VOL. 46 | NO. 14 | Friday, April 8, 2022
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged up again this week with the key 30-year loan rate reaching levels not seen in more than three years.
Top residential real estate sales, March 2022, for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
March 2022 real estate trends for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
March 2022 real estate trends for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
UT SPORTS
They’ve got pitching. They’ve got power. They’ve got swag. If anyone thought Tennessee baseball would take a step back on the diamond this season, the Volunteers have proven otherwise in resounding fashion.
BRIEFS
Lyft and Spin have announced a partnership to bring Spin scooters to the Lyft app in 60 U.S. markets, including Nashville.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Perhaps this scenario is familiar to you. Your car broke down and now you’re faced with a costly repair bill. It may not have been the first time this has happened, and you’re getting tired of pouring money into an aging machine. A new car would be nice, but is that the smartest decision in today’s inflated market?
CAREER CORNER
I recently read a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that resonated with me: “When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.”
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Millennials might still feel quite young (despite those pesky gray hairs and less-than-fine lines), but in so many ways, we have adulted. So it’s time for our money management to grow up a bit, too.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville captain Roman Josi finally has chased down Paul Kariya for the Predators' single-season scoring record.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Ryan Johansen scored from a sharp angle at 3:18 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 1-0 victory over the slumping San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
NASHVILLE SC
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville SC held an open practice Tuesday at the largest soccer-specific stadium in the United States.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee Republican lawmaker's push to create a new marriage contract specifically designed to exclude same-sex couples is dead for this year's annual legislative session amid concerns from both Republicans and Democrats.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Mayor John Cooper says he plans on signing an executive order to make Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., an official paid holiday for city employees.
WEST TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS (AP) — The election commission in Tennessee's largest county cannot be kept from opening only one polling location during the first days of early voting for a county election, a judge has ruled.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mentions of Donald Trump have been rare at the first few trials for people charged with storming the U.S. Capitol, but that has changed: The latest Capitol riot defendant to go on trial is blaming his actions on the former president and his false claims about a stolen election.
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Protecting local Boy Scouts of America councils and troop sponsoring organizations from future liability for child sex abuse claims is critical to the national group's reorganization plan, BSA attorneys told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California wants electric vehicle sales to triple in the next four years to 35% of all new car purchases, an aggressive target set as part of the goal to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Japanese electric vehicle battery technology company will build a factory in Kentucky, creating 2,000 jobs in a $2 billion investment that reinforces the state's leadership in battery production, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shortly after moving to South Florida for a new job with the U.S. military, Shannon Kaufman and his wife, Wendy, signed up for a whole other mission: buying a home.
TRANSPORTATION
DALLAS (AP) — Union officials say pilots of Southwest Airlines pilots are suffering through an epidemic of fatigue due to poor scheduling practices by the airline, and that it is raising safety concerns.
TECHNOLOGY
BOSTON (AP) — Multiple U.S. government agencies issued a joint alert Wednesday warning of the discovery of malicious cyber tools created by unnamed advanced threat actors that they said were capable of gaining "full system access" to multiple industrial control systems.
MEDIA
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Should Netflix and other streaming services have to pay local governments the same fees levied on cable operators?
VIRUS OUTBREAK
On the deadliest day of a horrific week in April 2020, COVID took the lives of 816 people in New York City alone. Lost in the blizzard of pandemic data that's been swirling ever since is the fact that 43-year-old Fernando Morales was one of them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major effort to overhaul care for people in the United States with mental health and drug problems is gaining traction as Congress and the Biden administration work on overlapping plans to address concerns across dividing lines of politics, geography and race.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is extending the nationwide mask requirement for airplanes and public transit for 15 days as it monitors an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Wednesday as investors reviewed the latest round of corporate earnings and an upbeat report from Delta Air Lines that bodes well for the travel industry.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — One of the busiest trade ports on the U.S.-Mexico border remained effectively closed Wednesday as frustration and traffic snarls mounted over new orders by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requiring extra inspections of commercial trucks as part of the Republican's sprawling border security operation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The surging cost of energy pushed wholesale prices up a record 11.2% last month from a year earlier — another sign that inflationary pressure is widespread in the U.S. economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase said its first quarter profits dropped by 42% from last year, partly because the bank wrote down nearly $1.5 billion in assets due to higher inflation and the Russian-Ukrainian War.
Delta Air Lines lost $940 million in the first quarter yet bookings surged in recent weeks, setting up a breakout summer as Americans try to put the pandemic behind them.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk's huge Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday with the filing of a lawsuit alleging that the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.
LONDON (AP) — British consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in 30 years last month, fueled by soaring costs for household energy and motor fuels — the latest grim figures as inflation surges around the world.
BERLIN (AP) — A group of leading economic think tanks slashed its forecast for growth in Germany this year, predicting Wednesday that Europe's biggest economy will expand by 2.7% as Russia's war in Ukraine weighs on prospects.
BEIJING (AP) — China's exports rose 15.7% over a year ago in March while imports were flat amid disruptions due to coronavirus outbreaks as the ruling Communist Party enforces a "zero-COVID" strategy to isolate every case.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department declined a request this week from the House oversight committee to disclose the contents of records that former President Donald Trump took to his Florida residence after leaving the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved $800 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, including artillery and helicopters, to bolster its defenses against an intensified Russian offensive in the country's east.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden now says Russia's war in Ukraine amounts to genocide, accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to "wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian."
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden declares Russia's Ukraine war "genocide," it isn't just another strong word.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is warning that countries that undermine the sanctions the United States and its allies have imposed on Russia will face consequences for their actions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and its allies are pushing ahead with sanctions aimed at forcing Vladimir Putin to spend Russia's money propping up its economy rather than sustaining its "war machine" for the fight in Ukraine, a top Treasury Department official said Tuesday.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The presidents of four countries on Russia's doorstep visited Ukraine on Wednesday in a show of support for the embattled country, after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue his bloody offensive until its "full completion."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia's initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching, potentially decisive, battle for Ukraine's contested Donbas region. Yet the Russian military is making little headway halting what has become a historic arms express.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
VANDERBILT SPORTS
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Vanderbilt offensive tackle Tyler Steen says he is transferring to Alabama.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Carrie Underwood and Jason Aldean were the big winners, the Judds reunited, and Kelsea Ballerini turned a tough break into a one-woman house party at Monday night's CMT music awards.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will soon decide whether to sign off on adding harsh penalties against public schools in his state that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls' sports.
RELIGION
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Retired pastors have filed at least three federal lawsuits in recent weeks against the African Methodist Episcopal Church along with several subsidiaries and financial firms the church used, alleging tens of millions of dollars from a pension fund were mismanaged and missing.
COURTS
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that Johnson & Johnson must pay penalties to the state for deceptively marketing pelvic mesh implants for women, but reduced the amount by $42 million to $302 million.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shirley Troutman, a judge on New York's highest court, was working last week when her daughter texted messages that included a clapping hands emoji. Soon, her phone was buzzing with other celebratory messages. The applause and the excitement was for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who last week was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court and will become its first Black female justice.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued credit company TransUnion and one of its long-time executives on Tuesday, alleging the company completely "disregarded" a previous order from five years ago to stop selling dubious credit-related products and marketing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury convicted a former Virginia police officer of storming the U.S. Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota, the top-selling automaker in the U.S., is rolling out its first fully electric vehicle in eight years.
BERLIN (AP) — German auto parts and technology company Bosch said Tuesday it is buying Five, a British automated driving startup, for an undisclosed amount.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Western law enforcement agencies have dismantled an online marketplace used to buy and sell hacked and stolen personal data belonging to millions of people, and have charged the platform's founder and chief administrator, officials announced Tuesday.
HEALTH CARE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by new restrictions in Texas and other states.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
DALLAS (AP) — The federal requirement to wear face masks on airplanes and public transportation is scheduled to expire next week, and airline executives and Republican lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to let the mandate die.
Scientists say an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant is spreading globally, but it doesn't seem to cause more severe disease.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes edged lower on Wall Street Tuesday, shedding early gains as investors weigh new data on inflation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Another month, another four-decade high for inflation.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. futures ticked higher as new data showed inflation reached a four-decade high, adding to investor unease about higher interest rates, Chinese efforts to contain coronavirus outbreaks and Russia's war on Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation at a 40-year high, President Joe Biden headed to corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday with a modest step aiming to trim gasoline prices by about a dime a gallon by waiving rules limiting ethanol blending.
NEW YORK (AP) — Some vendors on Etsy say they are halting sales of their items on the site for a week to protest a hike in the fees the crafts e-commerce marketplace charges them.
UKRAINE
BOSTON (AP) — Russian military hackers attempted to knock out power to millions of Ukrainians last week in a long-planned attack but were foiled, Ukrainian government officials said Tuesday.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have fled their homes in the six weeks since Russia's invasion, and the United Nations has verified the deaths of 142 youngsters, though the number is almost certainly much higher, the U.N. children's agency said Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden asked India's Narendra Modi on Monday not to accelerate the buying of Russian oil as the U.S. and other nations try to cut off Moscow's energy income following the invasion of Ukraine. The Indian prime minister made no public commitment to refrain from Russian oil, a source of tension with the U.S.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol yielded up more horrors after six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops, with the mayor saying more than 10,000 civilians have died in the strategic southern port, their corpses "carpeted through the streets."
MONDAY, APRIL 11
UT SPORTS
The beat goes on for Tennessee. The top-ranked Volunteers (31-1) became the first Southeastern Conference team to open 12-0 in league play after they took three games from Missouri in Knoxville over the weekend.
PREDATORS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby decided enough was enough.
AUTO RACING
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Colton Herta is so good on the downtown streets of Long Beach, and was so strong this weekend, that a second consecutive victory seemed automatic.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country star Kelsea Ballerini is making a last-minute pivot to co-hosting the CMT Music Awards remotely after testing positive for COVID-19 days before the show.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Amid several bills introduced in Tennessee that have attracted national attention this year, none has sparked as much alarm among both Republicans and Democrats as a proposal that would create a new marriage contract specifically designed to exclude same-sex couples.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are halting nearly all construction on interstates for Easter holiday travelers.
MEDIA
As Twitter's newest board member and largest shareholder, Elon Musk is already floating suggestions for changes he'd like to see on the social media platform.
HEALTH CARE
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. (AP) — When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S., sales of window coverings at Halcyon Shades quickly went dark. So the suburban St. Louis business did what hundreds of other small manufacturers did: It pivoted to make protective supplies, with help from an $870,000 government grant.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — A COVID-19 patient was in respiratory distress. The Army nurse knew she had to act quickly.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks fell on Wall Street Monday, extending a losing streak from last week. The S&P 500 lost 1.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% and the Nasdaq fell 2.2%.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to pay more than $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution for two major wildfires started by aging Northern California power lines belonging to the nation's largest utility, prosecutors announced Monday.
AVENEL, N.J. (AP) — The familiar sights and sounds are still there: the scuffed and faded floor tiles, the relentless beige-on-beige color scheme, the toddlers' clothes and refrigerators and pretty much everything in between.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's economic growth slowed in February amid declines in the production of cars, computers and chemicals.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday took fresh aim at ghost guns, the privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up in violent crimes, as he struggles to break through gridlock in Washington to address gun deaths and mass shootings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is unveiling a completed rule aimed at reining in the proliferation of ghost guns, firearms without serial numbers that have been turning up at crime scenes across the nation in increasing numbers.
UKRAINE
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish government special commission has reinforced its earlier allegations that the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in Russia was the result of Moscow's assassination plan.
LONDON (AP) — The World Bank says Ukraine's economy will shrink by 45.1% this year because of Russia's invasion, which has shut down half of the country's businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claimed Monday that it destroyed several Ukrainian air-defense systems in what appeared to be a renewed push to gain air superiority and take out weapons Kyiv has described as crucial ahead of an expected broad new offensive in the east.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged South Korea on Monday to provide his country with arms to help it fight Russia's military.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
PREDATORS
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Roman Josi had three assists and the Nashville Predators erased a one-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Thursday night.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee says 11 new troopers from out of state have joined the Tennessee Highway Patrol after the state began offering incentives last fall to help boost staffing shortages.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Fourteen Republicans and two Democrats have met the filing deadline to run for a U.S. House seat in GOP-led Tennessee that opened after state lawmakers carved Democratic-tilted Nashville into three districts.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tearfully embracing a history-making moment, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said Friday her confirmation as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court showed the progress of America, declaring, "We've made it — all of us."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will join a Supreme Court that is both more diverse than ever and more conservative than it's been since the 1930s.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A North Carolina man on Friday became the second member of the extremist group Proud Boys to plead guilty to conspiring with other group members to stop Congress from formally certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee attorney general's office on Thursday appealed a ruling that blocked a new redistricting map for the state Senate from taking effect.
AUTO INDUSTRY
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Tesla will build a vehicle dedicated for use as a robotaxi, and it will start making three new vehicles next year, CEO Elon Musk told fans at a party celebrating the opening of a Texas factory.
TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it it seeking the largest fines yet for passengers who disrupt flights after two incidents that occurred on airliners last summer.
DALLAS (AP) — Spirit Airlines said late Thursday that it will talk to JetBlue Airways about its $3.6 billion bid to combine the two airlines, which appeared to leapfrog an earlier offer by Frontier Airlines.
LONDON (AP) — A major British airport warned passengers on Friday to expect the delays plaguing travel to continue for months, as the U.K. aviation regulator told the country's air industry to shape up after weeks of canceled flights and long airport queues.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended mostly lower after another day of drifting around Friday, leaving the market with its first losing week in the last four.
Amazon plans to file objections to the union election on Staten Island, New York, that resulted in the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company's history.
ROME (AP) — Prices for food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month largely because of Russia's war in Ukraine and the "massive supply disruptions" it is causing, threatening millions of people in Africa, the Middle East elsewhere with hunger and malnourishment, the United Nations said Friday.
UKRAINE
TOKYO (AP) — Japan announced Friday it is expelling eight Russian diplomats and trade officials and will phase out imports of Russian coal and oil, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida saying Moscow must be held accountable for "war crimes" in Ukraine.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A missile hit a train station where thousands of people had flocked to flee in eastern Ukraine, killing 50 people Friday, Ukrainian authorities said, while warning they expect to find more evidence of war crimes in areas abandoned by Russian troops.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has imposed sanctions on two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a new package of measures targeting Russia's economy, businessmen and oligarchs in retaliation for the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, according to two EU officials.
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops retreating from this northern Ukrainian city left behind crushed buildings, streets littered with destroyed cars and residents in dire need of food and other aid — images that added fuel to Kyiv's calls Thursday for more Western help to halt Moscow's next offensive.
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A three-judge panel on Wednesday blocked a new redistricting map for the Tennessee Senate from going into effect, saying the GOP-controlled General Assembly violated the state's constitution by improperly numbering the new districts.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery has named a member of his office as his new chief deputy.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Ten communities around the state have been selected to participate in the Tennessee Downtowns revitalization program.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's top leaders only began increasing scrutiny over a small town's finances after a predominantly Black administration took over key positions, a move that attorneys on Wednesday argued strays significantly from how the state has treated white-majority jurisdictions.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Two Black coaches joined Brian Flores on Thursday in his lawsuit alleging racist hiring practices by the NFL toward coaches and general managers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, shattering a historic barrier by securing her place as the first Black female justice and giving President Joe Biden a bipartisan endorsement for his effort to diversify the high court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Moments before the Senate began Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation vote to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, the chamber filled with the swell of history.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota customers soon won't be able to get U.S. federal tax credits for buying electric or hybrid vehicles.
TRANSPORTATION
JetBlue Airways executives explained to Wall Street on Wednesday why they're offering to pay $3.6 billion for Spirit Airlines, a proposed combination that has received a chilly reception from investors.
MEDIA
Hackers aligned with Russia broke into the social media accounts of dozens of Ukrainian military officers and were working to upload videos of defeated and surrendering Ukrainian soldiers when the plot was disrupted, according to a report from Meta that details a troubling increase in social media disinformation this year.
ENVIRONMENT
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday announced plans to build more nuclear power plants, boost renewable energy production and further tap domestic oil and gas reserves to help the U.K. reduce its dependence on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
GENEVA (AP) — The number of coronavirus cases reported globally has dropped for a second consecutive week and confirmed COVID-19 deaths also fell last week, according to a World Health Organization report issued Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A compromise $10 billion measure buttressing the government's COVID-19 defenses stalled in the Senate Wednesday and seemed all but certainly sidetracked for weeks, victim of a campaign-season fight over the incendiary issue of immigration.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A late-afternoon rebound led by technology companies helped drive stocks higher on Wall Street Thursday, lifting the market from an early slide.
PARIS (AP) — The International Energy Agency said Thursday that its member countries are releasing 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves on top of previous U.S. pledges to take aim at energy prices that have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy faces plenty of threats: War in Ukraine, high grocery bills, spiking gasoline prices, splintered supply chains, the lingering pandemic and rising interest rates that slow growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Federal Reserve intensifies its efforts to tame high inflation, its top officials are casting their aggressive drive in a new light: As a blow against economic inequality.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress voted overwhelmingly Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of its oil, ratcheting up the U.S. response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid reports of atrocities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Congress voting to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of its oil, President Joe Biden's action to tighten the U.S. squeeze on Russia's economy now can intensify.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Shares of HP Inc. jumped nearly 15% Thursday after Warren Buffett's company snapped up more than 11% of the printer and computer maker over the past week in another uncharacteristic tech investment from the billionaire.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The spread of a bird flu that is deadly to poultry raises the grisly question of how farms manage to quickly kill and dispose of millions of chickens and turkeys.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart workers who once unloaded trucks now have a chance to drive them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain at historically low levels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says more government regulation is needed to police the proliferation of cryptocurrency and other digital assets and to ward off fraudulent and illicit transactions.
LONDON (AP) — Shell says its decision to pull out of Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine has already cost the international energy giant as much as $5 billion.
The European Union is poised to ban Russian coal in the first sanctions on the vital energy industry over the war in Ukraine, but it has underlined the 27 nations' inability to agree on a much more sweeping embargo on oil and natural gas that would hit Russia harder but risk recession at home.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A proposed pipeline to deliver natural gas from deposits in the east Mediterranean to European markets is too expensive, not economically viable and will take too long to help countries seeking alternatives to Russian gas any time soon, a senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for COVID-19, a day after appearing unmasked at a White House event with President Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional oversight committee on Thursday said the Justice Department is "obstructing" its investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of White House records by preventing the release of information from the National Archives.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate will take up legislation Thursday to end normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of its oil, ratcheting up the U.S. response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid reports of atrocities. Both bills have languished in the Senate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino were held in contempt of Congress for their monthlong refusal to comply with subpoenas rendered by the House committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several witnesses sought by the Jan. 6 committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol are being held in contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the probe of the deadly 2021 attack, when Donald Trump supporters tried to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service meant to shore up the popular but beleaguered agency's financial future and cement six-days-a-week mail delivery was signed into law Wednesday by President Joe Biden.
UKRAINE
BRUSSELS (AP) — Spurred into action by reports of atrocities in Ukraine, NATO countries agreed Thursday to ramp up the supply of weapons to Kyiv, including hi-tech arms, amid concerns that Russia is about to launch a large offensive in Ukrarine's eastern Donbas region.