Unum wins Mayors’ Art Award
Disability insurer Unum received the first annual Mayors’ Art Award at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting on Wednesday. The award is presented to an entity that goes above and beyond in supporting the arts.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said the arts are “an economic engine” locally. The arts support 3,800 jobs and bring an estimated $160 million in economic impact, he said.
Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said beauty and aesthetics are important about how people think about the Scenic City. He said Unum, through a long partnership with Hunter Museum, provides free admission for all its employees and supports students’ exposure to the arts.
Rick McKenney, Unum’s chief executive, said the arts help attract “the best and brightest” to Chattanooga.
“It’s also important that as a community we appreciate the arts for ourselves and our children and we continue to invest,” he said.
TVA idles Watts Bar after pump problem
TVA shut down its newest nuclear reactor this week over problems with one of the feedwater pumps.
TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said Wednesday that operators at the unit 2 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City took the reactor offline Tuesday afternoon after they discovered problems with one of the unit’s feedwater pumps. Hopson said “there were no safety concerns for employees or the public.”
TVA is trying to bring the new reactor up to full power for the first time this summer. The unit is undergoing a series of power ascension tests as part of the startup process for a new nuclear power plant.
TVA had planned to have the unit in commercial operation mid year after completing the initial equipment tests and keeping the reactor at full power for at least 20 days. TVA said earlier this year the startup will be delayed due to equipment problems. Three years ago, the initial 5-year project originally projected to cost $2.7 billion was raised by another $2 billion when plant workers determined they needed another couple of years to complete work on the new reactor.
TVA began building Watts Bar in 1973 but suspended work on in 1988. Unit 1 at Watts Bar began power generation in 1996 and was unaffected by the trip of unit 2 on Tuesday.
The newest Watts Bar reactor began initial limited power generation in May, becoming the first new nuclear reactor added to America’s power grid in 20 years. At full power, the Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar can generate 1,150 megawatts of electricity, or enough power to supply the electricity needs of two cities the size of Chattanooga.
U.S. Treasury blasts European tax probe
U.S. officials are publicly criticizing Europe’s investigations into favorable tax arrangements that Apple and other multinational companies have reached with Ireland and a few other countries.
The Treasury Department released a report Wednesday that complains the investigations disproportionately target U.S. companies and could end up costing American taxpayers if companies are forced to pay higher taxes in Europe. That’s because businesses get U.S. tax credits for their foreign tax payments.
European authorities are investigating whether certain countries have granted excessive tax breaks to Apple, Amazon and others, although the companies say their arrangements are legal.
Apple and other U.S. companies leave much of their foreign earnings overseas to avoid higher U.S. tax rates, but Treasury officials say they’re working to get companies to repatriate those funds.
Home sales fell in July amid inventory shortage
U.S. homebuyers pulled back in July, as sales declined amid a shortage of available properties and steadily rising prices.
Sales of existing homes fell 3.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The decline marks a reversal from rising demand that pushed sales in June to their highest level since February 2007.
Fewer homes are coming onto the market, putting a cap on the sales growth enjoyed earlier this year. Rising demand for homes is a positive, but the dwindling supply of listings has pushed up prices, which suggests a market not yet at full health.