VOL. 44 | NO. 45 | Friday, November 6, 2020
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Even with mortgage rates hovering near all-time lows, rising home prices are putting more pressure on buyers to come up with a bigger down payment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates were flat to lower this week, as the key 30-year rate fell to a new all-time low for the 12th time this year.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Mike Vrabel had the opportunity to go out and find a new defensive coordinator after Dean Pees retired following the Titans loss in the AFC Championship Game.
First down: Somebody, anybody – sack the quarterback. Maybe it would just take one and then an avalanche of sacks might occur for the Titans’ defense. Heck, maybe even Jadeveon Clowney or Vic Beasley could touch a quarterback and actually get him down.
CHICAGO (5-3) at TENNESSEE (5-2)
NEWSMAKERS
Nashville entrepreneur and executive leader Stuart McWhorter is rejoining the board of FB Financial Corporation after leaving the Lee administration in May to return to the private sector.
BRIEFS
Nashville’s The Cupcake Collection is one of 10 Black-owned small business winners of the NAACP Powershift Grant.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Whether it’s a ghostly image that makes objects seemingly disappear or a spectral presence turning the steering wheel, modern cars are loaded with more tricks than a haunted house.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Social Security’s life expectancy calculator predicts I’ll live to about 86. An insurance company’s version says I should expect to die at 98. A longevity calculator created by actuaries demurs, putting the odds at only 32% that I’ll make it to 95.
CAREER CORNER
Has your work changed as a result of the pandemic? If you have a corporate desk job, the answer may very well be no. While where you do your work has changed, the nature of your work has not. You are still focused on the same projects. You’re meeting with the same people. Work is moving ahead.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
After spending nearly $2,000 in gifts for her daughter’s first Christmas in 2017, Meg Nordmann knew her holiday strategy had to change.
UT SPORTS
Kentucky has yet another crop of Big Blue-chippers and Tennessee looks poised to prove last season was a blip on an otherwise impressive recent run of success.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are hosting a third round of training sessions next week on opportunity zones.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan posted a loss of 44.4 billion yen ($421 million) in the last quarter as the pandemic slammed profitability and the Japanese automaker fought to restore a brand image tarnished by a scandal centered on its former star executive Carlos Ghosn.
COURTS
The popular video-sharing app TikTok, its future in limbo since President Donald Trump tried to shut it down earlier this fall, is asking a federal court to intervene.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
Texas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Dr. Anthony Fauci says he doesn't believe the United States will need to go into lockdown to fight the coronavirus if people double down on wearing masks and social distancing.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week to 709,000, a still-high level but the lowest figure since March and a further sign that the job market might be slowly healing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in October, the lowest reading in five months, suggesting that a price spike over the summer is beginning to fade as coronavirus cases spread.
LONDON (AP) — The British economy remained nearly 10% smaller at the end of the third quarter despite posting a record bounceback in the summer, when many of the restrictions that had been placed on businesses to control the pandemic were lifted. The imposition of new limits on public life in the autumn means the economy will likely end the year even smaller.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
ATLANTA (AP) — Jon Ossoff took the stage in Columbus and looked out over a parking lot filled with cars, with supporters blaring their horns in approval as he declared that "change has come to Georgia."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The presidential race was hovering in limbo in 2000 when outgoing President Bill Clinton decided to let then-Gov. George W. Bush read the ultra-secret daily brief of the nation's most sensitive intelligence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The words spoken by America's top military officer carried a familiar ring, but in the midst of a chaotic week at the Pentagon, they were particularly poignant.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has chosen his longtime adviser Ron Klain to reprise his role as his chief of staff, installing an aide with decades of experience in the top role in his White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump spent 10 minutes in public honoring America's war veterans — a veneer of normalcy for a White House that's frozen by a defeated president mulling his options, mostly forgoing the mechanics of governing and blocking his inevitable successor.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has pulled out of its planned coverage of Wednesday's Country Music Association Awards show due to restrictions that have been placed on still photographers and screen captures of the broadcast.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A.J. Brown makes it clear. He sees himself as a very physical wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans.
UT SPORTS
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has restocked the roster so well that the 12th-ranked Volunteers should quickly erase the painful memory of last season once play begins.
No. 1 Alabama at LSU and No. 5 Texas A&M at Tennessee will not be played Saturday because of COVID-19 issues, raising the number of Southeastern Conference games postponed this week to three.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College on Tuesday announced a partnership aimed at training African American doctors and dentists who will provide essential care to underserved communities.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Belmont University President Bob Fisher plans to retire next May after two decades in the private school's top post.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Senate Republicans declared Tuesday that the presidential election was "far from over" and announced their support of President Donald Trump's baseless accusations of fraud and voting irregularities that he says caused him to lose his reelection bid.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — After reviewing new evidence, a Tennessee judge has overturned the conviction of a man serving life in prison for a 1998 slaying.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — The defense team for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly began questioning a key prosecution witness in a Tokyo court this week, seeking to show the alleged underreporting of income of his boss Carlos Ghosn was devised by others at the automaker.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
MOSCOW (AP) — Developers of Sputnik V, Russia's experimental COVID-19 vaccine, announced Wednesday that early, interim data from a large trial suggests the shot appears to be 92% effective.
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations Tuesday and surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases in just the first 10 days of November amid a nationwide surge of infections that shows no signs of slowing.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday, helped by big technology stocks, but news of tighter restrictions in New York State helped dent an earlier rally.
The popular video-sharing app TikTok, its future in limbo since President Donald Trump tried to shut it down earlier this fall, is asking a federal court to intervene.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde warned Wednesday that the economy could face a "bumpy," "stop-start" recovery despite good news about vaccine development.
BERLIN (AP) — The German government's panel of independent economic advisers is predicting that the country's economy, Europe's biggest, will shrink by 5.1% this year — a somewhat more optimistic forecast than one made recently by ministers.
Brian Contreras represents the worst fears of the lucrative business travel industry.
LONDON (AP) — The British government plans to increase its ability to prevent foreign investors from acquiring strategic assets amid increasing concern about the threat to national security posed by potentially hostile states such as China and Russia.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden feels at home on Capitol Hill, but the place sure has changed since he left.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Vowing "to get right to work," President-elect Joe Biden shrugged off President Donald Trump's fierce refusal to accept the election outcome as "inconsequential," even as Democrats elsewhere warned that the Republican president's actions were dangerous.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some dramatic moves on immigration are expected in the early days of the Biden administration. Joe Biden will likely use executive orders to reverse some of President Donald Trump's most controversial actions, rolling back moves that were a central feature of his administration and important to his base.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers announced Wednesday they would resign en masse after four of them were ousted from the semiautonomous Chinese territory's Legislature in a move one legislator said could sound the "death knell" for democracy there.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump's chances of reelection dwindled last week, his campaign began blasting out a nonstop stream of emails and text messages that led to a website raising money for an "election defense fund" to contest the outcome.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has won the state of Alaska.
ATLANTA (AP) — The 2020 election unfolded smoothly across the country and without any widespread irregularities, according to state officials and election experts, a stark contrast to the baseless claims of fraud being leveled by President Donald Trump following his defeat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In backing President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, Republicans risk leaving millions of Americans with the false impression that the results of the 2020 race are illegitimate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats clinched two more years of controlling the House but with a potentially razor-thin majority, a bittersweet finale to last week's elections that has left them divided and with scant margin for error for advancing their agenda.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Lincoln Project has announced plans to launch an advertising campaign against two law firms over their role representing President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in their voter fraud-related lawsuits.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are exactly where they wanted to be, sitting atop the AFC South with their playoff fate firmly in their hands.
UT SPORTS
The Tennessee Volunteers have been able to take leads into halftime. Unfortunately, when they come out of the locker room for the third quarter, that's when the horror show starts.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday he's looking to include "meaningful" teacher pay raises in next year's budget despite facing financial crunches brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday said he wasn't ready to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect, joining a growing list of Republican leaders who say they are waiting on the outcome of various vote recounts and legal challenges.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday announced that former House Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn will serve as a senior adviser to Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee counties that have not required wearing masks in public are on average seeing COVID-19 death rates double or more compared with those that instituted mandates, according to a report released Tuesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's top health officials on Monday reported that the state saw more than 5,900 new cases of COVID-19, marking the highest jump in a 24-hour period.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
NEW YORK (AP) — The latest surge in U.S. coronavirus cases appears to be much larger than the two previous ones, and it is all but certain to get worse — a lot worse. But experts say there are also reasons to think the nation is better able to deal with the virus this time.
The incoming Biden administration is promising a cohesive national strategy to combat the worsening coronavirus outbreak, something many public health officials and Democratic governors say they welcome after months of mixed messaging under the Trump administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of the first antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19, an experimental approach against the virus that has killed more than 238,000 Americans.
PARIS (AP) — In Italy lines of ambulances park outside hospitals awaiting beds, and in France the government coronavirus tracking app prominently displays the intensive care capacity taken up by COVID-19 patients: 92.5% and rising. In the ICU in Barcelona, there is no end in sight for the doctors and nurses who endured this once already.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — University of Notre Dame students are now subject to mandatory coronavirus testing with stricter penalties if they leave town before getting their test results after thousands of fans stormed the football field and threw parties to celebrate a double-overtime upset over Clemson.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A more conservative Supreme Court appears unwilling to do what Republicans have long desired: kill off the Affordable Care Act, including its key protections for pre-existing health conditions and subsidized insurance premiums that affect tens of millions of Americans.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Facing fierce Republican refusal to acknowledge his victory, President-elect Joe Biden was fighting to defend the Obama administration's signature health care law on Tuesday as he began to confront the crises he will inherit in just 71 days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Supreme Court weighs the fate of "Obamacare," arguments will revolve around arcane points of law like severability — whether the justices can surgically snip out part of the law and leave the rest.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple is rolling out new Mac computers powered by the same kind of chips that run iPhones and iPads, a move aimed at making it easier for its most popular products to work together.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks downshifted on Tuesday, a day after their powerful worldwide rally, but optimism remained high that the global economy may still be headed for a return to normal.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden will inherit a vulnerable economic recovery under threat from a resurgent virus, likely with a divided Congress that will hinder his ability to address the challenges.
LONDON (AP) — The European Union's move to charge Amazon over alleged antitrust behavior is the bloc's latest crackdown on U.S. tech giants. Here's a look at enforcement actions taken by the EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, in recent years.
NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney is on course to emerge from bankruptcy by Thanksgiving, after a U.S. bankruptcy court approved the sale of the ailing 118-year-old retailer to its two largest landlords and its primary lenders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American employers advertised slightly more jobs in September but hired fewer people as the U.S. economy struggles to recover from spring's coronavirus collapse.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese maker of processor chips for Apple Inc. and other customers plans to invest $3.5 billion to set up its second U.S. manufacturing site amid American concern about relying too heavily on sources in Asia for high-tech components.
LONDON (AP) — The British government insisted Tuesday it will press ahead with legislation that breaks a legally binding Brexit treaty with the European Union, despite a resounding rejection of the bill by the upper house of Parliament.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some dramatic moves on immigration are expected in the early days of the Biden administration. Joe Biden will likely use executive orders to reverse some of President Donald Trump's most controversial actions, rolling back moves that were a central feature of his administration and important to his base. The Biden administration plans to restore protection for people brought to the U.S. illegally as minors and stop using Pentagon funds to build a border wall. Biden unveiled a detailed, highly ambitious plan on immigration but it will take time to undo many actions taken by Trump. The incoming president will also likely face a divided Congress, making it difficult to enact any kind of sweeping, comprehensive changes to the nation's immigration system. Here's a look at what to expect:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has released the names of his agency review teams, the groups of transition staffers that are typically afforded access to key agencies in the current administration to help smooth the transfer of power.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration formally notified Congress on Tuesday that it plans to sell 50 stealth F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as part of a broader arms deal worth nearly a quarter billion dollars aimed at deterring potential threats from Iran despite concern in Israel.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. defense officials said James Anderson, the top policy adviser at the Pentagon, submitted his resignation Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Anderson has been the acting undersecretary for policy since June. Previously he served as the deputy undersecretary since his confirmation for that job in August 2018.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators chose party leaders Tuesday with few changes at the top, but it's unclear who will be the majority leader in the new Congress with no party having secured control of the Senate until a January runoff election in Georgia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans controlling the Senate unveiled a government-wide, $1.4 trillion spending bill on Tuesday, a largely bipartisan measure that faces uncertain odds during this period of post-election tumult in Washington.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday there's "no reason for alarm" as President Donald Trump, backed by Republicans in Congress, mounts unfounded legal challenges to President-elect Joe Biden's election victory — a process that could now push into December.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Refusing to concede a presidential election he lost, President Donald Trump sought falsely to take full credit for drugmaker Pfizer Inc.'s announcement that its COVID-19 vaccine may be 90% effective, wrongly asserted the vaccine news was delayed until after Election Day to undermine him and repeated baseless claims of voter fraud.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration threw the presidential transition into tumult, with President Donald Trump blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden's team and Attorney General William Barr authorizing the Justice Department to probe unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The course of President-elect Joe Biden's transition to power is dependent in part on an obscure declaration called "ascertainment."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
WASHINGTON (AP) — International observers from the Organization of American States say they saw no instances of fraud or voting irregularities in the U.S. presidential election.
DETROIT (AP) — Power. Respect. Finally.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard is the second artist so far that will miss a scheduled performance at the CMA Awards on Wednesday due to COVID-19.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country singer Lee Brice tested positive for COVID-19 and will not perform as scheduled at the CMA Awards on Wednesday.
UT SPORTS
No. 5 Texas A&M paused in-person activities on Monday after a player and a staff member tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from a win at South Carolina.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Coach Mike Vrabel has been warning his Tennessee Titans they had reached a crossroads after losing back-to-back games.
NASHVILLE SC
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jhonder Cadiz scored in stoppage time and Nashville SC rallied for a 3-2 victory over Orlando City to wrap up the regular season on Sunday.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee department heads are set to pitch their spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year to Gov. Bill Lee and his top budget officials.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Snack manufacturer Frito-Lay is planning a $100 million expansion in Tennessee that is expected to add 100 new jobs.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators are requiring Zoom to strengthen its security in a proposed settlement of allegations that the video conferencing service misled users about its level of security for meetings.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Supreme Court weighs the fate of "Obamacare" on Tuesday, arguments will revolve around arcane points of law like severability — whether the justices can surgically snip out part of the law and leave the rest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Until six weeks ago, defenders of the Affordable Care Act could take comfort in some simple math. Five Supreme Court justices who had twice preserved the Obama-era health care law remained on the bench and seemed unlikely votes to dismantle it.
ENVIRONMENT
LONDON (AP) — The U.N.'s special envoy for climate change on Monday laid out a strategy for financing efforts to cut carbon emissions, calling on companies to be more transparent about their efforts and the impact rising temperatures will have on their operations.
HEALTH CARE
Researchers are stopping a study early after finding that a shot of an experimental medicine every two months worked better than daily pills to help keep women from catching HIV from an infected sex partner.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was supposed to be a scene of celebration.
WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday implored Americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, even as he cheered news about the promising development of a vaccine being developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Pfizer said Monday that early results from its coronavirus vaccine suggest the shots may be a surprisingly robust 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, putting the company on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Pfizer's surprising news that its COVID-19 vaccine might offer more protection than anticipated — an announcement right after a fraught U.S. presidential election campaign — is raising questions about exactly how the different shots will make it to market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Trump administration efforts to erect a protective shield around nursing homes, coronavirus cases are surging within facilities in states hard hit by the latest onslaught of COVID-19.
BOSTON (AP) — As he begins his transition to the presidency, Joe Biden is pivoting from a bitter campaign battle to another, more pressing fight: reining in the pandemic that has hit the world's most powerful nation harder than any other.
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday named the members of a team of public health and science experts to develop a blueprint for fighting the coronavirus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are being briefed virtually on the coronavirus pandemic by a task force of experts their transition team announced only hours earlier.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal and Hungary on Monday became the latest European countries to impose curfews against the resurgent tide of coronavirus infections and deaths lashing the continent and filing its emergency wards. But glimmers of hope emerged from France, the Czech Republic and Belgium that tough restrictions might be starting to work.
LONDON (AP) — The British government has banned freight drivers who have traveled through Denmark over the past 14 days and aren't residents of the U.K. from entering England, as it tightened travel restrictions from a country witnessing widespread coronavirus outbreaks at mink farms.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Brimming hopes that people will again return to office buildings, shopping centers and normal life sent markets rallying worldwide on Monday, following encouraging data about a potential coronavirus vaccine.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia's energy minister said Monday that global energy producers have the ability to tweak an agreement on production cuts that could be extended through the end of 2022, signaling the anticipation of continued weakened demand for oil as the coronavirus pandemic peaks again in Europe and the United States
BALTIMORE (AP) — Joe Biden will inherit a mangled U.S. economy — one that never fully healed from the coronavirus and could suffer again as new infections are climbing.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett's conglomerate reported an 82% jump in its third-quarter profit as the value of its investment portfolio soared, but Berkshire Hathaway said the coronavirus pandemic continued to hurt its assorted businesses, such as BNSF railroad.
LONDON (AP) — Negotiators from Britain and the European Union were meeting Monday to seek a breakthrough in gridlocked trade talks, with just days until a deadline to strike a post-Brexit deal.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union pressed ahead Monday with plans to impose tariffs and other penalties on up to $4 billion worth of U.S. goods and services over illegal American support for plane maker Boeing, but expressed hope that trade ties would improve once President Donald Trump leaves office.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. said Monday it bounced back to profitability in the last quarter as its investments improved in value.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite President-elect Joe Biden's victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says President Donald Trump is "100% within his rights" to question election results and consider legal options.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a crystallizing moment at the last presidential debate, Donald Trump and Joe Biden fielded a question about people of color who live alongside chemical plants and oil refineries that seem to be making them sick.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saturday's election verdict isn't the last step in selecting an American president. Under a system that's been tweaked over two centuries, there is still a weekslong timeline during which the 538-member Electoral College picks the president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Control of the Senate likely won't be decided until a January runoff in Georgia, even after Democrat Joe Biden won the White House on Saturday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump campaign's strategy to file a barrage of lawsuits challenging President-elect Joe Biden's win is more about providing President Donald Trump with an off-ramp for a loss he can't quite grasp and less about changing the election's outcome, according to senior officials, campaign aides and allies who spoke to The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump never admits defeat. But he faces a stark choice now that Democrat Joe Biden has won the White House: Concede graciously for the sake of the nation or don't — and get evicted anyway.
BOSTON (AP) — A texting company run by one of President Donald Trump's top campaign officials sent out thousands of targeted, anonymous text messages urging supporters to rally where votes were being counted in Philadelphia on Thursday, falsely claiming Democrats were trying to steal the presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was supposed to be a scene of celebration. Instead, the Trump campaign's election night watch party in the White House East Room has become another symbol of President Donald Trump's cavalier attitude toward a virus that is ripping across the nation and infecting more than 100,000 people a day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals are making their pitch to President-elect Joe Biden.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, an unprecedented move by a president struggling to accept election defeat and angry at a Pentagon leader he believes wasn't loyal enough.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairwoman of House Democrats' campaign committee said Monday she won't seek the post again for the next Congress.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials in Nashville, Tennessee, have renamed most of a street after civil rights icon John Lewis, who help desegregate the city's lunch counters before becoming a long-serving congressman in Georgia.
COURTS
SEATTLE (AP) — A divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday the state's dairy workers are entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week, a decision expected to apply to the rest of the agriculture industry.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota's July-September profit fell 11% from a year earlier as the coronavirus pandemic slammed global demand, but Japan's top automaker appeared to be holding up better than weaker rivals that have sunk into the red.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda reported Friday that its profit rose 23% in the last quarter, despite a pandemic that has slammed businesses around the world.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the biggest drug decisions in decades is looming as U.S. regulators consider whether to approve the first medicine that's claimed to slow mental decline from Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
JOHNSON CITY (AP) — Health officials in northeastern Tennessee say they do not have enough nurses to combat COVID-19 inside its hospital system.
MILAN (AP) — Luxury fashion boutiques, jewelry shops and most of Milan's flagship department were shuttered Friday, as the center of Italy's vibrant financial capital fell into a gray quiet on the first day of a partial lockdown in four regions aimed at stopping the virus's resurgence.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — More than a quarter million Danes went into lockdown Friday in a northern region of the country where a mutated variation of the coronavirus has infected minks being farmed for their fur, leading to an order to kill millions of the animals.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street took a breather Friday after a blistering rally that gave the market its biggest weekly gain since April and indicated investors see plenty of benefits from more gridlock in Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers increased their borrowing in September, helped by the first gain in the category that covers credit cards in seven months.
Marriott saw dramatic improvement in the third quarter as travel demand rebounded in China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market showed a burst of strength in October, with employers adding 638,000 jobs and the unemployment rate tumbling to 6.9%. Still, the pace of hiring isn't enough to rapidly soak up the millions of Americans who were thrown out of work by the pandemic recession.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The American job market is clawing its way back — steadily if slowly — from the devastation inflicted by the coronavirus-caused recession. What no one knows is just how long it might take for workers to be made whole.
PARIS (AP) — Shakespeare and Company, the iconic Paris bookstore that published James Joyce's "Ulysses" in 1922, is appealing to readers for support after pandemic-linked losses and France's spring lockdown have put the future of the iconic Left Bank institution in doubt.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden was on the cusp of winning the presidency on Friday as he opened up narrow leads over President Donald Trump in the critical battlegrounds of Georgia and Pennsylvania.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing the potential for narrow losses in multiple battlegrounds, President Donald Trump might have a tough time persuading the Supreme Court to take up his call to intervene and prevent Joe Biden from becoming president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Key Republican lawmakers, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, on Friday slammed President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that Democrats are trying to "steal" the election. But some GOP leaders struck a more neutral tone — and others urged the White House to fight.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A handful of states remained in play Friday in the tightly contested U.S. presidential race. The outcome of contests in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Nevada will determine whether Democrat Joe Biden or President Donald Trump wins.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump won support from about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters in his race for reelection, but Catholic voters split almost evenly between him and Democratic opponent Joe Biden, according to AP VoteCast.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden is now leading President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was at the same time shocking and utterly to be expected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing "horror stories," President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of fabricated accusations Thursday in an audacious attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. election.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Facebook on Thursday banned a large group called "Stop the Steal" that supporters of President Donald Trump were using to organize protests against the presidential vote count. Some members had called for violence, while many falsely claimed that Democrats are "stealing" the election from Republicans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Their majority shrunk, House Democrats cast blame Thursday on their election message, ground game and leadership under Speaker Nancy Pelosi's team after expectations for big wins came crashing down by a stark reversal in Trump country.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A medical board has found a Tennessee Republican lawmaker violated ethical standards while acting as a physician.
UT SPORTS
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman developed a friendship with Tennessee assistant Jim Chaney well before they landed on SEC coaching staffs.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Mississippi State and winless Vanderbilt have enough games remaining to salvage their seasons.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — State officials say Tennessee has easily broken the 2008 record for voter turnout with more than 3 million ballots cast in this year's November general election.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is offering drive-through COVID-19 testing on Saturday in rural areas in each of the three grand divisions. The testing sites will be open from 9 a.m. to noon local time and will stay open until everyone in line has received a test, according to a news release from Gov. Bill Lee's Unified Command Group.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The venerable New Orleans funk band Galactic purchased the historic music club Tipitina's in late November 2018 and, according to bassist Robert Mercurio, was making a go of it.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's administration is offering $5 million in grants for charter schools across the state.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is posting huge third quarter numbers, pulling in $4 billion in profit over three months, after a short money-losing stretch as the spread of COVID-19 shut down all U.S. auto factories.
MEDIA
ESPN announced Thursday it is laying off about 300 employees and cutting about 500 jobs from its global workforce.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street's post-election wave swept stocks solidly higher again Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 toward its biggest weekly gain since April.
Uber's food delivery business brought in more money during the third quarter than its signature rides business , showing just how much consumer behavior has changed — and how far the company has adapted — since the pandemic struck.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low near zero Thursday and signaled its readiness to do more if needed to support an economy under threat from a worsening coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Below is the statement the Fed released Thursday after its policy meeting ended:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 751,000, a still-historically high level that shows that many employers keep cutting jobs in the face of the accelerating pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity increased between July and September, but at a slower pace than in the previous quarter.
LONDON (AP) — The British government and the Bank of England joined forces Thursday to provide further support to an economy that is set for a difficult winter following the imposition of new coronavirus lockdown measures.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has given the Vatican secretariat of state three months to transfer all of its financial holdings to another Vatican office following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.
HONG KONG (AP) — China's biggest e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday reported a 30% jump in quarterly revenue, as China recovers from the virus and online shopping demand remains high.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Election officials in key battlegrounds pressed forward Thursday with presidential vote counting as Democrat Joe Biden urged patience and President Donald Trump pursued legal options, insisting the processing of ballots should be stopped.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the U.S. Postal Service to perform twice daily sweeps of processing centers in states with extended ballot receipt deadlines to check for mail-in votes and to expedite them for delivery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judges in Georgia and Michigan quickly dismissed Trump campaign lawsuits Thursday, undercutting a campaign legal strategy to attack the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean President Donald Trump's defeat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A handful of pivotal states remained in play Thursday in the tightly contested U.S. presidential race. Here, The Associated Press reviews them and examines the reasons why they could still go to either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden:
Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him Wednesday in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete tally of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Control of the Senate hung in the balance Thursday, a cliffhanger after Republicans trounced Democratic challengers in crucial states but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their tenuous majority.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Perhaps only in Florida is a loss by fewer than 4 percentage points considered a public drubbing.