VOL. 44 | NO. 6 | Friday, February 7, 2020
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
Dogan’s Garden – where I discovered mental, physical and spiritual respite – is gone, all but its memory erased by development and viral heritage neglect.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
No cause has had a better advocate than Pamela Davis Needham, who is working against proposed state legislation that she says would limit homeowners associations on many issues, including restrictions of short-term rentals.
REAL ESTATE
Home sales in Rutherford County jumped 24% with 651 sales recorded in January compared to 526 sales recorded the previous January. This after a 22% increase from December 2018 to December 2019.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week for the third straight week, as the benchmark 30-year loan marked its lowest point in three years.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Can only contain Mahomes for so long
The San Francisco 49ers found out in the fourth quarter what the Tennessee Titans already knew –the explosive Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes could only be kept in check for so long before they gained control and won a Super Bowl championship Sunday night in Miami.
There’s always a Nashville connection. And Super Bowl LIV was no exception. One of the unsung heroes of Kansas City’s Super Bowl championship is a man who has been in Nashville for the past 20 years and has spent the past 11 of those years working as a scout for the Chiefs.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mike Vrabel has finalized his Titans coaching staff by hiring Jim Haslett as Tennessee's inside linebackers coach.
NEWSMAKERS
Angela M. Playle has joined Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP after serving as senior vice president and deputy general counsel at HCP, Inc., a real estate investment trust now known as Healthpeak Properties.
BRIEFS
Malcolm Turner has resigned as Vanderbilt athletic director after one year on the job, and Candice Storey Lee has been named interim athletic director effectively immediately.
GUEST COLUMNIST
Hamilton County government has found a new way to prevent access to public records: Get rid of them.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Buying a hybrid in 2020 doesn’t have the same cutting-edge feel that it used to back in the early 2000s. Today, all the hype surrounds the latest electric cars.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Your hand is in the bag again. Those french fries you bought aren’t going to make it home. You should’ve bought a double order.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Amtrak’s “buy one, get one” spring sale got me started. My teenage daughter and I had used a similar two-for-one deal last year to take an overnight train trip from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon. This year, she wanted to use her spring break to check out colleges in Chicago and the Pacific Northwest.
CAREER CORNER
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend lately in which companies don’t seem interested in solving customer complaints until the customer gets angry.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Outraged Tennessee lawmakers grilled state education officials Wednesday about the handling of a much-debated school voucher program, and a key Republican lawmaker made a surprise admission that he regretted voted for the measure.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country singer Darius Rucker couldn't quite believe it when he was surprised this week with the news that his song "Wagon Wheel" was certified eight times platinum, making it one of the top five most popular country singles ever.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A publicist for Willie Nelson says Paul English, Nelson's longtime drummer and the inspiration for Nelson's song "Me and Paul," has died. He was 87.
ENVIRONMENT
PARIS (AP) — France's leader called the battle against climate change and environmental destruction "the fight of the century" Thursday after visiting a melting glacier in the French Alps.
MEDIA
The publisher of the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and dozens of other newspapers across the country is filing for bankruptcy protection.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Shares of Tesla Inc. fell just over 4% in early trading Thursday after the electric vehicle and solar panel maker announced it would sell more than $2 billion worth of additional shares.
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan, reeling from a scandal over its former superstar executive Carlos Ghosn, sank into red ink in the latest quarter as its vehicle sales fell around the world, and the Japanese automaker slashed its profit forecast for the year.
BEIJING (AP) — China's auto sales plunged in January, deepening a painful downturn in the industry's biggest global market and adding to economic pressures as the country fights a virus outbreak.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer prices rose modestly last month, weighed down by falling gasoline prices.
NEW YORK (AP) — How's your 401(k) doing? President Donald Trump likes to ask that question around the country, sometimes throwing out big gains like 90% or 95%. The average 401(k) did indeed hit a record last year, although its growth was considerably less than that.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's nominee to the Federal Reserve touted her credentials in written testimony Thursday and said she would "work collegially" if approved.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Union warned Thursday that the spread of the viral outbreak in China is a risk for the economy but that its full impact will depend on how long it lasts and how far it spreads.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the week since his acquittal on impeachment charges, a fully emboldened President Donald Trump is demonstrating his determination to assert an iron grip on government, pushing his Justice Department to ease up on a longtime friend while using the levers of presidential powers to exact payback on real and perceived foes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan measure limiting President Donald Trump's authority to launch military operations against Iran is moving toward approval in the Senate.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12
COURTS
KINGSTON (AP) — A grand jury in Tennessee said it would support a criminal investigation into claims that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor failed to protect workers cleaning up a massive coal ash spill, many of whom later fell ill and some of whom died.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Kentucky coach John Calipari watched his Wildcats fall behind by as many as 14 points in the first half and enter the locker room down with their biggest deficit of the season on the road at Vanderbilt.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's defense stopped its slump and continued Arkansas' slide.
REGION
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump's trade war dampened the overseas market for American-made whiskey last year, diminishing exports even as the domestic market continues to thrive.
GOLDEN POND, Ky. (AP) — Like a slow-motion, underwater cattle drive, wildlife officials in a half-dozen aluminum boats used pulses of electricity and sound on a recent gray morning to herd schools of Asian carp toward 1,000-foot-long (305 meters) nets.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan filed a civil suit Wednesday seeking 10 billion yen ($91 million) in damages from the Japanese automaker's former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.
TRANSPORTATION
Boeing sold no new airline jets in January, and now the company is worried that the virus outbreak in China could hurt airplane deliveries in the first quarter.
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines continues to fly airplanes with safety concerns while federal officials do a poor job overseeing the airline, a government watchdog said Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT
LONDON (AP) — Energy producer BP said Wednesday it wants to eliminate or offset all carbon emissions from its operations and the oil and gas it sells to customers by 2050, an ambitious target born out of pressure to help combat climate change and keep making money.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Chinese company Huawei can secretly tap into communications through the networking equipment it sells globally, a U.S. official charged as the White House stepped up efforts to persuade allies to ban the gear from next-generation cellular networks.
LONDON (AP) — The world's biggest wireless trade fair was in doubt Wednesday after more big tech companies and mobile carriers including Nokia, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom pulled out over worries about the viral outbreak from China.
LONDON (AP) — The British government says it will give regulators the power to fine social media companies for harmful material on their platforms.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit through the first four months of this budget year is up 19% from the same period a year ago, putting the country on track to record its first $1 trillion deficit since 2012.
Stocks are closing broadly higher on Wall Street Wednesday, driving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes to more record highs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic senators voiced strong support for an independent Federal Reserve during a hearing with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, one day after President Donald Trump launched another attack directed at Powell on Twitter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U-Haul has an unusual wellness goal for 2020: hiring fewer smokers.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved free trade and investment deals between the EU and Vietnam that will eliminate almost all tariffs over the next ten years, despite concerns about the human rights situation in the country.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A recently retired U.S. diplomat whose abrupt removal by President Donald Trump from her post as ambassador to Ukraine became a focus of the impeachment hearings is receiving an award for "excellence" in the conduct of diplomacy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key White House figure in delaying aid to Ukraine last year reassured lawmakers Wednesday that the Trump administration realizes it is required under the law to spend money approved by Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The four lawyers who prosecuted Roger Stone quit the case after the Justice Department overruled them and said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for President Donald Trump's longtime ally and confidant.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that the Pentagon should review the conduct of a former White House national security aide who played a central role in the Democrats' impeachment case and potentially consider disciplinary action against him.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — For Bernie Sanders, not all victories are created equal.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Early voting for Tennessee's presidential primary has officially begun.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For Bernie Sanders, not all victories are created equal.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders won the young, the liberal and the disaffected in New Hampshire. Their votes were enough to deliver him a victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary, while Pete Buttigieg earned a slight edge among more moderate and conservative voters, with Amy Klobuchar close behind.
TUESDAY, FEB. 11
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal to include feminine hygiene products during Tennessee's annual sales-tax holiday faced resistance Tuesday from lawmakers concerned about the lack of limit on such purchases.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A resolution seeking to change the Tennessee's Constitution to enshrine the state's "right to work" law is gaining momentum.
NASHVILLE (AP) — State lawmakers on Monday approved a resolution officially designating Tennessee as "The Volunteer State.,"
MIDSTATE
BALTIMORE (AP) — Under Armour, which has a massive distribution facility in Mt. Juliet, plunged in trading at the opening bell with the company anticipating a big financial hit from the viral outbreak in China and saying separately that it may need to restructure this year at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
With almost all of its pitching staff back from the team that made the program's deepest postseason run, Louisville begins the season Friday ranked No. 1 in three of the six major polls.
PREDATORS
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 36 shots, and Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each had a goal and an assist to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 6-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Monday night.
UT SPORTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Tamika Catchings, Lauren Jackson and Swin Cash are headed to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
SPORTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — NCAA President Mark Emmert urged Congress to step in and put restrictions on college athletes' ability to earn money from endorsements, telling a Senate committee Tuesday that federal action was needed to "maintain uniform standards in college sports" amid player-friendly laws approved in California and under consideration in other states.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, saw profit slump in 2019 and turned in a loss for the fourth quarter, underlining the pressures on the auto industry from economic headwinds and the need to invest in electric cars to meet tougher European Union limits on greenhouse gases
HEALTH CARE
BANGKOK (AP) — The virus outbreak that began in China and has spread to more than 20 countries is stretching already-strained public health systems in Asia and beyond, raising questions over whether everyone can get equal access to treatment.
SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore's air show began Tuesday with the usual ribbon cutting and displays of aerial prowess, but also with less typical warnings to industry and military figures attending to avoid handshakes and other close contact to avoid spreading a virus that has sickened tens of thousands of people.
LONDON (AP) — U.S. chip maker Intel and Chinese smartphone maker Vivo are among the latest companies to pull out of a major European technology fair over virus worries.
NEW YORK (AP) — T-Mobile's $26.5 billion takeover of Sprint could mean higher or lower phone bills, depending on whom you ask.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese authorities are struggling to strike a delicate balance between containing a viral outbreak and restarting the world's second-biggest economy after weeks of paralysis.
Ride-hailing service Lyft's annual loss more than doubled last year to over $2.6 billion, but the company claimed progress as revenue jumped 68% and ridership grew.
Major U.S. stock indexes closed mostly higher Tuesday, led by health care companies, retailers and banks.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Oil production from U.S.- managed lands and waters topped a record 1 billion barrels last year, federal officials said Tuesday, as technological advances helped drive development in new areas and the Trump administration eases rules on the industry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators are ramping up their investigation of the market dominance of giant tech companies, demanding detailed information on five companies' acquisitions of smaller firms back to 2010.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses sharply cut the number of open jobs in December for the second straight month, an unusual sign of weakness in an otherwise healthy job market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday the U.S. economy appears durable with steady growth and unemployment near a half-century low but faces some risk from the broadening viral outbreak that began in China.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union will only offer Britain unique access to its vast single market if the U.K. agrees to stick to the bloc's standards, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday, dismissing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's idea of brokering a loose trade deal with the EU.
PARIS (AP) — France's big wine industry, shaken by U.S. President Trump's painful tariff hikes and the threat of climate change, is hoping to re-energize global interest in its products with a big trade fair in Paris.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four lawyers who prosecuted Roger Stone quit the case Tuesday after the Justice Department said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for President Donald Trump's longtime ally and confidant.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is telling a skewed story when he boasts about workers who've seen their personal retirement savings nearly double under his administration. Gains in the overall stock market are only half of what he implied.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department ratcheted up legal pressure Monday on local governments over "sanctuary" policies that hinder federal immigration officers, bringing two new lawsuits and launching a coordinated messaging campaign to highlight an election-year priority of President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Monday that those like her who support an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution should start over in trying to get it passed rather than counting on breathing life into the failed attempt from the 1970s.
MONDAY, FEB. 10
MIDSTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump on Monday cited the influence of "Achy Breaky Heart" singer Billy Ray Cyrus as she asked spouses of the nation's governors to address cyberassault in their states.
NASHVILLE AREA
The Simon Property Group, which owns Opry Mills in Nashville, West Town Mall in Knoxville and Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, will buy mall operator Taubman Realty, which owns The Mall at Green Hills.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The Trump administration's budget proposal scraps a loan program that could help an upstart electric vehicle company's plans to reuse the now-closed General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish automaker Volvo Cars and its owner Chinese automaker Geely Holding said Monday they are considering combining their businesses to create what they called "a strong global group" that "would accelerate financial and technological synergies between the two companies."
HEALTH CARE
LONDON (AP) — Two big Japanese companies are the latest to pull out of a major European technology show due to fears over the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 40,600 people globally.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four members of the Chinese military have been charged with breaking into the networks of the Equifax credit reporting agency and stealing the personal information of tens of millions of Americans, the Justice Department said Monday, blaming Beijing for one of the largest hacks in history to target consumer data.
COURTS
Amazon wants President Donald Trump to submit to questioning over the tech company's losing bid for a $10 billion military contract.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called Monday for slashing funding for the Superfund hazardous waste program, even as the backlog of clean-ups has grown around the country for lack of money.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks are closing higher on Wall Street, led by gains in technology companies and retailers. Microsoft and Amazon rose.
SHELTON, Conn. (AP) — Schick owner Edgewell is ending its $1.37 billion acquisition deal for upstart shaving company Harry's shortly after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the sale.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's fragile economy is facing an uncertain future after the island's governor rejected a settlement announced late Sunday with bondholders that would reduce the U.S. territory's public debt by 70%.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing significant legal challenges, the Trump administration has disbanded its advisory board created to help boost trophy hunting and relax federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr said Monday the Justice Department is taking information that President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is gathering in Ukraine about the president's Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.8 trillion election year budget plan on Monday that recycles previously rejected cuts to domestic programs like food stamps and Medicaid to promise a balanced budget in 15 years — all while leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits untouched.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's fiscal 2021 budget plan doesn't have many fans — among either his GOP allies or opposition Democrats — but it's a measure of the president's priorities as he seeks a second term.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted with the threat of trillion-dollar-plus deficits for as far as the eye can see, President Donald Trump is offering a $4.8 trillion budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year that rehashes previously rejected spending cuts while leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits untouched.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the world is witnessing a great American economic revival that he brought on by reversing course from the Obama years. Yet the economy is not so different from the robust one he inherited and disparages at every turn.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling on the nation's 74 inspectors general to protect government whistleblowers amid President Donald Trump's ouster of key government officials in the impeachment probe.
FRIDAY, FEB. 7
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The trial date for a white Nashville police officer charged with fatally shooting an armed black man from behind during a chase has been pushed back from March to June.
PREDATORS
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist to lead to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
REGION
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A bankruptcy filing by a leading hemp processor strikes a "gut punch" to the fledgling industry as it tries to secure a foothold in Kentucky, the state's agriculture commissioner said Thursday.
HEALTH CARE
BEIJING (AP) — The World Health Organization is warning that demand for masks and other protective equipment might jeopardize health workers responding to the outbreak of the new virus in China.
BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party faced public anger and recrimination Friday over the death of a doctor who was threatened by police after trying to sound the alarm about the new coronavirus back in December. The death toll, meanwhile, rose to nearly 640, and the number of people infected worldwide climbed past 31,400.
BEIJING (AP) — Wireless equipment maker Ericsson is pulling out of the industry's top annual trade event due to the virus outbreak, while automakers are considering whether to reopen factory lines in China.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is shaking up its management after a poor fourth-quarter financial performance and the botched launch of the Explorer SUV.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda reported Friday a nearly 31% dive in its October-December profit as strong demand for its motorcycles failed to make up for falling vehicles sales.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks closed lower for the first time this week but still had their best weekly gain since June. Technology companies did worse than the rest of the market. Stocks are coming off a four-day rally as traders tempered their worries about economic fallout from the virus outbreak that originated in China. The S&P 500 index fell 18 points, or 0.5%, to 3,327, a day after hitting a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 277 points, or 0.9%, to 29,102 and the Nasdaq lost 51 points, or 0.5%, to 9,520. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.58%.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans gave their credit cards a real workout this past holiday season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve believes that downside risks to the U.S. economy have lessened with the easing of trade tensions and better prospects for global growth but officials note a concern that possible spillovers from a deadly virus in China represent a new threat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring jumped last month as U.S. employers added a robust 225,000 jobs, bolstering an economy that faces threats from China's viral outbreak, an ongoing trade war and struggles at Boeing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With China's viral outbreak disrupting trade and Boeing's troubles weighing on American factories, the January U.S. jobs report on Friday may provide timely evidence of the U.S. economy's enduring health.
BEIJING (AP) — Automakers are considering whether to reopen factory lines in China and counting the costs from the virus outbreak in China, while Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo reports half its shops in China are closed.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The decorated soldier and national security aide who played a central role in the Democrats' impeachment case against President Donald Trump was escorted out of the White House complex on Friday, according to his lawyer, who said he was asked to leave for "telling the truth."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is throwing its support behind a plan to transfer the U.S. Secret Service back to the Treasury Department to better focus on the growing threat of online financial crimes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move that supporters said would help working families, the Democratic-controlled House has approved a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain for higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's impeachment ended with a reminder of why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resisted the idea for so long — an acquittal everyone saw coming, followed by a bombastic presidential victory lap and a bump in his poll numbers just as the 2020 campaign officially began.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before Donald Trump's impeachment landed in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had one piece of advice for the president: Focus on the House.
THURSDAY, FEB. 6
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's push to establish Medicaid work requirements remains hung up amid questions from the federal government about using welfare money to fund the program, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press in a public records request.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Candice Storey Lee won't talk about how long she might be in charge of Vanderbilt's athletic department, having already made history as the first black woman to hold that job in the Southeastern Conference.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Advocates for expanding school choices in Tennessee faced their first major road block Thursday after the state's largest communities filed a lawsuit seeking to block a new voucher program from going into effect later this year.
TECHNOLOGY
Shares in Twitter jumped Thursday after the social media company said revenue and user numbers exceeded forecasts in the latest quarter, though profit fell as expenses rose.
AUTO INDUSTRY
MILAN (AP) — Record U.S. sales of Ram trucks and the launch of the new Jeep Gladiator helped fourth-quarter profits at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles grow by more than a third, the U.S.-Italian company reported Thursday.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The flu-like virus that exploded from China has researchers worldwide once again scrambling to find a vaccine against a surprise health threat, with no guarantee one will arrive in time.
BEIJING (AP) — Airlines are extending their suspension of flights to mainland China, while more retailers are putting an estimate on the economic damage they expect to incur from the virus outbreak in China.
LONDON (AP) — Britain and Germany announced more cases of the Wuhan virus on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed virus cases in Europe to 30.
A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 28,200 people globally.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — The publisher of The New York Times posted a 20% gain in fourth-quarter profits as the paper continued to add digital subscribers, although ad revenue declined both online and in print.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks are ending mostly higher on Wall Street, enough to extend the market's gains to a fourth straight day.
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of online mattress pioneer Casper Sleep Inc. popped in their debut trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Now that they've already taken over our lives, big tech companies are taking over the stock market.
MIAMI (AP) — Six American oil executives under house arrest in Venezuela were rounded up by police hours after President Donald Trump met Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's chief opponent at the White House, according to family members of the men.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr waded into ongoing diplomatic tensions between the United States and China on Thursday, decrying what he said was Beijing's determination to establish "dominance" in the market of next-generation, high-speed wireless networks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of FBI arrests in cases related to Chinese espionage has risen sharply in the last five years, corresponding with what the U.S. government sees as an urgent threat to American economic prosperity and intellectual property, federal law enforcement officials said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity rebounded in the final three months of last year, helping to boost productivity growth for the year to the best showing in nearly a decade.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde has warned that the world's central banks have less room to stimulate the economy in case there's a recession.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday dismissed one of several ongoing lawsuits charging that President Donald Trump has illegally profited off the presidency.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Exulting in his impeachment acquittal, President Donald Trump took a scorched-earth victory lap Thursday, unleashing his fury against those who tried to remove him from office while looking ahead to his reelection campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration was ill-prepared to handle and failed to respond effectively to Russian interference during the 2016 election, according to a bipartisan congressional report released Thursday. It noted officials feared getting caught up in a heavily politicized environment and undermining public confidence in the electoral process.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday called for a "recanvass" of the results of the Iowa caucuses, saying it was needed to "assure public confidence" after three days of technical issues and delays.