VOL. 47 | NO. 42 | Friday, October 13, 2023
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Each time a new condominium development opens, there is some concern that new owners might not be able to sell their properties shortly after purchase should the need arise. As more and more enormous projects climbed skyward, with even more on the horizon, those concerns were amplified.
REAL ESTATE
Top Davidson County residential real estate sales for September 2023, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home loan borrowing costs rose for the fifth straight week, keeping the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate at its highest level in more than two decades and taking another bite out of prospective homebuyers' purchasing power.
TENNESSEE TITANS
The Tennessee Titans have a dilemma, one that goes beyond just their 2-3 record to start the season and the many holes that have been exposed through five games.
The Titans have continued to ride the roller coaster through the early part of the 2023 season, following each loss with a win or vice versa.
The Titans head across the pond to take on old rival Baltimore Sunday in London. Tennessee needs this game to continue to tread water in the AFC South, a division that remains imminently winnable for any of the four teams. First, the Titans have to find a way to win their “home” game in England.
NEWSMAKERS
Butch Spyridon has been named the 2023 JA Nashville Business Hall of Fame laureate by Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee. This distinguished annual event recognizes Nashville’s outstanding contributors to business and philanthropy.
BRIEFS
Responding to a new state law that abolishes community oversight boards, new Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell mandated that Metro reconstitute the current board as a civilian review board.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Getting away and into America’s outdoor spaces can go a long way to making life more enjoyable. But what if you need to drive on some off-road trails to get to your destination?
PERSONAL FINANCE
The amount of wealth millennials and Gen Xers stand to inherit from their parents and grandparents almost defies comprehension: Cerulli Associates, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, reports $84.4 trillion in wealth will be transferred between 2021 and 2045, primarily from baby boomer households to younger generations.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
It was all about the balance. You didn’t think of it that way, though. All you were interested in was riding your bike with the big kids, pedaling without training wheels and without an adult holding you up.
CAREER CORNER
The U.S. job market exceeded anyone’s predictions with 336,000 jobs added, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. This is in comparison to economists’ predictions of 170,000 jobs. The unemployment rate also remained steady at 3.8%.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gio Reyna ran to the corner flag with a wide smile, then hugged Christian Pulisic and more American teammates. About a half-hour later, Reyna did it again and jumped with an arm overhead in front of the fans and tapping his chest for emphasis.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Leon Draisaitl had two power-play goals and two assists, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Nashville Predators 6-1 on Tuesday night for their first win of the season.
LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Kaidon Salter threw two touchdowns passes and added 160 yards rushing, Quinton Cooley scored three rushing touchdown and Liberty beat Middle Tennessee 42-35 Tuesday night.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Maren Morris has filed for divorce from her husband Ryan Hurd, citing the prominent country music couple's "irreconcilable differences" after five years of marriage.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman was arrested Wednesday after she stood up at Donald Trump's New York civil fraud trial and walked toward the front of the courtroom where the former president was sitting.
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge warned Donald Trump and others at his New York civil fraud trial to keep their voices down Wednesday after the former president threw up his hands in frustration and spoke aloud to his lawyers while a witness was testifying against him.
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk's social media platform X has begun charging a $1 fee to new users in the Philippines and New Zealand, in a test designed to cut down on the spam and fake accounts flourishing on the site formerly known as Twitter.
ENERGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday announced $3.5 billion for 58 projects across the country to strengthen electric grid resilience as extreme weather events such as the deadly Maui and California wildfires continue to strain the nation's aging transmission systems.
DALTON, Ga. (AP) — A South Korean company has begun production at a huge new solar panel factory in Georgia even as industry leaders say surging Asian imports could dampen efforts to make more solar components in the United States.
TECHNOLOGY
Amazon will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications.
BEIJING (AP) — China vigorously protested Wednesday the U.S. Commerce Department's latest update of export controls to prevent exports to China of advanced computer chips and the equipment to make them.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LONDON (AP) — When Laima Springe-Janssen was looking to replace her French-made gasoline-powered SUV with an electric car, she considered models from Volvo and Nissan.
TRAVEL
United Airlines says that it will start boarding passengers in economy class with window seats first starting next week, a move that will speed up boarding times for flights.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The net worth of the typical U.S. household grew at the fastest pace in more than three decades from 2019 through 2022, while low interest rates made it easier for households to pay their debts, according to a government report Wednesday.
LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the U.K. held steady at 6.7% in September as easing food and drink price rises were offset by higher prices at the pump for motorists, official figures showed Wednesday.
HONG KONG (AP) — China's economy slowed in the summer as global demand for its exports faltered and the ailing property sector sank deeper into crisis, the government said Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street dropped after big U.S. companies delivered a mixed set of profit reports and rising Treasury yields tightened the vise further on the stock market. Worries about war in the Middle East also dragged on the market Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 332 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%. Crude oil prices jumped following a deadly explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip. Gold kept rising as investors looked for safer investments. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to touch its highest level since 2007.
United Airlines said Tuesday that it earned $1.14 billion in the vacation-heavy third quarter, but the airline forecast weaker profit the rest of the year due to surging jet fuel prices and the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv during the Israel-Hamas war.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Jim Jordan failed again Wednesday on a crucial second ballot to become House speaker, the hard-fighting ally of Donald Trump losing even more GOP colleagues who are refusing to give him the gavel.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Israel had agreed to allow humanitarian assistance to begin flowing into Gaza from Egypt, with the understanding that shipments would be subject to inspections and that aid should go to civilians and not Hamas militants.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's nominee to be ambassador to Israel told senators Wednesday that he would "ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself" and would work with the U.S. ally to end the attacks by Hamas if he were confirmed.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden vowed to show the world that the U.S. stands in solidarity with Israel during his visit there Wednesday, and offered an assessment that the deadly explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital that prompted mass protests in Arab nations apparently was not carried out by the Israeli military.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a group of people and firms based in Iran, China, Hong Kong and Venezuela, tied to the development of Iran's ballistic missile and drone programs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's efforts to tamp down tensions in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas faced major setbacks even before he departed for the Middle East on Tuesday, as Jordan called off the president's planned summit with Arab leaders after a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital killed hundreds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday sanctioned a group of 10 Hamas members and the Palestinian militant organization's financial network across Gaza, Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and Qatar in response to the surprise attack on Israel that left more than 1,000 people dead or kidnapped.
WASHINGTON (AP) — This is what we know about Tuesday's deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza City.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's second pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration was endorsed Wednesday by a Senate committee with no Republican opposition, signaling a clear path to final approval by the full Senate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is moving quickly to confirm Jacob Lew as ambassador to Israel, holding a hearing on his nomination Wednesday as President Joe Biden visits the region to reinforce U.S. support for Israel and try to ease tensions in its new war with Hamas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — At a time when Americans are deeply divided along party lines, a new poll shows considerable agreement on at least one issue: The United States' two-decade-long war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has released footage of some of the more than 180 intercepts of U.S. warplanes by Chinese aircraft that have occurred in the last two years — more than the total amount over the previous decade and part of a trend U.S. military officials called concerning.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans believe they got lucky with the timing of quarterback Ryan Tannehill spraining his right ankle in London occurring right before their bye week.
UT SPORTS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Tennessee is the favorite to win the Southeastern Conference men's basketball title and Texas A&M's Wade Taylor IV is preseason player of the year, according to votes compiled by the league.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A lawsuit over whether the families of school shooting victims have a right to control what the public learns about a massacre was argued inside a packed Tennessee courtroom on Monday, the latest turn in an intense public records battle.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump returned Tuesday to the civil fraud trial that imperils his real estate empire, watching and deploring the case as an employee and an outside appraiser testified that his company essentially put a thumb on the scale when sizing up his properties' value.
Former President Donald Trump is appealing a narrow gag order that bars him from making statements attacking prosecutors, potential witnesses and court staff in his election interference case in Washington, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a former Republican candidate for Michigan governor to two months behind bars for joining a mob's Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he riled up other rioters and ripped a tarp outside the building.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney attorneys want to question a previous administrator of the governing district that provides municipal services to Walt Disney World as part of its defense against a state lawsuit brought by a board made up of appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's political fundraising machine is raking in donations at a prodigious pace, but he's spending tens of millions of dollars he's bringing in to pay attorneys to deal with the escalating costs of the various criminal cases he is contending with as he moves further into the 2024 presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is scheduled to be questioned under oath Tuesday as part of lawsuits from two former FBI employees who provoked the former president's outrage after sending each other pejorative text messages about him.
NEW YORK (AP) — A former FTX executive and onetime billionaire testified against the cryptocurrency exchange's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, on Monday at his fraud trial, saying his admiration for him faded as he watched excessive spending on investments, property and celebrities precede a $13 billion shortfall that left him feeling "blindsided and horrified."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is appealing the length of prison sentences for four Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy in the U.S. Capitol attack, challenging punishments that were significantly shorter than what prosecutors had recommended, according to court filings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday ordered two internet sellers of gun parts to comply with a Biden administration regulation aimed at ghost guns, firearms that are difficult to trace because they lack serial numbers.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will delay electric pickup truck production at a factory near Detroit due to slowing U.S. demand for electric vehicles, to better manage its capital investments, and to make some engineering changes.
U.S. regulators are investigating General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle division after receiving reports of incidents where vehicles may not have used proper caution around pedestrians in roadways.
NEW YORK (AP) — Zipcar has been slapped with a $300,000 fine after U.S. regulators found that the car-sharing company allowed customers to rent vehicles that had open recalls, violating federal motor safety law.
ENERGY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Stalled spending on electrical grids worldwide is slowing the rollout of renewable energy and could put efforts to limit climate change at risk if millions of miles of power lines are not added or refurbished in the next few years, the International Energy Agency said.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the most used platforms for travel and online shopping said Tuesday they're going to team up to battle fake reviews.
HEALTH CARE
Rite Aid's plan to close more stores as part of its bankruptcy process could hurt access to medicine and care, particularly in some majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in rural areas, experts say.
PERSONAL FINANCE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS plans to invite select taxpayers across 13 states to try out the agency's pilot electronic free file tax return system beginning in January.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish Tuesday following the latest signal that the U.S. economy remains solid, though perhaps too strong for the Federal Reserve's liking.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans showed their steadfast resilience and kept spending online, at restaurants and other outlets in September even as they grappled with higher prices, interest rates and a host of other headwinds piling up.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America posted a 10% rise in third quarter profits Tuesday, helped by higher interest rates that allowed the bank to charge more for loans at the same time that it kept expenses under control.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts rejected an unsolicited $8 billion buyout offer from Choice Hotels, a smaller chain that went public Tuesday with its bid after negotiations broke down.
Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce said Tuesday it's cutting up to 2,500 jobs globally as part of a corporate overhaul that its new CEO is carrying out.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Commerce Department on Tuesday updated and broadened its export controls to stop China from acquiring advanced computer chips and the equipment to manufacture them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans rejected Rep. Jim Jordan for House speaker on a first ballot Tuesday, as an unexpectedly numerous 20 holdouts denied the hard-charging ally of Donald Trump the GOP majority needed to seize the gavel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are heading to the House Tuesday for the second time this Congress to try and elect a speaker, marking what they hope will be a unifying moment for a party that has been in turmoil for weeks.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden will travel to Israel and on to Jordan Wednesday to meet with both Israeli and Arab leadership, as concerns increase that the raging Israel-Hamas war could expand into a larger regional conflict.
WASHINGTON (AP) — From its first months in office, the Biden administration made a distinctive decision on its Middle East policy: It would deprioritize a half-century of high-profile efforts by past U.S. presidents, particularly Democratic ones, to broker a broad and lasting peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 16
TENNESSEE TITANS
LONDON (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are flying home from London with a two-game losing streak and questions at quarterback.
DENVER (AP) — The Patriots are barely better than the Panthers. The Bears are bad again. So are the Broncos, who have surrendered a half dozen premium draft picks for a coach-quarterback combo that's just not working out.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump in Washington imposed a narrow gag order on him on Monday, barring the Republican former president from making statements targeting prosecutors, possible witnesses and court staff.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Proud Boys member who joined others from the far-right group in attacking the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty on Monday to obstructing the joint session of Congress for certifying Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected North Carolina's appeal in a dispute with animal rights groups over a law aimed at preventing undercover employees at farms and other workplaces from taking documents or recording video.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Charles and Kathleen Moore are about to have their day in the Supreme Court over a $15,000 tax bill they contend is unconstitutional.
LONDON (AP) — A lawyer for Donald Trump told a London judge Monday the ex-president plans to prove that "shocking and scandalous claims" about him in a largely discredited report by a former British spy were false and harmed his reputation.
HEALTH CARE
The medicine in the diabetes drug Mounjaro helped people with obesity or who are overweight lose at least a quarter of their body weight, or about 60 pounds on average, when combined with intensive diet and exercise, a new study shows.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford called on autoworkers to come together to end a monthlong strike that he says could cost the company the ability to invest in the future.
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian autoworkers have voted to ratify a three-year contract agreement with General Motors.
MEDIA
If government regulators prevail against Google in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century, it's likely to unleash drastic changes that will undermine the dominance of a search engine that defines the internet for billions of people.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The lawyer representing 184 former Facebook content moderators based in Kenya who sued the site's parent company, Meta, over working conditions and pay told the judge Monday that Meta has not been sincere in trying to reach an out-of-court settlement as agreed in the last court session.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks closed higher as some of last week's moves driven by worries about war in the Middle East unwind.
Reese's may be in violation of state and federal laws with its new sweepstakes offer currently advertised on packs of peanut butter cups.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Major U.S. pharmacy chain Rite Aid said Sunday that it has filed for bankruptcy and obtained $3.45 billion in fresh financing as it carries out a restructuring plan while coping with falling sales and opioid-related lawsuits.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden 's 2024 campaign launched an account on Donald Trump 's Truth Social on Monday, attempting to poke online fun at the Republican candidate he may well face again in next fall's election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden postponed a trip to Colorado on Monday to stay in Washington and focus on the growing conflict in the Middle East, setting aside an opportunity to pitch his economic accomplishments as he runs for reelection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Jim Jordan has such a reputation as a political brawler that former House Speaker John Boehner once said he'd never met someone "who spent more time tearing things apart."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two weeks without a House speaker, Republicans will meet behind closed doors Monday evening to try to unite around their new nominee, far-right firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan, a Donald Trump ally who appears to be quickly shoring up support to win the gavel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $71 million for his reelection in the three months ending Sept. 30, a strong indication that party donors remain united behind him going into a 2024 race that may feature a rematch with Donald Trump.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13
TENNESSEE TITANS
WATFORD, England (AP) — Titans defensive tackle Teair Tart could be back from a toe injury to face Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens a week after the Colts ran wild on Tennessee.
NASHVILLE AREA
Shares of Goodlettsville-based Dollar General are up more than 7% before the opening bell Friday after the discount chain said Todd Vasos will be returning as CEO after a streak of disappointing quarterly profits.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's top corporate deputies considered adding a "presidential premium" to his Trump Tower penthouse, Mar-a-Lago resort and other assets during his White House years, a gambit that would've padded his net worth by nearly $145 million, an executive at the former president's company testified Friday.
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge has rejected an attempt by former President Donald Trump to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to keep him off the state ballot, ruling that his objections on free-speech grounds did not apply.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court avoided a catastrophic accident last year when a piece of marble at least 2 feet long crashed to the ground in an interior courtyard used by the justices and their aides, according to several court employees.
HEALTH CARE
Open enrollment for Medicare opens Sunday, and seniors could have dozens of options.
ENVIRONMENT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — When Jennifer Byrne, owner and technician at Comfy Heating and Cooling, gets a call to come and fix a relatively new air conditioning system, one of the first questions she asks is if the house has just been remodeled.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is returning to Pennsylvania to use the critical battleground state again as a backdrop for some of his favorite political themes, championing steep increases in public works spending and detailing how bolstering green energy can spur U.S. manufacturing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Large-scale clean energy projects from Pennsylvania to California have been selected by the Biden administration for a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel, a key component of President Joe Biden's agenda to slow climate change.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Best Buy is saying goodbye to movie-watching with physical discs.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks mostly fell after getting pulled in opposite directions by competing waves of optimism and fear.
NEW YORK (AP) — For movie theater owners around the country, the same-day release of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" this summer meant record box office sales and a gratifying sign that the public still craved entertainment on the big screen.
NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase's third-quarter profit soared 35% from last year, fueled by a rapid rise in interest rates, but the bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, issued a sobering statement about the current state of world affairs and economic instability.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four months after U.S. regulators tried to block imports of Elf Bar, the top-selling Chinese disposable e-cigarette remains widely available thanks to a simple but effective tactic: a name change.
BEIJING (AP) — The European Union's top foreign policy official warned Friday that public sentiment in Europe could turn more protectionist if the region's trade deficit with China is not reduced.
Microsoft has completed its acquisition of video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, closing one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history that could have repercussions across the video game industry.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said on Friday that North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House has been without a leader for more than a week after majority Republicans threw out Speaker Kevin McCarthy and refused to rally around his No. 2, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans chose Rep. Jim Jordan as their new nominee for House speaker on Friday during internal voting, putting the gavel within reach of the staunch ally of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is headed to Israel this weekend to discuss what resources the United States can provide for its war against Hamas.
NEW YORK (AP) — Several of former President Donald Trump 's Republican rivals denounced him on Thursday for lashing out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days after Hamas' deadly attack, a rare moment in which multiple competitors directly criticized the GOP front-runner.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Steve Scalise ended his bid to become House speaker late Thursday after hardline holdouts refused to back the party's nominee, throwing the GOP majority into deeper chaos and leaving the chamber still unable to function.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Rep. Patrick McHenry took the House speaker's gavel for the first time, he slammed it down with such force at adjournment that it gained viral internet attention as the defining image of a House in turmoil.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — For the past four seasons, the Tennessee Titans struggled to find a dependable kicker.
ENFIELD, England (AP) — NFL teams that play in London tend to prefer arriving late in the week, believing it maximizes performance on Sunday.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a new Tennessee law that reconfigures the panel overseeing professional sports facilities in the city by letting state leaders pick six of its 13 board members.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump will back in court next week for his New York civil fraud trial, a person familiar with the former president's plans told The Associated Press on Thursday, setting up a potential face-to-face showdown with fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen, who is expected to testify.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A judge on Thursday scolded federal prosecutors in the classified documents case against Donald Trump as she postponed a hearing to determine if the lawyer for one of the former president's co-defendants had a conflict of interest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service charged with leaking tax information to news outlets about former President Donald Trump and thousands of the country's wealthiest people pleaded guilty to a federal charge Thursday in an agreement with prosecutors.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyer struggled through a meandering cross-examination of the FTX founder's former girlfriend Thursday, keeping both the judge and the public guessing as to the defense team's strategy in countering the testimony of the government's key witness.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed likely to preserve the Republican hold on a South Carolina congressional district against a claim that it treats Black voters unfairly. The outcome could shape the fight for partisan control of the House of Representatives.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A gun count that had been part of a collapsed plea deal in the Hunter Biden case was dismissed Wednesday as a judge signed off on a prosecution request.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A top Ford executive says the company has reached the limit of how much money it will spend to get a contract agreement with the striking United Auto Workers union.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The White House has selected the Philadelphia area and West Virginia for two regional hubs to produce and deliver hydrogen fuel, an important part of the Biden administration's clean energy plan, according to a person familiar with the plan.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — A ban on gasoline and diesel-fueled cars from a commercial district of Stockholm's downtown in 2025 will be the first for a European capital, a city official said Thursday.
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union significantly escalated its walkout against Detroit's Three automakers, shutting down Ford's largest factory and threatening Jeep maker Stellantis.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Within the past year, young journalists have produced investigations that led to the resignation of Stanford University's president, the firing of Northwestern University's football coach, and a school shooting graphic so striking that it led a veteran newsman to say, "I've never seen a better front page."
New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children's personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by "addictive" feeds from accounts they don't follow, under legislation proposed Wednesday.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Within hours of the horrific attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needs to respond.
ECONOMY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Middle East economies are gradually recovering as external shocks from the war in Ukraine and global inflation fade, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday, but the escalating war between Israel and the Hamas militant group could dampen the outlook.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security recipients will get a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, far less than this year's historic boost and reflecting moderating consumer prices.
NEW YORK (AP) — Tens of millions of older Americans will see a modest increase in benefits this January when a new cost-of-living adjustment is added to Social Security payments.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Measures of U.S. inflation eased slightly in September, evidence that consumer price increases are continuing to grind lower at a gradual pace.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, remaining at historically low levels in another sign that the U.S. job market remains strong in the face of higher interest rates.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks slipped Thursday after the clamps tightened on Wall Street from rising yields in the bond market.
Planes packed with summer travelers boosted Delta Air Lines to a $1.11 billion profit in the third quarter, and the carrier said Thursday that it expects revenue to keep rising into the holiday season.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service says Microsoft owes the U.S. Treasury $28.9 billion in back taxes, plus penalties and interest, the company revealed Wednesday in a securities filing.
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Many poor countries in Africa face the harshest effects of climate change: severe droughts, vicious heat and dry land, but also unpredictable rain and devastating flooding. The shocks worsen conflict and upend livelihoods because many people are farmers — work that is increasingly vulnerable in a warming world.
NEW YORK (AP) — Birkenstock stumbled in its stock market debut Wednesday, a day Wall Street traded in its wingtips for sandals.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden had been to Dachau, the infamous concentration camp in Germany, several times before, but he sensed changes when he visited as vice president with a teenaged granddaughter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nominated to be House speaker, Rep. Steve Scalise on Thursday ran straight into a familiar, intensifying Republican problem: Skeptical GOP colleagues are refusing to give their support, denying him the majority vote needed to win the gavel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With his walker positioned on the mound, Rep. Steve Scalise threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Washington Nationals ballpark, a breathtaking comeback for the Republican congressman who just months earlier was fighting for his life after a gunman had opened fire on lawmakers at their own charity baseball game practice.