VOL. 44 | NO. 24 | Friday, June 12, 2020
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, May 2020, for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were mostly steady this week, continuing to hover near all-time lows.
NEWSMAKERS
Baker Donelson has elected 15 new shareholders across the firm, including two attorneys in its Nashville office: Anita Beth Adams and Megan M. Sutton.
BRIEFS
The state has outlined new spending plans that reflect significant revenue reductions due to the economic impact of COVID-19.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Nearly every automaker has introduced 0% financing to spur car sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, creating a smart way for buyers to finance their new car.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Target date investments are supposed to be an easier way to invest, and they’re a popular choice in 401(k) plans. But the recent market downturn showed that some target date strategies suffered much bigger losses than others, especially for investors nearing retirement.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
IT stands for “information technology.” That’s the department assigned to fix your computer, the one you’ve called four times today so far. No, you’re not an idiot. You’re not some old dog with new tricks. What you are is growly and irritated.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Dear Class of 2020: You are graduating into one of the worst economies in history. But this isn’t news to you. Many of you have already felt the impact, with summer internships and full-time job offers pulled out from under you as the depth and duration of the coronavirus pandemic truly sets in.
CAREER CORNER
The last three months have been heavy, really heavy. And now, here we are. Things are heavier.
SPORTS
MEMPHIS (AP) — The Southern Heritage Classic has canceled the Sept. 12 game scheduled between Tennessee State and Jackson State in the first known Division I cancellation because of the coronavirus pandemic.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A state and federal lawsuit was dismissed against a Tennessee senator, whose medical company was accused of excessively billing health programs.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee House continued to simmer Wednesday after Republicans spiked a resolution the night before for a young black woman shot and killed this year. Speaker Cameron Sexton even kicked off the morning session by telling leaders of both parties to meet with him afterward.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Mitsubishi Motors told its shareholders Thursday that its top executives are taking pay cuts to share responsibility for the Japanese automaker's financial losses.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump's effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
LONDON (AP) — As the race intensifies for a vaccine against the new coronavirus, rich countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunized first — leaving significant questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccines in time to save lives before the pandemic ends.
BEIJING — A Chinese public health expert says an outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing is under control and the number of new cases should drop in the coming days.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a historically high number, even as the economy increasingly reopens and employers bring some people back to work.
NEW YORK (AP) — Even with this week's Supreme Court ruling, the workplace will be far from equal for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
PARIS (AP) — European countries are slamming the Trump administration's withdrawal from negotiations on a major digital services tax.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England unveiled another big stimulus for the U.K. economy as it tries to limit the scale of the coronavirus recession, which it now thinks will be "less severe" than it thought it last month.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump "pleaded" with China's Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, according to a scathing new book by former Trump adviser John Bolton that accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A network of deep-pocketed progressive donors is launching a $59 million effort to encourage people of color to vote by mail in November, a step many Democrats view as crucial to turning out the party's base during the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged China to reveal all it knows about the coronavirus outbreak in a meeting with a top Chinese official in Hawaii on Wednesday as new revelations about President Donald Trump and China rocked Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Americans protest racial inequality and the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police, their pleas are being heard in the chambers of the U.S. Capitol. Both Democrats and Republicans have introduced legislation to reform policing in America, but they diverge on some issues.
DETROIT (AP) — A dramatic shift has taken place in the nation's opinions on policing and race, as a new poll finds that more Americans today than five years ago believe police brutality is a very serious problem that too often goes undisciplined and unequally targets black Americans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump released a long-awaited plan Wednesday to address the persistently high number of suicides by veterans, with initiatives including firearm safety, wellness programs at workplaces and new barriers near railroads and bridges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The new chief of U.S.-funded international broadcasting on Wednesday fired the heads of at least three outlets he oversees and replaced their boards with allies, in a move likely to raise fears that he intends to turn the Voice of America and its sister outlets into Trump administration propaganda machines.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi is requiring that House members wear masks when attending committee hearings, an edict that comes amid spiking COVID-19 cases in many states. Results were mixed Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee would become the latest state to provide health care providers, schools and businesses broad protections against coronavirus lawsuits under a proposal gaining traction inside the GOP-dominant Statehouse.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tensions erupted Tuesday on the Tennessee House floor after Republican lawmakers refused to advance a resolution memorializing a young a black woman shot and killed in her car earlier this year.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials in Tennessee's capital city have approved a tax hike that will increase funding for police and schools.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The latest challenge for the autonomous vehicle industry: How to assure passengers that the car they are getting in is virus free, even if it doesn't have a driver.
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A former Audi engineering manager sought by the United States in a diesel emissions cheating scandal has been arrested in Croatia, the country's Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is proposing that Congress roll back legal protections for online platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter that generally could not be held legally responsible for what people post on the sites.
Facebook has removed another 900 social media accounts linked to white supremacy groups after members discussed plans to bring weapons to protests over police killings of black people.
Facebook is launching a widespread effort to boost U.S. voter turnout and provide authoritative information about voting — just as it doubles down on its policy allowing politicians like President Donald Trump to post false information on the same subject.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major legal setback for President Donald Trump on a high-profile consumer issue, a federal appeals court has ruled that his administration lacks the legal authority to force drug companies to disclose prices in their TV ads.
EDUCATION
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, are donating $120 million toward student scholarships at historically black colleges and universities.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new oversight board is warning about the strain of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. government and calling into question Washington's ability to effectively manage trillions of dollars in aid and keep federal workers safe.
BEIJING (AP) — China raised its emergency warning to its second-highest level and canceled more than 60% of the flights to Beijing on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak in the capital. It was a sharp pullback for the nation that declared victory over COVID-19 in March and a message to the rest of the world about how tenacious the virus really is.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks mostly fell in another day of wobbly trading on Wall Street Wednesday, as markets eased off the accelerator following their big rally.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans to carry on with its confrontational approach to world trade, pressuring other countries to lower their tariffs on U.S. products and perhaps making it harder for imports to enter the United States duty free.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed Tuesday that the federal government's role in strengthening the U.S. market in the face of a recession is vital in preventing a worsening of economic inequality.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. says it's permanently increasing starting hourly wages for its workers to $15 beginning July 5, several months ahead of schedule.
WASHINGTON (AP) — US home construction rebounded 4.3% in May after steep declines caused by shutdowns due to the coronavirus.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's exports sank 28% in May, while imports dropped 26% as the coronavirus pandemic slammed global trade.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — An influential group behind the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement has established a fund worth more than $12 million to aid organizations fighting institutional racism, in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has sued former national security adviser John Bolton to delay the publication of a book that the White House says contains classified information and that is expected to paint an unfavorable portrait of the president's foreign policy decision-making.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats flooded Twitter and email inboxes this week with praise for the watershed Supreme Court decision shielding gay, lesbian and transgender people from job discrimination. Republicans — not so much.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are proposing changes to police procedures and accountability with an enhanced use-of-force database, restrictions on chokeholds and new commissions to study law enforcement and race, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seizing on a medical milestone that doesn't exist, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he thinks the same scientific expertise that produced a vaccine for AIDS can deliver one soon for COVID-19, too. There is no vaccine for AIDS.
TUESDAY, JUNE 16
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Highway Patrol has announced that troopers detained more than 20 people at the state Capitol during a peaceful protest.
TOURISM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR is set to allow up to 30,000 fans at the track in Bristol next month when it moves the All-Star race out of Charlotte Motor Speedway for just the second time in the history of the race.
SEVIERVILLE (AP) — A new water park in the Smoky Mountains foothills of Tennessee is preparing to open to visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Tennessee's Department of Transportation is receiving $11.2 million for installation of closed-circuit cameras and other devices along Interstate 40, U.S. Rep. David Kustoff's office said.
COURTS
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a permit program that would allow the disputed Keystone XL pipeline and other new oil and gas pipelines to cross waterways with little review.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's decision shielding LGBT people from employment discrimination dealt a blow to religious conservatives — and was penned by a justice they lauded after his nomination by President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — People trying to read a big Supreme Court ruling got more suspense than they bargained for.
HEALTH CARE
BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a video game for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — The head of the U.S. communications regulator said T-Mobile's nationwide, hours-long outage Monday was "unacceptable" and that the Federal Communications Commission will investigate.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
MEMPHIS (AP) — The number of COVID-19 patients in Tennessee hospitals has hit a grim new record at more than 400, and more than twice that number could need beds in the weeks ahead as the state grapples with a new spike in its coronavirus caseload, Vanderbilt University researchers reported Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they expect health insurance companies will cover vaccines for COVID-19 without charging copays, once those vaccines are developed and become available.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As businesses reopen across the U.S. after coronavirus shutdowns, many are requiring customers and workers to sign forms saying they won't sue if they catch COVID-19.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose again Tuesday, part of a strong and worldwide rally for markets, after a big rebound in buying at U.S. stores and online raised hopes that the economy can escape its recession relatively quickly.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that the U.S. economy faces a deep downturn with "significant uncertainty" about the timing and strength of a recovery. He cautioned that the longer the recession lasts, the worse the damage that would be inflicted on the job market and businesses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American industry rebounded last month as factories began to reopen for the first time since being shut down by the coronavirus in Aprll.
BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. retail sales jumped by a record 17.7% from April to May, with spending partially rebounding after the coronavirus had shut down businesses, flattened the economy and paralyzed consumers during the previous two months.
LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators began two antitrust investigations on Tuesday into Apple's mobile app store and payment platform over concerns its practices distort competition, opening a new front in the EU's battle against the dominance of big tech companies.
LONDON (AP) — Unemployment in the U.K. is widely expected to hit levels not seen since the mid-1980s over the coming months as a result of the coronavirus-induced recession.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats controlling the House have slated a vote next week to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, an issue that they say has become far more important in the aftermath of protests for racial justice in both Washington and across the nation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government watchdogs are warning that a legal determination by the Trump administration could severely limit their ability to oversee more than $1 trillion in spending related to the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said Thursday he's "OK" with renaming military bases such as Ft. Bragg that are named after Confederate Army officers, declining to side with President Donald Trump and other Republicans opposed to the move.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Following weeks of national protests since the death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would encourage better police practices. But he made no mention of the roiling national debate over racism spawned by police killings of black men and women.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than four dozen progressive groups have signed a letter to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign criticizing his police reform proposals and warning that if he doesn't adopt more progressive policies he risks losing black voters — and the election — this fall.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Embracing a new priority, President Donald Trump is set to announce executive actions on police procedures and Senate Republicans are preparing a package of policing changes as the GOP rushes to respond to mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans.
BOSTON (AP) — Gregory Minott came to the U.S. from his native Jamaica more than two decades ago on a student visa and was able to carve out a career in architecture thanks to temporary work visas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is getting some help from his "former boss," Barack Obama, as he looks to fill his campaign coffers and unify the Democratic Party ahead of the November election.
MONDAY, JUNE 15
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Singer songwriter Brandi Carlile has had a productive year and that's led her to be the leading nominee at the Americana Honors and Awards for her roles as a solo artist, a member of the group The Highwomen, as a producer and as a songwriter.
PARIS (AP) — The 27-year-old daughter of country singer Hank Williams Jr. was killed in a highway accident in Tennessee, police said.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are seeking a fast-tracked decision by the state Supreme Court to block the absentee-voting-for-all option that a judge has ordered during the coronavirus pandemic.
NASHVILLE (AP) — As protests continue to pop up across the nation over George Floyd's death, Tennessee's House is seeking to significantly increase penalties against demonstrators who violate certain state laws.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Health officials in Tennessee have cited 14 Nashville businesses including a restaurant owned by singer Kid Rock for not complying with coronavirus public health orders.
MIDSTATE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee plumbing company has been ordered to pay back wages, damages and civil penalties for violating federal requirements related to overtime, record keeping and child labor laws, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is for now declining to get involved in an ongoing debate by citizens and in Congress over policing, rejecting cases Monday that would have allowed the justices to revisit when police can be held financially responsible for wrongdoing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's bid to throw out a California immigrant-sanctuary law that limits local police cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday passed up several challenges to federal and state gun control laws, over the dissent of two conservative justices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for a critical permit for a proposed natural gas pipeline that would cross under the Appalachian Trail, siding with energy companies and the Trump administration.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The head of the United Auto Workers will meet this month with the U.S. attorney in Detroit to discuss potential changes for the union following a wide-ranging corruption probe.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Monday revoked emergency authorization for malaria drugs promoted by President Donald Trump for treating COVID-19 amid growing evidence they don't work and could cause serious side effects.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A grim blame game with partisan overtones is breaking out over COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents, a tiny slice of the population that represents a shockingly high proportion of Americans who have perished in the pandemic.
DETROIT (AP) — African Americans are disproportionately likely to say a family member or close friend has died of COVID-19 or respiratory illness since March, according to a series of surveys conducted since April that lays bare how black Americans have borne the brunt of the pandemic.
BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday it is taking a 23% stake in CureVac, a German company working on a potential vaccine for the coronavirus, underlining its determination to keep key industries in the country.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied back from a sharp, early slump on Monday to notch modest gains after the Federal Reserve unveiled its latest push to prop up the economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said Monday that it will begin purchasing corporate bonds as part of a previously-announced plan to ensure companies can borrow through the bond market during the pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Layoffs are slowing, unemployment is declining and hiring is gradually rising, suggesting that a steady rebound may be afoot in the U.S. job market.
LONDON (AP) — BP says it will cut the value of its oil and gas assets by as much as $17.5 billion and review plans for some oil wells as the COVID-19 pandemic reduces demand for oil and gas and forces major energy companies to speed up the shift away from fossil fuels.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top official said time has come to "inject fresh momentum" into post-Brexit negotiations to try and secure a trade deal between the 27-nation bloc and the departing U.K. before the end of the year.
BEIJING (AP) — The billionaire founder of the world's biggest appliance manufacturer, Midea Group, was held hostage by intruders in his home in southern China but was rescued by police, news reports said Monday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden pulled in $81 million for his election effort in the month of May, a massive sum that shows the extent to which Democrats have unified behind the former vice president as he seeks to defeat Republican President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House subcommittee investigating billions of dollars in coronavirus aid is demanding that the Trump administration and some of the nation's largest banks turn over detailed information about companies that applied for and received federal loans intended for small businesses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of U.S.-funded Voice of America and her deputy resigned Monday following recent clashes with the Trump administration that have sparked fears for its independence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Driven by a rare urgency, Senate Republicans are poised to unveil an extensive package of policing changes that includes new restrictions on police chokeholds and other practices as President Donald Trump signals his support following the mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hitting the road again. And while a campaign event with a president who draws TV cameras and raucous crowds can be gold for down-ballot candidates, these days its value can be debatable.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is exaggerating his accomplishments for the military and veterans.
FRIDAY, JUNE 12
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court appears skeptical of arguments that it should order the dismissal of the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn despite a Justice Department bid to abandon the prosecution.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee election officials on Thursday made changes to the absentee voting application, a move ordered when a judge scolded them for making their own edits after she required a universal mail-in voting option during the coronavirus pandemic.
TECHNOLOGY
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee said Thursday the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates "the gross inequality" of a world where almost half the population is unable to connect to the internet.
LONDON (AP) — Twitter has removed a vast network of accounts that it says is linked to the Chinese government and were pushing false information favorable to the country's communist rulers. Beijing denied involvement Friday and said the company should instead take down accounts smearing China.
ENVIRONMENT
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Range Resources Corp., Pennsylvania's most active shale gas driller, has pleaded no contest to environmental crimes over its handling of contamination at a pair of well sites, the state attorney general's office announced Friday.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say they are wearing masks. They are still by and large avoiding restaurants. And the vast majority are still staying at least six feet from others when out and about.
WASHINGTON (AP) — At the White House, aides now routinely flout internal rules requiring face masks. The president's campaign is again scheduling mass arena rallies. And he is back to spending summer weekends at his New Jersey golf club.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is floating a theory that travel from Mexico may be contributing to a new wave of coronavirus infections, rather than states' efforts to reopen their economies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration does not have to issue an emergency rule requiring employers to protect workers from the coronavirus, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — There will be no packed double-decker safari buses with tour guides rolling through the San Diego Zoo, nor animal shows that draw crowds — nor breakfast buffets at hotels.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — More than two dozen international aid organizations have told the U.S. government they are "increasingly alarmed" that "little to no U.S. humanitarian assistance has reached those on the front lines" of the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of new cases picks up speed in some of the world's most fragile regions.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street managed to end a bumpy day broadly higher Friday but still finished with its worst week in nearly three months.
HAVANA (AP) — A week and a half ago, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a strongly worded announcement that the Trump administration was prohibiting business with Fincimex, a Cuban state corporation that works with foreign credit card and money transfer businesses, among others.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Friday related to the national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has promised to use its "full range of tools" to pull the country out of a deep recession caused by a global pandemic, signaling that it would keep interest rates low through 2022.
NEW YORK (AP) — Drugstore chains Walgreens and CVS Health say they will stop locking up beauty and hair care products aimed at black women and other women of color, joining Walmart in ending a practice at some stores that has drawn the ire of customers.
LONDON (AP) — The British economy has seen nearly two decades worth of growth wiped out as a result of the lockdown measures put in place during the coronavirus pandemic.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden's search for a running mate is entering a second round of vetting for a dwindling list of potential vice presidential nominees, with several black women in strong contention.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he'd like to see an end to the police use of chokeholds, except in certain circumstances.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in nearly three years, three American aircraft carriers are patrolling the Indo-Pacific waters, a massive show of naval force in a region roiled by spiking tensions between the U.S. and China and a sign that the Navy has bounced back from the worst days of the coronavirus outbreak.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In his first eight months as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley carefully crafted a low-key public profile. He knew that splashy and sassy were unlikely to endear him to his boss, President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top deputy are rejecting allegations that the State Department's independent watchdog was fired for investigating alleged impropriety by Pompeo and his wife.
THURSDAY, JUNE 11
NASHVILLE AREA
Southwest Value Partners, the owner and developer of the 17-acre Nashville Yards development, today announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase the historic Union Station Hotel, part of the Marriott Autograph Collection, located at 1001 Broadway.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A judge on Thursday said "shame on you" to state officials for not abiding by her order that allows a vote-by-mail option for all of Tennessee's 4.1 million voters during the coronavirus pandemic, saying she now had "to clean up confusion" from the state's decision to reword its absentee voting applications on its own.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Senate advanced legislation Thursday that would provide nursing homes, grocery stores and other businesses sweeping protections from coronavirus lawsuits.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials would be prohibited from destroying public records that were being sought by the public under a proposal gaining traction inside the GOP-dominant Statehouse.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — More than 21,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed in Tennessee last week, bringing the total number of jobless people who have sought government payouts during the new coronavirus outbreak to 600,000, state officials said Thursday.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel has seen all he needed from his Titans during this very unique and virtual offseason.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country superstar Garth Brooks is holding a concert that will be played at 300 drive-in theaters in June across the country.
COURTS
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese prosecutor on Thursday urged the U.S. to extradite two Americans accused of helping Nissan's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, flee the country while he was out on bail.
MEDIA
Comcast settled a long-running a long-running racial discrimination dispute with black media mogul Byron Allen, agreeing to add three of Allen's channels to its cable packages.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Meat production has rebounded from its low point during the coronavirus pandemic when dozens of plants were closed, but experts say consumer prices are likely to remain high and it will take months to work through a backlog of millions of pigs and cattle, creating headaches for producers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats urged the Trump administration on Thursday to reinstate the White House pandemic unit as a separate office, saying that dissolving it in 2018 slowed the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 110,000 in the United States.
The first experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. is on track to begin a huge study next month to prove if it really can fend off the coronavirus, its manufacturer announced Thursday — a long-awaited step in the global vaccine race.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street Thursday as coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased again, deflating recent optimism that the economy could recover quickly from its worst crisis in decades.
The skies are clearing up a bit for airlines as states ease lockdown measures and travelers slowly return to airport check-in lines.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Thursday related to the national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many Americans are still losing their jobs even as the economy appears to be slowly recovering with more businesses partially reopening.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.4% in May, led by a gains in the cost of food and energy.
BEIJING (AP) — Beijing will honor its trade deal with the U.S. and wants to see better ties with Washington, senior Chinese officials said Thursday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are narrowing on a package of proposed policing changes after George Floyd's death that would create a national database of use-of-force incidents, boost the use of police body cameras and include long-stalled effort to make lynching a federal hate crime.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee swiftly moved forward on Thursday with its investigation of the Justice Department's Russia probe, voting to allow dozens of subpoenas over Democratic objections that the move was an effort to help President Donald Trump's reelection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — At a moment of national reckoning over racism in America, President Donald Trump is increasingly becoming a bystander.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden says his chief worry is that President Donald Trump will attempt to "steal" the November election, and the Democratic challenger says he's even considered the possibility that the Republican incumbent would refuse to leave the White House should he lose. Trump's press secretary accused Biden of trafficking in "conspiracy theories."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nation's top military officer, said Thursday he was wrong to accompany President Donald Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square that ended in a photo op at a church. He said his presence in uniform amid protests over racial injustice "created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A GOP-led Senate panel has approved a plan by Sen. Elizabeth Warren to have the names of Confederate figures removed from military bases and other Pentagon assets, taking on President Donald Trump, who has vowed not to change names like Fort Bragg and Fort Hood.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a broadside against the International Criminal Court, President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions against court workers investigating American troops and intelligence officials and those of allied nations, including Israel, for possible war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that it's time to remove symbols honoring Confederate figures from the U.S. Capitol building and military bases as the pandemic and racial unrest force a national reckoning with racial discrimination.