VOL. 44 | NO. 29 | Friday, July 17, 2020
REAL ESTATE
Second quarter 2020 real estate trends for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Top residential real estate sales, June 2020, for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average rates on long-term mortgages continue to fall to new record lows, as the key 30-year loan dropped below 3% for the first time in 50 years. The stagnant economic recovery in the face of the coronavirus pandemic is keeping inflation tamped down despite pent-up homebuying demand.
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
School districts and parents across the country face a looming and vexing question: What to do about reopening for the 2020-21 academic year.
NEWSMAKERS
Ten attorneys have been named shareholders at Lewis Thomason, including four based in Nashville. The Nashville attorneys are:
BRIEFS
Gibson is launching a global search this summer for missing shipping ledgers from 1959-1960. The ledgers contain the shipping records of all the Gibson guitars created during that year, and documents the “Golden Era” of the company’s 126-year old history.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Used cars have historically been a smart alternative for those in need of transportation during an economic downturn. They don’t depreciate as much as new cars and are less likely to overburden a buyer with a large loan at a time of uncertainty.
PERSONAL FINANCE
A reader recently reached out after his elderly mother died asking how soon he could distribute the $10,000 she had earmarked in her will for each of her two grandchildren.
CAREER CORNER
I’ve heard from many people lately who are struggling to stay motivated at work – and for good reason. The pandemic is dragging on much longer than anyone hoped.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Thanks to quick online applications and, in some cases, instant approval, credit cards make it as easy to build your credit history as it is to make purchases. But they can also make it easy to fall into debt if you struggle to pay on time or tend to spend more than you have.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — While in isolation, Taylor Swift has created a new album and is releasing it Friday.
TOURISM
GATLINBURG (AP) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash has developed a new program that seeks to unite conversations about diversity and racism with the beauty of the mountains.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars and Freightliner trucks, lost 1.91 billion euros ($2.21 billion) in the second quarter as the coronavirus outbreak slashed sales of the company's cars, vans, buses and trucks by about a third.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla overcame a seven-week pandemic-related shutdown at its California assembly plant to post a surprising $104 million net profit for the second quarter.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — Twitter says an elected Dutch official was among 36 account holders whose direct message inboxes were accessed in a recent high-profile hack.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan bill that would spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands is on its way to the president's desk after winning final legislative approval.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama stepped up their attacks on President Donald Trump and defended their time in the White House in a new video showing their first in-person meeting since the coronavirus outbreak began.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
BRISTOL (AP) — Coronavirus cases at an East Tennessee nursing home have nearly doubled in less than a week, officials said.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee health officials have introduced a new webpage that offers a variety of COVID-19 resources in Spanish.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans and the White House reached tentative agreement for more testing funds in the next COVID-19 relief package, but deep disagreements over the scope of the $1 trillion in federal aid remain ahead of Thursday's expected roll out.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fearing another grim wave of nursing home deaths as COVID-19 cases rebound, President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his administration will provide $5 billion to help facilities counter the virus.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's response to the coronavirus pandemic tipped the government's budget 85.8 billion Australian dollars ($61 billion) into the red in the last fiscal year and will create AU$184 billion ($131 billion) more debt in the current year which would be the nation's biggest deficit since World War II, treasury figures showed on Thursday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The viral pandemic's resurgence caused the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits to rise last week for the first time in nearly four months, evidence of the deepening economic pain the outbreak is causing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has reluctantly dropped a bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes as Republicans unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package on Thursday, ceding to opposition to the idea among top Senate allies.
DALLAS (AP) — Major airlines reported huge second-quarter losses Thursday and warned that the recovery in air travel seen in April has stalled as coronavirus cases surge in the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bipartisan Capitol Hill talks have only just begun on a sweeping renewal of coronavirus legislation, but areas of likely agreement — and flashpoints of discord — are becoming apparent as the package starts to take shape.
NEW YORK (AP) — The operator of Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday, the latest retailer to do so during the pandemic.
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft said the coronavirus pandemic has increased demand for its flagship products, reporting quarterly earnings Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved a bill to remove statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol, as a reckoning over racial injustice continues following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced he will send federal agents to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to help combat rising crime, expanding the administration's intervention into local enforcement as he runs for reelection under a "law and order" mantle.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats will try to rein in President Donald Trump's clemency powers on Thursday as they advance legislation that would discourage pardons for friends and family and prevent presidents from pardoning themselves.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have signed their third-round draft pick, the running back expected to back up NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry.
STATEWIDE
HAMPTON (AP) — Fire crews are battling rugged terrain and extreme heat as they take on a small wildfire on a remote mountain slope in East Tennessee, officials said.
NASHVILLE (AP) — At least 70 teachers are scheduled to take an online course at Tennessee State University this fall to receive their special education endorsement as the school uses a $375,000 grant to help fill the need for more teachers in the field.
ELECTION 2020
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett voiced opposition Wednesday to offering drop boxes for absentee ballots, telling a U.S. Senate panel that the state requires returning those ballots by mail in the name of security.
NASHVILLE (AP) — President Donald Trump's endorsement clout will get another test in the Aug. 6 open Republican U.S. Senate primary in Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday said he will not block three Tennessee laws dealing with absentee voting for the Aug. 6 primary election amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the groups that sought the action should have requested it earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden accused Elizabeth Warren last year of holding an "angry, unyielding viewpoint." She embraced that label and slammed Biden as "naive" for thinking he could work with Republicans as president. She warned Democrats against picking a "Washington insider" and pointedly refused to endorse Biden until weeks after exiting the race.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Voter rights advocates filed a lawsuit in Tennessee on Wednesday demanding that top election officials allow people to participate in elections if they've had their voting rights restored after being convicted of a felony out of state.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee inmate scheduled to be executed in December asked a Shelby County court on Wednesday to order DNA testing of the evidence in his case.
Workplace chatting service Slack has filed a complaint in the EU against Microsoft, accusing the software company of anti-competitive behavior.
REAL ESTATE
BALTIMORE (AP) — Americans stepped up their home purchases in June by a robust 20.7% after the pandemic had caused sales to crater in the prior three months. But the housing market could struggle to rebound further in the face of the resurgent viral outbreak and a shrinking supply of homes for sale.
If the outbreak roars back in New York City, Anil and Joyce Lilly will not be sheltering again in their Bronx apartment. They just bought a house an hour north in the Hudson Valley.
MEDIA
HONG KONG (AP) — Twitter says it is cracking down on accounts and content related to QAnon, the far-right U.S. conspiracy theory popular among supporters of President Donald Trump.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Investigators searched offices of automaker Fiat Chrysler and truckmaker Iveco in Germany, Switzerland and Italy on Wednesday as part of an investigation into suspected illegal manipulation of diesel emissions.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla's losses were mounting last summer, massive debt payments were looming, and both Wall Street and federal regulators had run out of patience with the erratic behavior of CEO Elon Musk.
ENVIRONMENT
The Trump administration said Wednesday that it plans to adopt aircraft emissions standards modeled on international ones, a move it says will not further reduce climate-damaging emissions from planes.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Laboratories across the U.S. are buckling under a surge of coronavirus tests, creating long processing delays that experts say are actually undercutting the pandemic response.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will pay Pfizer nearly $2 billion for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical company is developing, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite disarray in the Republican ranks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was pushing Wednesday to unveil a draft COVID-19 aid package as the White House resists Democratic demands for more virus testing, state funding and housing eviction protections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump came prepared. As he took the podium Tuesday to give a briefing room update on the coronavirus for the first time in months, the president was asked an obvious question: If wearing a mask is "patriotic," as he tweeted this week, why didn't he wear one more frequently?
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the "nasty horrible'" coronavirus will get worse in the U.S. before it gets better, but he also tried to paint a rosy picture of efforts to conquer the disease that has claimed more than 140,000 American lives in just five months.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading Wednesday with more gains for stocks as investors sized up a mix of company earnings reports and another flare-up in tensions between Washington and Beijing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Restaurants helped revive the U.S. economy after the Great Recession of 2007-2009.
United Airlines said Tuesday that it lost $1.63 billion in the second quarter as revenue plunged 87%, and it will operate at barely over one-third of capacity through September as the coronavirus throttles air travel.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, escalating tensions between the world's largest economies as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure against China ahead of the November election. Beijing denounced the order Wednesday as "outrageous" and said it would draw a firm response if not reversed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will send federal agents into Chicago and Albuquerque to help combat rising crime, expanding the administration's intervention in local enforcement as he runs for reelection under a "law-and-order" mantle.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman offered an apology Wednesday for the "abrupt manner" he used in a verbal confrontation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but denied aiming a sexist slur at her. Ocasio-Cortez rejected her colleague's words, saying they were "not an apology" and what she heard was a vulgar slur.
HOUSTON (AP) — The Trump administration is detaining immigrant children as young as 1 in hotels, sometimes for weeks, before deporting them to their home countries under policies that have effectively shut down the nation's asylum system during the coronavirus pandemic, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is using the Department of Homeland Security in unprecedented ways as he tries to bolster his law and order credentials by making a heavy-handed show of force in cities around the nation in the lead-up to the November elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to states' rights, President Donald Trump is all over the map.
TUESDAY, JULY 21
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The CEO of Pilot Company, the nation's largest fuel retailer, announced Tuesday that he will transition to chairman of the board at the beginning of next year and chief strategy officer Shameek Konar will take the lead role at the company.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that an additional $115 million in federal funding will be made available to local governments to help offset the costs of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ENVIRONMENT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Attorneys general in 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, alleging that new federal rules undermine their ability to protect rivers, lakes and streams within their borders.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel stars Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz were accused of sexual harassment by a frequent on-air guest in a lawsuit filed Monday that the network called frivolous and untrue.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville is barring restaurants from staying open late starting Friday in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Mayor John Cooper said Tuesday.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The price tag for the next COVID-19 aid package could quickly swell above $1 trillion as White House officials negotiate with Congress over money to reopen schools, prop up small businesses, boost virus testing and keep cash flowing to Americans while the virus crisis deepens in the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hackers working with the Chinese government targeted firms developing vaccines for the coronavirus and stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies across the world, the Justice Department said Tuesday as it announced criminal charges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is calling President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic "inept" in a new statement that lays out his priorities for the next relief package in Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pulled the plug on his freewheeling daily coronavirus briefings when they turned into a political liability this spring, but he was reviving them Tuesday, looking to halt a campaign-season erosion of support as new cases spike across the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the first game of Major League Baseball's pandemic-delayed regular season.
Is it safe to go to the gym during the coronavirus pandemic?
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street extended its recent run of gains Tuesday, despite a late stumble that nearly wiped out the stock market's gains for the day.
BURTON, Mich. (AP) — Crystal and Chris Martin put off some payments on their home in this blue-collar town near Flint and are pinching pennies to make ends meet until they return to work. In Windsor, Connecticut, Anne Druce's family canceled home improvement projects out of an abundance of caution but remains financially secure.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump's choice of Judy Shelton for the Federal Reserve board of governors on a party-line vote, overcoming widespread questions about her qualifications for the Fed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional watchdogs are questioning the government's decision to award a $700 million coronavirus relief loan to a struggling trucking company on grounds its operations are critical for maintaining national security.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European leaders took a historic step towards sharing financial burdens among the EU's 27 countries by agreeing to borrow and spend together to pull the economy out of the deep recession caused by the virus outbreak.
BRUSSELS (AP) — After four days and nights of wrangling, exhausted European Union leaders finally clinched a deal on an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, after one of their longest summits ever.
Coca-Cola's revenue plunged 28% in the second quarter, but the company said sales had begun to improve last month as lockdowns eased globally.
LONDON (AP) — EBay Inc. is selling its classifieds business to Norway's Adevinta in a deal worth $9.2 billion that will create the world's largest online classifieds group, the companies said Tuesday.
BEIJING (AP) — China said Tuesday it would take unspecified "necessary measures" after the U.S. government imposed trade sanctions on 11 companies it says are implicated in human rights abuses in China's Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has deployed agents with tactical gear to confront protesters in downtown Portland, Oregon. That has sparked debate over the use of federal power as local and state officials, and many in the community, condemn their tactics and demand they leave. Far from backing down, the administration plans to send agents to Chicago to respond to gun violence. And President Donald Trump says federal agents could be deployed elsewhere as he makes law and order a central element in his struggling re-election campaign.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Facebook has started adding informational labels to all posts about voting by federal elected officials and candidates in the U.S., as it said it would do. But the move appears to be sowing confusion rather than dispelling it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is planning to deploy federal agents to Chicago and possibly other Democrat-run cities as he continues to assert federal power and use the Department of Homeland Security in unprecedented, politicized ways.
NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden offered a massive plan on Tuesday to create 3 million jobs and improve care for children and the elderly as he accused President Donald Trump of having "quit" on the country during a deadly pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he is putting Russia and other foreign governments "on notice" that he would act aggressively as president to counter any interference in U.S. elections. The statement came hours after Democratic leaders issued a new warning that Congress appears to be the target of a foreign interference campaign.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top House Democrat demanded an apology Tuesday from a Republican lawmaker who is accused of using a sexist slur after an angry encounter with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign a memorandum Tuesday that seeks to bar people in the U.S. illegally from being counted in congressional reapportionment, according to two officials familiar with the plans.
TUESDAY, JULY 14
PREDATORS
Nashville's Roman Josi, Washington's John Carlson and Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman have been named the finalists for the NHL's James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded to the league's top defenseman.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville International Airport has opened its fourth major concourse, featuring six domestic gates.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's Trousdale and Lake counties on Monday continued to have the highest per capita caseloads in the country after outbreaks at state prisons led to the community spread of the virus. Trousdale was reporting 1,543 cases out of a population of 9,573, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Lake had 700 cases in a population of 7,526.
NEW YORK (AP) — When Allison Weiss Brady and Michael Ladin emerged from weeks of locking down during the pandemic, they needed new clothes in new sizes — for different reasons.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency approval to a new approach to coronavirus testing that combines test samples in batches instead of running them one by one, speeding up the process.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted "good things" were underway on the next COVID-19 aid package Monday as he met with Republican congressional leaders, but new divisions between the Senate GOP and the White House posed fresh challenges as the crisis worsened and emergency relief was soon expiring.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump appears to be living in an alternate reality when it comes to the COVID-19 threat.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Big technology companies powered stocks higher on Wall Street Monday, adding to the market's gains after a three-week winning streak.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ever since the U.S. government launched its emergency lending program for small businesses on April 3, there have been complaints that bigger companies had their loans approved and disbursed more quickly.
NEW YORK (AP) — Chevron will take over Noble Energy for $5 billion in the first big deal announced since the coronavirus pandemic shook the energy sector.
Alibaba-backed Ant Group to go public in Shanghai, Hong Kong
MENLO PARK, California (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. has "dramatically" slashed its advertising budget on Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mourning the death of civil rights hero John Lewis, Democrats are urging the Senate to take up a bill of enduring importance to Lewis throughout his life: protecting and expanding the right to vote.
In the four months since Joe Biden effectively won the Democratic presidential nomination, he has focused on consolidating the party's divergent and often warring factions. As the closing stretch of the campaign nears, that effort will expand to include Republicans disaffected with President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is refusing to publicly commit to accepting the results of the upcoming White House election, recalling a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote, as he scoffs at polls showing him lagging behind Democrat Joe Biden. Trump says it's too early to make such an ironclad guarantee.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Monday stood for an emotional moment of silence for Georgia Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon who died last week from pancreatic cancer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi choked up Monday recalling Georgia Rep. John Lewis, with whom she served in Congress for 33 years, and their last conversation the day before he died.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is promising new executive action on immigration as he returns to the defining issue of his administration. But Trump has offered contradictory and confusing statements about his plans in recent days. His comments come after the Supreme Court rejected his efforts to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which protects young immigrants brought to the country as children. Trump said last month that he would quickly be filing paperwork to address the court's concerns, but has yet to make a move.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump clung to the false notion that the coronavirus will just "disappear," made incorrect claims about a top government expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and again insisted that Americans are getting all the COVID-19 tests they need — all in a television interview Sunday where his answers fell short on the facts.
FRIDAY, JULY 17
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame will be inducting its 2020 class virtually.
NASHVILLE AREA
Nashville Mayor John Cooper today ordered closure of pedicabs, pedal carriages and limousines and extended the closure of all bars and limited-service restaurants through the end of July.
The Nashville Film Festival today announced its plans to shift to a virtual model for this year’s event, which will take place from October 1-7.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State University and the state Department of Correction signed an agreement this week to grow hay on prison land that will be used to feed livestock for the school's agricultural sciences program.
TOURISM
MEMPHIS (AP) — Plans for the weeklong celebration of rock 'n' roll icon Elvis Presley on the 43rd anniversary of his death have been shaken up by the new coronavirus, but organizers are forging ahead with a combination of in-person and online events at Graceland next month.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court.
REAL ESTATE
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Construction of U.S. homes jumped 17.3% in June as some states reopened, but the pace still lags last year after this spring's massive slowdown in building activity due to the coronavirus outbreak.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix added a flood of new subscribers amid the coronavirus pandemic and also offered clues to a possible successor for founding CEO Reed Hastings, who on Thursday named the company's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, as co-CEO.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — A former Volkswagen senior manager who was sentenced to prison in the U.S. for his role in the company's emissions scandal can be transferred to his native Germany to serve out the rest of his term, a judge said Thursday.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden on Friday unveiled a plan to reopen schools in the era of coronavirus, seeking to establish federal safety guidelines that he says will be based on science and not on political pressure for the country to arbitrarily put the pandemic behind it.
Fresh studies give more information about what treatments do or don't work for COVID-19, with high-quality methods that give reliable results.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end of September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street ended another wobbly day broadly higher, giving the S&P 500 its third straight weekly gain.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Federal Reserve Chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen urged Congress on Friday to do more to help the economy deal with the devastating coronavirus pandemic, such as extending increased unemployment benefits and providing assistance to hard-hit states and local governments, something many Republicans oppose.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major source of income for roughly 30 million unemployed people is set to end, threatening their ability to meet rent and pay bills and potentially undercutting the fragile economic recovery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has opened one of its lending programs to nonprofit groups, including hospitals, educational institutions, and social service organizations.
NEW YORK (AP) — A personal assistant arrested Friday in the slaying of a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur who was found dismembered inside his luxury Manhattan condo was believed to have owed his boss a "significant amount of money," police said.
FREEPORT, Maine (AP) — L.L. Bean is expanding from its original model of direct-to-customer catalog sales and in-stores sales with an agreement to sell products in Nordstrom, Staples and sporting goods chain SCHEELS.
BEIJING (AP) — Burger King's China unit has issued a public apology and promised to cooperate with a government investigation after state TV reported one of the U.S. fast food giant's outlets used expired ingredients.
ELECTION 2020
NASHVILLE (AP) — Voters now have the option to cast their ballots ahead of the Aug. 6 primary.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's long-in-coming campaign shakeup rearranged some big job titles but isn't likely to change the identity of the person truly in charge of day-to-day operations: Jared Kushner.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the summer of 2016, Donald Trump was trailing in the polls. With time running out, he changed up his campaign leadership team, though not his own mercurial behavior.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — After weeks of wrangling, the Pentagon is banning displays of the Confederate flag on military installations, in a carefully worded policy that doesn't mention the word ban or that specific flag. The policy, laid out in a memo released Friday, was described by officials as a creative way to bar the flag's display without openly contradicting or angering President Donald Trump, who has defended people's rights to display it.
THURSDAY, JULY 16
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Derrick Henry wanted the assurance of a long-term contract with the Tennessee Titans rather than risk playing this season under the franchise tag, and the NFL rushing leader said his new deal is a win-win for him and the team.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla is trying to assure its 55,000 employees that there hasn't been a big coronavirus outbreak at company facilities worldwide, despite a report by an electric vehicle industry website that over 130 Tesla employees or contractors have tested positive.
TECHNOLOGY
The European Union's top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows thousands of companies — from tech giants to small financial firms — to transfer data to the United States is invalid because the American government can snoop on people's data.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
NASHVILLE (AP) — A group of Tennessee doctors on Thursday warned that reopening schools while the coronavirus is spreading rapidly through the state is "insane."
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday compared President Donald Trump to "the man who refuses to ask for directions" as she pleaded with the White House to seek input from the nation's scientific leaders to reverse the rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S., Canada and Mexico have agreed to keep their shared borders closed to non-essential traffic until at least late August because of COVID-19.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target, CVS Health and Publix Super Markets on Thursday joined the growing list of national chains that will require customers to wear face masks regardless of where cities or states stand on the issue.
LONDON (AP) — Britain, the United States and Canada accused Russia on Thursday of trying to steal information from researchers seeking a COVID-19 vaccine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Senate Republicans prepare to roll out their next COVID-19 aid bill, the top Democrat said Thursday that he wants to shift $350 billion from an untapped Treasury Department virus relief program to help Black Americans and other people of color during the pandemic and beyond.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Infighting over the White House's handling of the coronavirus pandemic is spilling further into public view, with trade adviser Peter Navarro panning Dr. Anthony Fauci as President Donald Trump stands watch.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street stumbled on Thursday after a report showed layoffs continue to sweep the country at a stubbornly steady pace, one of several mixed reports to highlight the uncertain path ahead for the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America's second-quarter profits were sawed in half and the consumer banking giant set aside billions of dollars to cover potentially bad loans caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. homeowners are seizing on the lowest average mortgage rates on record to refinance their mortgages.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a million Americans sought unemployment benefits for the 17th consecutive week as infections began surging in some of the nation's most populous states. Layoffs in places like Florida, Georgia and California rose by tens of thousands of people.
BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. retail sales climbed a solid 7.5% in June, a sign that the economy was healing right before infections from the coronavirus spiked again and dragged down hopes for a steady recovery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has become overly reliant on Chinese goods and services, including face masks, medical gowns and other protective equipment designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank hit pause Thursday after deploying massive stimulus measures in recent weeks and urged government leaders to do their part by agreeing on an EU-wide fund to support regions hardest hit by the virus outbreak.
BERLIN (AP) — Industrial conglomerate Siemens says it plans to allow more than 100,000 of its employees to work away from the office for two or three days a week on a permanent basis.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump shook up his campaign staff amid sinking poll numbers less than four months before the election, replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's plans for a grand convention keep shrinking.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Medicare and Medicaid programs failed to properly manage more than $6 million in communications and outreach contracts, giving broad authority over federal employees to a Republican media strategist she worked with before joining the Trump administration, a government watchdog said in a report to be released Thursday.