VOL. 46 | NO. 12 | Friday, March 25, 2022
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, February 2022, for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this week as the 30-year loan rate climbed to its highest level since January of 2019.
UT SPORTS
By several measures, the Tennessee men’s basketball team’s season was a success. The Vols captured their first SEC Tournament title in 43 years. They beat Kentucky, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn and North Carolina. They finished undefeated at Thompson-Boling Arena and were ranked No. 5 in The Associated Press poll.
NEWSMAKERS
Brock Kidd, a founding partner and managing director for Pinnacle Asset Management and private wealth manager with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., was recently named to Barron’s list of the 2022 Top 1200 U. S. Financial Advisors Ranked by State.
BRIEFS
Del Webb, a builder of active adult communities for those 55 and older, has broken ground on its first community, Del Webb Southern Harmony, in Murfreesboro.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A new car limited warranty, sometimes called a “bumper-to-bumper” warranty, is a contract between the vehicle owner and the automaker. It promises to take care of any applicable repairs provided that the owner properly maintains the vehicle.
PERSONAL FINANCE
There might never be a good time to draw the IRS’ attention, but this year you really want to avoid extra scrutiny.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Ben & Jerry’s was started by childhood best friends. Four grad school buddies founded Warby Parker. A long friendship-turned-partnership brought Clear to TSA security lines across the U.S. A shopping trip between two pals launched size-inclusive clothing brand Universal Standard.
CAREER CORNER
As you probably know by now, I’m a supporter of working from home. I believe that, when it’s possible, it can provide an increased quality of life for the employee and a cost savings for the employer.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Michael McCarron scored twice and Juuse Saros made 36 saves to lead the Nashville Predators over the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Tuesday night.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican state lawmakers peppered Gov. Bill Lee's finance team with questions Tuesday about its proposal to authorize $500 million in bonds to help the Tennessee Titans build a new enclosed stadium. Some said the request caught them by surprise, since they approved a tax break for the team's planned stadium upgrades just last year.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving Democrats at least one Republican vote and all but assuring that Jackson will become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A judge on Tuesday dismissed a motion to declare a Tennessee death row inmate intellectually disabled, a move that would have prohibited his upcoming execution.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing higher oil prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden is looking at invoking the Defense Production Act this week to increase the mining of critical minerals for the batteries used in electric vehicles.
HEALTH CARE
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The CVS drug store company and pharmaceutical companies will pay Florida a combined $860 million as part of the settlement of an opioid epidemic case, state officials said Wednesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The moment nurse RaDonda Vaught realized she had given a patient the wrong medication, she rushed to the doctors working to revive 75-year-old Charlene Murphey and told them what she had done. Within hours, she made a full report of her mistake to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — To her 1.4 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, Vica Li says she is a "life blogger" and "food lover" who wants to teach her fans about China so they can travel the country with ease.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass billions of dollars in additional funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday, as he received a second booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine a day after federal regulators approved a fourth shot for those aged 50 and older.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is launching what it says is a one-stop website that will help people in the United States access COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatments, along with status updates on infection rates where they live.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks ended lower on Wall Street Wednesday, breaking a four-day winning streak but keeping major indexes in the green so far for the week.
NEW YORK (AP) — What's immune to high inflation? So far, the profits at big U.S. companies.
BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) — For union organizers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, the second time could be a charm — or not.
For decades, the free flow of trade across much of the world allowed the richest nations to enjoy easy access to low-priced goods and supplies. It meant solid economies and stable markets.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — No data currently suggests Europe will fall into stagflation, a combination of high inflation, little or no economic growth and high unemployment, the European Central Bank 's president said Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy ended 2021 by expanding at a healthy 6.9% annual pace from October through December, the government reported Wednesday, a slight downgrade from its previous estimates.
BERLIN (AP) — The German government's panel of independent economic advisers on Wednesday slashed its 2022 growth forecast for Europe's biggest economy in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and concern over energy supplies and prices.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents typically say a few words before they turn legislation into law. But Joe Biden flipped the script Tuesday when it came time to put his signature on the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Revelations of a roughly eight-hour gap in official records of then-President Donald Trump's phone calls on the day of last year's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are raising fresh questions about the diligence — or lack thereof — of his record keeping.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military's poor performance in Ukraine, according to the White House.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations in those zones to promote trust between the two sides, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.
A cyberattack targeting a satellite network used by Ukraine's government and military agencies shortly after Russia's invasion also knocked offline tens of thousands of broadband internet users across Europe, the satellite owner disclosed Wednesday.
MEDYKA, Poland (AP) — The number of people who have fled Ukraine since Russian troops invaded has surpassed 4 million, the United Nations reported Wednesday as shelling continued in places where Moscow had vowed to ease its military operations.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland announced steps Wednesday to end all Russian oil imports by year's end, while Germany issued a warning about natural gas levels and called on people to conserve, new signs of how Russia's war in Ukraine has escalated tensions about securing energy supplies to power Europe.
TUESDAY, MARCH 29
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee plans to propose $500 million in bonds in the state budget to help fund a new covered Tennessee Titans stadium envisioned for Nashville, two sources confirmed to The Associated Press.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Vanderbilt University initiative aimed at bridging the gap of political polarization in the U.S. has named 26 members to its advisory board, ranging from politicians to musicians.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nearly a year after Tennessee Republicans banned transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports, GOP lawmakers are attempting to pass harsh penalties against public schools that violate the newly enacted measure.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers on Monday passed a residency requirement for Republican and Democratic U.S. House and Senate hopefuls that would kick in right away, a move that aims to nudge at least one GOP hopeful for a redrawn, open Nashville House seat off a crowded primary ballot.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee House on Monday passed a bill that lets school boards deem books "obscene" and threatens to withhold education funding and slap school librarians with criminal penalties if orders to remove them aren't followed.
WEST TENNESSEE
FedEx Corp. said Monday that Fred Smith will step down on June 1 as CEO of the package-delivery company that he founded and be succeeded by the company's president and chief operating officer.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday cast doubt on Texas' claim that it can't be sued by a former state trooper who says he was forced out of his job when he returned from Army service in Iraq.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The Southern Environmental Law Center has sued the nation's largest public utility for failing to disclose full contracts related to proposed natural gas pipelines.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has picked a professor and two criminal court judges to take the bench on two appellate courts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is pushing Ketanji Brown Jackson closer to confirmation, setting up a vote next week to recommend her nomination to the full Senate and seat her as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
ENVIRONMENT
BERLIN (AP) — The world needs to take "radical action" to shift away from fossil fuels and ensure global warming doesn't pass dangerous thresholds, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency said Tuesday.
MEDIA
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Information technology companies are focused on providing reliable information and stymying Russian propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine, the CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc. said Tuesday.
HEALTH CARE
UnitedHealth Group will spend $5.4 billion to acquire LHC Group and delve deeper into home health, an area of care expected to grow as baby boomers age.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
Americans 50 and older can get a second COVID-19 booster if it's been at least four months since their last vaccination, a chance at extra protection for the most vulnerable in case the coronavirus rebounds.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street built on its recent gains and closed higher Tuesday as talks on ending the war in Ukraine showed signs of progress.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday agreed to consider the nomination of Lisa Cook for a position on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors on a 50-49 party-line vote.
The Federal Trade Commission is suing TurboTax maker Intuit, saying its ads for "free" tax filing misled consumers.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Amid the mayhem provoked in the world energy market by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Spain and Portugal have emerged in a strategically advantageous position as an "energy island" in Europe, with a relatively low reliance on Russian natural gas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Job openings hovered at a near-record level in February, little changed from the previous month, continuing a trend that Federal Reserve officials see as a driver of inflation.
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence bounced back in March and remains high, though consumers' short-term outlook is not quite as rosy.
Nielsen is being acquired for $16 billion, including debt, about a week after the TV ratings and marketing data company rejected a $9 billion offer.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday was signing a bill into law to make lynching a federal hate crime, more than 100 years after such legislation was first proposed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol has identified a roughly eight-hour gap in official records of then-President Donald Trump's phone calls as the violence unfolded and his supporters stormed the building, according to a person familiar with the probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's $5.8 trillion budget for next year would trim federal deficits and boost taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Both could appeal to Sen. Joe Manchin amid Democratic hopes of reviving talks with him over the party's derailed social and environment plan.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" is included in President Joe Biden's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal — part of the administration's effort to reduce the federal deficit over the next decade and fund new spending. The proposal "eliminates the inefficient sheltering of income for decades or generations," the White House says.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously to hold former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt of Congress for their monthslong refusal to comply with subpoenas.
UKRAINE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine's capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he wasn't yet convinced that Russia's announcement that it would scale back military operations near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv will lead to a fundamental shift in the war.
HORDYNIA, Ukraine (AP) — Planting season has arrived in Ukraine. Boot marks stamped in the frozen earth have thawed. But the Pavlovych family's fields remain untouched in a lonely landscape of checkpoints and churches.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Within days of the Russian invasion, Western countries invoked international law, imposed crippling sanctions, began welcoming refugees with open arms and cheered on Ukraine's armed resistance.
MONDAY, MARCH 28
UT SPORTS
Tennessee has been so dominant through the first six weeks of the season that coach Tony Vitello said it probably was good the Volunteers had a one-run game in the finale of their road sweep of previously top-ranked Mississippi.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tanner Jeannot scored with 1:19 remaining to lead the Nashville Predators to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.
NASHVILLE AREA
In Milwaukee, one of two cities vying to host the Republican presidential convention in 2024, Democrats were pilloried by the potential visitors after predawn election results delivered Wisconsin for Joe Biden in the 2020 White House race. Rival Nashville, Tennessee, is run by a mayor whose Democratic brother was effectively redistricted out of his congressional seat by Republicans.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — More than 200 graduating high school students from the Caribbean have applied to Tennessee State University under a tuition assistance grant program, the school said.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday asserted it is "more likely than not" that former President Donald Trump committed crimes in his attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, ruling to order the release of more than 100 emails from Trump adviser John Eastman to the committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it would review a challenge to a California law that set certain conditions for pork sold in the state.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Clarence Thomas participated in arguments at the Supreme Court via telephone rather than in person on Monday following a hospital stay of nearly a week.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a decision that could dramatically reduce solar imports to the U.S. and undercut President Joe Biden's ambitious climate goals, the Commerce Department said Monday it is investigating whether imports of solar panels from Southeast Asia are circumventing anti-dumping rules that block imports from China.
MEDIA
Russia's leading independent newspaper suspended operations Monday after pressure from Russian authorities, a move that comes less than six months after its editor won the Nobel Peace Prize for his paper's courageous reporting under difficult circumstances.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks shook off a midday slump and closed higher on Wall Street, though energy companies ended in the red as crude oil prices fell sharply.
NEWRY, Maine (AP) — The race is on to produce more lithium in the United States.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart will no longer sell cigarettes in some of its stores though tobacco sales can be a significant revenue generator.
BERLIN (AP) — The Group of Seven major economies have agreed to reject Moscow's demand to pay for Russian natural gas exports in rubles, the German energy minister said Monday.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates' energy minister doubled down Monday on an oil alliance with Russia that's helped buoy crude prices to their highest in years as Moscow's war on Ukraine rattles markets and sends energy and commodity prices soaring.
BEIRUT (AP) — Layal Aswad was already exhausted by Lebanon's devastating two-year economic collapse. Now, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sends food and energy prices soaring even further, she finds herself struggling to put food on the table for her family of four.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday that he would make "no apologies" and wasn't "walking anything back" after his weekend comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power." The president also insisted he's not calling for regime change in Moscow.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced a budget blueprint Monday that calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, lower federal deficits, more money for police and greater funding for education, public health and housing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" is included in President Joe Biden's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal — part of the administration's effort to reduce the federal deficit over the next decade and fund new spending. The proposal "eliminates the inefficient sheltering of income for decades or generations," the White House says.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the last nine, unscripted words of an impassioned speech about Russia's aggression in Ukraine, President Joe Biden created a troubling distraction, undermining his effectiveness as he returned home to face restive Americans who strongly disapprove of his performance on issues that matter most to them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia's war on Ukraine has most Americans at least somewhat worried that the U.S. will be drawn directly into the conflict and could be targeted with nuclear weapons, with a new poll reflecting a level of anxiety that has echoes of the Cold War era.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is pushing ahead with contempt charges against former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in response to their monthslong refusal to comply with subpoenas.
UKRAINE
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is prepared to declare its neutrality and consider a compromise on contested areas in the country's east, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of another round of talks set for Tuesday on stopping the fighting. But he said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader can end the war.
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the West of cowardice Sunday while another top official said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea.
MEDYKA, Poland (AP) — A slowdown for good or a temporary lull during the storm of war?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Casting himself as tough on Russia, former President Donald Trump lowballed the amount of U.S. military aid provided to Ukraine during the Obama-Biden administration and claimed that only he himself in recent history didn't face a Russian invasion of another country. Not true.
FRIDAY, MARCH 25
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have hired Chase Blackburn as an assistant special teams coach after he spent the past six seasons with Carolina.
PREDATORS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Evgenii Dadonov had a goal and two assists, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Nashville Predators 6-1 on Thursday night in a game that included a frightening injury.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that would largely strip the ability of local governments to stop oil and gas pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects if they don't want them in their cities and counties.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is giving the Navy a freer hand determining what job assignments it gives to 35 sailors who sued after refusing on religious grounds to comply with an order to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A former Tennessee nurse is guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a patient who was accidentally given the wrong medication, a jury found Friday. She was also found guilty of gross neglect of an impaired adult in a case that has fixed the attention of patient safety advocates and nurses' organizations around the country.
CAMDEN (AP) — A circuit court has ruled that the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency can't conduct searches on private property without a warrant, according to a published report.
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Each day searing stories pour out of Ukraine: A maternity hospital bombed in Mariupol. A mother and her children killed as they fled Irpin in a humanitarian corridor. Burning apartment blocks. Mass graves. A child dead of dehydration in a city under siege, denied humanitarian aid.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday that he plans to vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court, likely clearing the path for President Joe Biden's historic nominee to be confirmed. But Democratic hopes of securing significant Republican support for Jackson's nomination appear to be fading.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than 30 hours of hearings, the Senate is on track to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. But Democrats seem unlikely to confirm her with a robust bipartisan vote, dashing President Joe Biden's hopes for a grand reset after partisan battles over other high court nominees.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Clarence Thomas was discharged from the hospital Friday after a stay of nearly a week, the Supreme Court said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Empathy is not a quality many Republican senators want to see in the next Supreme Court justice.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four Russian officials, including hackers with a government intelligence agency, have been charged with the malicious hacking of critical infrastructure around the globe including the U.S. energy and aviation sectors between 2012 and 2018, the U.S. Justice Department and British Foreign Office announced Thursday.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — The Black News Channel has pulled the plug after the 2-year-old venture failed to meet payroll and lost the backing of its biggest investor.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Major U.S. indexes closed mostly higher Friday, and several of them notched weekly gains, despite a recent run of daily swings on Wall Street as traders try to figure out what's next for the economy.
TOBACCOVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Reynolds American Inc. will cut 350 full-time positions as it consolidates more production into its Tobaccoville plant, the company announced Thursday
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and United States made a breakthrough in their yearslong battle over the privacy of data that flows across the Atlantic with a preliminary agreement Friday that paves the way for Europeans' personal information to be stored in the U.S.
NEW YORK (AP) — Small businesses that have been buffeted by the pandemic, inflation and shipping woes have another challenge to add to their plate: taxes.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union set the stage for a stepped-up crackdown on big tech companies with an agreement on landmark digital rules to rein in online "gatekeepers" such as Google and Facebook parent Meta.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States and European Union on Friday announced a new partnership to reduce the continent's reliance on Russian energy, a step top officials characterized as the start of a years-long initiative to further isolate Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
RZESZOW, Poland (AP) — Just 60 miles from Ukraine, President Joe Biden saluted Poland on Friday for giving refuge to more than 2 million refugees who have fled Russia's invasion,; then he met with humanitarian experts on the ground about what will be needed to mitigate the growing suffering.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Americans say they don't blame President Joe Biden for high gasoline prices, but they're giving his economic leadership low marks amid fears of inflation and deep pessimism about economic conditions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Thursday that it had set a vote for next week to consider contempt of Congress charges for two aides of former President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent weeks of text messages imploring White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to act to overturn the 2020 presidential election — furthering then-President Donald Trump's lies that the free and fair vote was marred by nonexistent fraud, according to copies of the messages obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is approaching a new, potentially more dangerous phase after a month of fighting has left Russian forces stalled by an outnumbered foe. He is left with stark choices — how and where to replenish his spent ground forces, whether to attack the flow of Western arms to Ukrainian defenders, and at what cost he might escalate or widen the war.
Ukrainian officials say the death toll from a strike on a theatre last week in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol is in the hundreds — the deadliest single attack since Russia's war started a month ago.
NEW YORK (AP) — The resignation of a senior Russian government official and his reported move abroad wasn't the first voluntary departure of a person from a state job since the start of Russia's war with Ukraine, but it certainly was one of the most striking.
MEMPHIS (AP) — FedEx Corp. says it will load up a cargo airplane with 76 tons of medical aid for Ukrainian refugees for a flight destined for Poland that is scheduled to leave Memphis International Airport on Saturday.
THURSDAY, MARCH 24
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee has rewarded coach Rick Barnes for winning the Volunteers' first Southeastern Conference Tournament championship in 43 years with a contract extension through the 2026-27 season.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Robert Woods heard from Rams coach Sean McVay shortly after the reigning Super Bowl champs agreed to a deal with Allen Robinson. Given a chance to pick a new team, the receiver nicknamed "Bobby Trees" saw the Tennessee Titans as the best fit in more than one way.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has proposed a 30-day suspension of state and local grocery sales tax.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Thursday against an elected public college official in Texas who complained that his colleagues' censure of his actions violated his free speech rights.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The historic Senate hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated for the Supreme Court, have been joyful, combative and clarifying, putting on display the breadth of the nation's partisan divide and the unresolved problems of its past.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced down a barrage of Republican questioning Wednesday about her sentencing of criminal defendants, as her history-making bid to join the Supreme Court veered from lofty constitutional questions to attacks on her motivations on the bench.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators painted Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as hostile to anti-abortion views, twisting words from a legal brief she co-signed years ago as evidence she would rule broadly against abortion opponents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Legal experts praised Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in her final day of Senate hearings on Thursday, with a top lawyers' group saying its review found she has a "sterling" reputation, "exceptional" competence and is well qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former Boeing Co. test pilot was acquitted Wednesday on felony charges of deceiving federal regulators about a key flight-control system that played a role in two deadly crashes involving 737 Max jets.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Once a familiar voice on NPR, Audie Cornish says she signed on to the new CNN+ streaming service in part out of the sense she was helping to open a new frontier.
TRANSPORTATION
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines will add a fourth fare category as part of changes designed to attract more business travelers and boost revenue.
TECHNOLOGY
Over the past few years, Jonny Griffis has invested millions of dollars in his legal marijuana farm in northern Michigan, which produces extracts to be used in things like gummy bears and vape oils.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
Here's a look at how the 10 most populous metro areas in the U.S. changed during the first full year of the pandemic, from mid-2020 to mid-2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released Thursday. The population estimates calculate births and deaths, as well as domestic and international migration.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Thursday and oil prices slipped as a streak of uneven trading continues on world markets.
NEW YORK (AP) — Edward "Ned" Johnson III, a businessman who grew Fidelity Investments into the financial giant it is today, has died. He was 91.
Companies in the S&P 500 bought a record amount of their own stock last year and don't show any signs of slowing down.
Uber, hit by driver shortages and a surge in food delivery requests during the pandemic, will list New York City taxi cabs on its app, a partnership that until recently would have been unthinkable with both camps fighting ferociously for the same customers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to its lowest level in 52 years as the U.S. job market continues to show strength in the midst of rising costs and an ongoing virus pandemic.
NEW YORK (AP) — Home Depot said Wednesday that a worksheet about privilege that went viral is an unauthorized document from the company's Canada division.
TOKYO (AP) — The scandal at a top Japanese brokerage widened as the vice president of SMBC Nikko Securities was arrested Thursday and the company was charged with stock manipulation.
TOKYO (AP) — Shareholders of embattled Japanese electronics and energy giant Toshiba Corp. voted down a major restructuring plan on Thursday, in a setback for the company's management.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Thursday that it had set a vote for next week to consider contempt of Congress charges for two aides of former President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Madeleine Albright fled the Nazis as a child and climbed to the summit of diplomacy and foreign policy in the United States, breaking the glass ceiling as the first female secretary of state and setting the pace for other women to follow.
UKRAINE
BRUSSELS (AP) — President Joe Biden and Western allies pledged new sanctions and humanitarian aid on Thursday in response to Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine, but their offers fell short of the more robust military assistance that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for in a pair of live-video appearances.
PARIS (AP) — Dozens of nations, including the United States and much of Europe, say they are united in seeking to "radically" reduce imports of Russian oil and gas after its invasion of Ukraine, while ensuring those efforts don't fuel climate change.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday blaming Russia for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and urging an immediate cease-fire and protection for millions of civilians and the homes, schools and hospitals critical to their survival.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dozens of nations met Thursday to pledge their support to the International Criminal Court's investigation in Ukraine, offering money, technology and expertise to the probe opened soon after Russia's invasion began a month ago.
Ukraine's cities stood under relentless Russian fire on Thursday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked NATO leaders gathered in Brussels to provide unlimited aid — including planes, tanks and other weapons — saying his country is "defending our common values."
Russia's war in Ukraine has killed thousands of people, reduced entire cities to rubble and forced millions to flee their homes. The largest military conflict in Europe since World War II has also upset the international security order and sent dangerous ripples through the global economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden meets with key allies in Brussels to coordinate a stronger response to Russia's monthlong assault on Ukraine, a new poll shows Americans have yet to rally around his leadership.
BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and world leaders opened a trio of emergency summits on Thursday with a sober warning from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that the alliance must boost its defenses to counter Russia's invasion of Ukraine and "respond to a new security reality in Europe."
NEW YORK (AP) — The Russian stock market opened Thursday for limited trading under heavy restrictions for the first time since Moscow invaded Ukraine, coming almost a month after prices plunged and the market was shut down as a way to insulate the economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is expanding efforts to help Ukrainian refugees. It has agreed to accept up to 100,000 people escaping from the war and to increase support for Eastern European nations that have taken in most of the people fleeing Russian forces. It's a modest number relative to the need, with an estimated 3.5 million refugees and millions more displaced within Ukraine. It's also modest by historical standards, far less than the number who came from Southeast Asia decades ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and its allies said Thursday they're moving to block financial transactions with Russia's Central Bank that involve gold, aiming to further restrict the country's ability to use its international reserves because of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Putin has been building his gold stockpile since 2014.