VOL. 46 | NO. 22 | Friday, June 3, 2022
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Kolwyck: ‘We’re just excited to keep playing ball.’
Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin often talks about how much his team enjoys road trips. That’s a good attitude to have this time of year with a road trip to Oregon looming and the College World Series in Omaha serving as the ultimate destination.
UT SPORTS
Given his status as a former All-American at Tennessee, Chris Burke expects to be asked questions about the Vols baseball team. But the level of interest this season has gone to another level.
BRIEFS
The Ryman Auditorium has been designated as an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Jeep has come out with a new three-row large SUV, the Grand Wagoneer. It dusts off a nameplate not used since the early 1990s and stands as the brand’s most expensive and luxurious model. Immense power, impressive technology and a premium cabin are the highlights rather than Jeep’s typical trail-busting capabilities.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Buying your first car is already an intimidating experience, but it can be even more overwhelming amid historic supply shortages.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A former Tennessee finance commissioner is returning to replace the state's economic development leader.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Fishing without a license in Tennessee will be allowed for one day during the state's upcoming free fishing day.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt University's tech boot camps recently surpassed 1,000 graduates since they began enrolling students in 2019.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday limited when people can sue federal officials for a violation of their rights, siding with the government in a case involving the owner of a notorious inn on the U.S.-Canada border.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man carrying a gun, a knife and zip ties was arrested Wednesday near Justice Brett Kavanaugh's house in Maryland after threatening to kill the justice.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has named a team of nine people, including an FBI official and former police chiefs, to aid in a review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament on Wednesday threw its weight behind a proposed ban on selling new cars with combustion engines in 2035, seeking to step up the fight against climate change through the faster development of electric vehicles.
TRANSPORTATION
Spirit Airlines, the target of a budget airline bidding war, is postponing a Friday shareholder vote on whether to accept one of those buyout offers after a flurry of counter proposals from Frontier Airlines and JetBlue.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Interior Department said Wednesday it will phase out sales of plastic water bottles and other single-use products at national parks and on other public lands over the next decade, targeting a major source of U.S. pollution.
COVID-19
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday that a funding crunch is forcing it to divert more than $10 billion in coronavirus relief from test procurement and other efforts as it tries to come up with money to secure the next generation of vaccines and treatments for some high-risk Americans.
Moderna's experimental COVID-19 vaccine that combines its original shot with protection against the omicron variant appears to work, the company announced Wednesday.
American adults who haven't yet gotten vaccinated against COVID-19 may soon get another choice, as advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday backed a more traditional type of shot.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street Wednesday in more choppy trading as investors were discouraged to see more evidence of inflation's impact on businesses and another gloomy outlook on the global economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stagflation. It was the dreaded "S word" of the 1970s.
LONDON (AP) — Russia's war in Ukraine and the energy and food crises it worsened will severely drag down global economic growth and push up inflation this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday.
Amazon, which has been under increasing pressure to tackle counterfeit products, said in its second-annual report that it prevented 4 billion bad listings from making it onto its site and got rid of more than 3 million phony products last year.
TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese economy contracted in the first quarter, but at a slower pace than earlier estimated, the government said Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — An 11-year-old girl who survived the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, recounted in video testimony to Congress on Wednesday how she covered herself with a dead classmate's blood to avoid being shot and "just stayed quiet."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol played out for the world to see, but the House committee investigating the attack believes a more chilling story has yet to be told -- about the president and the people whose actions put American democracy at risk.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nine members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection are on diverging political paths as they prepare for public hearings that could become a defining moment in their careers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most every Republican lawmaker expressed outrage in the days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Some even blamed then-President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Liz Cheney has been thinking lately about her great-great-grandfather, a man who fought for the Union in the Civil War, as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection prepares to launch a prime-time hearing of its work.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year since its inception, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will go public with its findings starting this week as lawmakers hope to show the American public how democracy came to the brink of disaster.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Academy Award–winning actor Matthew McConaughey made an appearance at the White House Tuesday to call on Congress to "reach a higher ground" and pass gun control legislation in honor of the children and teachers killed in last month's shooting rampage at an elementary school in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will meet with allies in Germany and Spain in late June as he tries to hold together the fragile coalition opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces battling Russian troops in a key eastern city appeared on the cusp of retreat Wednesday, though the regional governor insisted they are still fighting "for every centimeter" of the city.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brittney Griner is easily the most prominent American locked up by a foreign country. But the WNBA star's case is tangled up with that of a lesser-known American also imprisoned in Russia.
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
UT SPORTS
Matchups for the NCAA baseball super regionals were set Monday night after No. 2 national seed Stanford, No. 3 Oregon State, No. 8 East Carolina and eight other teams won regionals.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Matthew Gretler hit a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cooper Hjerpe pitched around a leadoff walk in the ninth and No. 3 overall seed Oregon State edged Vanderbilt 7-6 on Monday to win the Corvallis Regional and earn a berth in the super regionals.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nine Tennessee cities and counties are receiving a total of $7.6 million in grants for industrial development projects, state officials said.
WEST TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Seven employees of a Tennessee Starbucks who were fired after starting unionization efforts claimed victory Tuesday when their Memphis store voted to join a wave of U.S. locations of the coffee chain that have decided to organize.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Curbing abortion rights and expanding the right to be armed in public are long-sought goals of the conservative legal movement that the Supreme Court seems poised to deliver within the next month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The former top leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group and other members were charged with seditious conspiracy for what federal prosecutors say was a coordinated attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The United States won a legal battle on Tuesday to seize a Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji and wasted no time in taking command of the $325 million vessel and sailing it away from the South Pacific nation.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Dr. Thomas Dobbs has never gotten involved in political fights over reproductive health, but his name has become shorthand for a legal case that could end abortion rights in the United States. If he has feelings about the situation, he pretty much keeps those to himself.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — Forget rummaging through the junk drawer. Soon, Europeans will only need to reach for one cable to charge their smartphones and other devices.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Nineteen years after the last one was made, Goodyear has agreed to recall more than 173,000 recreational vehicle tires that the U.S. government says can fail and have killed or injured 95 people since 1998.
ENVIRONMENT
The trade group representing the cruise ship industry unsuccessfully pushed international authorities to water down new environmental regulations despite its members' climate commitments, experts in marine air pollution warn.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Campaigning groups have launched legal action to challenge a decision by the European Union's executive arm to include 30 gas projects in a list of operations considered as beneficial to the 27-nation bloc's energy market.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday as Treasury yields eased, but Wall Street remains wobbly as investors wait for more clarity on where interest rates, inflation and the economy are heading.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that she and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "could have used a better word" than "transitory" when describing the expected run of inflation in the U.S. economy. She added that she was hopeful it would soon be on the decline.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Bank has sharply downgraded its outlook for the global economy, pointing to Russia's war against Ukraine, the prospect of widespread food shortages and concerns about the potential return of "stagflation" — a toxic mix of high inflation and sluggish growth unseen for more than four decades.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target is canceling orders from suppliers, particularly for home goods and clothing, and it's slashing prices further to clear out amassed inventory ahead of the critical fall and holiday shopping seasons.
Shares of Kohl's spiked more than 11% Tuesday after the retailer said that it is in advanced talks to be sold in a deal worth about $8 billion.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eleven years after her own life was massively altered by gun violence, former congresswoman Gabby Giffords stood in front of the Washington Monument Tuesday and lobbied anew for stricter gun laws after yet another string of mass shootings in America.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old woman killed when a gunman opened fire in a racist attack on Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, challenged Congress Tuesday to act against the "cancer of white supremacy" and the nation's epidemic of gun violence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A looming Supreme Court decision on abortion, an increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and the midterm elections are potential triggers for extremist violence over the next six months, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Meltdowns in the cryptocurrency space are common, but the latest one really touched some nerves. Novice investors took to online forums to share tales of decimated fortunes and even suicidal despair. Experienced crypto supporters, including one prominent billionaire, were left feeling humbled.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year since its inception, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will go public with its findings starting this week as lawmakers hope to show the American public how democracy came to the brink of disaster.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection is expected to focus part of its first hearing Thursday on far-right extremists who broke into the building that day, with testimony from a documentary filmmaker who recorded the riot and a Capitol Police officer who was one of the first people injured in the attack.
UKRAINE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claimed Tuesday it has occupied large swaths of eastern Ukraine after a relentless, weekslong barrage and the recent deployment of more troops.
MONDAY, JUNE 6
VANDERBILT SPORTS
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Spencer Jones drove in two runs and Vanderbilt staved off elimination with an 8-1 victory over hosts Oregon State in the Corvallis Regional on Sunday.
UT SPORTS
Tennessee was right where it was expected to be Sunday night, celebrating an NCAA regional title on its home field and eager to continue one of the most dominant runs in college baseball history.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that he does not support restricting firearms or strengthening gun control laws in response to recent mass shootings in Tennessee and around the country, including the gunning down of 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Texas.
COURTS
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian court on Monday ordered Google to pay a former politician 715,000 Australian dollars ($515,000) over two defamatory YouTube videos.
MEDIA
DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk is threatening to walk away from his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to give him information about its spam bot and fake accounts.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ordered emergency measures Monday to boost crucial supplies to U.S. solar manufacturers and declared a two-year tariff exemption on solar panels from Southeast Asia as he attempted to jumpstart progress toward his climate change-fighting goals.
BERLIN (AP) — Nations must keep up hope and focus on tackling global warming despite the many obstacles now to international cooperation — including the war in Ukraine, the coronavirus pandemic, food shortages and rising energy costs, the U.N. climate chief urged Monday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Two years ago, struggling Nissan Motor Co. announced a restructuring plan to cut costs and revamp its aging model lineup in an effort to rebuild sales as the coronavirus pandemic eased.
TRANSPORTATION
The bidding war over Spirit Airlines is ramping up again with JetBlue boosting its offer for the discount carrier just days after rival Frontier upped its own bid for Spirit.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple on Monday provided a peek at upcoming tweaks to the software that powers more than 1 billion iPhones and rolled out two laptops that will be the first available with the next generation of a company-designed microprocessor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Axon, the company best known for developing the Taser, said Monday it was halting plans to develop a Taser-equipped drone after a majority of its ethics board resigned over the controversial project.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks ticked higher Monday as Wall Street keeps wrestling with whether the economy will successfully avoid a recession amid rising interest rates and high inflation. The S&P 500 edged up 0.3% and the Nasdaq rose 0.4%. Both started the day with even bigger gains, following up on strength across European and Asian markets after China relaxed some tough anti-COVID measures. But stocks fell back a bit as Treasury yields continued to climb, putting downward pressure on stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set interest rates on mortgages and other loans, jumped back above 3%.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans at the low end of the income rung are once again struggling to make ends meet.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Employees at a Starbucks store in New Orleans voted to form a union, becoming the first of the coffee giant's locations in Louisiana to unionize.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are processing the nightmare of the slaughter of children in Texas, the racist murders in Buffalo, New York, and the other numbingly repeated scenes of carnage in the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Another sign America's entertainment landscape is returning to normal: President Joe Biden will make his first in-person appearance on a late-night talk show since taking office.
For congressional candidate Shrina Kurani, cryptocurrency is not only the future of money, it's a transformative technology that could revolutionize campaign funding and attract a new generation of voters.
UKRAINE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. authorities moved Monday to seize two luxury jets — a $60 million Gulfstream and a $350 million aircraft believed to be one of the world's most expensive private airplanes — after linking both to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia took aim Sunday at Western military supplies for Ukraine, launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad, as Vladimir Putin warned that any Western deliveries of longer-range rocket systems would prompt Moscow to hit "objects that we haven't yet struck."
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump was impeached in late 2019 after pressuring Ukraine's leader for "a favor," all while withholding $400 million in military aid to help confront Russian-backed separatists, even the staunchest defense hawks in the Republican Party stood virtually united by Trump's side.
FRIDAY, JUNE 3
SPORTS
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference approved future regular-season schedules and postseason formats for six sports — just not football — to conclude its annual league meetings Friday.
George Kittle and many of the NFL's tight ends will gather in a few weeks for the second Tight End University camp. They'll watch film, run routes, catch passes and surely talk about being underpaid as a position group.
MIDSTATE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — Investigators from the Tennessee Comptroller's Office found former Austin Peay track and field coach Douglas Molnar stole at least $30,600 in funds that belonged to the university.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials have opened a new restaurant and visitors center at Henry Horton State Park.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was indicted Friday on contempt charges after defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Capitol Police officer was indicted on federal civil rights charges after he was involved in an unauthorized high-speed chase, crashed into a motorcycle and then tried to cover it up, prosecutors said Friday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee death row inmate is appealing a state trial court's dismissal of his request to be declared intellectually disabled, which would make him ineligible for execution.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — More than 750 Tesla owners have complained to U.S. safety regulators that cars operating on the automaker's partially automated driving systems have suddenly stopped on roadways for no apparent reason.
California regulators on Thursday gave a robotic taxi service the green light to begin charging passengers for driverless rides in San Francisco, a first in a state where dozens of companies have been trying to train vehicles to steer themselves on increasingly congested roads.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — As college graduates wait to see whether President Joe Biden will wipe out some of their student loan debt, his administration is taking a more limited step to address a fraud scandal at Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit chain that collapsed nearly a decade ago.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended another bumpy week with more losses Friday as investors considered the downside of the still-strong U.S. jobs market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 390,000 jobs in May, extending a streak of solid hiring that has bolstered an economy under pressure from high inflation and rising interest rates.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A milestone environmental measure designed to tap the brakes on the spread of cryptocurrency mining operations burning fossil fuels in New York has passed the state Legislature.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Annual inflation in Turkey hit 73.5% in May, the highest rate since 1998, according to official data released Friday as a cost-of-living crisis in the country deepens.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (AP) — President Joe Biden came before the television cameras Friday to celebrate yet another month of healthy job growth and low unemployment and the fastest pace of hiring in four decades under his watch.
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday he hasn't changed his views on human rights despite his administration's praise of Saudi Arabia — which he'd pledged to make a "pariah" over its abuses — for getting key oil producers to step up production.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Parents of victims and survivors of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde will appear before a House committee next week in an effort to bring home the devastation of America's gun violence epidemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than 48 hours after a gunman stormed an elementary school and killed 19 children and two teachers in his home state of Texas, Sen. John Cornyn walked straight from the floor of the U.S. Senate into Republican leader Mitch McConnell's office.
WASHINGTON (AP) — "Enough, enough," President Joe Biden exclaimed over and over as he delivered an impassioned address to the nation imploring Congress to take action against gun violence after mass shootings he said had turned schools, supermarkets and other everyday places into "killing fields."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel advanced legislation Thursday that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 as Democrats moved quickly to put their stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York by assailants who used such weapons to kill 31 people, including 19 children.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol will go public with its findings in a prime-time hearing next week, the start of what lawmakers hope will be a high-profile airing of the causes and consequences of the domestic attack on the U.S. government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has decided to travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks and is expected to meet with the kingdom's crown prince, whom he once shunned for his brutality. It's a visit that is coming together as OPEC+ announced Thursday it will pump more oil amid skyrocketing energy costs around the globe.
UKRAINE
When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the neighboring country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day Friday, Russia seemed increasingly unlikely to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — On Ukraine's battlefields, the simple act of powering up a cellphone can beckon a rain of deathly skyfall. Artillery radar and remote controls for unmanned aerial vehicles may also invite fiery shrapnel showers.
THURSDAY, JUNE 2
PERSONAL FINANCE
More U.S. workers than ever hold a graduate degree. Years of intensifying job requirements and headlines declaring a master’s “the new bachelor’s degree” nudged a record number of students into grad school.
SPORTS
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference's slogan, "It just means more," could soon refer to the number of football games the league schedules.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — All-Pro safety Kevin Byard made clear at the start of Tennessee's offseason program that the Titans wanted to be the NFL's top defense.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The CMA Fest is prohibiting any Confederate flag imagery at its four-day festival, following similar bans at other country music festivals.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville Mayor John Cooper says his office is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to reconsider its decision that a contentious school voucher program does not violate a key section of the state's constitution.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Supreme Court justices fired numerous questions Wednesday at a company that is challenging lawsuits alleging its workers were sickened or died after cleaning up the nation's worst coal ash spill, which happened more than a decade ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, is saying thank you to the people who helped him win freedom from court oversight.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged down slightly this week, though interest rates on the key 30-year home loan remain elevated.
AUTO INDUSTRY
AVON LAKE, Ohio (AP) — Ford will add 6,200 factory jobs in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio as it prepares to build more electric vehicles and roll out two redesigned combustion-engine models.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of students who attended the for-profit Corinthian Colleges chain will automatically get their federal student loans canceled, the Biden administration says, aiming to bring closure to one of the most notorious cases of fraud in American higher education.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday proposed undoing a Trump-era rule that limited the power of states and Native American tribes to block energy projects like natural gas pipelines based on their potential to pollute rivers and streams.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China, the world's top emitter of carbon dioxide that causes global warming, has seen a notable dip in its emissions over the past three quarters — but it's not clear how long the drop will continue.
TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Transportation Department on Wednesday made it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba, lifting flight restrictions that were established during the Trump administration.
COVID-19
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday that children under 5 may be able to get their first COVID-19 vaccination doses as soon as June 21, if federal regulators authorize shots for the age group, as expected.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — Americans may soon get a new COVID-19 vaccine option -- shots made with a more tried-and-true technology than today's versions. The big question: Why should they care?
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market shook off a wobbly start and ended broadly higher Thursday, marking its first gain in this holiday-shortened week.
LONDON (AP) — The OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries including Russia will raise production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, offering modest relief for a global economy suffering from soaring energy prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mary Jane Riva, CEO of the Pizza Factory, has a cautionary message for her customers this summer: Prepare to wait longer for your Hawaiian pie or calzone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week with the number of Americans collecting unemployment at historically low levels.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A stronger-than-expected economic recovery from the pandemic has pushed back the go-broke dates for Social Security and Medicare, but officials warn that the current economic turbulence is putting additional pressures on the bedrock retirement programs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration praised Saudi Arabia on Thursday for its role in a promised boost in oil production and a cease-fire in Yemen, in warm tones that appeared to further raise prospects for a Biden trip to Saudi Arabia and a meeting with the kingdom's once-shunned crown prince.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is delivering an address to the nation Thursday night about the latest wave of mass shootings, attempting to increase pressure on Congress to pass stricter gun limits after such efforts failed following past outbreaks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is swiftly working to put its stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York by 18-year-old assailants who used semi-automatic rifles to kill 31 people, including 19 children.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government on Thursday accused Washington of jeopardizing peace after U.S. envoys began trade talks with Taiwan aimed at deepening relations with the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing.
UKRAINE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Britain pledged Thursday to send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, joining the United States and Germany in equipping the embattled nation with advanced weapons for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the war in Ukraine evolves, so do the needs of the Ukraine military. That's the case U.S. officials are making as they explain the decision to a include a mobile rocket-launching system to help the Ukrainians fight the Russian assault in the country's east.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. announced new sanctions Thursday on Russian oligarchs and elites, including some of the richest men in Europe and their families, as well as penalties targeting more Kremlin officials, businessmen linked to President Vladimir Putin and their yachts, aircraft and firms that manage them.