TVA faces fight over power line
The Tennessee Valley Authority will have to fight four landowners in court to secure power line access for its planned $300 million power control center in southern Meigs County.
Three more Georgetown property owners last week joined in a lawsuit previously filed by property owner Greg Vital asking U.S. District Court Judge Sandy Mattice to block TVA's attempt to use eminent domain to gain access to their property for preparing to lay at 161,000 kilovolt power line. John and Bridget Vantiegham, Nellie Mae Carter and Cornertone Farm filed a countersuit to TVA's claim to take partial control of the land near Georgetown needed to supply power for TVA's relocated system operations center.
Those suing TVA have hired attorney Roger Dickson to fight the TVA land access attempt, including a "temporary right to enter the land" already approved by a federal judge. Dickson also represents Vital, who is president of Morning Pointe senior living facilities and an opponent to the way TVA is developing its new power facility near his farm.
Gas prices fall to 18-month low
Holiday travelers are getting an extra gift at the gas pump this year.
Gasoline prices in Chattanooga fell another 5.3 cents a gallon last week to their lowest level in more than a year and a half as oil prices continue to fall.
The average price of regular gas in Chattanooga declined to $1.86 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga. Local prices at the pump were 45 cents per gallon below the U.S. average of $2.31 per gallon and the lowest since the summer of 2017.
Three gas stations in Hamilton County - VP Racing Fuels in East Ridge and Murphy Express and Sam's Club on Lee Highway in East Brainerd - were selling regular gas on Christmas Eve for $1.76 a gallon, just a penny a gallon above the lowest price for any gas station in Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama.
Chattanooga continues to have the lowest average gas prices for any major city in Tennessee, according to GasBuddy.com.
Lower gas prices are saving the Americans $225 million a day compared to what they spent 75 days ago, DeHaan said.
Cyprus banks fight laundering charges
Banks in Cyprus are concerned that their adoption of some of the toughest anti-money laundering regulations in the world has not been fully recognized abroad, the chief of the Association of Cyprus Banks said Monday.
Association Director Michalis Kammas said that banks are challenging "outdated perceptions" and are working to raise awareness about reform efforts.
Kammas says more rigorous supervision and directives have led to the closure of a "significant number" of bank accounts since 2014.
"Today, Cypriot banks' procedures encompass some of the most advanced banking compliance practices globally," Kammas told the Associated Press in an email.
Kammas said international supervisory bodies like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Transparency International have recognized Cyprus' strong efforts but that the message hadn't gotten through to some stakeholders, including the media.
Prior to a 2013 banking sector crisis that brought Cyprus to the brink of bankruptcy, the east Mediterranean island nation, which is an EU member, was hounded by allegations that it was a tax and money laundering haven.
Kammas said the crisis hit home with Cypriot authorities that they had to clean up the banking system and that pressure to do so had come "as much from political commitment within as it has from outside authorities."