VOL. 47 | NO. 17 | Friday, April 21, 2023
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
In one of the least controversial bills – we can only hope – filed in the state Legislature this year seeks to limit unsolicited calls by telemarketers seeking to coerce property owners into selling their homes.
REAL ESTATE
Top Davidson County commercial real estate sales for March 2023, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for the first time in more than a month, at least a temporary setback for would-be home buyers and a housing market already reeling from more than a year of interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The spring homebuying season in the U.S. is off to a tepid start as buyers contend with sharply higher mortgage rates and near historic-low inventory of properties on the market.
TENNESSEE TITANS
The time around the NFL Draft often has been called the “season of lies” with rumors and speculation flying all around, often with little substantiation or fact.
The case for the Titans not drafting a quarterback early in this year’s draft comes down to this: Just how much are the Titans rebuilding in 2023. Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry are both still on the roster and expected to once again be the of the offense.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Everyone trying to figure out what the Tennessee Titans will do with the 11th overall pick in the draft points to one position: quarterback.
UT SPORTS
There seems to always be buzz about the quarterbacks when it comes to the NFL Draft. But it’s highly likely the first player from the University of Tennessee picked next week will be a player responsible for protecting the quarterback.
NEWSMAKERS
Belmont University has named Dr. Anderson Spickard as dean of the Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine. Spickard has been serving as interim dean for the college since June 2022 and began his tenure at Belmont in fall 2021 as associate dean for spiritual growth & development and professor of internal medicine.
BRIEFS
Gov. Bill Lee signed the Transportation Modernization Act, historic legislation that will create a new strategy and invest $3.3 billion to accommodate Tennessee’s record growth, address traffic congestion and meet transportation needs across rural and urban communities. The bill received bipartisan legislative support and was backed by dozens of organizations across the state.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
With its original e-tron, Audi was one of the first luxury European automakers to offer an electric vehicle. Last year, it expanded its lineup with the more affordable Q4 e-tron. Slotting between two gas-powered models, the smaller Q3 and the larger Q5, the Q4 e-tron is an all-electric compact luxury SUV.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Retired engineers Kelly and Derek Barkey assumed they would be approved when they applied for a $50,000 home equity line of credit two years ago to fix up their new house.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Prices for travel remain stubbornly high. The cost of airfare in February was 27% higher than the same month a year earlier, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. And rental car prices – having shot up during the pandemic – remain high today, as they’re 37% pricier in February than they were in the same month in 2019.
CAREER CORNER
Asking illegal questions to candidates during job interviews is so normal that we almost forget where the boundaries exist. In the U.S., employers are not allowed to ask questions around marital status, pregnancy, age, nationality and so much more. Yet, they do.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have the final financing piece for the NFL's next pricey stadium with the largest public investment yet that they hope to open for the 2027 season.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — At first, she thought helping Donald Trump shop for a women's lingerie gift at a luxury department store would simply be "a funny New York thing."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida man has been sentenced to four years and two months in federal prison for attacking police officers during the insurrection and storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors have asked a judge to bar Donald Trump from using evidence from his criminal case to attack witnesses, citing what they say is the former president's history of making "harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements" about people he's tangled with in legal disputes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts has declined a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a hearing next week on ethical standards at the court, instead providing the panel with a statement of ethics reaffirmed by the court's nine justices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Wednesday to give a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman another day in court to try to recoup some money after the county kept the entire $40,000 when it sold her condominium over a small unpaid tax bill.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A trial connected to a $1.6 billion class action lawsuit against utility PacifiCorp over the catastrophic Labor Day 2020 wildfires in Oregon started Tuesday in Portland.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jurors began deliberating Wednesday to decide whether former Proud Boys extremist group leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants are guilty of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases the Justice Department has brought in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Eleven people have been charged in Michigan in a scheme to evade air-pollution rules by tampering with software and hardware in heavy-duty diesel engines, federal authorities said Wednesday.
TOKYO (AP) — Honda is gearing up for an electrification shift in North America with two models developed with General Motors going on sale next year and a bigger EV with a new platform in 2025, a year earlier than initially announced.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — I won't forget the first time I took a ride in a car without anyone sitting in the driver's seat.
TRANSPORTATION
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk Southern expects February's fiery Ohio derailment to cost it $387 million, but that total will likely increase over time and that doesn't reflect how much the railroad's insurance companies will eventually cover.
TECHNOLOGY
In what could prove a milestone for an industry that hopes to help address climate change, the Silicon Valley company Ohmium announced Wednesday it has raised $250 million to increase production of machines that can make clean hydrogen and displace fossil fuels.
ENVIRONMENT
BRUSSELS (AP) — New rules requiring airlines to use more sustainable fuels across the European Union have been agreed by negotiators from member countries and the EU Parliament in a bid to help decarbonize the sector.
MEDIA
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Amid a week of massive layoffs at Disney, the leadership team of its film arm gathered in Las Vegas on Wednesday to tout its successes and upcoming slate of films to a crowd of theater owners and exhibitors.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's advertising malaise persisted during the first quarter while the internet company also grapples with advancements in artificial intelligence technology that threaten to undercut its dominant search engine.
BANKING
First Republic Bank's stock continued to slide Wednesday, an ongoing rout that has erased more than 50% of its value just this week on concerns about the bank's financial health in the wake of two other bank collapses.
ECONOMY
BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Wednesday doubled its growth forecast this year for Europe's largest economy after the country made it through the winter without major energy problems.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden's central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate, saying inflation "is still far too high and underlying inflation has been much higher than expected."
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed lower again, though a rally for Microsoft and some other Big Tech stocks helped limit the losses.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Viessmann Group is selling its heat pump business, viewed as a key technology for the transition away from fossil fuel heating, to Florida-based Carrier Global Corp. as part of a 12 billion-euro ($13.2 billion) deal.
Boeing lost $425 million in the first quarter — more than Wall Street expected — but said Wednesday that it plans to boost production of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, later this year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Toy company Mattel revealed its first Barbie doll representing a person with Down syndrome on Tuesday.
LONDON (AP) — One of the earliest portraits of a person of color by a British artist will remain on public display after London's National Portrait Gallery and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles struck a 50 million-pound ($62 million) deal to buy it.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed ahead Wednesday toward a swift vote on his sweeping debt ceiling package despite a veto threat from the White House, struggling to shore up support even after making post-midnight concessions to Republican holdouts in the slim GOP majority.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are trying to exact a price from Democrats for agreeing to increase the nation's borrowing authority and prevent the government from defaulting on the obligations it has accrued over decades. They're arguing for their priorities and going after President Joe Biden's in a separate bill.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol unveiled a new plan Wednesday to counter North Korea's nuclear threat, with the U.S. leader issuing a blunt warning that such an attack would "result in the end of whatever regime" took such action.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's nomination for the next labor secretary, Julie Su, advanced through a Senate committee Wednesday, but a handful of Democrats are withholding support, creating uncertainty ahead of a vote in the full chamber.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden rolled out the first ad of his 2024 re-election campaign on Wednesday, casting himself as a warrior in defense of freedom, but immediately found himself grappling with questions about his advanced age and droopy poll numbers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — They're not quibbling about minor points. There are stark differences in how President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to shore up the government's finances.
WASHINGTON (AP) — No honking geese are likely to interrupt his speeches this time.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union moved Wednesday to overhaul its euro single currency rulebook as the 27-nation bloc's economies creak under high debt caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from Russia's war on Ukraine.
TUESDAY, APRIL 25
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — New general manager Ran Carthon confirmed Monday that the Tennessee Titans did ask two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard to take a pay cut earlier this year.
STATE GOVERNMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three Tennessee lawmakers who became Democratic heroes for facing expulsion after participating in gun control protests visited the White House on Monday, describing themselves as "representatives of a movement" that is demanding greater restrictions on firearms to save lives.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury of six men and three women was chosen Tuesday to hear a former advice columnist's lawsuit accusing former President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s. Opening statements were expected later in the day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A defense attorney argued Tuesday at the close of a landmark trial over the Jan. 6 riot that the Justice Department is making Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio a scapegoat for Donald Trump after the former president's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
HOUSTON (AP) — A chemical company was ordered to pay $16 million and sentenced to two years of probation for its role in a poisonous gas leak that killed four workers at a Houston-area plant nearly a decade ago, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
An appeals court on Monday upheld Apple's exclusive control over the distribution of iPhone apps, rejecting the latest attempt to force one of the world's most powerful companies to dismantle the digital walls protecting its most lucrative product.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Food and Drug Administration regulators on Tuesday approved a first-of-a-kind drug for a rare form of Lou Gehrig's disease, though they are requiring further research to confirm it truly helps patients.
MEDIA
LAS VEGAS (AP) — For the movie theater industry, the math behind recovery is simple: More movies in theaters equals more money for theaters and Hollywood.
NEW YORK (AP) — The day he was fired, Tucker Carlson was nearly invisible on the Fox News prime-time lineup that he used to dominate.
LONDON (AP) — TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are facing rising pressure from European authorities as London and Brussels advanced new rules Tuesday to curb the power of digital companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The $787.5 million settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems spared executives and on-air talent from taking the stand in a defamation lawsuit that centered on Fox airing false claims of a stolen election in the weeks after former President Donald Trump's 2020 loss.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Strong U.S. sales helped General Motors increase its first-quarter net profit 19% over a year ago, leading the company to raise its full-year earnings guidance on expectations that people will keep buying new vehicles.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and South Korea's Samsung SDI plan to invest more than $3 billion in a new electric vehicle battery cell plant in the United States, the companies said Tuesday.
TECHNOLOGY
The U.S. government will "not hesitate to crack down" on harmful business practices involving artificial intelligence, the head of the Federal Trade Commission warned Tuesday in a message partly directed at the developers of widely-used AI tools such as ChatGPT.
A Japanese company is about to attempt what no other private business has done: land on the moon.
BANKING
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS said Tuesday that it took in $28 billion in new money from wealthy clients in the first three months of the year, with $7 billion of that coming in the 10 days after the announcement it was taking over ailing rival Credit Suisse.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — In a sign fears about the global financial system have eased for now, major central banks are scaling back their offer of emergency dollar loans to banks, a crisis step launched after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. fed fears about wider troubles.
NEW YORK (AP) — First Republic Bank's stock plunged Tuesday after it said depositors withdrew more than $100 billion during last month's crisis, with fears swirling that it could be the third bank to fail after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
ECONOMY
Consumer confidence dipped again in April as anxiety over a slowing economy and possible recession weighed on American households.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street had its biggest drop in a month as investors worried about company profits and the state of the economy.
WILLISTON, Vt. (AP) — One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry's has gone from ice cream to 'blunts,' promising a line of marijuana products with a social mission.
McDonald's reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as store traffic grew despite higher prices.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to "finish this job" and extend the run of America's oldest president for another four years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has formally announced he's seeking reelection. But he's also still the president, with roughly 20 months left in his term regardless of whether he wins a second one on Election Day 2024.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has gotten his most high-profile endorsement from a Senate Republican yet, winning the backing of Montana's Steve Daines, chief of the Senate's GOP fundraising arm.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama flew to California to dedicate a national monument to Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez, a group of the activist's relatives were invited to pose for photos with the president.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use this week's celebratory state visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to underscore that the U.S. is ready to step up its efforts to deter a North Korean attack on South Korea, according to the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Crabcakes, beef short ribs and a deconstructed banana split have made the cut for this week's White House state dinner honoring South Korea's seven decades of relations with the United States.
MONDAY, APRIL 24
STATE GOVERNMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday plans to welcome to the White House the three Tennessee lawmakers who faced expulsion for participating in gun control protests at their statehouse.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — In a concert Friday night in Knoxville, Lizzo filled the stage with drag queens in a glittery protest against the state's legislation designed to restrict drag performances in public.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts, an issue that previously came up in a case involving former President Donald Trump.
NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump ran for and served as president, over a dozen women publicly accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Most of those claims — all denied by Trump — were never taken to court. None has gone to trial. But that is about to change.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ready for "all-out war," leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group viewed themselves as foot soldiers fighting for Donald Trump as the former president clung to power after the 2020 election, a prosecutor said Monday at the close of a historic trial over the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals from oil and gas companies that are fighting lawsuits from state and local governments over whether they can be held responsible for harms resulting from global warming.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News on Monday ousted prime-time host Tucker Carlson, whose stew of grievances and political theories about Russia and the Jan. 6 insurrection had grown to define the network in recent years and influence GOP politics.
NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime CNN host Don Lemon is out at the cable news network a little over two months after apologizing to viewers for on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, CNN announced Monday
WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter accounts operated by authoritarian governments in Russia, China and Iran are benefiting from recent changes at the social media company, researchers said Monday, making it easier for them to attract new followers and broadcast propaganda and disinformation to a larger audience.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Celebrities and other high-profile Twitter users are once again being verified by the social media platform and they don't know why the blue check marks reappeared — nor do they seem too happy about it.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jeff Shell, the chief executive of NBCUniversal and one of the media industry's renowned executives, is departing the company after an investigation into inappropriate conduct, parent company Comcast announced Sunday.
BANKING
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are finally reaping some benefit from keeping their money in the bank.
NEW YORK (AP) — Moving your savings around by opening a new account and closing an old one can seem like a hassle. But it's a use of time that can pay off.
GENEVA (AP) — Ailing bank Credit Suisse on Monday reported over 61 billion Swiss francs (nearly $69 billion) in outflows in the first three months of the year, when Switzerland's government arranged for its takeover by rival UBS, and said clients are still withdrawing assets.
MILITARY
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — One of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in this city built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can't get enough of — and that the U.S. can't produce fast enough.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks drifted ahead of reports that could offer clues on questions that have kept Wall Street at a standstill, including on where the economy and corporate profits are heading.
Coca-Cola Co. reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as it continued to hike prices and its business in China improved.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden honored the nation's best teachers Monday, saying they go above and beyond by providing food and supplies out of their own pockets and often find themselves "explaining the unexplainable, from banned books to duck-and-cover drills."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy is hurtling toward one of the most consequential weeks of the new House Republican majority as he labors to pass a partisan package that would raise the nation's debt limit by $1.5 trillion in exchange for steep cuts that some in his own party oppose.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In January, the U.S. government ran up against its legal borrowing limit of $31.381 trillion, and the Treasury Department began implementing "extraordinary measures" to avoid missing payments on its bills.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday that his top domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, will leave her post next month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has been hiding in plain sight all along.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to tap Julie Rodriguez, a senior White House adviser, to manage his reelection campaign, two people familiar with deliberations on the matter said Sunday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has begun facilitating the departure of private U.S. citizens who want to leave Sudan, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
FRIDAY, APRIL 21
SPORTS
The Oakland Athletics will be packing their bags for Las Vegas, a long-expected move that will affect baseball's fandom far beyond those two cities.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Chances are shrinking fast for a key gun-control proposal to make it through the Tennessee Legislature in the wake of a deadly school shooting, as GOP lawmakers push back against the Republican governor's proposal to keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023, replaying the horror on a loop roughly once a week so far this year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A state lawmaker in Tennessee resigned suddenly for an ethics violation that became public Thursday, two weeks after he joined fellow Republicans in expelling two Black Democratic legislators for protesting in support of gun control on the state House floor.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Washington reprimanded an attorney whose withdrawal from a Jan. 6 defendant's case led to a delay in the man's trial — potentially keeping him behind bars longer — but the judge declined to refer him for disciplinary action.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is facing a self-imposed Friday night deadline to decide whether women's access to a widely used abortion pill will stay unchanged or be restricted while a legal challenge to its Food and Drug Administration approval goes on.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense attorneys on Thursday finished presenting their trial testimony for the landmark case against former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio and four other group members charged with conspiring to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The case against a Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies across two presidencies wound down with closing arguments Thursday that capped off a trial that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Fox Corp. chief executive Lachlan Murdoch on Friday dropped his defamation lawsuit against Australian news website Crikey, citing the settlement of the separate U.S. case where Fox News agreed to pay almost $800 million over its lies involving the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
MEDIA
Twitter has removed labels describing global media organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated, a move that comes after the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification checkmarks from accounts that don't pay a monthly fee.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — After cutting U.S. vehicle prices four times this year, Tesla raised the cost overnight on its slow-selling more expensive models.
DETROIT (AP) — To say that the new president of the United Auto Workers union is unhappy with Detroit's three automakers would be an understatement.
TRANSPORTATION
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — CSX hauled in 15% more profit in the first quarter as the railroad's higher rates and fuel surcharges offset its higher costs.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Rail unions want railroads to take some of the billions they're using every year to buy back their stock and spend it to improve safety in the wake of several high-profile derailments and hire more workers.
BANKING
LONDON (AP) — A group of Credit Suisse investors have sued Swiss financial regulators after a government-engineered takeover of the struggling bank by rival UBS left them with billions in losses.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks are closing with very slight gains on Wall Street as investors close out a quiet week highlighted by a batch of mostly mixed corporate earnings reports.
NEW YORK (AP) — Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of such iconic household products as Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper, raised its annual sales outlook on Friday, after turning in better-than expected fiscal third-quarter earnings results as a series of price hikes boosted its performance.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The guardians of Champagne will let no one take the name of the bubbly beverage in vain, not even a U.S. beer behemoth.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about half of Democrats think President Joe Biden should run again in 2024, a poll shows, but a large majority say they'd be likely to support him if he became the nominee.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The last Republican holdout in the grueling race for Kevin McCarthy to become House speaker, firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz, may be a surprisingly easier vote to get when it comes to passing the House Republican plan to raise the debt ceiling.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday plans to sign an executive order that would create the White House Office of Environmental Justice.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A major anti-abortion group blasted former President Donald Trump on the issue Thursday, saying his contention that abortion restrictions should be left up to individual states, not the federal government, is a "morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The song is simple and tinny, but that hasn't stopped it from being embraced by former President Donald Trump and his allies in their campaign to rewrite the history of the deadly Capitol riot.
THURSDAY, APRIL 20
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Three transgender children and their parents sued Tennessee on Thursday over a new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three Tennessee lawmakers who faced expulsion votes after participating in protests over last month's school shooting in Nashville will visit the White House to meet with President Joe Biden on Monday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Tennessee on Wednesday put themselves a step away from expanding a school voucher program from two counties to four and raising the minimum teacher salary in a bill that also bans educators from deducting dues for professional organizations from their paychecks.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary chairman has invited Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month on ethical standards at the court, a hearing that would undoubtedly focus on business transactions and travel involving Justice Clarence Thomas.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked House Republicans from questioning a former Manhattan prosecutor about the criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump, the latest twist in a legal battle between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office and the House Judiciary Committee.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump's lawyers won't be allowed to tell jurors next week that he'd like to testify at a rape trial but might decide against it because he wants to spare New York City from logistical burdens posed by his presence, a federal judge said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has emerged largely unscathed politically from his New York indictment. But a new poll suggests that investigations in Georgia and Washington could prove more problematic.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge will let House Republicans question a former Manhattan prosecutor about the criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump, ruling Wednesday that there is no legal basis to block the Judiciary Committee's subpoena.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving women's access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Friday, while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug mifepristone to take effect.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court initially gave itself a deadline of Wednesday to decide whether women seeking access to a widely used abortion pill would face more restrictions while a court case plays out. But on the day of the highly anticipated decision the justices had only this to say: We need more time.
TECHNOLOGY
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX's giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight Thursday and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla shares fell sharply Thursday as the company felt the sting of numerous price cuts it made across its model lineup this year in hopes of energizing sales.
DETROIT (AP) — The number of people killed on U.S. roadways decreased slightly last year, but government officials said the 42,795 people who died is still a national crisis.
MEDIA
This time it's for real. Many of Twitter's high-profile users are losing the blue check marks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres bluntly challenged the climate efforts of President Joe Biden and other world leaders Thursday in a message for a White House summit, charging that expanded oil and gas drilling and other policies of the richest countries amount to a "death sentence" for the planet.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden touted "unprecedented" climate efforts by his administration on Thursday in an annual White House summit that was overshadowed by Russia's war in Ukraine and other immediate threats to the world's short-term oil and gas supply.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains low by historic standards.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street Thursday, pulled down by big losses for Tesla and AT&T and signals that the U.S. economy may be slowing.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Amazon is asking Virginia for nearly $153 million in state incentive payments, which would be the first tranche of funds to be paid out since the tech giant agreed in 2018 to build a headquarters complex in the state.
NEW YORK (AP) — American Express said its first-quarter profits fell by 13% from a year ago despite record quarterly revenue as the credit card company had to set aside more than $1 billion for potentially bad loans.
TUMWATER, Wash. (AP) — The email went out to legal cannabis growers around Washington state, alerting them that another of their colleagues had gone under.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the math in House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's plan to trim the federal deficit is "unforgiving" —- estimating a deep 22% cut to non-defense spending that would leave children poorer, veterans sicker, families hungrier and housing more expensive.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House passed a bill Thursday that would bar federally supported schools and colleges from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male to compete on girls or women's sports teams.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans for months have railed against the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, holding hearings, visiting border communities and promising to advance legislation to clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that the U.S. and China "can and need to find a way to live together" in spite of their strained relations, which have worsened in recent months.
TOKYO (AP) — Washington is not seeking to decouple the American economy from China's, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Thursday while on a visit to Tokyo.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's nominee for labor secretary, Julie Su, won praise at her Senate hearing Thursday as "a champion of the working class" even as some key Democrats were unwilling to voice support, creating uncertainty about her confirmation prospects.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union lawmakers on Thursday approved a series of proposals aimed at ending the yearslong standoff over how best to manage migration, a conundrum that has provoked one of the bloc's biggest political crises.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark and the Netherlands announced Thursday that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least 14 refurbished German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks, to be supplied from early 2024.