VOL. 48 | NO. 15 | Friday, April 12, 2024
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Home construction and renovation has always been challenging. When the client is a couple, the architect – and yes, they need one – or the contractor – and, yes, they need one of these, as well – is likely to ask a simple first question: “How strong is your marriage?”
REAL ESTATE
Top Davidson County residential real estate sales for March 2024, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose to its highest level in five weeks, a setback for prospective homebuyers during what's traditionally the busiest time of the year for home sales.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
In the second half of a Predators’ season defined by streaks, one that ran mostly parallel to the recent franchise-record stretch of 18 games earning a standings point also came to an end.
Looking ahead to potential first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs matchups for the Predators, a few things could still happen over the final week-plus of the season that will determine what team Nashville will face to start the postseason.
The Predators’ regular season concludes with three games in four days, two of which are on the road. These games could be meaningful for playoff positioning or possibly to provide players some time off for rest and healing of bumps and bruises before the playoffs begin.
NEWSMAKERS
The Charles Hawkins Co., one of Nashville’s premier commercial real estate services companies, has selected first vice presidents Clancy Hoban and Jonathan Douillard as shareholders in the company.
BRIEFS
Belmont University has announced a $58 million lead gift from philanthropist and music industry icon Mike Curb and the Mike Curb Foundation to catalyze the expansion of its nationally renowned Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
By Alex Nishimoto Edmunds
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Everybody has to start somewhere. You can’t be expected to know everything immediately. There’s a learning curve, a period of adjustment before you can even begin to think you know how it all works. This takes time, and even a few blunders that you have to trust will make you laugh someday.
PERSONAL FINANCE
For college students, sending money to friends has never been easier thanks to peer-to-peer payment apps like Venmo, PayPal and Cash App. But that convenience poses risks, including vulnerability to errors, fraud and the tendency to overspend.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Whether it's going to bed before midnight, eating broccoli or dealing with your finances, doing the "right" thing can sometimes feel like a herculean effort.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Barry Trotz never put a label on whether he was rebuilding, retooling or simply trying to reset the Nashville Predators during his first season as general manager.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Three court rulings across the U.S. this week delved into laws restricting the rights of transgender kids, including the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has gotten involved in a ban on gender-affirming care.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it easier for workers who are transferred from one job to another against their will to pursue job discrimination claims under federal civil rights law, even when they are not demoted or docked pay.
NEW YORK (AP) — The first seven jurors for Donald Trump's hush money trial were seated Tuesday after lawyers grilled the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide who can sit in fair judgment of the former president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A voting technology company targeted by bogus fraud claims related to the 2020 presidential election settled a defamation lawsuit Tuesday against a conservative news outlet.
ELECTION 2024
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden is calling for a tripling of tariffs on steel from China to protect American producers from a flood of cheap imports, an announcement he planned to roll out Wednesday in an address to steelworkers in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh from a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump visited a New York bodega where a man was stabbed to death, a stark pivot for the former president as he juggles being a criminal defendant and the Republican challenger intent on blaming President Joe Biden for crime.
ENVIRONMENT
Climate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that's not warming, with the poorest areas and those least responsible for heating the atmosphere taking the biggest monetary hit, a new study said.
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are more likely than the overall adult population to believe in human-caused climate change, according to a new poll. It also suggests that partisanship may not have as much of an impact on this group's environmental views, compared to Americans overall.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla is asking shareholders to restore a $56 billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk that was rejected by a Delaware judge this year, and to shift the company's corporate home to Texas.
TRANSPORTATION
Boeing was the subject of dual Senate hearings Wednesday as Congress examined allegations of major safety failures at the embattled aircraft manufacturer, which has been pushed into crisis mode since a door-plug panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — Four months after a contentious congressional hearing led to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia University's president appeared before the same committee on Wednesday and unequivocally denounced antisemitism on her campus, rebutting claims that she has allowed Columbia to become a hotbed of hatred.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — A National Public Radio editor who wrote an essay criticizing his employer for promoting liberal views resigned on Wednesday, attacking NPR's new CEO on the way out.
ECONOMY
LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the U.K. fell to its lowest level in two and a half years in March after a further easing in food prices, official figures showed Wednesday, a development which could further pave the way for a welcome cut in interest rates soon.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan recorded a trade deficit for the third straight fiscal year as the costs of energy and other imports rose and the yen remained weak.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Sinking technology stocks sent Wall Street lower again, and the S&P 500 fell to its fourth straight loss.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Workers who help bring Disneyland's beloved characters to life said Wednesday they collected enough signatures to support their push for a union.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon wants the public and - especially other businesses - to know it's not giving up on its Just Walk Out technology.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday announced new steps to improve a program that lets federal employees who also are military spouses telework from overseas.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will "look at" manufacturing in Indonesia as he met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday.
United Airlines said Tuesday that it lost $124 million in the first quarter, which it blamed on a three-week grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 9s after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Max jetliner in January.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he strongly supports a proposal from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending crucial bipartisan support to the effort this week to approve $95 billion in funding for the U.S. allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine and Israel both desperately need the military weapons that are being held up by Congress' failure to pass a funding package for the two countries at war, Pentagon leaders told House appropriators Wednesday, calling the situation in Ukraine dire.
MIAMI (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday reimposed crushing oil sanctions on Venezuela, admonishing President Nicolás Maduro's attempts to consolidate his rule just six months after the U.S. eased restrictions in a bid to support now fading hopes for a democratic opening in the OPEC nation.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday his country would be the one to decide whether and how to respond to Iran's major air assault earlier this week, brushing off calls for restraint from close allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to dismiss the first of two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the first step in ending its trial on his handling of the the U.S.-Mexico border,
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. 7th Fleet said a Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a day after U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 's government announced Tuesday it is imposing higher taxes on the wealthiest Canadians as part of the federal budget.
TUESDAY, APRIL 16
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins are playing like a playoff team.
SPORTS
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Former college coach and administrator Steve Sloan, who played quarterback and served as athletic director at Alabama, has died at 79, his longtime friend Tommy Limbaugh told The Associated Press on Monday.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Whether the journals of a Nashville school shooter can be released to the public will go before a Tennessee judge on Tuesday after nearly a year of legal wrangling over who can participate in the case.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee would join the ranks of states where public school employees have to out transgender students to their parents under a bill advancing in the Republican-supermajority Legislature.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Republican-led Legislature unanimously passed a bill Monday that would involuntarily commit certain criminal defendants for inpatient treatment and temporarily remove their gun rights if they are ruled incompetent to stand trial due to intellectual disability or mental illness.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — The first six jurors for Donald Trump's hush money trial were chosen Tuesday after lawyers grilled members of the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide whether they can sit in fair judgment of the former president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with a decorated veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in a protracted fight with the government over 12 months of G.I. Bill educational benefits.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is back on the bench after an unexplained one-day absence.
NEW YORK (AP) — It's a moment in history — the first U.S. president facing criminal charges in an American courtroom. Yet only a handful of observers are able to see or even hear what is going on.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first criminal trial facing former President Donald Trump is also the one in which Americans are least convinced he committed a crime, a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether federal prosecutors went too far in bringing obstruction charges against hundreds of participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. But it wasn't clear how the justices would rule in a case that also could affect the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who faces the same charge for his efforts to overturn his election loss in 2020.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth while lawsuits over the law proceed, reversing lower courts.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers on Tuesday that President Joe Biden has shown no signs of cognitive impairment while defending Biden's ability to serve as commander in chief.
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden returned to his working-class childhood hometown of Scranton on Tuesday to call for higher taxes on the rich and cast Donald Trump as an out-of-touch elitist, part of an attempt to blunt the populist appeal of his predecessor's comeback bid.
ENERGY
The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to a new report by the industry's trade association.
TRANSPORTATION
The Biden administration is enlisting the help of officials in 15 states to enforce consumer-protection laws covering airline travelers, a power that by law is limited to the federal government.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — On the eve of a vote on union representation at Volkswagen's Tennessee factory, Gov. Bill Lee and some other southern governors are telling workers that voting for a union will put jobs in jeopardy.
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Nissan expects to mass produce electric vehicles powered by advanced next-generation batteries by early 2029, the company said Tuesday during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Coal miners will be better protected from poisonous silica dust that has contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers from a respiratory ailment commonly known as black lung disease, the Labor Department said Tuesday as it issued a new federal rule on miners' safety.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Stung by paying billions of dollars for settlements and trials, chemical giant Bayer has been lobbying lawmakers in three states to pass bills providing it a legal shield from lawsuits that claim its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — After several difficult years, the Army and Air Force say they are on track to meet their recruiting goals this year, reversing previous shortfalls using a swath of new programs and policy changes. But the Navy, while improving, expects once again to fall short.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned Tuesday that persistently elevated inflation will likely delay any Fed interest rate cuts until later this year, opening the door to a period of higher-for-longer rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund has upgraded its outlook for the global economy this year, saying the world appears headed for a "soft landing" — reining in inflation without much economic pain and producing steady if modest growth.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks slipped as Treasury yields climbed again on rising expectations that interest rates may stay high for a while.
NEW YORK (AP) — Record numbers of people are starting new businesses, and more and more of them are women and minorities, according to a new study.
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is investing $1.5 billion in a technology firm based in the United Arab Emirates and overseen by the country's powerful national security adviser.
NEW YORK (AP) — Chunky bootmaker Dr. Martens is warning of a tough year ahead.
UnitedHealth Group trounced first-quarter expectations even as costs from a cyberattack to its Change Healthcare business ate into the company's performance.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America said its first-quarter profits fell 18%, as the bank dealt with rising expenses due to the impact of higher interest rates. But the results beat analysts' estimates.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday that he wants to further increase investment in Vietnam a day after the company announced it would spending on suppliers in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House sent two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, forcing a trial on allegations that he has "willfully and systematically" refused to enforce immigration laws.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China is fueling the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. by directly subsidizing the manufacturing of materials that are used by traffickers to make the drug outside the country, according to a report released Tuesday by a special House committee focused on countering the Chinese government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday of potential global economic damage from rising tensions in the Middle East and pledged that the U.S. and its allies won't hesitate to use their sanctions powers to address Iran's "malign and destabilizing activity" in the region.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with China's national defense minister Tuesday morning, in the latest in a series of U.S. steps to improve communications with the Chinese military and reduce unsafe and aggressive incidents in the Indo-Pacific.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's latest plan for student loan cancellation is moving forward as a proposed regulation, offering him a fresh chance to deliver on a campaign promise and energize young voters ahead of the November election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defiant and determined, House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back Tuesday against mounting Republican anger over his proposed U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, and rejected a call to step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday rejected a long-shot effort from House Republicans to get President Joe Biden to testify before lawmakers in the GOP's stalled impeachment inquiry.
MONDAY, APRIL 15
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee U.S. Reps. Mark Green and David Kustoff will no longer face opponents in the August primary after state Republican Party officials removed their opponents from the ballot due to challenges over their status as "bona fide" party members.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — The historic hush-money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday as dozens of prospective jurors packed into a courtroom where the former president will answer to charges that he falsified business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was absent from the court Monday with no explanation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a lawsuit to go forward against a Black Lives Matter activist who led a protest in Louisiana in which a police officer was injured. Civil rights groups and free speech advocates have warned that the suit threatens the right to protest.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's history-making criminal trial is set to start Monday with a simple but extraordinary procedural step that is vital to American democracy. A group of regular citizens — Trump's peers, in the eyes of the law — will be chosen to decide whether the former president of the United States is guilty of a crime.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tax Day reveals a major split in how Joe Biden and Donald Trump would govern: The presidential candidates have conflicting ideas about how much to reveal about their own finances and the best ways to boost the economy through tax policy.
HEALTH CARE
NEW YORK (AP) — Workers are entitled to time off and other job accommodations for abortions — along with pregnancy-related medical conditions like miscarriage, stillbirth and lactation — under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to finalized federal regulations published Monday.
TRAVEL
DALLAS (AP) — The pilots union at American Airlines says there has been "a significant spike" in safety issues at the airline, including fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes returning from major maintenance work.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and real estate firm Bedrock will jointly study how to redevelop the automaker's huge headquarters tower complex in downtown Detroit, a person briefed on the plans said.
YOUR MONEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — On this Tax Day, the IRS is promoting the customer service improvements the agency rolled out since receiving tens of billions in new funding dollars through Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act.
NEW YORK (AP) — For many people, tax season isn't only about gathering W-2 forms or calling an accountant. It can also bring intense feelings of stress or anxiety about dealing with finances.
TRENDS
Supermarket beverage aisles are starting to look a lot more like a pharmacy.
Functional beverages — or drinks promoted as offering mental or physical benefits beyond hydration — are growing in popularity around the world. Hundreds of companies have jumped into the market, hoping to get some buzz with trendy and sometimes unfamiliar ingredients.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks slumped after higher yields in the bond market cranked up the pressure on Wall Street.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock price for Donald Trump's social media company slid again Monday, pushing it more than 66% below its peak set late last month.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans boosted spending at a hotter-than-expected pace in March, underscoring how shoppers remain resilient despite inflationary pressures and other economic challenges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas.
BEIJING (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for fair competition in trade relations with China while warning about dumping and overproduction as he spoke to students in Shanghai on Monday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday hailed the "unprecedented military effort to defend Israel" on Monday as he hosted Iraq's leader at the White House and his administration aims to prevent an escalation in Mideast hostilities following Iran's weekend attack.
FRIDAY, APRIL 12
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to communicate with federal immigration authorities if they discover people are in the the country illegally, and would broadly mandate cooperation in the process of identifying, detaining and deporting them.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are considering criminalizing adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care without parental consent, a proposal advancing in one of the most eager states to enact policies aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Republican-led Tennessee Legislature has overwhelmingly voted to send GOP Gov. Bill Lee a proposal that would ban marriage between first cousins.
COURTS
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — Lawyers for two co-defendants of former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case are asking a judge on Friday to dismiss charges against them.
NEW YORK (AP) — Of the 1.4 million adults who live in Manhattan, a dozen are soon to become the first Americans to sit in judgment of a former president charged with a crime.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — The scenes of Donald Trump being warmly greeted on Wednesday by a Black audience at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta electrified conservative political media at a moment when Republicans hope to make inroads with Democrats' most committed voting bloc.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is headed to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania on Tuesday to talk about who he believes should be paying more in taxes (billionaires) and who should be paying less (everyday Americans).
WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a reason why President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are spending so much time attacking each other — people don't think either man has much to brag about when it comes to his own record. Americans generally think that while they were in the White House, both did more harm than good on key issues.
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is making a campaign pilgrimage Friday to visit Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, a rite of passage as the embattled Republican leader positions himself, and his GOP majority, side-by-side with the indicted ex-president.
YOUR MONEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is canceling student loans for another 206,000 borrowers as part of a new repayment plan that offers a faster route to forgiveness.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government's auto safety agency has opened an investigation into a Ford recall for gasoline leaks from cracked fuel injectors that can cause engine fires, saying in documents that the remedy doesn't fix the leaks.
TRAVEL
WASHINGTON (AP) — Large U.S. airlines and some of their unions are asking the Biden administration to stop approving any more flights between the United States and China because of what they call "anti-competitive" policies that China imposes on U.S. carriers.
ENERGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas companies will have to pay more to drill on federal lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a final rule issued Friday by the Biden administration.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer sentiment about the U.S. economy has ticked down but remains near a recent high, with Americans' outlook largely unchanged this year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell sharply following a mixed start to earnings reporting season.
NEW YORK (AP) — Big banks warned of an "uncertain" year ahead after mixed financial results during the first quarter in an environment of stubbornly high inflation and geopolitical clashes in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Treasury wants to enhance the power of a little-known, secretive government committee to review deals made between U.S. firms and foreign investors.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a U.S. assessment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday reassured the Philippines anew that the U.S. commitment to the country's defense is steadfast amid increasing concerns about provocative Chinese actions in disputed areas of the South China Sea.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic donors covered more than $1 million in legal fees racked up by attorneys representing President Joe Biden in a yearlong special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Friday to reauthorize and reform a key U.S. government surveillance tool following a dramatic showdown on the floor over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans' data.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with the White House as he prepares for the treacherous task of advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel through the House, a top House Republican said Thursday.
THURSDAY, APRIL 11
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are getting to know each other, taking full advantage of the NFL giving new coaches a week's head start to the offseason ahead of the rest of the league.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are considering criminalizing adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care without parental consent, a proposal advancing in one of the most eager states to enact policies aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers have killed a bipartisan bill for the year that would have let residents convicted of felonies apply to vote again without also restoring their gun rights.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Family members representing the six people killed in a Nashville school shooting last year have filed an ethics complaint against a Tennessee state senator, arguing he is being self-serving by both suing for the release of the shooter's writings and filing legislation to prevent third parties like them from intervening in public records lawsuits.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Days after a New York judge expanded a gag order on Donald Trump to curtail "inflammatory" speech, the former president tested its limits by disparaging two key witnesses in his upcoming criminal hush money trial as liars.
NEW YORK (AP) — When he was elected two years ago as Manhattan's first Black district attorney, Alvin Bragg spoke candidly about his unease with the job's political demands. A former law professor, he's more comfortable untangling complex legal questions than swaggering up to a podium.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's election interference case rejected the notion Wednesday that jailed defendants charged with some of the most violent crimes of the U.S. Capitol riot are "hostages" — a label Trump and his allies have frequently used to describe the prisoners.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Arguments before a federal appeals court that is considering whether to reinstate Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for minors focused Thursday on whether it and similar restrictions adopted by two dozen states discriminate on the basis of sex.
Woodford Reserve undermined unionization efforts at its Kentucky distillery by awarding pay raises, relaxing its vacation policy and handing out bottles of whiskey to workers before a vote on whether to unionize, a federal judge ruled.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is now 0 for 3 in last-minute attempts to get a New York appeals court to delay his looming hush money criminal trial. An appeals court judge Wednesday swiftly rejected the latest salvo from the former president's lawyers, who argued he should be on the campaign trail rather than "in a courtroom defending himself" starting next week.
ELECTION 2024
ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Jewish voters who back President Joe Biden and framed this year's election as a referendum on the strength of Christianity in the U.S., part of his sharp-edged continuing appeal to evangelical conservatives who are a critical element of his political base.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shop for a home now or hold out for the possibility of lower mortgage rates? That question is confronting many home shoppers this spring homebuying season.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The driver of a Ford electric SUV involved in a February fatal crash in Texas was using the company's partially automated driving system before the wreck, federal investigators said Thursday.
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — Instagram said it's deploying new new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages.
NEW YORK (AP) — As NBC News Group chairman, Cesar Conde, is already busy overseeing the network's broadcast and digital news operations, along with CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo and NBC-owned local affiliates.
ENERGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move that environmentalists called a betrayal, the Biden administration has approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two Texas-based natural gas companies are being sued by Oklahoma, which alleges they fraudulently reduced gas supplies to send prices soaring during Winter Storm Uri, making huge profits while thousands shivered across the state.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Strong economic activity in the United States and emerging markets is projected to help drive global growth by about 3% this year, the International Monetary Fund's chief said Thursday, below the annual historic average and a warning sign about potential lackluster performances through the 2020s.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. producer prices rose rose in March from a year earlier at the fastest pace in nearly a year, but the gain was less than economists expected. And wholesale inflation eased on a month to month basis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for jobless benefits last week as the labor market continues to thrive despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to cool it.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank signalled Thursday it could cut interest rates at its next meeting in June, a big step as the rich world's central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, wrestle with how soon declining inflation will let them lower credit costs for business and consumers.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Jumps for Big Tech stocks helped U.S. stock indexes claw back much of their slide from the day before, when worries that interest rates may stay high for a while rocked Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% Thursday. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.7% to set a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down by less than 0.1%. Apple was the strongest single force pushing the market upward, and Amazon climbed to set a record, topping its prior high set in 2021. In the bond market, Treasury yields were relatively steady following some mixed data on the economy.
Amazon is adding artificial intelligence visionary Andrew Ng to its board of directors, a move that comes amid intense AI competition among startups and big technology companies.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Don Beyer's car dealerships were among the first in the U.S. to set up a website. As a representative, the Virginia Democrat leads a bipartisan group focused on promoting fusion energy. He reads books about geometry for fun.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is bringing together Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Thursday as the three nations use their first-ever trilateral summit to try to show they are in lockstep about countering China's military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands more firearms dealers across the United States will have to run background checks on buyers when selling at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores, according to a Biden administration rule that will soon go into effect.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed U.S. lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday, underscoring the importance of a strong partnership between the two countries at a time of tension in the Asia-Pacific and skepticism in Congress about U.S. involvement abroad.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program was blocked Wednesday by a conservative revolt, pushing the prospects of final passage into uncertainty amid a looming deadline. The legislative impasse follows an edict earlier in the day from former President Donald Trump to "kill" the measure.
WASHINGTON (AP) — His job on the line, House Speaker Mike Johnson is dashing to Florida to meet with Donald Trump this week and has offered far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a seat on his own "kitchen cabinet" as he draws closer to the MAGA forces that now dominate the GOP.