Alstom's 1st US-made turbine

Alstom, the French company now producing steam and gas turbines in a new plant in the Chattanooga area, this month shipped its first delivery. The TFP has it. Other VentureNashville coverage.

Chattanooga allowed to smile on Jobs growth

Signs of the epochal Great Recession remain, but Chattanooga and Cleveland and environs have reason to smile, with The Noog recording more that 7,000 net jobs growth in the past year, thanks in part to newly announced investments. Read the Times Free Press' summary. (Related story on local consumer restaurant spending.) Meanwhile, nationally analysts see signs of traction, bullishness for 2011, says The New York Times (free registration). Of course, if you're unemployed, you see prospects quite differently, says the NYT, reporting results from Rutgers, full report here. NBJ reports on Tennessee joblessness - it remains a mottled picture statewide, but at least "mass layoffs" have abated, a bit.

Bredesen views Solar, industrial investments with pleasure

Gov. Phil Bredesen told West Tennesseans (Commercial Appeal) the Solar Farm and industrial park he drove to completion are in-train for completion, and praised Chattanoogans' (Times Free Press) ability to leverage their region's assets and maintain strong state-local partnerships.

TFP: State has strong foothold in Green industries

The Times Free Press' Dave Flessner provides one of the more comprehensive reviews of the state's recent industry-recruitment and green-industry initiatives. The TFP photo at left shows Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr (left) and ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber during their interview. They were scheduled to depart Nashville today for Europe, accompanying the governor on a Green-industry hunting expedition.

Chattanooga attracts another power player

Power-generating Burns & Roe, which has an office at Oak Ridge, announced it'll hire up to 200 for its new outpost in Chattanooga. With other energy-related investments in the region -- Wacker Chemie, Alstom and let's toss in VW -- there's little doubt Chattanooga and Hamilton County are riding the Energy Bubble. And, all this adds further weight to the rationale for Gov. Bredesen's team trip to Germany, Poland and Switzerland, which begins Sunday. The B&R news comes, unfortunately, just as Chattanooga's DJO Chattanooga, a medical-devices maker, announced laying-off 300.