Business

DETROIT (AP/WMOT) — Franklin based Nissan North America, one of Middle Tennessee’s biggest employers, is reporting its best sales ever during the month of March.

Nissan says sales were up a full percentage point in March year-over-year. The company says the all-electric Nissan LEAF now being built at the company’s Smyrna plant, saw sales jump by more than 280 percent year-over-year.

Nissan's Bryan Brockman says a recent drop in the price of the new LEAF seems to be getting a lot of attention.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) --  The final day to file your 2012 federal taxes is fast approaching. Goodwill of Middle Tennessee is offering to help get your tax return prepared in time to meet the April 15 deadline.

Goodwill’s Shelbyville, Lawrenceburg and downtown Nashville locations will have trained tax preparers on hand 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through the fifteenth.

The charity's Jamie Berry says they’re happy to help anyone fill out their tax forms.

MTSU will sponsor a free six-session workshop series to help diabetics deal with their illness.

The next series of “Yes I Can” Diabetes Self-Management Workshops is slated for 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Fridays from April 5 to May 10 at the Smyrna Library, 400 Enon Springs Road in Smyrna.

An additional workshop series will be scheduled later this spring and will be announced in the near future.

Middle Tennessee State University will spend Tuesday, April 9, reminding the public that women still do not receive equal pay for equal work.

MTSU will observe Equal Pay Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with information booths at the Keathley University Center and the Student Union Building.

“American women early only 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns,” said Dr. Ayne Cantrell, communications officer of the Murfreesboro branch of the American Association of University Women and a former MTSU professor.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt University Medical Center officials say federal automatic budget cuts require tough economic measures be taken.

The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/Z6IddpZ ) reported the hospital must make up for a $20 million shortfall by June 30.

Vice Chancellor Dr. Jeff Balser said the federal cuts mean payments are no longer being made to hospitals like Vanderbilt which treat a disproportionate number of indigent patients.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  The Tennessee Department of Labor has released county level unemployment numbers for February and the report is good news for the mid-state.

Six of the ten counties with the state’s lowest unemployment are located here in Middle Tennessee. Williamson County continues to enjoy the state’s best jobless rate at 5.3 percent. That’s nearly a full percentage point below the next closest county.