Mocs Give Day raises $1.2 million
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga raised more than $1.2 million from 1,475 donors over the 24 hours of the third annual Mocs Give Day on Oct. 4.
The results were the highest ever for a Mocs Give Day and more than doubled the goal of raising $500,000 from 750 donors for the 2022 event.
The fundraising campaign collected $859,763 for scholarship support. A special emphasis of Mocs Give Day was the Denise and Tim Downey Student Emergency Fund, and donors gave to the tune of $124,430 — including a $50,000 gift from UT System President Randy Boyd. The Student Emergency Fund provides funding for UTC students experiencing financial hardship due to an accident, emergency, illness or other unforeseen events.
“Mocs Give Day was a great day for our students, our campus and the Division of Advancement,” said UTC Chancellor Steven R. Angle.
UTC Athletics raised $804,029 to support student-athletes. Mocs Club, the annual fundraising arm for UTC Athletics, works to alleviate the cost of student-athlete scholarships and positively impacts student-athletes in the classroom and the field of play.
Five UTC colleges had a $1 for $1 match up to $10,000 on Mocs Give Day. All five reached that $10,000 goal, with the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies coming in the top two spots–raising $87,898 and $70,474, respectively.
Dollar General fined for safety violations
Dollar General is facing another $1.68 million in fines after government safety inspectors found violations at four of the chain’s stores in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the federal regulators announced Monday.
During inspections in April 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found dirty and disorderly storage areas and materials stacked unsafely at locations in Mobile and Grove Hill, Alabama; Tampa, Florida; and Dewy Rose, Georgia. OSHA said those conditions put workers at risk of slipping, tripping and getting struck by falling objects.
The company was also cited for fire hazards, including failing to keep exit routes and electrical panels clear and unobstructed, and neglecting to mount and label fire extinguishers.
The announcement came two months after OSHA announced $1.3 million in proposed penalties for similar violations at three of Dollar General stores in Georgia.
OSHA said Dollar General has faced more than $9.6 million in initial penalties after 182 inspections since 2017.
“We will use our full enforcement powers to hold Dollar General accountable for its ongoing pattern of behavior until they show that they take worker safety seriously,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in a statement.
Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, has 15 business days to comply or contest the penalties.
Bank of America earnings down 8%
Bank of America, the nation’s second-largest bank, earned $7.1 billion in profit in the third quarter, an 8% drop from a year ago, but more than analysts were expecting. Consumer deposits grew 1% and credit card spending rose 13%.
The bank’s chief financial officer, Alastair Borthwick, said Bank of America’s retail customers appeared to be in great shape.
“Overall, consumers remain resilient and they continue to spend at an elevated pace,” Borthwick said in a call with reporters Monday. “They’re paying down their loan balances at elevated rates with continued ability to borrow.”
The only hint that a change could be coming, Borthwick said, was a slight drop in the rate of growth in consumer spending, to 9% from 12% earlier in the year.
The bank added $378 million to the pool of funds it has set aside to cover future loan losses, but Borthwick said that even that was a good sign — it reflected an increase in lending by the bank rather than a deterioration in the quality of the loans already on its books.
On Wall Street, Bank of America’s sales and trading revenue rose 13%, with revenue from trading bonds, commodities and other financial interests up 27% from the same period last year, while revenue from trading stocks fell 4%.
Revenues from investment banking fees fell 46%. But the bank took in 44% more in its business providing global transaction services to large companies, and its loan and lease balances among large corporate clients rose 18%.
FirstBank earnings short of projections
FB Financial Corp., the parent company of the third biggest bank headquartered in Tennessee, reported third-quarter profits of $31.8 million on Monday.
The Nashville-based parent of FirstBank said it had earnings in the three months ended Sept. 30 of 68 cents per share, which was 13 cents a share below the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
The bank holding company, which has assets of nearly $12.2 billion, posted revenue of $151.1 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $134 million, which also fell short of Street forecasts.
“The Company continues to deliver strong balance sheet trends, and we are pleased with the 9% increase in net interest income over the prior quarter and the 41 basis point expansion in our net interest margin,” FirstBank President Christopher T. Holmes said in Monday’s earnings release. “All of our markets continue to have strong credit demand and good economic activity. While we hope for a soft landing for the economy in the coming months, we are taking a prudent approach with our balance sheet by limiting growth in certain assets, maintaining appropriate capital and reserve levels, managing liquidity, and preparing for a range of economic scenarios.”
FirstBank has bank branches across Tennessee, Alabama, North Georgia and Central Kentucky and mortgage offices across the Southeast.
Delta, Starbucks miles offer overloads websites
Delta Air Lines has launched a partnership with Starbucks to allow frequent fliers to earn miles from their coffee purchases. The tie-up proved so popular with customers of both Fortune 500 companies on Wednesday that it overloaded the websites Delta and Starbucks launched to help consumers link their accounts.
The deal will allow those who are members of both Delta’s SkyMiles frequent flier program and Starbucks Rewards to link their accounts to earn one mile for every dollar spent at Starbucks. Travelers can also earn double Starbucks Rewards on days they fly on Delta.
The companies sent customers to deltastarbucks.com or starbucksdelta.com to set up their accounts.
But the websites were soon overwhelmed with traffic and customers could not get the link to work.
On Wednesday afternoon, both websites displayed a message saying: “Turns out you are just as excited about this partnership as we are. We’re working fast to fill all those requests, so please come back later to link your accounts.”
Customers took to Twitter to complain.
The companies are offering 500 miles to those who link their accounts by Dec. 31 and 150 Starbucks Rewards Stars once they make a qualifying purchase.
Delta said it would be “easy for millions of Starbucks Rewards and Delta SkyMiles members to earn free coffee and miles.”
But on the first day of the partnership, many customers instead got an apology and were told to try again later.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner