Fassbender at TN ECD

Paul Fassbender, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN-Chattanooga) is now assistant commissioner of Economic and Community Development under Commissioner Bill Hagerty. Read about it here.

Passat Pride in Chattanooga

In the wake of the Detroit Auto Show, comes word from the Times Free Press the Volkswagen plant at Chattanooga could actually produce 500K vehicles per year. U.S. Sen. Bob Corker is among those celebrating American production.

START treaty benefits to ORNL (more)

Frank Munger of the KNS provides further perspective on U.S. Senators Alexander and Corker's support for a new Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (START) Treaty, recently ratified by Congress, and its benefits for Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the nation. The photo of Sens. Corker (L) and Alexander was taken during their 2009 tour of tornado-damaged areas of Rutherford County, according to material online.

Corker decries lack of Feds' transparency

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Chattanooga, yesterday issued a statement calling for the liabilities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be reflected on Treasury's books, and called for greater understanding and transparency in reforming the two agencies. Chattanoogan.com. Earlier this week, Corker challenged proposed prohibition of large commercial banks' conducting “proprietary trading“ for their own portfolios. Contrary to the views of the Obama Administration and former Fed Reserve Chief Paul Volcker, Corker holds that such speculative trading contributed nothing to the banking collapse. WPLN reported it.

Telecom: Covista and NationLink are bullish

In Chattanooga, Covista Communications founder and long-time telecom entrepreneur Henry Luken (at left) intends to ride the Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) wave to increase Covista revenue from its current $35MM. The Times Free Press reports. Covista pricing undercuts Vonage. The company has both a phone switch and a call center in Th' Noog. U.S. Sen. Bob Corker sold many of his own business holdings to Luken, in 2006, according to Chattanoogan.com. Luken, a Kentucky native, has been in many ventures, from yacht-building to real estate, and moved Covista to Chattanooga after acquiring it, partly using funds he realized from the sale of Telco Communications, which he cofounded and which prior to its sale was reportedly generating more than $400MM per year in revenue. In Nashville, Andy Bailey of NationLink says he believes his company's revenue will go from $1.8MM to $3MM by the end of '09. The NBJ reports (sub.).

Tennessee Green: 'There's a BYD F3DM in your future'

[Updated] We reported recently that Gov. Phil Bredesen is definitely tracking more companies poised to expand and-or invest in Tennessee. This morning's Tennessean has U.S. Sen. Bob Corker saying there'll soon be another announcement in one of the other Grand Divides. Mentioned today: Hemlock Semiconductor, Sharp Electronics (Memphis, possible expansion candidate), Aerisyn Energy (wind), AGC Flat Glass, Dupont Danisco Cellulosic (biofuel). There are also hints Tennessee is pursuing Nashville-based Nissan North America and General Motors for production of new electric cars. Meanwhile, today's WSJ reports on the emergence of The People's Republic of China's BYD, maker of the new F3DM e-car, which is prepared to take on the world, albeit with a few engine-mount shakes and rattles. Updated Jan. 13: KNS's Brass reports on Knox-based Enerex's business in wind-to-energy, story here.