The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association has published a study of the economic reach of automotive suppliers around the country. The country's top five states, it notes alongside IHS researchers, accounted for nearly half of all auto supplier jobs. Part of that group? Tennessee, whose more than 48,000 jobs rank fourth. Check out the full study here.

Various Maury County officials have agreed to free up $5.2 million in tax-increment financing — the first time such an incentive is being used there — that would help bring to Mt. Pleasant a $55 million investment and 180 jobs from an unnamed European manufacturer. The company plans to build a 500,000-square-foot facility to house its North American headquarters and manufacturing and distribution operations. A contract for the property requires things to be finalized by the end of April.

The Maury County Industrial Development Board has postponed a decision on whether to move forward with plans to develop a business park that would cover nearly 200 acres on Bear Creek Pike off Interstate 65 east of Columbia. Kelly Quimby at the Daily Herald has more on the need for partners to commit and the other hurdles county officials must clear.

And these problems don’t even begin to address the problem with the bedrock covering much of the potential site. Harris said the rock and topography present a “huge challenge” to the property’s development.

“We’re going to end up around over $50,000 an acre invested in this property,” Harris said. “We’re going to be able to potentially sell it for around $15,000 (per acre). It takes a lot of commitment from the governments to make that make sense.”

Hemlock Semiconductor has confirmed that the 300 people whose jobs were furloughed early this year at the company's brand new Clarksville plant are being given severance packages and job placement services. Jimmy Settle with the Leaf-Chronicle has the details.

The Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce announced Monday the addition of six board members.

Coming on board are Marielena Ramos, Kia Jarmon and Edmundo Cepeda. In addition, Jose Rodriguez, Karla Vazquez and Dalila Duarte have been added as junior board members.

Ramos is a producer and director of NewsChannel 5 Plus, while Cepeda is senior manager of strategic analytics at Asurion. Rodriguez is a recent Lipscomb University graduate and Vazquez is the finance and human resource coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. Finally, Duarte is studying at Tennessee State University and leads the TSU FUTURO chapter.

“We are pleased at the commitment these business professionals and students have for the Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce and the Latin American business community,” Nelson Remus, board president, said in a release. “Through their contributions, it is our hope to continue to be recognized as the leading Latin voice for the business community in Tennessee.”

TLACC board members serve a two-year term and are charged with serving as liaisons between the state’s Latin American business community and the broader business community, while also engaging non-Latin American organizations. The first TLACC Networking luncheon of the year will be held March 6, with special guest speaker Gov. Bill Haslam.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday released updated metro-area GDP statistics showing how the nation's cities fared in 2011. The latest data set went back to 2008 numbers, which got us thinking it might be a worthwhile exercise to add 2007 to the list to see how Nashville has performed since the official beginning of the recession late that year. The short answer: Better than most of its regional peers, but we were only just back above the high-water mark in late 2011 and were trailing Austin by an economic mile.