VOL. 46 | NO. 8 | Friday, February 25, 2022
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Nashville-area bidding wars insane
As the entire city is beset with flu, various strains of COVID and a nasty rhinovirus, home sales continue to flourish. Sellers are receiving offers for hundreds of thousands of dollars over the list price in all areas of town.
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, January 2022, for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell slightly this week, after rising to their highest level in three years last week.
NEWSMAKERS
Litigator Carrie Douglas has joined Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP.
BRIEFS
Another international nonstop route will soon be added to Nashville International Airport’s portfolio with Air Canada beginning service to Montreal in June. The service will begin twice weekly June 2 and grow to three times weekly June 25.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The small luxury SUV market is seemingly packed with as many automotive all-stars as there are athletes in the Winter Olympics. Yet among the field there’s been one model that’s consistently won more Edmunds gold than any other: the Mercedes-Benz GLC.
PERSONAL FINANCE
The online landscape is littered with horrible personal finance advice: teenagers promoting day trading strategies, “influencers” flogging questionable investment schemes and people with dubious credentials insisting you shouldn’t invest in a 401(k).
CAREER CORNER
Warren Buffett famously said, “Look for the job that you would take if you didn’t need a job.” This is an incredibly true statement that should serve as a lesson for all.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Some couples mutually decide they want to have a one-income household. But for others, the decision is made for them.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Amid a national spike in book challenges and bans, school librarians across Tennessee are quickly becoming the target of scorn and skepticism from Republican lawmakers and parents pushing for more oversight on what materials are provided to children.
RELIGION
Ed Litton, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, announced Tuesday he will break with tradition and not seek a second term in the top convention role.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas militia member who is the first person to be tried for the assault on the U.S. Capitol "lit the match that started the fire" when a mob charged at police officers guarding the building, a prosecutor said Wednesday during the trial's opening statements.
PHOENIX (AP) — The family of a little girl who was killed when her mother's car was rear-ended by a Jeep on a Phoenix freeway can sue the SUV's manufacturer for wrongful death because it did not install automatic emergency braking devices that were available as optional equipment, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will begin March 21, keeping the Senate on track for a possible final vote next month.
ENVIRONMENT
OAK RIDGE (AP) — The Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced on Tuesday they have signed a new memorandum of understanding to work together on decarbonization technologies.
LA HERRADURA, Spain (AP) — "Herders and farmers have their feet on the ground, but their eyes on the sky." The old saying is still popular in Spain's rural communities who, faced with recurrent droughts, have historically paraded sculptures of saints to pray for rain.
TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has a fresh warning to states seeking billions of dollars from President Joe Biden's infrastructure law to widen roads: Protect the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists or risk losing funds.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's time for America to stop letting the coronavirus "dictate how we live," President Joe Biden's White House declared Wednesday, outlining a strategy to allow people to return to many normal activities safely after two years of pandemic disruptions.
Pfizer's new COVID-19 treatment came with a catch when it debuted late last year: Supplies were limited, and it can take months to make the tablets.
GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases reported globally dropped by 16% last week, marking a month-long decline in COVID-19 infections, according to figures from the World Health Organization.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street took another sharp swing Wednesday, this time back to rally mode, as stocks and Treasury yields rose even as oil prices continued to climb.
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Bitcoin prices have surged as investors again appear to view the volatile cryptocurrency as a safe haven for their money and Russians and Ukrainians seek alternatives to their country's financial institutions.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is confirming it's closing all of its bookstores as well as its 4-star shops and pop up locations as the online behemoth reworks its physical footprint.
SEATTLE (AP) — A trade group that represents some of the biggest U.S. food companies has agreed to pay $9 million for violations of Washington campaign finance laws, after the state Supreme Court upheld a penalty twice that much.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he supports a traditional quarter-point increase in the Federal Reserve's benchmark short-term interest rate when the Fed meets later this month, rather than a larger increase that some of its policymakers have proposed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Moscow's war on Ukraine and the ferocious financial backlash it's unleashed are not only inflicting an economic catastrophe on President Vladimir Putin's Russia.
NEW YORK (AP) — The leaders of OPEC and its oil-producing allies are sticking with their plan to gradually increase oil production while Russia's invasion of Ukraine rattles markets, reshapes alliances, kills civilians and sends the price of crude skyrocketing.
BEIJING (AP) — Oil prices surged another $7 per barrel on Wednesday after an agreement by the United States and other major governments to release supplies from strategic stockpiles failed to calm anxiety over Russia's attack on Ukraine.
BEIJING (AP) — China won't join the United States and European governments in imposing financial sanctions on Russia, the country's bank regulator said Wednesday.
LONDON (AP) — Surging energy costs have driven inflation in Europe to another record high, raising questions about when the central bank should step in to ease the pain to people's wallets while Russia's invasion of Ukraine rattles the global economy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russian troops move deeper into Ukraine, President Joe Biden is taking steps to rein in rising energy costs even if those moves run counter to his agenda for addressing climate change.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Republican elected officials across the U.S. are criticizing President Joe Biden over his energy policies and urging his administration to do more to ramp up domestic production as a way to help wean the nation and its allies off oil from Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden vowed in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Midway through his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Joe Biden pleaded with the country to finally, after nearly 1 million deaths, stop viewing the coronavirus as a political fault line.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden related a faulty Democratic talking point about guns in his first State of the Union speech, made his plan on electric vehicles sound more advanced than it is and inflated the sweep of his infrastructure package. On several fronts, he presented ambitions as achievements.
UKRAINE
There have been social media messages calling for peace, an image of a murdered Russian opposition figure, a newspaper editorial demanding President Vladimir Putin "stop this war."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and U.S. allies in a matter of days weaponized the global economy against Russia for invading Ukraine, and the resulting destruction has been devastatingly fast.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly has voted to demand that Russia stop its offensive in Ukraine and withdraw all troops, with nations from world powers to tiny island states condemning Moscow.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia renewed its aerial assault Wednesday on Ukraine's second-largest city in a pounding that lit up the skyline with balls of fire over populated areas, even as both sides said they were ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the fighting.
Russia resumed its assault on Ukrainian citie s on Wednesday, including the second largest, Kharkiv, where a strike hit the regional police and intelligence headquarters, wounding three people, according to the Ukrainian state emergency service.
Associated Press journalists around Ukraine and beyond are documenting military activity during Russia's invasion. With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening can be difficult. Here's a look at what could be confirmed Wednesday as Russia's military assault on Ukraine was in its seventh day.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee's office on Monday said Tennessee does not have state investments with Russian companies after previously asking treasurer officials to investigate.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Just weeks after finalizing Tennessee's new congressional boundaries, GOP lawmakers are now eyeing a possible residency requirement for Republican and Democratic U.S. House hopefuls eager to secure their political party's nomination later this year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that "it's time for Americans to get back to work" as he announced new efforts to allow people to return to normal activities safely after two years of pandemic disruptions.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a case stemming from the opioid addiction crisis, the Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared ready to side with two imprisoned doctors who wrote thousands of prescriptions for pain medication in short periods.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson has taken the first step toward confirmation in the Senate, answering written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee as she prepares to meet with senators this week.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A federal judge dismissed lawsuits filed by victims of a 2016 wildfire that swept through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, saying they failed to specifically claim that the park service failed to alert people about the impending danger.
DETROIT (AP) — Labor unions and worker advocates have applauded President Joe Biden's nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court. Yet a look back at Jackson's decisions in cases involving business and labor suggest that she won't always rule as they want or expect her to.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A Houston-based oil company on Monday sued two container ship operators and an organization that helps oversee marine traffic, saying they failed to prevent last fall's underwater pipeline leak off the Southern California coast.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News is making an ambitious push into the podcast market, with audio series on conspiracy theories, the British royalty and legacy of Title IX in scholastic athletics planned in the next few months.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A large cargo vessel carrying cars from Germany to the United States sank Tuesday in the mid-Atlantic, 13 days after a fire broke out on board, the ship's manager and the Portuguese navy said.
TOKYO (AP) — A Tokyo court will hand down a verdict Thursday in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, an American and former executive at Japanese automaker Nissan. Kelly was charged with financial wrongdoing in under-reporting the compensation of Carlos Ghosn, his former boss and Nissan ex-chairman.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota plans to resume production at all of its 14 plants as of Wednesday, after they were idled for a day due to a cyberattack on a domestic supplier.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors said Monday that Kyle Vogt will take over as CEO of its Cruise autonomous vehicle subsidiary, a company he helped found in 2013.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is extending the federal government's 100% reimbursement of COVID-19 emergency response costs to states, tribes and territories through July 1, the White House announced Tuesday.
Omicron is fading away, and so are Americans' worries about COVID-19.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices soared and investors shifted more money out of stocks and into ultra-safe U.S. government bonds as Russia stepped up its war on Ukraine.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The International Energy Agency's 31 member countries agreed Tuesday to release 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves — half of that from the United States — "to send a strong message to oil markets" that supplies won't fall short after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target will invest up to $5 billion this year in physical stores, remodels, new brands and expanding its online fulfilment as the discounter continues to drive sales growth and differentiate itself from rivals.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology giant Toshiba has named a new chief executive as it seeks shareholder approval for a restructuring plan aimed at restoring its reputation and competitiveness.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — Until a year ago, Stephana Ferrell's political activism was limited to the occasional letter to elected officials.
WASHINGTON (AP) — They have argued viciously in Congress over just about everything: Whether the Capitol insurrection should be investigated or brushed aside. If the president's choice for the Supreme Court should be the first Black woman. Even over whether or not to wear masks under the dome.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing disquiet at home and danger abroad, President Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address at a steeply challenging moment for the nation, aiming to navigate out of the pandemic, reboot his stalled domestic agenda and confront Russian aggression.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden sat through many State of the Union speeches as a senator and vice president. On Tuesday night, he'll deliver the address himself.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday denied executive privilege claims made by former Trump administration officials Peter Navarro and Michael Flynn in connection to the congressional probe into the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
UKRAINE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces escalated their attacks on crowded urban areas Tuesday, bombarding the central square in Ukraine's second-biggest city and Kyiv's main TV tower in what the country's president called a blatant campaign of terror.
LASK AIR BASE, Poland (AP) — NATO's chief said Tuesday that, despite Russia's threats about nuclear weapons, the alliance sees no need to change its own nuclear weapons alert level.
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian radio station critical of the Kremlin was taken off the airwaves on Tuesday, its chief editor said and the Associated Press confirmed, after authorities threatened to shut it down over the coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
ROME (AP) — The cultural backlash against Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensified Tuesday as the Cannes Film Festival said no Russian delegations would be welcome this year and the Venice festival announced free screenings of a film about the 2014 conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For two decades, Vladimir Putin has struck rivals as reckless, impulsive. But his behavior in ordering an invasion of Ukraine — and now putting Russia's nuclear forces on high alert — has some in the West questioning whether the Russian president has become dangerously unstable.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia's war in Ukraine plays out for the world on social media, big tech platforms are moving to restrict Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation.
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — In the dust and debris — and the dead — in Kharkiv's central Freedom Square, Ukrainians on Tuesday saw what might become of other cities if Russia's invasion isn't countered in time.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The harsh sanctions imposed on Russia and the resulting crash of the ruble have the Kremlin scrambling to keep the country's economy running. For Vladimir Putin, that means finding workarounds to the Western economic blockade even as his forces continue to invade Ukraine.
It's a globalized world — a planet stitched together by intricate supply chains, banking, sports and countless other threads of deep connection. Until it isn't.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28
NASHVILLE SC
SEATTLE (AP) — Nashville SC was already looking to be a rising young club during its first couple of seasons in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will launch a major overhaul of nursing homes standards in his State of the Union speech, White House officials said Monday, outlining a series of measures long sought by advocates and opposed by the industry.
If there is no doctor in the house, Amazon's Alexa will soon be able to summon one.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota is suspending production at all 28 lines of its 14 plants in Japan starting Tuesday, because of a "system malfunction" that a domestic supplier suspects is a cyberattack.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department launched one of the largest and most complex criminal investigations in its history after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol over a year ago. Now it's time for a jury to hear some of the government's evidence about the unparalleled attack on American democracy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court wrestled Monday with the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's power plants, a case that could hamstring the Biden administration's plans to combat climate change.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to review a case involving a federal law that gives Native Americans preference in adoptions of Native children.
BANKING
Toronto-Dominion Bank is buying regional bank First Horizon in a $13.4 billion all-cash deal, its biggest ever, hoping to broaden its footprint in the southeastern U.S.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Licht, most recently Stephen Colbert's top producer at CBS, was appointed Monday as the new head of CNN, where he's expected to take over in May.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Markets quivered Monday amid worries about how high oil prices will go and how badly the global economy will get hit after the U.S. and allies upped the financial pressure on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
LONDON (AP) — Global oil and gas giant Shell said Monday that it is pulling out of Russia as President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues to cost the country's all-important energy industry foreign investment and expertise.
NEW YORK (AP) — Workers at Target stores and distribution centers in places like New York, where competition for finding and hiring staff is the fiercest, could see starting wages as high as $24 an hour this year.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline spiked 10 cents over the past two weeks to $3.64 per gallon (3.8 liters).
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In good times or bad, American presidents come to Congress with a diagnosis that hardly differs over the decades. In their State of the Union speeches, they declare "the state of our union is strong" or words very much like it.
UKRAINE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The first talks aimed at stopping the fighting between Ukraine and Russia ended Monday with no agreement except to keep talking, while an increasingly isolated Moscow ran into unexpectedly fierce resistance on the ground and economic havoc at home.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian and Ukrainian officials met for talks Monday amid high hopes but low expectations for any diplomatic breakthrough, after Moscow ran into unexpectedly stiff resistance when it unleashed the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Within days, Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved what remained out of the grasp of the European Union for many decades — to jointly buy and send weapons to a war zone — and restored something that was broken for years — trans-Atlantic unity.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press journalists around Ukraine and beyond are documenting military activity during Russia's invasion. With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult. Here's a look at what could be confirmed Monday as Russia's military assault on Ukraine enters its fifth day.
MOSCOW (AP) — Websites of several Russian media outlets were hacked on Monday, with a message condemning Moscow's invasion of Ukraine appearing on their main pages, while others were blocked by the Russian authorities over their coverage of the war.
Some U.S. governors are taking matters into their own hands and imposing their own economic sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Faced with a rush of people withdrawing money, Sberbank and the Russian bank's subsidiaries in southeastern and central Europe are facing closures or takeovers following international sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has closed the U.S. Embassy in Belarus and is allowing non-essential staff at the U.S. Embassy in Russia to leave the country due to the war in Ukraine.
There is a glaring carve-out in President Joe Biden's sanctions against Russia: Oil and natural gas from that country will continue to flow freely to the rest of the world and money will keep flowing into Russia.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Faced with a rush of people withdrawing money, Sberbank and the Russian bank's subsidiaries in southeastern and central Europe are facing closures or takeovers following international sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
MOSCOW (AP) — Ordinary Russians faced the prospect of higher prices and crimped foreign travel as Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine sent the ruble plummeting, leading uneasy depositors to line up at banks and ATMs on Monday in a country that has seen more than one currency disaster in the post-Soviet era.
BEREGSURANY, Hungary (AP) — The mass exodus of refugees from Ukraine to the eastern edge of the European Union showed no signs of stopping Monday as they flee Russia's burgeoning war, with the U.N. estimating that more than 500,000 people have already escaped.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mikael Granlund and goalie Juuse Saros made sure Nashville's night to remember ended as well as the evening started.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's lead investigative agency is looking into a state prison inmate death that authorities are calling a homicide.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Donor Services announced this week that it registered 107,000 new organ and tissue donors in Tennessee last year, surpassing its goal of adding 100,000 donors.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed American segregation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The judge President Joe Biden has chosen to fulfill his historic pledge to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court would also bring rare experience of defending poor people charged with crimes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden will nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, launching what Democrats hope will be a quick, bipartisan confirmation process. If confirmed, she would be the first Black woman on the court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will be nominated for the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on Friday, worked for seven years as a judge on the federal trial court in Washington, D.C., before Biden appointed her to the appeals court that meets in the same courthouse.
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors finalized nationwide settlements over their role in the opioid addiction crisis Friday, an announcement that clears the way for $26 billion to flow to nearly every state and local government in the U.S.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against COVID-19 transmission on Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, meaning most Americans will no longer be advised to wear masks in indoor public settings.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong on Friday reported another sharp jump in new COVID-19 cases to more than 10,000 in the latest 24-hour period as it battles its worst outbreak of the pandemic.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Relief flowed through Wall Street on Friday, even as deadly attacks continued to rage in Ukraine.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Even as gunfire sounded in Ukraine's capital, natural gas kept flowing normally Friday through the major pipelines from Russia to Europe. But the invasion and accompanying sanctions are casting a shadow over longstanding energy ties, both for the coming weeks and longer term.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.1% in January compared with a year ago, the latest evidence that Americans are enduring sharp price increases that will likely worsen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Thursday he is willing to support a half-point interest rate hike at the central bank's next meeting in March if upcoming data suggests inflation is worsening.
BRUSSELS (AP) — After the political outrage against Russia comes the economic reckoning.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is expected to ask Congress for a spending package that could significantly exceed $10 billion for the U.S. response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a leading Democratic senator said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia's expanding invasion of Ukraine has opened a new and perilous chapter in Joe Biden's presidency, testing his aspirations to defend democracy on a global level and thrusting him into a long-term struggle to restore European security.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional oversight committee sought additional documents Friday from the National Archives related to former President Donald Trump's handling of White House records as the panel looks to expand its investigation into his handling of sensitive and even classified information.
UKRAINE
BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts agreed Friday to reassure member countries on the alliance's eastern flank by sending parts of the organization's response force to help protect them following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
BRUSSELS (AP) — With a military intervention in Ukraine off the table, and countries around the world looking to heap more financial punishment on Moscow, the United States, Britain and European Union said Friday they will move to sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Invading Russian forces closed in on Ukraine's capital Friday, in an apparent encircling movement after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin says Russia is ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukrainian officials.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — It has been a long time since the threat of using nuclear weapons has been brandished so openly by a world leader, but Vladimir Putin has just done it, warning in a speech that he has the weapons available if anyone dares to use military means to try to stop Russia's takeover of Ukraine.
BRUSSELS (AP) — With a military intervention in Ukraine off the table for now, countries around the world looked to heap more financial punishment on Moscow, including the European Union's approval of an asset freeze on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden hit back Thursday against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, unleashing robust new sanctions, ordering the deployment of thousands of additional troops to NATO ally Germany and declaring that America would stand up to Russia's Vladimir Putin.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and European officials are holding one key financial sanction against Russia in reserve, choosing not to boot Russia off SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops bore down on Ukraine's capital Friday, with explosions and gunfire sounding in the city as the invasion of a democratic country fueled fears of wider war in Europe and triggered new international efforts — including direct sanctions on President Vladimir Putin — to make Moscow stop.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Yurii Zhyhanov woke to his mother's screaming and found himself covered in dust. On the second day of Russia's invasion, shelling on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, struck their residential building before dawn.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press journalists around Ukraine and beyond are documenting military activity during Russia's invasion. With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult. Here's a look at what could be confirmed Friday.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Pekka Rinne, who led the Nashville Predators to their lone Stanley Cup Final in 2017, is adding another first to his long list of accomplishments.
AUTO RACING
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — At least six drivers with IndyCar roots will compete in the second season of Tony Stewart's all-star racing league, including a surprising one-off appearance by a current Team Penske driver.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn unveiled a sweeping new rewrite of how the state funds its multibillion-dollar K-12 education system Thursday, saying it provides for more money per student and valuable services.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A lawsuit backed by the Tennessee Democratic Party seeks to block new redistricting maps for the state House and Senate, arguing Republican lawmakers who drew the maps violated the state Constitution to keep a firm grip on their partisan advantages.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Fisk University has announced three new social justice fellowships under a program named for the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — The trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused in a massive international swindle has hit a snag with prosecutors' admission that emails and other documents were mistakenly withheld from defense.
Federal regulators are suing to block UnitedHealth Group's purchase of technology company Change Healthcare, a deal they fear will put too much health care claims information in the hands of one company.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are starkly divided by race on the importance of President Joe Biden's promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, with white Americans far less likely to be highly enthusiastic about the idea than Black Americans — and especially Black women.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A gluten-free TV chef was arrested Wednesday in Florida on charges related to storming the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, officials said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court waded into a political clash Wednesday between the Biden administration and Republican-led states seeking to defend a signature Trump-era immigration rule that the new administration has abandoned.
AUTO INDUSTRY
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Four Rocky Mountain states will cooperate on developing ways to make the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen, more available and useful as clean-burning fuel for cars, trucks and trains, the states' governors announced Thursday.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling nearly a quarter-million heavy duty pickup trucks in the U.S. because the drive shafts can fracture and cause a loss of power.
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that the automatic emergency braking systems on more than 1.7 million newer Hondas can stop the vehicles for no reason.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
More than half the states are pursuing renewed legal challenges against a requirement from President Joe Biden's administration for millions of healthcare workers across the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Markets shuddered Thursday and then swung wildly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatened to push the high inflation squeezing the global economy even higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell to a 52-year low after another decline in jobless aid applications last week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy ended 2021 by expanding at a brisk 7% annual pace from October through December, the government reported Thursday in a slight upgrade from its earlier estimate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just what a vulnerable world economy didn't need — a conflict that accelerates inflation, rattles markets and portends trouble for everyone from European consumers to indebted Chinese developers and families in Africa that face soaring food prices.
Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine brought in nearly $7 billion in the final quarter of 2021, and the drugmaker says it has signed purchase agreements for another $19 billion in sales this year.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The new and old owners of the Venetian and Palazzo casino resorts and former Sands Expo and Convention Center announced Wednesday they have completed the sale of the iconic Las Vegas Strip properties for $6.25 billion.
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Amazon employee who is leading a push to unionize a New York City warehouse of the online retailer was arrested along with two others Wednesday after authorities got a complaint about him trespassing at the facility, police said.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 80% of the billions of dollars in federal rental assistance aimed at keeping families in their homes during the pandemic went to low-income tenants, the Treasury Department said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of children in America living in poverty jumped dramatically after just one month without the expanded child tax credit payments, according to a new study. Advocates fear the lapse in payments could unravel what they say were landmark achievements in poverty reduction.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ordered broad new sanctions targeting Russia on Thursday after its invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Russian leader Vladimir Putin "chose this war" and his country will bear the consequences.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions in a move that could rewrite the world's geopolitical landscape. Ukraine's government pleaded for help as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — It was the tale of two Vladimirs — one noble, grim and stubbornly open to peace; the other angry, threatening and bellicose — on a day that seemed to presage the demise of the security architecture, consensus and arrangements that have kept Europe and the world, for the most part, stable and secure for three-quarters of a century.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has expelled Russia's second-ranking diplomat in Washington in retaliation for the Russian expulsion of the No. 2 U.S. diplomat in Moscow earlier this month, a senior State Department official said Thursday.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior U.S. official said the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote Friday on a resolution condemning Russia in the strongest terms possible for attacking Ukraine and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces, knowing that the legally binding measure will be vetoed by Russia.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Vladimir Putin told the world in the lead-up to Thursday's attacks on Ukraine that his operation aims to "denazify" Ukraine, a country with a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and who heads a Western-backed, democratically elected government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden hit Russia with some of the broadest and toughest financial penalties that the world's biggest economy can muster on Thursday, hours after President Vladimir Putin launched his military's invasion of Ukraine.
NEW YORK (AP) — As Russia intensified its aggression toward neighboring Ukraine earlier this week, Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio blasted President Vladimir Putin's provocations as a "clear violation of international law."
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday that the military alliance would defend every inch of its territory should Russia attack a member country, as he slammed Moscow for launching a brutal act of war on Ukraine.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The missile fragment pierced the ceiling of Mikhail Shcherbakov's apartment in Kharkiv. In an instant, Ukrainians found that war, after weeks of warnings, had hit home.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Russian troops launched a broad, three-pronged assault on Ukraine that brought explosions and set off air raid sirens to the country's capital, Kyiv, and other cities, shattering any remaining hope that a military conflict would be avoided.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After the threat of sweeping sanctions didn't deter Russia's attack on Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Department officials and their counterparts in Europe now face the task of carrying through on their vow to make Russia's economy and its elites pay a price.
BRUSSELS (AP) — World leaders Thursday condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "barbaric" and moved to slap unprecedented economic sanctions on Moscow and those close to President Vladimir Putin.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With rare but fragile alignment, the U.S. Congress is largely backing President Joe Biden's decision to confront Russia with potentially escalating sanctions for the crisis in Ukraine as lawmakers brace for perhaps the most daunting foreign policy crisis the nation has faced in a generation.