VOL. 43 | NO. 17 | Friday, April 26, 2019
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
A smallish group of folks passed by on Church Street the other day holding signs declaring their opposition to the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Tennessee Capitol.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Tucked away on the very last page of a recent House version of the Education Savings Account (ESA) bill are 28 words: “A local board of education does not have authority to assert a cause of action, or intervene in any cause of action, challenging the legality of this part.”
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Building permits increased 30 percent during the first quarter of 2019 compared to last year and totaled $1.43 billion, says real estate developer Charlie Vaughn of Cherry and Associates.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates rose this week for the fourth straight week, though they remain historically low as a spur to home sales in the spring buying season.
JIM MYERS: CULINARITY
Cast iron carries the weight of history. It remains largely made the same way it has been for hundreds of years, and short of violent neglect, cast iron cookware should last for generations, which makes the story of Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburg all the more incredible.
When the Highway 72 bypass cut between the town of South Pittsburg and the Tennessee River, Bob Kellerman knew they would need something special besides Lodge to lure folks into the charming town.
NEWSMAKERS
Timothy M. Lupinacci has assumed the role of chairman and chief executive officer of Baker Donelson.
BRIEFS
Music City White Sauce, a specialty at Jack’s Bar-B-Que, has won first place at the National Barbecue & Grilling Association Awards.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Car shoppers often spend too much. But the culprit isn’t necessarily shady dealership practices, deceptive advertising or plain old bad luck. Instead, many simply end up buying more vehicle than they actually need.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
As conferences go, this one was successful. Work was accomplished with minimal dissent, officers were elected and consensus was reached. Afterward, in elegant surroundings, you dined together on artfully presented food in taste-combinations you never imagined and desserts that made you want seconds.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Americans are slipping ever deeper into hock. To cope, many people turn to debt consolidation loans, cash-out mortgage refinancing and retirement plan loans that promise relief but could leave them worse off.
CAREER CORNER
I run into many questions surrounding parents. And, I’m not talking about the parents of young children. I’m talking about the parents of full-grown adults.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are winding down the work of their annual legislative session.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers have passed a $22.3 million Tennessee tax break for 15 professions, sending the bill to Republican Gov. Bill Lee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill authorizing Tennessee's attorney general to defend a public school's transgender bathroom and locker room policy is dead for the year.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers on Wednesday voted to ship Republican Gov. Bill Lee a negotiated version of his proposal to divert more tax money to private education, which will give participating families debit cards worth up to $7,300 in state education money each year. The bill narrowly emerged from fights over cost estimates and provisions that could exclude families in the U.S. illegally.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Freight carrier Western Express is planning to invest $88 million to expand operations at its Tennessee headquarters.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Civil rights leader and activist the Rev. Al Sharpton and Georgetown University professor and author Michael Eric Dyson are speaking at graduation ceremonies at Tennessee State University.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen saw its profit slip in the first quarter as the company set aside 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for legal risks related to its 2015 diesel scandal.
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — A week after revealing a huge first quarter loss and the need to raise cash, Tesla is doing just that with CEO Elon Musk buying $10 million in new shares being offered as part of a stock and debt offering that could raise more than $2 billion.
ENVIRONMENT
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. should eliminate almost all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by rapidly adopting policies that will change everything from the way people heat their homes to what they eat, an independent committee that advises the British government on climate change recommended Thursday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity grew at a solid 3.6% rate in the first three months of this year, the strongest quarterly gain in more than four years and a hopeful sign that a long stretch of weak productivity gains may be coming to an end.
PARIS (AP) — France and Germany have unveiled details of a plan to create a leading electric battery industry in Europe, from the extraction of raw materials to recycling.
Beyond Meat is ready for more. The El Segundo, California-based maker of plant-based burgers and sausages will make its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange Thursday. It's the first pure-play maker of vegan "meat" to go public, according to Renaissance Capital, which researches and tracks IPOs.
NATIONAL POLITICS
After more than two years of the Donald Trump presidency, Andrea Petrusky is ready for some fundamental changes in the way the United States government works.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trump's Justice Department.
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday that he would not agree to be extradited to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was Attorney General William Barr's testimony, but Robert Mueller's words stole the show.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Latest on Tennessee's voucher-like legislation moving through the General Assembly (all times local):
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers tasked with negotiating school voucher-like legislation have settled on a compromise to allow more taxpayer dollars that can be used to pay for private schools and other expenses.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers have signed off on a $38.5 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes funding for providing Medicaid assistance to disabled children, pay hikes for correctional officers and boosting the state's rainy day account.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers have signed off on legislation that would prevent the state from revoking or suspending driver's licenses over unpaid court costs.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers on Tuesday spiked a proposal that would have allowed faith-based adoption agencies to refuse to place children with gay parents and other families because of their religious beliefs.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are inching closer to advancing a proposal that would significantly change how the state provides health care to its lower-income and disabled residents.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A watered-down bill to spell out that Tennessee's public indecency law applies to single-sex, multiperson bathrooms and changing rooms is heading to Republican Gov. Bill Lee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill to award FedEx $21.3 million in tax breaks over seven years for its $1.3 billion Memphis hub expansion is heading to Gov. Bill Lee's desk.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill to keep Tennessee on daylight saving time year-round is headed to the governor's desk for his approval.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Titans Foundation has donated $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity as part of a work project taking place in Nashville this fall.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional budget experts said Wednesday that moving to a government-run health care system like "Medicare for All" could be complicated and potentially disruptive for Americans.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Trump administration and several Republican-led states faced a midnight Wednesday deadline for filing papers with a federal appeals panel reviewing a lower court ruling that former President Barack Obama's health care law is unconstitutional.
ENVIRONMENT
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine has become the first state to ban single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. construction spending dropped in March or the first time in four months, and spending on U.S. home construction fell to the lowest level in more than two years.
TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government searches of travelers' cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings nearly quadrupled since 2015 and were being done for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement, according to papers filed Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims scouring the electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks gave up some early gains and ended broadly lower after the head of the Federal Reserve appeared to play down the possibility of an interest rate cut this year, something some investors had been hoping for.
NEW YORK (AP) — Small business hiring gained in April, extending a run of erratic job creation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and signaled that it's unlikely to either raise or cut rates in coming months amid signs of renewed economic health but unusually low inflation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's uphill effort to appoint conservative commentator Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve board may soon come to a head, the Senate's No. 2 Republican leader said Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — As Small Business Week approaches, the nation's smallest companies in the aggregate are by many accounts doing fairly well. They're not, however, thriving en masse in direct response to Trump administration and Republican policies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers expanded at a slower pace in April, as measures of new orders, production and employment each slipped.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies in April added the most jobs in 9 months, a sign that hiring remains strong amid solid economic growth.
BERLIN (AP) — Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.
BEIJING (AP) — American and Chinese trade negotiators met Wednesday for talks on their bruising tariff war after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. side might be moving toward a decision on whether to make a deal with Beijing.
WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) — CVS Health is reporting a 42% spike in profits during the first quarter and it's raising its outlook for the year.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his team are still twisting the findings of the special counsel's report on the Russia investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fear was persistent. As the Russia investigation heated up and threatened to shadow Donald Trump's presidency, he became increasingly concerned. But the portrait painted by special counsel Robert Mueller is not of a president who believed he or anyone on his campaign colluded with Russians to interfere in the 2016 election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is asking Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency spending for border security as the administration contends with a surge of Central American migrants at the southern border.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are stinging from a trio of high-profile failures to recruit candidates who could help reclaim the majority, including Stacey Abrams' announcement that she would pass up a U.S. Senate run in Georgia.
TUESDAY, APRIL 30
NASHVILLE AREA
Recent polling by Vanderbilt University shows increasing concerns from Nashville residents about the city’s explosive growth.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee plans to let legislation to allow sports betting become law without his signature, putting a state that has largely shied from expanding gambling in position to become the first to offer an online-only sportsbook.
NASHVILLE (AP) — More than half of Republican Gov. Bill Lee's newly appointed cabinet members, including his education czar and Tennessee's Medicaid chief, didn't submit applications or provide any documents outlining why they deserved the jobs he gave them.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A split between the Tennessee House and Senate on a high-profile school voucher bill has forced both chambers to designate negotiators to come up with a compromise.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee will decide whether Tennessee will ban the use of handheld electronic devices, including cellphones, while driving.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will soon decide the fate of Republican-backed voter legislation that won final legislative approval Monday, with some critics arguing the measure is intended to suppress efforts to register minorities and other voters.
EDUCATION
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The next University of Tennessee at Knoxville chancellor is set to be the highest paid chancellor in the school's history, with a base salary of $600,000.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans signed contracts to purchase homes in March compared to the prior month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices increased at a slower pace in February, a sign that several years of outsized gains in home values have created affordability challenges in many metro areas.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Americans paid more for some General Motors vehicles in the first quarter, but overall sales declined and the automaker's results fell short of expectations.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Health says two more cases of measles have been confirmed in the state, bringing the total number of cases in Tennessee this year to three.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the company's annual F8 developer conference Tuesday with more details about his new "privacy-focused" vision for the social network — including a major redesign of Facebook's app and website that is built around letting people connect with small groups.
SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Facebook will launch its latest attempt to widen the appeal of artificial worlds on May 21 with this release of its Oculus Quest headset.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — While Google has dominated the online ad market for almost the entirety of its existence, its first quarter earnings report suggests that competitors may be nipping at its heels.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks managed to post meager gains on Wall Street, enough to notch another record closing high for the S&P 500 index.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials will allow Philip Morris International to sell a cigarette alternative that heats tobacco without burning it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House adviser Kellyanne Conway says the president is still backing conservative commentator Stephen Moore for a spot on the Federal Reserve board, and she adds she's not concerned about some of his controversial comments on women.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers are feeling more confident this month, though optimism hasn't fully recovered from a period of roiling markets and slowed hiring early this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market keeps going higher, but fees to own funds keep going lower.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wages and benefits for U.S. workers rose 0.7% in the first three months of the year, a modest gain that matched the previous quarter's increase.
LONDON (AP) — The recent slowdown in the eurozone economy, which had stoked fears that another recession was around the corner, appears to have come to an end.
LONDON (AP) — It's not just the British government that has problems over Brexit. The main opposition Labour Party is agonizing over whether to back a second EU membership referendum in Britain.
PARIS (AP) — The European Union's highest court has rejected a case brought by hotels arguing Airbnb should be subject to strict rules governing French estate agents.
BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday he hopes for "substantial progress" in talks with Chinese officials aimed at ending a tariff war over Beijing's technology ambitions.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday will face lawmakers' questions for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, in what promises to be a dramatic showdown as he defends his actions before Democrats who accuse him of spinning the investigation's findings in President Donald Trump's favor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to work together on a $2 trillion infrastructure package — but put off for later the difficult question of how to pay for it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff is making a criminal referral to the Justice Department for the founder of the security firm Blackwater, alleging he lied to his committee in 2017.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, his family and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to block congressional subpoenas seeking their banking and financial records.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is proposing charging asylum seekers a fee to process their applications as he continues to try to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants seeking to cross into the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Whatever happens next, don't call it impeachment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation Monday after a two-year run defined by his appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia.
MONDAY, APRIL 29
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are inching closer to resolving divisions surrounding the state's $38.5 billion budget, working hours behind closed doors hashing out the final details for next year's spending plan.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has steadily reduced his availability for media questions during his first 100 days in office and instead has increased his use of photo-only events throughout the state.
TENNESSEE TITANS
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Members of the Tennessee Titans are set to visit Fort Campbell.
TRANSPORTATION
The CEO of Boeing defended the company's safety record and declined to take any more than partial blame for two deadly crashes of its best-selling plane even while saying Monday that the company has nearly finished an update that "will make the airplane even safer."
Southwest Airlines says Boeing did not disclose that it had deactivated a safety feature on its 737 Max jets until after one of the airliners crashed last year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes edged further into record territory Monday following more signs that the economy is growing in the not too hot, not too cold way that investors love.
TORONTO (AP) — Burger King could soon be selling plant-based burgers nationwide.
Marriott is pushing more heavily into home-sharing, confident that its combination of luxury properties and loyalty points can lure travelers away from rivals like Airbnb.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer spending surged 0.9% in March, the biggest gain in nearly a decade, as inflation pressures remain non-existent.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Music streaming service Spotify says its paying subscribers have reached 100 million for the first time, up 32% on the year and almost twice the latest figures for Apple Music.
A survey of corporate economists predicts the economy will expand over the next year, although the pace of growth will decline and employers are facing pressure to raise wages, spend more on worker training and automate tasks because of the low unemployment rate.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Political uncertainty and volatile oil prices are weighing heavily on economic growth in the Middle East this year, according to a new report released Monday by the International Monetary Fund.
NEW YORK (AP) — The universe belongs to Marvel. "Avengers: Endgame" shattered the record for biggest opening weekend with an estimated $350 million in ticket sales domestically and $1.2 billion globally, reaching a new pinnacle in the blockbuster era that the comic-book studio has come to dominate.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders told President Donald Trump on Monday that American's unmet infrastructure needs are "massive" and they want to hear from him on how to pay for improvements.
In 2007, the U.S. government made a promise to public service workers: Make 10 years of payments on their federal student loans and any remaining debt would be erased. But officials have largely failed to deliver.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is spreading misleading rhetoric about illegal immigration.
FRIDAY, APRIL 26
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Amid pressure, Amazon has joined a growing list of big companies telling Tennessee lawmakers to avoid bills that negatively impact LGBT people.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday declared it was a "historic day" after the Republican's voucher-like bill advanced out of the Senate despite being drastically scaled back and directly at odds with the House version of his legislation.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee could penalize paid voter registration groups with fines for too many incomplete signup forms and criminal penalties for submitting registration forms too late, under legislation passed Thursday by the state Senate.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee attorney has been sentenced to 92 months in prison for stealing more than $1.36 million from clients. The majority was from the daughter of a state trooper killed in the line of duty.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift will open next week's Billboard Music Awards with a performance of her new single "ME!"
NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift released a colorful, upbeat single Friday morning, ending the weeks-long search the pop star set off when she teased fans with clues about a new project.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans spent the second day of the draft addressing their issues on offense.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans believe Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons' potential makes him worth the wait.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes will make $26 million over the next five seasons as part of a hefty raise he will receive after speaking with UCLA about its coaching vacancy earlier this month.
EDUCATION
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The University of Tennessee has picked University of Nebraska-Lincoln official Donde (DON-dee) Plowman to become the flagship Knoxville campus' next chancellor.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LONDON (AP) — German carmaker Daimler endured a weak start to the year, echoing trouble at other major manufacturers, as a global economic slowdown weighed on sales, particularly in the big Chinese market.
TOKYO (AP) — German automaker Daimler, which makes armored limousines used by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, says it has no idea where he got them and has no business dealings with the North.
TOKYO (AP) — Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn walked out of a Japanese detention center Thursday evening, his head held high, after paying 500 million yen ($4.5 million) in bail and winning a court rejection of an appeal from prosecutors.
HEALTH CARE
NEW YORK (AP) — As recent illnesses tied to raw turkey , ground beef , cut melon and romaine lettuce suggest, U.S. food poisoning cases don't appear to be going away anytime soon.
CVS Health is venturing into dental care with plans to offer a relatively new teeth-straightening service.
TRANSPORTATION
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines executives acknowledge they are upset with Boeing over the grounding of its 737 Max jetliner, a move that has caused the airline to cancel thousands of flights.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's push into advertising and cloud computing is paying off, helping the online shopping giant's first quarter profit more than double from a year ago.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street capped a week of milestones by delivering a couple more Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk and U.S. securities regulators have settled their dispute over the Tesla CEO's tweets, with Musk agreeing to having his future communications regarding the electric-car maker pre-approved by a company-employed expert.
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Exxon Mobil's first-quarter profit fell by half to $2.35 billion as the company spent more on oil production and was hit by lower margins in its refinery business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.2% annual rate in the first three months of the year, a far better outcome than expected, overcoming a host of headwinds including global weakness, rising trade tensions and a partial government shutdown.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two-day delivery is going out of style.
NEW YORK (AP) — Uber is planning to sell 180 million shares for between $44 and $50 each, valuing the ride-hailing giant lower than previous estimates in a sign of caution.
U.S. stock indexes finished mostly lower Thursday as disappointing earnings reports from several industrial sector companies weighed on the market, offsetting strong results from Facebook, Microsoft and others.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose 2.7% in March with a key category that tracks business investment decisions rising at the strongest pace in eight months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group remains on the U.S. government's annual list of "notorious markets" that peddle counterfeit products.
ST PAUL, Minn. (AP) — 3M plans to cut 2,000 globally as part of a restructuring due to a slower-than-expected 2019.
LONDON (AP) — Environmental activists who have disrupted the British capital for 10 days blocked the main entrance to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, gluing themselves to the doorway while wearing LED displays reading "climate emergency."
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Comcast kept shedding cable customers and adding home internet customers in its most recent quarter.
NATIONAL POLITICS
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With pro-gun legislation largely stalled in Congress, President Donald Trump said Friday he is withdrawing the U.S. from an international agreement on the arms trade, telling the National Rifle Association the treaty is "badly misguided."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man was removed from the audience at President Donald Trump's speech to the National Rifle Association after tossing his cellphone toward the stage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is taking swipes at his critics as he prepares to leave the Justice Department, using one of his final speeches to defend his handling of the special counsel's Russia investigation and condemn decisions made before he took the job.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeff Sessions was "weak," the president of the United States shouted.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are giving Democrats a clear edge on health care as the 2020 presidential race gears up, according to a new poll that also finds many Republicans backing one of their competitors' top ideas: a government insurance plan people can buy into.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest gun rights organization played a pivotal role in President Donald Trump's victory in 2016.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The president's communications director didn't sugarcoat it: The emails, Hope Hicks told Donald Trump, were "really bad."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden formally joined the crowded Democratic presidential contest on Thursday, declaring the "soul of this nation" at stake if President Donald Trump wins re-election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trump's Justice Department.