VOL. 44 | NO. 19 | Friday, May 8, 2020
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
In a world turned upside down, it’s good to know local real estate is going with the flow.
REAL ESTATE
April 2020 real estate trends for Davidson Counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were mixed this week, continuing to hover near all-time lows.
NEWSMAKERS
Lela M. Hollabaugh, managing partner of Bradley’s Nashville office, will chair the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands 2020 Campaign for Equal Justice, an annual initiative that raises funds for Legal Aid Society.
BRIEFS
Middle Tennessee State University will not seek tuition or fee increases for the 2020-21 academic year, President Sidney A. McPhee says.
PERSONAL FINANCE
If you’ve lost your job or struggle to pay your debt, you may need to file for bankruptcy. If that’s the case, you should ignore some common financial advice and start thinking defensively.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Distracted driving puts drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians at risk. In 2018, it led to 2,841 deaths, data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows.
CAREER CORNER
Living through a disaster is hard. Actually, it’s more than hard.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has promoted a senior adviser to become the state's next chief operating officer.
NASHVILLE SC
Major League Soccer is looking at the possibility of resuming the season this summer with all teams playing in Orlando, Florida.
HEALTH CARE
Cancer deaths have dropped more in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act than in states that did not, new research reveals.
TRANSPORTATION
When her Las Vegas hotel shut down and returned her money, and both Nevada and her home state of Ohio issued stay-home orders, Helen Moon canceled the flight that she and her husband had booked on Frontier Airlines and asked for a cash refund.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — America faces the "darkest winter in modern history" unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job after warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic.
LONDON (AP) — The European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a "best-case scenario."
PARIS (AP) — French pharmaceutical group Sanofi ensured Thursday that it would make its COVID-19 vaccine, when ready, available in all countries, hours after the company's CEO said the United States will get first access.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former chemical industry executive nominated to be the nation's top consumer safety watchdog was involved in sidelining detailed guidelines to help communities reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, internal government emails show.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called on governors across the nation to work to reopen schools that were closed because of the coronavirus, pointedly taking issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci's caution against moving too quickly in sending students back to class.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as the viral outbreak led more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen under certain restrictions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Businesses are going belly up, tens of millions have been laid off and, by some measures, the U.S. seems headed for another Great Depression. But Republicans surveying the wreckage aren't ready for another round of coronavirus aid, instead urging a "pause."
LONDON (AP) — The pandemic will cost the insurance industry over $200 billion, according to Lloyds of London, who estimated that its own payouts are now on a par with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks or the combined impact of hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma in 2017.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Republicans are launching a broad election-year attack on the foundation of the Russia investigation, including declassifying intelligence information to try to place senior Obama administration officials under scrutiny for routine actions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to name a former pharmaceutical executive to lead his administration's all-out effort to produce and distribute a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is expected to vote on whether to extend three surveillance authorities as senators of both parties express concerns that the laws infringe on Americans' rights.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices invoked fears of bribery and chaos Wednesday to suggest they think states can require presidential electors to back their states' popular vote winner in the Electoral College.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge made clear Tuesday that he would not immediately rule on the Justice Department's decision to dismiss its criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying he would instead let outside individuals and groups weigh in with their opinions.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — It appears the dispute between Tesla and San Francisco Bay Area authorities over the reopening of a factory in the face of shutdown orders is coming to an end.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two weeks after a large number of coronavirus cases at a privately run Tennessee prison prompted Gov. Bill Lee to announce that all inmates would be tested, two of the state's other three privately run prisons are still reporting results for only a handful of inmates.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — America faces the "darkest winter in modern history" unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job for warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizations conducting research into COVID-19 may be targeted by computer hackers linked to the Chinese government, according to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are requiring drivers and passengers to wear masks while using their services, joining a growing list of transportation companies hoping to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as some cities emerge from lockdown.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street's earlier bets that the economy can make a relatively quick rebound from the coronavirus pandemic suddenly don't look so good.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday of the threat of a prolonged recession resulting from the viral outbreak and urged Congress and the White House to act further to prevent long-lasting economic damage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday defended the stunning $3 trillion price tag on Democrats' pandemic relief package as what is needed to confront the "villainous virus" and economic collapse.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations forecast Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic will shrink the world economy by 3.2% this year, the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
NEW YORK (AP) — Restaurants owners across the U.S. are worried that a loan from the government's coronavirus relief program could wind up being a burden instead of a blessing.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Wednesday related to national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices slid a record 1.3% in April led by a 19% plunge in the cost of energy, further signaling the potential threat of deflation in the United States.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged Wednesday to begin reopening Mexico's economy next week — encouraged by U.S. officials — even as hospitals from Mexico City to the border reeled under the pressure of the largest one-day jump in COVID-19 case numbers and the lack of testing made decision-making difficult.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more than $3 trillion coronavirus aid package, a sweeping effort with $1 trillion for states and cities, "hazard pay" for essential workers and a new round of cash payments to individuals.
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government warned Wednesday of a "significant" recession after official figures showed the economy shrank 2% in the first quarter of the year even though it included just one week of the coronavirus lockdown.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union unveiled Wednesday its plan to help citizens across the 27 nations salvage their summer vacations after months of tough coronavirus confinement and to hopefully resurrect Europe's badly battered tourism industry.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The world's biggest shipping company, Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk, said Wednesday that it expects its transport volumes to drop by up to 25% in the second quarter as the world economy slides toward recession.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump' has had many targets in his war against the media, but perhaps none is more surprising than the Voice of America, the venerable U.S.-funded institution created during World War II to broadcast independent news and promote American values to the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's onetime presidential campaign chairman who was convicted as part of the special counsel's Russia investigation, has been released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement due to concerns about the coronavirus, his lawyer said Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden would have to do more than select a Latina running mate to win over Hispanics whose support could be crucial to winning the presidency, according to activists who are warning the presumptive Democratic nominee not to take their community for granted.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden and the last rival he bested to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Bernie Sanders, on Wednesday announced the members of joint task forces their campaigns will use to promote party unity by hammering out consensus on six top policy issues.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Michael Flynn was forced from the White House, Vice President Mike Pence said he was disappointed the national security adviser had misled him about his talks with the Russian ambassador. President Donald Trump called the deception unacceptable.
TUESDAY, MAY 12
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Police in Tennessee have charged a man accused of placing a bullseye-like target in the front yard of Nashville's NAACP president.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Fear of contracting the coronavirus doesn't meet the criteria to vote by mail due to illness in Tennessee, state officials said Tuesday, as they recommended preparing as though all 1.4 million registered voters who are at least 60 will cast ballots by mail in the August primary election.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and his wife Crissy are launching a new statewide program designed to help elementary school students who are at risk of falling behind in studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are suing a candle maker and a manufacturer of plastic car exteriors to recoup some incentive money, saying they came up short of job creation requirements.
MEMPHIS (AP) — Health officials in Tennessee's largest county say the number of overdoses related to opioids and other drugs has surged in the past month, reaching 58 deaths in a 30-day period.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to reject President Donald Trump's claim that he is immune from criminal investigation while in office. But the court seemed less clear about exactly how to handle subpoenas from Congress and the Manhattan district attorney for Trump's tax, bank and financial records.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is holding its second week of arguments by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, with audio available live to audiences around the world.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. sank deeper into losses for the fiscal quarter that ended in March, as the damage to the industry from the coronavirus outbreak hurt sales and crimped production.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. reported Tuesday a sharp plunge in fiscal fourth quarter profit as the global pandemic slammed vehicle sales and halted production at its auto plants.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new type of coronavirus test offers a cheaper, quicker way to screen for infections, moving the U.S. toward the kind of mass screening that experts say is essential to returning millions of Americans to school and work.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Trousdale County has the highest per capita coronavirus infection rate in the U.S. and Bledsoe County has the fifth, according to an Associated Press analysis. In both counties, the high infection rates are attributable to their local prisons.
WASHINGTON (AP) — On a day when COVID-19 cases soared, healthcare supplies were scarce and an anguished doctor warned he was being sent to war without bullets, a cargo plane landed at the Los Angeles International Airport, supposedly loaded with the ammo doctors and nurses were begging for: some of the first N95 medical masks to reach the U.S. in almost six weeks.
NEW YORK (AP) — Even as President Donald Trump urges getting people back to work and reopening the economy, an Associated Press analysis shows thousands of people are getting sick from COVID-19 on the job.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, warned on Tuesday that "the consequences could be really serious" if cities and states reopen the U.S. economy too quickly with the coronavirus still spreading.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is increasingly looking like an imperfect microcosm of the challenges that all Americans face in keeping the coronavirus at bay as huge swaths of the nation move to reopen.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted his administration has "met the moment" and "prevailed" on coronavirus testing, even as the White House itself became a potent symbol of the risk facing Americans everywhere by belatedly ordering everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A 39-year-old former investment manager in Georgia was already facing federal charges that he robbed hundreds of retirees of their savings through a Ponzi scheme when the rapid spread of COVID-19 presented an opportunity.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The future of ID-check free travel across 26 European countries is at risk if governments do not ease soon the emergency border restrictions they introduced to halt the spread of the coronavirus, European Union lawmakers and officials warned Tuesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more than $3 trillion coronavirus aid package Tuesday, providing nearly $1 trillion for states and cities, "hazard pay" for essential workers and a new round of cash payments to individuals.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats controlling the House have unveiled a $3 trillion-plus coronavirus relief bill — the fifth coronavirus response legislation so far — and are planning to pass the measure on Friday. The legislation replenishes existing accounts to respond to both the COVID-19 health care crisis and to try to ease the economic impact of the pandemic, which has produced record job losses and fears of a depression.
Worries about the downside of reopening the economy too soon are weighing on markets, and Wall Street fell Tuesday to its biggest loss since the start of the month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government piled up a record deficit in April, traditionally a month of big budget surpluses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus led in April to the steepest month-to-month fall in U.S. consumer prices since the 2008 financial crisis — a 0.8% drop that was driven by a plunge in gasoline prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus led in April to the steepest month-to-month fall in U.S. consumer prices since the 2008 financial crisis — a 0.8% drop that was driven by a plunge in gasoline prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new coronavirus aid package released by House Democrats includes $25 billion for the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service, which is expected to run out of money by the end of September without additional support from Congress because it's losing so much revenue during the pandemic.
LONDON (AP) — Office jobs are never going to be the same.
BEIJING (AP) — China suspended punitive tariffs on more U.S. goods including radar equipment for aviation Tuesday amid pressure from President Donald Trump to buy more imports as part of a truce in their trade war.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Major business groups in Germany, France and Italy are urging European governments to ramp up their joint fiscal stimulus efforts against the economic downturn cased by the virus outbreak, saying that the EU response "must be of an unprecedented scale."
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has directed the U.S. federal employee retirement fund to scrap its plan to place more than $4 billion into Chinese investments, a move that comes as the president blames Beijing almost daily for not doing more to stop COVID-19 from spreading around the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump voiced strong support Thursday for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, raising speculation that a pardon may be coming after Flynn's lawyers disclosed internal FBI documents they claim show the FBI tried to "intentionally frame" him.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's $3 trillion effort to rescue the economy from the coronavirus crisis is stirring worry at the Pentagon. Bulging federal deficits may force a reversal of years of big defense spending gains and threaten prized projects like the rebuilding of the nation's arsenal of nuclear weapons.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's fundraising pace slowed slightly for the second straight month as the nation reeled from the coronavirus outbreak.
MONDAY, MAY 11
TOURISM
GATLINBURG (AP) — Crews had to rescue one hiker and dealt with congestion in a few popular places when the Great Smoky Mountains reopened over the weekend, but crowds stayed manageable, a park spokeswoman said Monday.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville head of the NAACP said a police officer who responded to his home after a bullseye-like target appeared in his front yard dismissed his concerns.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The head of Tennessee's COVID-19 team will step down at the end of the month to take a job with a university in South Carolina, Gov. Bill Lee announced.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Eligible Tennesseans can now request an absentee ballot to vote by mail in the Aug. 6 election, according to a news release from the Secretary of State's office.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new type of coronavirus test offers a cheaper, quicker way to screen for infections, moving the U.S. toward the kind of mass screening that experts say is essential to returning millions of Americans to school and work.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With deaths mounting at the nation's nursing homes, the White House strongly recommended to governors Monday that all residents and staff at such facilities be tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As he encouraged the country to "reopen," President Donald Trump confronted cases of the coronavirus in the White House itself on Monday, spotlighting the challenge he faces in instilling confidence in a nation still reeling from the pandemic.
Chicago (AP) — Twitter announced Monday it will warn users when a tweet contains disputed or misleading information about the coronavirus.
MIAMI (AP) — When Los Angeles-based fashion blogger Jacey Duprie finally emerged from days in sweats, changing into black jeans, an ankle-length camel sweater and Gucci loafers, she counted it as one of those "very big victories that used to be small victories."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits — including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders — has dipped in recent weeks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Truth often takes a beating when President Donald Trump talks about his administration's response to the coronavirus and the subsequent death toll in the U.S. This past week was no exception.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate's top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence was self-isolating Sunday after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus last week, but he planned to return to the White House on Monday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street was split on Monday, as continued gains for technology and health care stocks helped cover up for more prevalent losses elsewhere.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the coronavirus erupted in the United States, it triggered quarantines, travel curbs and business shutdowns. Many economists predicted a V-shaped journey for the economy: A sharp drop, then a quick bounce-back as the virus faded and the economy regained health.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of President Donald Trump's top economic advisers emphasized on Sunday the importance of states getting more businesses and offices open even as the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex, forcing three members of the administration's coronavirus task force into self-quarantine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China's direct investment in the United States fell last year to its lowest level since the Great Recession, even before the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of global commerce.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In late March, Britney Ruby Miller, co-owner of a small chain of steakhouse restaurants, confidently proclaimed that once the viral outbreak had subsided, her company planned to recall all its laid-off workers.
COURTS
KINGSPORT (AP) — Three appeals court judges in Tennessee have ruled that it is not illegal to film women fully clothed in public without their permission.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday seemed divided over how broadly religious institutions including schools, hospitals and social service centers should be shielded from job discrimination lawsuits by employees.
FRIDAY, MAY 8
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Burke Nihill has been promoted to Tennessee Titans president/CEO to replace Steve Underwood, who is retiring from a full-time role.
COURTS
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — After years of infighting over $112 million in legal fees in the NFL concussion case, a federal appeals court has approved a plan that gives nearly half the money to a single law firm.
WASHINGTON (AP) — First, Kristen Biel learned she had breast cancer. Then, after she told the Catholic school where she taught that she'd need time off for treatment, she learned her teaching contract wouldn't be renewed.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's attorney general is opposing motions to delay executions scheduled in August and October due to the coronavirus pandemic.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Thursday blocked the state from implementing a contentious school voucher program just days after ruling the program unconstitutional.
NASHVILLE AREA
In an effort to provide additional outdoor space for walking, running and biking, the city of Nashville is unveiling 4.5 miles of temporary street closures in eight Nashville neighborhoods. The effort is a collaboration between Metro Public Works, the office of Mayor John Cooper, and the Metro Planning Department. The closures, which will apply to thru traffic, will allow local residents to spend time outside while maintaining 6 feet of physical distance from their neighbors. Streets will remain open to local traffic, including deliveries. Signage will be put in place beginning tomorrow, May 9th.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The names and addresses of Tennesseans who have tested positive for COVID-19 are being provided to first responders, law enforcement and paramedics under a state agreement deemed necessary to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to head off another chaotic scramble for scarce supplies, the White House said Friday it will step in to help coordinate distribution of the first drug that appears to help some COVID-19 patients recover faster.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators have found "reasonable grounds" that a government whistleblower was punished for opposing widespread use of an unproven drug that President Donald Trump touted as a remedy for COVID-19, his lawyers said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — While the White House looks ahead to reopening houses of worship, most Americans think in-person religious services should be barred or allowed only with limits during the coronavirus pandemic — and only about a third say that prohibiting in-person services violates religious freedom, a new poll finds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was continuing his push to get states reopened as he praised another Republican governor for rolling back state coronavirus restrictions while welcoming that governor, Greg Abbott of Texas, to the White House. That reopening comes despite Texas failing to meet the administration's recommended benchmarks.
President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — and now the IRS — are urging people who received coronavirus relief payments for a deceased taxpayer to return the money to the government.
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that although a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan selling live animals likely played a significant role in the emergence of the new coronavirus, it does not recommend that such markets be shut down globally.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street brushed off a record-breaking report of job losses and pushed higher Friday as investors reckoned that the very worst of the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic may be passing.
BALTIMORE (AP) — As the coronavirus rampaged across the U.S. economy, it slashed a cruel path of job losses, reduced hours and hardships for America's most vulnerable workers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 33.5 million Americans have lost their jobs and applied for unemployment benefits in the past 7 weeks — a stunning record high that reflects the near-complete shutdown of the U.S. economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus crisis has sent the U.S. unemployment rate surging to 14.7%, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was assuring Americans that the only thing to fear was fear itself.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eyeing a major expansion of federal assistance, top Democrats are promising that small- to medium-sized cities and counties and small towns that were left out of four prior coronavirus bills will receive hundreds of billions of dollars in the next one.
BEIJING (AP) — U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators promised to create "favorable conditions" for carrying out a truce in their governments' tariff war during a phone call Friday, an official Chinese news agency reported.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As factories and other businesses remain shuttered across America, people in prisons in at least 40 states continue going to work. Sometimes they earn pennies an hour, or nothing at all, making masks and hand sanitizer to help guard others from the coronavirus.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an abrupt about-face, the Justice Department said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who alleged Joe Biden sexually assaulted her 27 years ago, is being represented by a prominent lawyer and political donor to President Donald Trump's 2016 Republican campaign.
THURSDAY, MAY 7
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Unemployed people in Tennessee received more than $850 million in benefits in April, state officials said, as the number of jobless surged with employers letting go hundreds of thousands of workers during the new coronavirus outbreak response.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in the "Bridgegate" scandal that ultimately derailed the 2016 presidential bid of then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The justices found evidence of deception, corruption and abuse of power in the scheme, but said "not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime."
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government's highway safety agency will not force automakers to recall millions of newer Takata air bag inflators, citing industry research that shows the devices are safe.
TOURISM
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Great Smoky Mountains National Park becomes one of the country's first national parks to reopen Saturday, some of its most popular trails will remain off limits.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville will slowly begin reopening its economy next week amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Thursday.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is falsely suggesting that children are safe from the coronavirus as he pushes to reopen the country now and schools in the summer or fall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A member of the military serving as one of President Donald Trump's valets has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said Thursday. It said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have since tested negative for the virus and "remain in good health."
NEW YORK (AP) — Sandy Jensen's customer-service job at a Sam's Club in Fullerton, California, normally involves checking member ID cards at the door and answering questions. But the coronavirus has turned her into a kind of store sheriff.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Trump administration has shelved a document created by the nation's top disease investigators with step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places during the still-raging coronavirus outbreak.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department has begun barring the enlistment of would-be military recruits who have been hospitalized for the coronavirus, unless they get a special medical waiver.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Thursday related to national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Even with the economy still in miserable shape, some investors are finding reasons to hope the worst of the plunge may have passed, and Wall Street rallied to its biggest gain in a week on Thursday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Uber lost $2.9 billion in the first quarter as its overseas investments were hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, but the company is looking to its growing food delivery business as well as aggressive cost-cutting to ease the pain.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer borrowing fell in March for the first time in more than eight years, with the category covering credit cards dropping by the largest amount in over three decades, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the business shutdowns caused by the viral outbreak deepened the worst U.S. economic catastrophe in decades.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity fell a sharp 2.5% in the first three months of this year, the biggest decline since 2015, with labor costs jumping 4.8%.
SOAVE, Italy (AP) — The global luxury goods sector is heading for a stunning collapse of up to 35% this year due to coronavirus lockdowns, according to a new study by the Bain consultancy published Thursday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Neiman Marcus has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the first department store chain and second major retailer to be toppled by the coronavirus pandemic.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S, policy of quickly expelling migrants apprehended along the Mexican border may have to stay in place even after coronavirus quarantine restrictions ease around the country, a Trump administration official said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has failed in its bid to block President Donald Trump from engaging in further military action against Iran without first seeking approval from the legislative branch.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday named five Republicans, including his top deputy and one of Congress' most combative defenders of President Donald Trump, to a new panel tracking federal coronavirus and economic relief spending.