Bojangles closes oldest Chattanooga restaurant
“Bo time” has come to an end for the first Bojangles restaurant to open in Chattanooga.
Bojangles has shut down its 2,970-square-foot restaurant at 4701 Hixson Pike and taken down the company’s sign and logo.
Bojangles, the Charlotte, North Carolina fast-food restaurant chain known for its made-from-scratch biscuit breakfast sandwiches, hand-breaded bone-in chicken and Legendary Iced Tea, will continue to operate 10 other Bojangles in the Chattanooga metropolitan area. Bojangles also operates two locations each in Cleveland, Tennessee and Dalton, Georgia among more than 750 units it has in 14 Southern states.
Bojangles entered the Chattanooga market with the opening of the Hixson Pike store in 1982.
Bojangles also plans to shut down all of its restaurants next Monday to give its 8,000 employees the day off, similar to its closing at all of its stores on Aug. 30.
“We appreciate everything our dedicated team has done for Bojangles this past year,” said Bojangles CEO Jose Armario. “We know many people are physically and emotionally drained, so we hope these extra two days off will provide rest and refreshment.”
Mortgage rates jump to highest in 14 years
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this week, hitting the highest levels in almost 14 years and pushing even more would-be buyers out of the market.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate jumped to 5.89% from 5.66% last week. That’s the highest the long-term rate has been since November of 2008, just after the housing market collapse set off the Great Recession. One year ago, the rate stood at 2.88%.
The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those looking to refinance their homes, rose to 5.16% from 4.98% last week. That’s the first time the 15-year rate has been above 5% since 2009, as the real estate market went into a years-long slump. Last year at this time the rate was 2.19%.
Rising interest rates — in part a result of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive push to tamp down inflation — have cooled off a housing market that has been hot for years. Mortgage rates don’t necessarily mirror the Fed’s rate increases, but tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note.
Solar generation hits new record in Europe
Long periods of sunshine took solar power generation in Europe to a record high this summer, helping reduce the need for gas imports, according to a report Thursday.
Energy think tank Ember said the European Union generated 12% of its electricity from solar power from May to August, up from 9% during the same period last year.
Electricity generated from photovoltaic installations narrowly topped the share provided from wind or hydropower, while coming in just below that produced from burning coal.
Ember said that without the 99.4 terrawatt hours of electricity provided by solar, the EU would have had to buy 20 billion cubic meters of gas, costing about 29 billion euros (nearly $29 billion) during the four-month period.
The Netherlands and Germany, not known for their sunny climates, had the highest share of electricity from solar, followed by Spain.
Retailers quit selling lobsters
Some retailers are taking lobster off the menu after an assessment from an influential conservation group that the seafood poses too much of a risk to rare whales and should be avoided.
Whales can suffer injuries and fatalities when they become entangled in the gear that connects to lobster traps on the ocean floor. Seafood Watch, which rates the sustainability of different seafoods, said this week it has added the American and Canadian lobster fisheries to its “red list” of species to avoid.
The organization, based at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, said in a report that the fishing industry is a danger to North Atlantic right whales because “current management measures do not go far enough to mitigate entanglement risks and promote recovery of the species.”
Thousands of businesses use Seafood Watch’s recommendations to inform seafood buying decisions, and many have pledged to avoid any items that appear on the red list. A spokesperson for Blue Apron, the New York meal kit retailer, said after the release of the report that the company no longer offers lobster. HelloFresh, the Germany-based meal kit company that is the largest such company operating in the U.S., also pledged shortly after the announcement to stop selling lobster.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner