VOL. 48 | NO. 22 | Friday, May 31, 2024
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
April residential real estate sales were august, and the number of pending sales at the end of April points to more positive sales numbers for May. However, Realtors seem unified in their opinion that May was dead.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage moved back above 7% this week, a setback for home shoppers at a time when the U.S. housing market is already slowing under the strain of elevated home loan borrowing costs and rising prices.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
College baseball’s longest active Division I streak for reaching the postseason is alive and well. For the 18th consecutive year, the Vanderbilt Commodores are on the golden “Road to Omaha,” having been named to the 64-team field that will play for a berth in the June 14-24 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
UT SPORTS
SEC regular-season champions. SEC Tournament champions. NCAA champions? The Tennessee baseball team is hoping to pull off the trifecta this season. The Vols (50-11) earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Baseball Championships for the second time in three years. They will host a regional this weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
NEWSMAKERS
FINN Partners has promoted Lisa Button and Andrea Lindsley to senior partners in recognition. Button and Lindsley lead the fast-growing Community Impact Group in the Southeast, along with senior partner Philip McGowan.
BRIEFS
Each of Tennessee’s 95 counties recorded lower unemployment rates in April, and each came in at or below 4.1%, according to newly released data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Memorial Day weekend is often considered to be the kick-start to summer and, for car shoppers looking for the best finance and lease deals, a great opportunity to take advantage of a marketplace finally returning to normalcy.
UT SPORTS
No. 1 national seed Tennessee has established itself as the dominant post-pandemic baseball program. All that's missing is a national title.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — DeAndre Hopkins is a three-time All-Pro wide receiver who built a strong connection with a rookie quarterback last season.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan prosecutors urged a judge Wednesday to keep Donald Trump 's gag order in place in his hush money criminal case at least until the former president is sentenced in July, opposing a defense request that the restrictions be lifted following his felony convictions last week.
ENERGY
GENEVA (AP) — U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called Wednesday for a "windfall" tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay for the fight against global warming, decrying them as the "godfathers of climate chaos."
ENVIRONMENT
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. weather agency is predicting an 80% chance that average global temperatures will surpass the 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) target laid out in the landmark Paris climate accord within the next five years.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — YouTube is changing its policies about firearm videos in an effort to keep potentially dangerous content from reaching underage users.
NEW YORK (AP) — The arrest of an executive at The Epoch Times in a money-laundering scheme this week has drawn attention to a media outlet that has lived largely in the shadows since its founding in 2000 and a transformation during the Trump administration.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC is inserting some pop culture flavor into the world's biggest sports spectacle: From Megan Thee Stallion dancing with dressage horses at the Palace of Versailles to Peyton Manning riding a giant baguette blimp over the Eiffel Tower, the network has strategically partnered with several big names to build anticipation for the Paris Olympics.
It's dangerous. It's addictive. Get off your phone. Kids constantly hear about the downsides of social media from the adults in their lives, often in the form of dire warnings and commands. But these adults did not grow up with social media themselves.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia's online safety watchdog said on Wednesday she had dropped her Federal Court case that attempted to force X Corp. to take down a video of a Sydney bishop being stabbed.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein and Netflix announced Tuesday they've settled the defamation lawsuit she filed four years ago over her portrayal in the streaming service's miniseries about the five Black and Latino teenagers known as the now-exonerated Central Park Five.
NEW YORK (AP) — TikTok said Tuesday it has taken steps to stop a cyberattack targeting high-profile accounts, including one belonging to CNN.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean "Diddy" Combs has sold off his stake in Revolt, the media company the rapper and entrepreneur founded over a decade ago.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A first-of-a-kind proposal to begin using the mind-altering drug MDMA as a treatment for PTSD was roundly criticized Tuesday — a potentially major setback to psychedelic advocates who hope to win a landmark federal approval and bring the banned drugs into the medical mainstream.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Discount retailer Dollar Tree says it's looking at strategic options for the Family Dollar stores that it owns, including a possible sale of the segment.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart is offering new perks for its hourly U.S. workers, ranging from a new bonus plan to opportunities to move into skilled trade jobs within the company.
NEW YORK (AP) — Online marketplace behemoth eBay said it plans to no longer accept American Express, citing what the company says are "unacceptably high fees" and that customers have other payment options to shop online.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Months after Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointees agreed to end a protracted legal fight, the two sides are set to approve an agreement that could result in the company investing $17 billion into its Florida resort and opens the door to a fifth major theme park at Walt Disney World.
The Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots labor group that won a major victory at an Amazon warehouse two years ago, has agreed to affiliate with the Teamsters union, a move that's bound to inject new energy into the struggling organization.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans issued criminal referrals Wednesday against President Joe Biden's son and brother, accusing them of making false statements to Congress as part of the GOP's yearlong impeachment inquiry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine has used U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia in recent days, according to a U.S. senator and a Western official familiar with the matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election year effort to put Republicans on record on reproductive rights issues, Senate Democrats are holding a vote Wednesday to move forward with legislation designed to protect women's access to contraception.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled plans to enact immediate significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as the White House tries to neutralize immigration as a political liability ahead of the November elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tried to address a major liability for his reelection campaign by taking executive action to significantly restrict asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris spent part of a Tuesday episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" rehashing how she found out about former President Donald Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts in his criminal hush money trial.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday said the ruling Chinese Communist Party that sent in tanks against peaceful student protesters 35 years ago in the heart of Beijing is as ruthless and suppressive today as it was in 1989, a stark warning as they commemorated the anniversary of China's bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
TUESDAY, JUNE 4
MIDSTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. John Rose of Cookeville might never give a more memorable speech on the House floor.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Releasing an audio recording of a special counsel's interview with President Joe Biden could spur deepfakes and disinformation that trick Americans, the Justice Department said, conceding the U.S. government could not stop the misuse of artificial intelligence ahead of this year's election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump 's campaign and the Republican National Committee say they raised $141 million in May, a massive fundraising haul that includes tens of millions of dollars raised in the aftermath of his guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial.
NEW YORK (AP) — A man and woman who sold pro-Donald Trump merchandise out of a bus covered with pro-Trump flags and posters are homeless after the vehicle crashed into several street signs and utility poles in New York City.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican-led states have historically made it difficult for those convicted of a felony to vote or barred it altogether. Now the Republicans' presumptive nominee for president, who lives in one of those states, is among them.
TECHNOLOGY
A group of OpenAI's current and former workers is calling on the ChatGPT-maker and other artificial intelligence companies to protect whistleblowing employees who flag safety risks about AI technology.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime technology news and review site Gizmodo has been sold for the third time in the past eight years, this time to a European publisher looking to expand its coverage of the digital scene.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans still aren't sold on going electric for their next car purchase. High prices and a lack of easy-to-find charging stations are major sticking points, a new poll shows.
AGRICULTURE
UBERABA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil has hundreds of millions of cows, but one in particular is extraordinary. Her massive, snow-white body is watched over by security cameras, a veterinarian and an armed guard.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings fell in April to the lowest level since 2021. But they remained at historically strong levels despite high interest rates and signs the economy is slowing.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks were split among winners and losers Tuesday after a report suggested the job market is cooling, the latest signal of a slowing economy that offers both upsides and downsides for Wall Street.
As the temperature heats up and summer approaches, small business owners may be considering offering summer hours, such as an early release on Fridays, for employees to help combat burnout.
GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations said Tuesday that global public debt rose to a record $97 trillion last year, with developing countries owing roughly one-third of that — crimping their ability to pay for basic government services like health care, education and climate action.
Popular soda brand Poppi is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by a consumer who says its products don't improve gut health as much as their marketing suggests.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is voting Tuesday on legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court for requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled plans to enact immediate significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as the White House tries to neutralize immigration as a political liability ahead of the November elections.
NEW YORK (AP) — In the days since Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in his criminal hush money trial, Republicans who view the case as politically motivated have coalesced around a new rallying cry: Prosecute the left.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI employee who accused the bureau of politicizing its work when he testified to Congress has seen his security clearance restored, his lawyers said Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland rebuked Republicans for what he described as unprecedented attacks on the Justice Department Tuesday, telling lawmakers who have sought to hold him in contempt that he will "not be intimidated."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is telling lawmakers that President Joe Biden is preparing to sign off on an executive order that would shut down asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border once the average number of daily encounters hits 2,500 between ports of entry, with the border reopening only once that number declines to 1,500, according to several people familiar with the discussions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is looking past resistance from key Israeli officials as he presses Israel and Hamas to agree to a three-phase agreement that could immediately bring home dozens of Israeli hostages, free Palestinian prisoners and perhaps even lead to an endgame in the nearly eight-month-old Gaza war.
MONDAY, JUNE 3
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Kavares Tears hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning and national top seed Tennessee poured it on from there, defeating Southern Mississippi 12-3 on Sunday night to win the Knoxville Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
Four teams from the Southeastern Conference and four from the Atlantic Coast Conference won regionals in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and will take the next step in their bids to reach the College World Series.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has had plenty to say since his hush money trial conviction last week.
After his historic guilty verdict in his hush money case, Donald Trump attacked the U.S. criminal justice system, making unfounded claims of a "rigged" trial that echoed remarks from the Kremlin.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Southwest Airlines is set to return to federal court Monday in hopes of reversing an $800,000 award to a flight attendant who said she was fired for her anti-abortion views and a judge's related order that the airlines' lawyers take religious liberty training from a conservative Christian legal group.
ELECTION 2024
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Donald Trump says the Biden administration's policy to promote electric vehicles is a "radical plan" that would kill the economy in automaking states. Republican allies in the petroleum industry have spent millions on ads that say President Joe Biden's tax credit for EV buyers will cost Americans their freedom.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic National Committee was watching earlier this year as campaigns nationwide were experimenting with artificial intelligence. So the organization approached a handful of influential party campaign committees with a request: Sign onto guidelines that would commit them to use the technology in a "responsible" way.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Waverly Woodson Jr., a medic who was part of the only Black combat unit to take part in the D-Day invasion of France during World War II, is being posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in recognition of the heroism and determination he showed treating troops under heavy enemy fire.
ENVIRONMENT
Jennifer and Eric Mauchan live in a Cape Cod-style house in Framingham, Massachusetts that they've been cooling with five air conditioners. In the summer, the electric bill for the 2,600-square-foot home can be $200.
TRAVEL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The cost of your next flight is likely to go up.
MEDIA
The social media platform X says it will now formally allow people to show consensual adult content, as long as it is clearly labeled as such. The move makes official a policy already in place when the platform was known as Twitter, before billionaire Elon Musk purchased it in 2022.
Donald Trump has joined the popular video-sharing app TikTok, a platform he once tried to ban while in the White House, and posted from a UFC fight two days after he became the first former president and presumptive major party nominee in U.S. history to be found guilty on felony charges.
ENERGY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Saudi Arabia and allied oil producing countries on Sunday extended output cuts through next year, a move aimed at supporting slack prices that haven't risen even amid turmoil in the Middle East and the start of the summer travel season.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended mixed on Wall Street following the latest signal showing the U.S. economy is slowing.
NEW YORK (AP) — The typical compensation for CEOs of S&P 500 companies keeps climber higher — and outpacing the wages of average workers today.
Nvidia's stock price has more than doubled this year after more than tripling in 2023 and it's now the third most valuable company in the S&P 500. Nvidia's stock is rising again Monday after it announced new technology and plans to advance artificial intelligence, or AI, applications.
More women are attaining the top job at companies in the S&P 500, but their numbers are still minuscule compared to their male counterparts.
Shares of GameStop are soaring in early trading on Monday following speculation that the man at the center of the pandemic meme stock craze owns a large number of shares of the video game retailer that may be worth millions.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is telling lawmakers that President Joe Biden is preparing to sign off on an executive order that would shut down asylum requests to the U.S.-Mexico border once the number of daily encounters hits 2,500 between ports of entry, with the border reopening once that number declines to 1,500, according to several people familiar with the discussions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert until leaving the government in 2022, faced heated questioning Monday from Republican lawmakers about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
FRIDAY, MAY 31
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Chris Johnson watches football whenever possible, and he knows talent when he sees it.
SPORTS
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — The debate within the Southeastern Conference about whether to play eight or nine league games is not over, it's just on hold.
EAST TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal lawsuit claims police officers took thousands of dollars from a businessman in their Tennessee city in exchange for obstructing efforts to investigate allegations that he was sexually assaulting multiple women for years. The police department has denied any wrongdoing.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president's historic hush money trial, but the fight over the case is far from over.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday declined an invitation to meet with Democratic senators to talk about Supreme Court ethics and the controversy over flags that flew outside homes owned by Justice Samuel Alito.
ELECTION 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Having been convicted of 34 felonies, Donald Trump cannot own a gun, hold public office or even vote in many states.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York's criminal justice system Friday as he tried to repackage his conviction on 34 felony charges as fuel, not an impediment, to his latest White House bid.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers reacted with immediate fury on Thursday as a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election, speaking out with near unanimity in questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted.
NEW YORK (AP) — A sudden, decisive verdict in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial on Thursday led the media to simultaneously reflect on both the sweep of history and the most polarizing figure in modern American politics.
DENVER (AP) — Donald Trump may be convicted of a felony and reside in Florida, a state notorious for restricting the voting rights of people with felony convictions. But he can still vote as long as he stays out of prison in New York state.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators are questioning the safety and evidence behind the first bid to use MDMA, the mind-altering club drug, as a treatment for PTSD, part of a decadeslong effort by advocates to move psychedelic drugs into the medical mainstream.
MEDIA
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group swung wildly at the opening bell Friday, falling rapidly after it appeared that the owner of social networking site Truth Social, would bounce back despite the conviction of the former President Donald Trump in his hush money trial.
AUTO INDUSTRY
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Labor wants a federal judge to prevent Hyundai and two other Alabama companies from what the government contends is the illegal employment of children.
YOUR MONEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS said Thursday it will make permanent the free electronic tax return filing system that it experimented with this year and is asking all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help taxpayers file their returns through the program in 2025.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — A price gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve cooled slightly last month, a sign that inflation may be easing after running high in the first three months of this year.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation ticked up to an annual 2.6% in Europe in May, according to official figures on Friday. That's more than expected as a painful spike in consumer prices takes its time to fade away.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
DETROIT (AP) — A second shareholder advisory firm has come out against reinstating a pay package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk that was voided earlier this year by a Delaware judge.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Friday it will sell a second sliver of stock in its state oil giant Aramco worth billions of dollars, its first tranche since its initial public offering back in 2019.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday he has registered as an independent, raising questions about his future political plans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, according to four U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is finalizing plans for a U.S.-Mexico border clampdown that would shut off asylum requests and automatically deny entrance to migrants once the number of people encountered by American border officials exceeded a new daily threshold, with President Joe Biden expected to sign an executive order as early as Tuesday, according to four people familiar with the matter.
THURSDAY, MAY 30
NASHVILLE SC
CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) — Hany Mukhtar had two assists over a four-minute span in the first half, Joe Willis had a season-high six saves and Nashville SC snapped FC Cincinnati's seven-match win streak with a 2-0 victory on Wednesday night.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Hiring Brian Callahan as Tennessee's new head coach meant the Titans would look different this season.
STOCK MARKETS
NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks rose Thursday, but indexes nevertheless stumbled because of sharp drops for some influential technology giants. Salesforce dropped to its worst day in nearly 20 years.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday gave homeowners another chance to force Bank of America and other large banks to pay interest on mortgage escrow accounts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for a National Rifle Association lawsuit against a former New York state official over claims she pressured companies to blacklist it following the deadly 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In declining to step aside from two high-profile Supreme Court cases, Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday provided a rare window on the opaque process by which justices decide to step aside from cases.
TRENDS
NEW YORK (AP) — Monogrammed towels. A toothbrush holder for four, rather than three. Shared bedding. For people putting a life back together after divorce, mundane household objects can be painful marital reminders.
AGRICULTURE
Lab-grown meat is not currently available in any U.S. grocery stores or restaurants. If some lawmakers have their way, it never will be.
TECHNOLOGY
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. telecommunications agency has kicked off its annual AI for Good conference, hoping to guide business, consumers and governments on ways to tap the promise of the new technology but avoid its potential perils.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As corporations increasingly weave artificial intelligence technologies into the daily lives of Americans, California lawmakers want to build public trust, fight algorithmic discrimination and outlaw deepfakes that involve elections or pornography.
TRANSPORTATION
Boeing is due to tell federal regulators Thursday how it plans to fix the safety and quality problems that have plagued its aircraft-manufacturing work in recent years.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Podesta was two months into his new role as President Joe Biden's top climate diplomat when he faced his first international crisis — what to serve for dinner.
ENERGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 22 other Democratic senators are calling on the Department of Justice to "use every tool" at its disposal to prevent and prosecute alleged collusion and price-fixing in the oil industry.
CRIME
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Police coordinated by the European Union's justice and police agencies have taken down computer networks responsible for spreading ransomware via infected emails, in what they called the biggest ever international operation against the lucrative form of cybercrime.
ECONOMY
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits ticked up last week, but layoffs remain historically low in the face of lingering inflation and high interest rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a sluggish 1.3% annual pace from January through March, the weakest quarterly rate since the spring of 2022, the government said Thursday in a downgrade from its previous estimate. Consumer spending rose but at a slower pace than previously thought, a sign that high interest rates and lingering inflation are pressuring household budgets.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The earnings results from Best Buy and Kohl's, announced Thursday, offer the latest evidence of consumers' cautious spending amid a challenging economic environment.
BEIJING (AP) — China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday it will restrict exports of some aviation and aerospace-related equipment and technology beginning July 1.
LONDON (AP) — BHP Group has dropped its 38.6 billion pound ($49.3 billion) bid for Anglo American, ending plans to create a global mining giant focused on copper and other minerals that are expected to drive the transition to renewable energy.