VOL. 48 | NO. 7 | Friday, February 16, 2024
REAL ESTATE
Top Davidson County commercial real estate sales for January 2024, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week to its highest level in 10 weeks, a setback for prospective homebuyers ahead of the spring homebuying season.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Cody Glass remembers it vividly. A long, very long even, perhaps awkward glance across the arena until the eye contact was returned and he felt he should look away. Looking back, for sure it was awkward. Really awkward.
Secondary scoring has been almost nonexistent for the Predators this season. The team’s top line of Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist have been together all season and have driven play and been responsible for most of the team’s offense.
After three consecutive home games following the combination All-Star break and bye week, the Predators are going on the road for some enormous contests that will impact their positioning in the battle for a wild card postseason berth. Should they falter, it could turn general manager Barry Trotz into a seller as the March 8 trade deadline approaches.
NEWSMAKERS
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Christopher C. Puri has been appointed to a two-year term as chair of the American Health Care Association’s Legal Committee, which began in January 2024. He also was named a member of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee.
BRIEFS
Workplace safety will be a top priority as construction of the new Nissan Stadium begins on the East Bank of the Cumberland River. During the three-year project, it is estimated various contractors and subcontractors will employ 19,000 workers.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Most car shoppers focus their time and energy on getting the best sale price during a vehicle purchase. This is understandable considering the purchase price is the biggest number in the transaction. But many of these shoppers fail to consider another key factor that can help save money: getting the best value for their trade-in vehicle.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Upper management came out with new policy last week that’s untenable. They can’t expect people to put up with these new rules, and they can expect a mass exodus in coming weeks. But you worked from home four years ago and liked it. Your skills are sharp. You could be your own boss.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Discussing credit scores with your partner isn’t anyone’s idea of pillow talk. But the conversation can provide important clues about your beloved’s history with money and what your financial future together could look like.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Financial resilience provides a safety net that you might rarely use – but when you need it, you’ll be glad you have it.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tommy Novak scored his fourth goal in five games and the Nashville Predators defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 on Tuesday night.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee has hired three new coaches with first-time head coach Brian Callahan bringing former Cincinnati colleague Colt Anderson with him as the Titans' new special teams coordinator.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee free-market nonprofit group on Wednesday joined the ranks of organizations challenging a new Biden administration labor rule that changes the criteria for classifying workers as independent contractors or employees.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed skeptical Wednesday as a government lawyer argued that the Environmental Protection Agency should be allowed to continue enforcing its anti-air-pollution "good neighbor" rule in 11 states while separate legal challenges continue around the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden 's lawyers suggested Tuesday that claims made by a former FBI informant charged with fabricating a bribery scheme involving the presidential family may have tainted the case against the president's son.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's legendary ability to raise massive sums of political cash may be on a collision course with a new and unpleasant reality.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With election season already underway, some state election officials are expressing frustration that Congress has yet to allocate federal money they have come to rely on to help cover the costs of securing their systems from attacks, updating equipment and training staff.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump doubled down Tuesday on comparing his criminal indictments to the circumstances of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the top political opponent of Russia's autocratic leader Vladimir Putin who died in a remote arctic prison after being jailed by the Kremlin leader.
MEDIA
Streaming service FuboTV has filed an antitrust lawsuit against ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu, which are planning to launch a sports-streaming venture in the fall.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden on Wednesday was announcing $100 million in federal funding for research and development into women's health as part of a new White House initiative that she is heading up.
TRANSPORTATION
SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing says the head of its 737 jetliner program is leaving the company immediately, paving the way for the aircraft maker to appoint new leadership at the troubled division.
PERSONAL FINANCE
WASHINGTON (AP) — First, there were trackers on Taylor Swift and other celebrities' private jet usage. Now, there will be more scrutiny on executives' personal use of business aircraft who write it off as a tax expense.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials acknowledged at their most recent meeting in January that there had been "significant progress" in reducing U.S. inflation. But some of the policymakers expressed concern that strong growth in spending and hiring could disrupt that progress.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The German government said Europe's largest economy was in "troubled waters" and slashed its growth forecast for this year as it struggles with a lack of skilled labor, excessive bureaucracy, high interest rates and lagging investment in new projects — while a relatively modest set of tax breaks for business remains blocked in the legislature.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to keep up with customer demand, Batesville Tool & Die began seeking 70 people to hire last year. It wasn't easy. Attracting factory workers to a community of 7,300 in the Indiana countryside was a tough sell, especially having to compete with big-name manufacturers nearby like Honda and Cummins Engine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks mostly fell on Wall Street Wednesday after a listless day of trading with big technology stocks again acting as a heavy weight on the market.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com Inc. is being added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, joining Apple, Walt Disney, Walmart and other companies that make up the 30-stock average.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's exports surged a stronger than expected nearly 12% in January, helped by robust demand for vehicles, auto parts and machinery.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden "never had any involvement" in the business dealings of other members of his family, his brother James Biden testified Wednesday as he appeared for a voluntary private interview on Capitol Hill as part of House Republicans' impeachment inquiry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order and created a federal rule aimed at better securing the nation's ports from potential cyberattacks.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected appeals from three Republican U.S. House members who challenged fines for not wearing face coverings on the House floor in 2021.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from Sidney Powell and other lawyers allied with former President Donald Trump over $150,000 in sanctions they were ordered to pay for abusing the court system with a sham lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in Michigan.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place the admissions policy at an elite public high school in Virginia that some parents claimed discriminates against highly qualified Asian Americans.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden heads to California on Tuesday looking to soak up more cash for his reelection bid during a three-day swing through the state.
ENERGY
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A state-owned site on the coast of Maine will serve as the location of an offshore wind port critical to developing the nation's first floating offshore wind power research array, the state's governor said Tuesday.
TRAVEL
DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines is raising the cost of checking bags and it is making other changes to push customers to buy tickets directly from the airline if they want to earn frequent-flyer points.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Tuesday that states will share $5.8 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure projects around the country, paid for by one of its key legislative victories.
ECONOMY
BANGKOK (AP) — China's central bank announced Tuesday that it cut its 5-year loan prime rate while leaving its 1-year rate unchanged in the latest move to ease pressures on the ailing property market.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks led Wall Street broadly lower as chipmaker Nvidia pulled back ahead of its earnings report this week.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — America's commercial casinos won $66.5 billion from gamblers in 2023, the industry's best year ever, according to figures released by its national trade association Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — About 40% of small business owners think 2024 will be a "make or break" year for their business, according to a survey by messaging service Slack.
Arkhouse Management is nominating nine people for Macy's board of directors, igniting a proxy battle after the department store operator rejected a $5.8 billion takeover offer from the investment firm and Brigade Capital Management.
Home Depot's sales continued to fade during the fourth quarter as the country's largest home improvement retailer feels the impact of high mortgage rates and inflation on its customers.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart reported another quarter of stellar results, ending the year on a high note as its low prices attract shoppers looking for deals in an economically challenging environment beset by a recent bout of inflation.
NEW YORK (AP) — Capital One Financial said it will buy Discover Financial Services for $35 billion, in a deal that would bring together two of the nation's credit card companies as well as potentially shake up the payments industry, which is largely dominated by Visa and Mastercard.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Tuesday it is preparing additional "major sanctions" on Russia in response to opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death last week in an Arctic penal colony.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — On the witness stand last year, Donald Trump proclaimed: "I have a lot of cash."
ELECTION 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 72 hours after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny 's death in an Arctic penal colony, former President Donald Trump mentioned him by name for the first time in a post on his social media site that focused not on Navalny, but his own legal woes.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers are raising alarms about what they see as America's failure to compete with China in biotechnology, warning of the risks to U.S. national security and commercial interests. But as the two countries' rivalry expands into the biotech industry, some say that shutting out Chinese companies would only hurt the U.S.
EDUCATION
NEW YORK (AP) — For many students, the excitement of being accepted into their first-choice college is being tempered this year by a troublesome uncertainty over whether they'll get the financial aid they need to attend.
BANKING
BEIJING (AP) — The former chairman of the Bank of China has been indicted on bribery charges, prosecutors said Monday, adding to a long list of business and government officials who have been brought down by Chinese leader Xi Jinping's yearslong anticorruption drive.
MEDIA
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Retired Army Col. Farrell Patrick taught computer science at West Point during the 1970s and then at two private universities through the 1990s, so he isn't surprised by the progress technology has made over the decades.
LONDON (AP) — The European Union said Monday it is investigating whether TikTok has broken the bloc's strict new digital rules for cleaning up social media and keeping internet users safe.
If you are battling a video game goblin who speaks with a Cockney accent, or asking a gruff Scottish blacksmith to forge a virtual sword, you might be hearing the voice of actor Andy Magee.
ENVIRONMENT
CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) — Two years after California launched an effort to keep organic waste out of landfills, the state is so far behind on getting food recycling programs up and running that it's widely accepted next year's ambitious waste-reduction targets won't be met.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Monday that the government intends to provide $1.5 billion to the computer chip company GlobalFoundries to expand its domestic production in New York and Vermont.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Dallas Stars got probably their best start to a game all season, and Matt Duchene got a bit of revenge against the team that bought him out last summer with a big performance.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge ordered Donald Trump and his companies on Friday to pay $355 million in penalties, finding they engaged in a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — From allegations of plotting to overturn a lost election to illegally stowing classified documents at his Florida estate, former President Donald Trump faces four criminal indictments in four different cities as he vies to reclaim the White House.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump 's unprecedented tangle of overlapping trials was on full display Thursday with simultaneous court hearings in New York and Georgia.
ATLANTA (AP) — Allegations of misconduct have taken center stage in Donald Trump's 2020 Georgia election case, thrusting top prosecutors' private lives into the spotlight and forcing them to answer deeply personal questions in court as they try to defend against efforts to derail the high-stakes case.
ELECTION 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — A major anti-abortion group is praising a published report that Donald Trump has privately told people he supports a national ban on abortion after 16 weeks of pregnancy, though his campaign denied the report and said the former president plans to "negotiate a deal" on abortion if elected to the White House again.
NEW YORK (AP) — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced on Friday that he is not running for president, saying he didn't want to be a "spoiler."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has plans to radically reshape the federal government if he returns to the White House, from promising to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally to abolishing government agencies and firing tens of thousands of workers and replacing them with loyalists.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union is threatening to go on strike next week at Ford Motor Co.'s largest and most profitable factory in a dispute over local contract language.
HEALTH CARE
A medication used to treat asthma can now be used to help people with food allergies avoid severe reactions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — The European Union is expanding its strict digital rulebook on Saturday to almost all online platforms in the bloc, in the next phase of its crackdown on toxic social media content and dodgy ecommerce products that began last year by targeting the most popular services.
President Joe Biden's campaign is embracing TikTok to court younger voters ahead of the presidential elections, but U.S. adults have mixed views about whether the video-sharing app should even operate in the country.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — What would it mean if Russia used nuclear warheads to destroy U.S. satellites? Your home's electrical and water systems could fail. Aviation, rail and car traffic could come to a halt. Your cellphone could stop working.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of consumer sentiment ticked higher this month, after soaring in December and January, underscoring that Americans are starting to feel better about the economy after several years of gloom.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States picked up in January, the latest sign that some inflation pressures in the economy remain elevated.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Amazon is arguing in a legal filing that the 88-year-old National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, echoing similar arguments made this year by Elon Musk's SpaceX and the grocery store chain Trader Joe's in disputes about workers' rights and organizing.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks slipped Friday to send Wall Street to a rare losing week, just its second in the last 16.
GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Trade Organization insisted Friday that it remains relevant and its leaders focus on reform "no matter who comes into power" as Donald Trump — who as U.S. president bypassed WTO rules by slapping tariffs on America's friends and foes alike — makes another run at the White House.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nike is cutting 2% of its global workforce, or little over 1,600 jobs, as the athletic wear giant aims to cut costs and reinvest its savings into what it sees as big growth areas like sport, health and wellness.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday that the apparent death of Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny brings new urgency to the need for Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine to stave off Moscow's invasion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday there was no sign Russia has decided to go ahead and deploy an emerging anti-satellite weapon, the disclosure of which has rattled Washington this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a single week, the Republican chairs of three House committees announced they would not be seeking reelection, raising questions about whether the chaos that has reigned this Congress is driving out some of the GOP's top talent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An FBI informant has been charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company, a claim that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.
Alexei Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe, died Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Russia's prison agency said. He was 47.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For over a year, President Joe Biden waited for what the White House said was the right moment to visit East Palestine, Ohio, facing criticism that he was ignoring the victims of an explosive fire caused by a train derailment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservationists at the National Archives are still working to clean up the building's rotunda area after a pair of apparent environmental protesters on Wednesday dumped reddish powder on the display case housing the original U.S. Constitution.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans' new coaching staff is a mix of old and new, family, friends and even former high school teammates.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills hired former Tennessee Titans assistant Scott Booker to the role of nickelbacks coach and senior defensive assistant on Wednesday.
UT SPORTS
NEW YORK (AP) — UConn, Iowa, Louisville and Tennessee will take part in the inaugural Women's Champions Classic on Dec. 7.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green on Wednesday announced that he won't run for a fourth term, pointing to the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas just the day before as among the reasons it is "time for me to return home."
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday sued the state of Tennessee over its decades-old felony aggravated prostitution law, arguing that it illegally imposes tougher criminal penalties on people who are HIV positive.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's hush-money trial will go ahead as scheduled with jury selection starting on March 25, a New York judge ruled Thursday, turning aside demands for delay from the former president's defense lawyers who argued it would interfere with his campaign to retake the White House.
ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took the witness stand Thursday and forcefully pushed back against what she described as "lies" about her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor during an extraordinary hearing that threatens to upend one of four criminal cases against the former president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to let former President Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case proceed to trial without further delay.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of threats targeting federal judges has more than doubled over the last three years amid a surge in violent and harassing messages directed at public officials around the U.S., the head of the U.S. Marshals said in congressional testimony Wednesday.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate's border proposal was one of the toughest bipartisan bills to emerge on the issue in decades. Yet it quickly collapsed when Republicans — galvanized by Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee — rejected the compromise as insufficient.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump again said Wednesday that if he returns to the White House, he would not defend NATO members that don't meet defense spending targets, days after he set off alarms in Europe by suggesting he would tell Russia to attack NATO allies he considered delinquent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi's winning back his Long Island House seat could provide a blueprint for Democrat Joe Biden 's reelection campaign heading into November, demonstrating his party's strength in competitive suburban territory that also happened to be where Donald Trump grew up.
MEDIA
Stuck in a dating app loop with no date in sight? A lawsuit filed Wednesday against Match Group claims that is by design.
TRANSPORTATION
PARIS (AP) — Airbus plans to deliver more aircraft to customers in 2024 even as supply chain headaches continue to afflict the European airplane maker.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday it is providing $970 million for improvements at 114 airports around the country, with work ranging from wider concourses and new baggage-handling systems to new terminals at some small airfields.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Last fall's contentious United Auto Workers' strike changed Ford's relationship with the union to the point where it will "think carefully" about where it builds future vehicles, Ford's top executive said Thursday.
MILAN (AP) — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has his attention fixed on Chinese competitors as the automaker amps up the launch of its electric vehicle strategy.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House publicly confirmed on Thursday that Russia has obtained a "troubling" emerging anti-satellite weapon but said it cannot directly cause "physical destruction" on Earth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has gathered highly sensitive intelligence about Russian anti-satellite weapons that has been shared in recent weeks with the upper echelons of government, according to four people who have been briefed on the intelligence. The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly, said the capability was not yet operational.
BANKING
NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden Administration eased some of the restrictions on banking giant Wells Fargo, saying the bank has sufficiently fixed its toxic culture after years of scandals.
ECONOMY
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's economy is now the world's fourth-largest after it contracted in the last quarter of 2023 and fell behind Germany.
NEW YORK (AP) — As some of the world's biggest economies stumble into recession, the United States keeps chugging along.
Fewer Americans filed for jobless claims last week as the labor market continues to show resilience in the face of elevated interest rates intended to cool economic growth in the U.S.
NEW YORK (AP) — How much spending power do U.S. shoppers have left?
LONDON (AP) — The British economy fell into recession at the end of 2023 for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as output shrank more than anticipated in the final three months of the year, official figures showed Thursday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks set another record Thursday following some mixed reports on the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Auto workers held waves of walkouts. Hollywood actors and writers picketed for months. And healthcare, education and hospitality employees also withheld their labor while calling for improved pay and job conditions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is stepping up efforts to stop dirty money from flowing through the U.S. financial system with a slew of new rules aimed at increasing corporate transparency and regulating occupations that are exploited for money laundering.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans pulled back their spending more than expected in January after the traditional holiday season splurge.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — With this year's Super Bowl being played in Las Vegas, the nation's gambling capital, there was little doubt that betting on the big game would be huge.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Internet networking pioneer Cisco Systems is jettisoning more than 4,000 employees, joining the parade of technology companies in a trend that has helped boost their profits and stock prices while providing a sobering reminder of the job insecurity hanging over an industry increasingly embracing artificial intelligence.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to keep a spotlight on President Joe Biden's age, House Republicans will hold a public hearing next month with the Justice Department special counsel who found evidence that the president had mishandled classified information when he was out of office but who also concluded that criminal charges were not warranted.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans who are struggling to repay federal student loans because of financial hardship could get some of their debt canceled under President Joe Biden's latest proposal for widespread loan forgiveness.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden avoided criminal charges around his handling of classified documents in part because of his answers during a lengthy interview with the special counsel investigating him. But the sit-down also opened Biden up to fresh scrutiny over his age and memory, and now the public release of a transcript of that discussion is being sought by both Biden allies and critics seeking political advantage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A longshot bid to temporarily double a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions for most married couples went down to defeat Wednesday in the House.