Memphis Business Journal: First Tennessee to downsize Maryville center:

First Tennessee Bank is cutting 28 jobs at its operations center in Maryville, Tenn., according to the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

According to the article, layoffs will begin Feb. 15th. First Tennessee will be closing the operations center and moving into a smaller space.

According to figures released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Friday, Blount County's unemployment rate for November was 4.2%, slightly lower than the overall state unemployment rate of 4.9%.

Blount County unemployment was up .4% since October 2007, and up .1% year over year from November 2006.

November unemployment in the City of Maryville was 6.9%, up .5% from October 2007 and up .6% from November 2006.

November unemployment for the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was 3.9%, up .4% from October 2007 and unchanged from November 2006. The Knoxville MSA includes Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Union counties.

The total estimated workforce in the Blount County is 62,740, and the City of Maryville's workforce is 13,350.

The lowest unemployment was in Williamson County, at 3.6%, followed by Knox County at 3.7%. The highest unemployment was in Marshall County at 8.9%, followed by Pickett Co. at 8.8%.

Alcoa Aluminum is expanding their aluminum can recycling operations here. The new $22 million facility will expand recycling capacity by 50%. According to Alcoa, recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to make new cans. They expect to recycle more than 14 billion cans this year. The new expansion will be completed sometime in the next 12 to 18 months.

In related news, Alcoa is introducing a new fuel efficient locomotive, "Big Orange", for transporting ingot. According to Alcoa, the new train has 25% more horsepower, uses 35% less fuel, and cuts down on 85% of air pollutants. A second train will arrive in 2008.