

  August 18, 2008

• Nashville Sounds: Sky Still Not in Danger of Falling

  August 29, 2008

• Fulmer Under Fire Again

  And you thought you wouldn't have Phillip Fulmer to kick around anymore. The Great Pumpkin of Tennessee football fame may have quit as coach but he's baaaaaaack in the spotlight, and everyone's having lots of fun throwing spitballs at him again.Fulmer has taken a $12,500-a-month job to supposedly raise money for the university. That's right, $12,500 a month. And that's on top of the gazillion dollars he's getting as his buyout for quitting as coach. University President John Petersen says Ful

  December 11, 2008

• Will The Tennessean Cut Its Home Delivery?

  The American newspaper industry was in a state of collapse long before the recent economic meltdown. (Yes, we're trendsetters.) Over the past few years, it's been jettisoning employees  by the thousands. And in recent weeks, the country's largest newspaper owner, Gannett (owner of The Tennessean) has laid off more than 2,000 workers alone. Now comes word of further cost cutting that may soon hit Nashville. The Detroit Free Press (also owned by Gannett) and the Detroit News have announced th

  December 16, 2008

• WTF? Bredesen now sees 'decent' budget year

  What's all this talk about a state budget crisis? Gov. Phil Bredesen said today things may not turn out so badly after all, thanks to the massive federal stimulus package that Barack Obama is promising. No need to upset everyone with a lot of dire talk about service cuts and state employee layoffs when what may happen is "suddenly the feds come up with some money and it all goes away," Bredesen said. "We actually could end up with a decent year," the governor told reporters in a surprisingly u

  December 18, 2008

• Beavers, Stanley and Watson Tell Jobless to Fend for Themselves

  Republicans Mae Beavers, Bo Watson and Paul Stanley were the only senators bold enough to vote today against keeping the state's unemployment trust fund solvent. They object to accepting $140 million in federal stimulus money to expand benefits to some part-time employees. As you know, some members of the Party of No believe laid-off workers should fend for themselves. Before the vote, Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, said: "There are a bunch of folks in this state right now who are dependent on thi

  June 2, 2009

• Tennessean Employees Will Get an Unpaid Week Off

  More bad news from Gannett, the country's largest newspaper company and owner of The Tennessean: Its 40,000 U.S. workers will have to take an unpaid week off this quarter.While it may come as good news to those who can afford it, not so for the long-term picture. Gannett has already been hit with thousands of layoffs, and the bad news keeps coming every week. Though unpaid vacations are better than further layoffs, this doesn't speak well for future job security at The Tennessean--or for readers

  January 14, 2009

• Bredesen Threatens Layoffs to Beat Union

  OK, I'm confused. Before Christmas, Gov. Phil Bredesen was relatively positive about the state budget. Barack Obama's impending federal stimulus package probably would mean the state could escape big cutbacks. He said only "selective layoffs" might be required, maybe none at all."We actually could end up with a decent year," the governor told reporters then in a surprisingly upbeat report. "There will be budget cuts everywhere, but it could be 6 or 7 or 8 percent, and there you're not talking ab

  January 14, 2009

• WTF? Cutthroat Democrats Preach Bipartisanship

  Believe it or not, Democrats may have come up with a winning way to explain their cutthroat, backroom deal that shocked the Capitol last week. On Bob Mueller's Sunday show, state Rep. Brenda Gilmore delivered the message well: "What happened was absolutely what Tennessee needs," she said at her first opportunity to speak. "We need more moderate leadership at a time when we're almost a billion dollars in deficit. We need someone who can bring Republicans and Democrats together so we won't be bi

  January 19, 2009

• Nashville Expected to Lose 15,000 Jobs This Year

  A new report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors predicts that Greater Nashville will lose 15,100 jobs by the 4th quarter of this year, spiking our unemployment rate to 7.4 percent. And believe it or not, that's the good news. Among U.S. cities, we're expected to finish 32nd in job losses, meaning that while we may have it bad, everyone else is screwed way more. The 5 Most Cursed: New York, LA, Miami, Chicago and Boston.

  January 19, 2009

• Governor Killing Our Buzz Over Stimulus Money

  The federal stimulus is headed our way, so why isn't the governor excited? A world-class buzz killer, he's taking every opportunity to point out that all that cash will vanish in two years. So it's only prudent, he says, to cut the state budget by roughly $1 billion anyway. The difference is, now we can do it kind of gradually. This is really good news for two or three thousand state workers, who would have been fired en masse without the stimulus. Under the House version of the bill, all layof

  February 16, 2009

• Beaten at its Own Game, Gannett Considers Creating Rival Blog

  Jim Hopkins: Tormenting Gannett through the blogoshereFor employees of The Tennessean and Gannett papers nationwide, the Gannett Blog is the go-to destination for company news. Run by former USA Today reporter and editor Jim Hopkins, it's obsessed with all things Gannett, from layoffs to management moves to leaked memos. But to the regret of execs, it's not exactly a friendly site. Along with most newspaper concerns, the company has been taking a financial pounding. It's stock price has plummete

  February 18, 2009

• A Leadership Quiz Essay Question

  Compare and/or Contrast: Demonstrate similarities or dissimilarities between these two political events of the past week: (1) President Obama is defending his $3.6 trillion budget plan to tax rich people and polluters to pay for big investments in expanded health care, cleaner energy and education. Obama: "I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I." (2) Gov. Phil Bredesen is thinking about rejecting millions of dollars in federal stimulus money rath

  March 2, 2009

• Governor Rides Town Car to Fitness Event

  Gov. Phil Bredesen took his Lincoln Town Car across the street to the Bicentennial Mall today for a media event to urge state employees to exercise more often. Pith in the Wind, always on the lookout for hypocrisy, spotted Bredesen's sleek black Town Car warming up outside the Capitol before the event. It's something less than a quarter-mile from his office to the mall. But sure enough, the governor hopped in the car for the short ride. He arrived all toasty warm. Roughly 100 bundled-up state em

  March 2, 2009

• Adorably Idealistic Vandy Kids Demand Administration Spare Janitors

  Yesterday a handful of Vanderbilt kids braved the sleet to deliver a sternly worded letter to administrators. The gist: don't fire the help.Two years after demanding landscapers, janitors and housekeepers be paid a living wage, a tanking economy has forced the crusaders at Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees (LIVE) to adjust their message. Now they're just hoping no one gets a pink slip.Vandy's endowment got creamed this year, so LIVE's actions represent a preemptive argument against layoffs.

  March 13, 2009

• Bredesen's Budget Presentation: He Feels Our Pain

  In presenting his $29 billion state budget recommendation to the legislature tonight, Gov. Phil Bredesen displayed a rarely before noticed characteristic: compassion. The fabulously wealthy ex-HMO executive, who only a few weeks ago was thinking about rejecting federal money for jobless benefits, told Tennesseans he feels their pain. I have been unemployed: when Andrea and I first came to Tennessee, I didn't have a job for the first nine months. I want my fellow Tennesseans to know that I rem

  March 23, 2009

• Tennessee Real Estate Tycoons Enjoy $45 Million Tax Loophole While State Revenues Crater

  December 4, 2008

• Cutbacks at The Tennessean

  1100 Broad sees shrinking news hole, a hiring freeze and an end to TV listings in rack copies

  July 26, 2007

• Sainthood Eludes This Thomas

  August 12, 2004

• Losses at Baptist

  The hospital announced a financial turnaround, but now it's losing money again

  July 22, 2004

• Big Ideas for Little People

  Gov. Phil gets all giddy over 28 new jobs in Franklin. Meanwhile, Larry the Cucumber teaches kids about the joys of owning an SUV.

  July 15, 2004

• Silenced Speech

  July 22, 1999

• Broken Records

  February 11, 1999

• Tell All, Say Nothing

  September 5, 1996

• Bottoming Out

  April 25, 1996

• Morning Roundup: Republicans Balk at Bredesen's New Taxes and Other Budget Spats

  With the session entering its frantic, final days, Republicans are balking at the governor's $2 million sales tax on cable TV boxes and $6 million in higher business phone taxes.They're not too happy about the tax on the Predators and the Grizzlies, either. Plus, Senate Republicans are trying to cancel or delay $130 million in capital projects, including a new UTC library, and they're against bonding out $350 million in bridge replacement projects. The state workers union, meanwhile, pressures l

  June 8, 2009

• State Budget Mess: Turner Tosses Turds at Senate Republicans

  Democrats and Republicans are hiding from reporters and holding secret meetings all over the Capitol to hash out the state budget. Why would they want to conduct the public's business in public? Someone might say something stupid. In fact, that's guaranteed to happen. As House GOP caucus chair Glen Casada says, "People do not speak openly when they're afraid that their concerns and fears may be written as fact." But a few minutes ago, House Democratic caucus chair Mike Turner took a break from

  June 9, 2009

• Layoffs Coming to Gannett, Tennessean?

  Tanking in the newspaper biz isn't news. In fact, it's become a pastime in my former stomping grounds, South Florida.But Gannett, creator of the McNewspaper, may look to do some trimming soon. According to Gannett Blog, authored by a former USA Today editor and reporter, sources say 4,500 layoffs are coming down the pike at Gannett newspapers July 8. This time the lowly beat reporter won't be the only pink-slip recipient. Middle management is on the chopping block, too. To wit:On June 4, a sourc

  June 30, 2009

• Scratch That: Gannett Layoffs May Reach 1,400

  We reported the other day that the former USA Today editor and author of Gannett Blog had a source that claimed some 4,500 layoffs were coming soon to Gannett, owner of The Tennessean.Well, today we have confirmation and, thankfully, it's less than that. But it still sucks: 1,400 layoffs throughout the company by July 9. There's no telling how many, if any, will get axed at our local Gannett daily. The newspaper industry is in the tank all over the country, and the email from Gannett division pr

  July 2, 2009

• News Flash: Dying Newspapers Still Make Money

  Just in case you thought staff at Gannett Company-owned Tennessean were getting laid off because the paper was losing money, well, here's evidence to the contrary. In a release today, Gannett announced that they generated $175 million in 2nd quarter cash flow from their publishing (read: newspapers) division. Hooray for maintaining margins!

  July 15, 2009

• What's the Most Important Thing In Life? Not the Availability of a Good Wine List

  In addition to horrifying job loss, it seems one more casualty of the recession is romantic relationships. Once you jetted around the world with your significant other eating lobster and oysters, and now he doesn't know where the next paycheck is coming from. So is it Applebee's or kaput? I'm suspicious of these types of trend stories. Money has always been a source of friction between couples, married or cohabitating--so any time there's less juice, many go the way of the dodo. And the recess

  July 20, 2009

• Oh, Cary Tennis; A Tale of Anti-Southern Bias

  ​In spite of my slovenly, thoughtless ways, I'm quite the fan of advice columns and columnists. All but one. Salon's Cary Tennis. The man will give a meandering essay answer to a true-or-false question, and I've never found his non sequitur approach to advice-giving to be an effective one. Usually he just annoys me. Today he angered me. Long story short - woman in the Northeast was laid off, has a job offer in the Bible Belt, is terrified her precious, nature-loving, Darwin reading (yeah,

  July 31, 2009

• Hurrah! Unemployment Rate Finally Drops!

  ​It may not be blow-you-away-news. And Tennessee's jobless rate remains a full point above the national average. But it looks like the tide may finally be turning on the New & Improved Depression. This from the AP: Employers sharply scaled back layoffs in July, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time in 15 months, sending a strong signal that the worst recession since World War II is finally ending. A net total of 247,000 jobs were lost last month, the fewest in a year. That

  August 7, 2009