VOL. 46 | NO. 27 | Friday, July 8, 2022
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, June 2022, for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates eased again this week as the Federal Reserve remains likely to raise its benchmark borrowing rate in its ongoing battle to bring down inflation.
NEWSMAKERS
The independent directors of the Genesco board have unanimously selected Gregory A. Sandfort as the company’s lead independent director. Sandfort succeeds Matthew C. Diamond, who has served in that role for the past four years.
BRIEFS
YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee is calling for nominations for the 31st annual Academy for Women of Achievement, presented by Amazon. The AWA award recognizes Middle Tennessee women who have made extraordinary accomplishments through career success, community service and leadership.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The electric vehicle market is rapidly changing. Two recently released models are blazing the trail for a brand-new segment: the electric luxury sedan class. Those two cars are the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS and the 2022 Audi e-tron GT.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Your bags are packed. Yep, you’re headed for five days of sun, sea and sand. Early-morning dips in the ocean, flip-flops and little grains of beach in the sheets every night. But you won’t care, you’ll be on V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Almost every trip teaches me something about myself, the world and what not to do next time.
CAREER CORNER
Much of what we’ve seen in the news lately shares a common theme: fear. The stock market is down, hiring might be slowing and prices are skyrocketing. The labor shortage still exists, and supply chain issues have not been fully resolved.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Inflation is a nightmare for the many Americans who already stretch their dollars to cover basic needs. What happens when those dollars lose value?
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nearly four years ago, Bill Lee startled political insiders when the first-time political candidate survived a bruising and crowded $45 million GOP primary for Tennessee governor. He cruised to win the top elected state seat a few months later.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A prominent Republican political consultant is joining the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission.
WEST TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS (AP) — The Memphis City Council approved a resolution Tuesday urging that law enforcement and the district attorney in Tennessee's most populous county refrain from investigating and prosecuting doctors who perform abortions.
TRANSPORTATION
Delta Air Lines said Wednesday that it earned $735 million in the second quarter, as packed planes and higher fares boosted revenue close to pre-pandemic levels.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix has picked Microsoft help deliver the commercials in a cheaper version of its video streaming service expected to launch later this year with a pledge to minimize the intrusions into personal privacy that often accompany digital ads.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Social media platforms including Facebook and TikTok are failing to stop hate and threats against LGBTQ users, a report issued Wednesday from advocacy group GLAAD found.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights leader and trailblazing educator Mary McLeod Bethune on Wednesday became the first Black person elevated by a state for recognition in the Capitol's Statuary Hall
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks capped another shaky day on Wall Street with more losses Wednesday, after a highly anticipated report on inflation turned out to be even worse than expected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation surged to a new four-decade high in June because of rising prices for gas, food and rent, squeezing household budgets and pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively -- trends that raise the risk of a recession.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation's relentless surge didn't merely persist in June. It accelerated.
GENEVA (AP) — A cost-of-living crisis sparked in part by higher fuel and food prices is expected to hit women the hardest, the World Economic Forum reported Wednesday, pointing to a widening gender gap in the global labor force.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's economy showed unexpectedly strong growth in May, with the three major components of production— manufacturing, construction and services — all posting gains.
BEIJING (AP) — China's monthly trade surplus soared to a record $97.9 billion in June as export growth picked up after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai were lifted and shippers moved a backlog of cargo.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are warning of dire ramifications for the economy and for national security if Congress fails to pass a bill by the end of July that is designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — With thousands of sanctions already imposed on Russia to flatten its economy, the U.S. and its allies are working on new measures to starve the Russian war machine while also stopping the price of oil and gasoline from soaring to levels that could crush the global economy.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Renewed Russian artillery barrages across Ukraine killed at least five civilians and wounded another 18 in the past day, the office of Ukraine's president reported Wednesday as Moscow attempted to expand and consolidate its gains in the country's east.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Military officials from Russia and Ukraine were set to hold their governments' first face-to-face talks in months Wednesday during a session in Istanbul devoted to a United Nations plan to export blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea.
TUESDAY, JULY 12
SPORTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Val Ackerman, Leonard Hamilton, Speedy Morris and Rick Byrd are this year's recipients of the Joe Lapchick Character Award.
PREDATORS
Confronted by the harsh reality of the Tampa Bay Lightning moving on from him and with memories still fresh of being on the wrong side of the Stanley Cup championship handshake line, Ryan McDonagh approved a trade to the Nashville Predators.
ELECTION 2022
NASHVILLE (AP) — Since Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee won his election in 2018, the Republican has led the state during a global pandemic, uprisings over racial injustice across the country, mass shootings nationwide and the Supreme Court's end to the constitutional right to abortion.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday named Colette Peters, the director of Oregon's prison system, to run the federal Bureau of Prisons, turning to a reform-minded outsider as it seeks to rebuild the beleaguered agency.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday told hospitals that they "must" provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court's decision to end a constitutional right to abortion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic National Committee is launching a digital ad campaign to energize its voters after last month's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, warning that Republicans' ultimate goal is to outlaw abortion nationwide.
ENVIRONMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The nation's largest public utility is seeking proposals for what would be one of the biggest recent swings at adding carbon-free electricity in the U.S., laying out a mix-and-match of possibilities Tuesday that range from solar to nuclear.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during the first half of 2022 broke all records, a measure of the increasing destruction taking place under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.
TRANSPORTATION
LONDON (AP) — London's Heathrow Airport is capping daily passenger numbers for the summer and telling airlines to stop selling tickets as it steps up efforts to quell travel chaos caused by soaring travel demand and staff shortages.
TECHNOLOGY
A Moscow court on Tuesday fined Apple 2 million rubles (about $34,000) for refusing to store the personal data of Russian users on servers in Russia, part of government efforts to control online activity.
COVID-19
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is calling on people to exercise renewed caution about COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of getting booster shots for those who are eligible and wearing masks indoors as two new highly transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the country.
The quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious omicron mutant that's worrying scientists as it gains ground in India and pops up in numerous other countries, including the United States.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks shed early gains and ended broadly lower on Wall Street Tuesday as investors brace for a big week of news on inflation and company earnings reports.
Peloton will stop making its own interactive stationary bikes and treadmills, outsourcing those duties to a Taiwanese manufacturer as it attempts to revive sales that surged during the pandemic.
Amazon is heading into its annual Prime Day sales event on Tuesday much differently than how it entered the pandemic.
BERLIN (AP) — The European Central Bank said Tuesday that its president, Christine Lagarde, was targeted in a hacking attempt but no information was compromised.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's vice chancellor on Tuesday defended the government's commitment to ending the use of nuclear power at the end of this year, arguing that keeping its few remaining reactors running would be complex and do little to address the problems caused by a possible natural gas shortfall.
BERLIN (AP) — A major natural gas pipeline from Russia to western Europe shut down Monday for annual maintenance as Germany prepared to give the green light for 10 coal-fired power plants to restart because of concerns that Russia may not resume the flow of gas as scheduled.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday revealed details of an "unhinged" late night meeting at the White House with defeated President Donald Trump's outside lawyers suggesting the military seize state voting machines in a last-ditch effort to pursue his false claims of voter fraud before he summoned a mob to the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House investigators are laying out the origins of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, using video testimony and live witnesses to describe former President Donald Trump's "call to action" in a December tweet and how White House advisers urged the president to drop his false claims of election fraud.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Abruptly raising the question of witness tampering, the Jan. 6 committee revealed Tuesday that Donald Trump had attempted to contact a person who was talking to the panel about its investigation of the former president and the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform has accepted an offer for Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder to testify virtually July 28.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Steve Dettelbach, a former federal prosecutor, to run the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, making him the agency's first confirmed director since 2015.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will try to reaffirm and recalibrate U.S. relationships in the Middle East during his first trip to the region since taking office, but it won't be easy in a corner of the world that's asking fresh questions about the future of American influence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday for discussions the White House says will showcase the underlying strength of a relationship that of late has been more notable for the leaders' disagreements on issues including energy and Ukraine policy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden apologized Tuesday for saying Latinos are "as unique" as San Antonio breakfast tacos during a speech to the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization.
TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Japan's finance minister agreed Tuesday to cooperate in dealing with challenges from the war in Ukraine and promoting free trade, sustainable energy and food security.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine is getting an additional $1.7 billion in assistance from the U.S. government and the World Bank to pay the salaries of its beleaguered health care workers and provide other essential services.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday said it believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with "hundreds" of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing war in Ukraine.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that their forces targeted a Russian ammunition depot in southern Ukraine overnight, resulting in a massive explosion captured on social media.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations on Tuesday approved fresh aid for Ukraine as the country faces growing economic damage from Russia's invasion.
MONDAY, JULY 11
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Three probable cases of monkeypox have been announced in Tennessee.
COURTS
LONDON (AP) — Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone will be charged with fraud by false representation following a government investigation into his overseas assets, British prosecutors said Monday.
HEALTH CARE
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A California doctor is proposing a floating abortion clinic in the Gulf of Mexico as a way to maintain access for people in southern states where abortion bans have been enacted.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, a pharmaceutical company has asked for permission to sell a birth control pill over the counter in the U.S.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Twitter slid more than 6% before the opening bell Monday after billionaire Elon Musk said that he was abandoning his $44 billion bid for the company and the social media platform vowed to challenge Musk in court to uphold the agreement.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter are bracing for a legal fight after the billionaire said Friday he was abandoning his $44 billion bid for the social media company.
COVID-19
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union said Monday it's "critical" that authorities in the 27-nation bloc consider giving second coronavirus booster shots to people between the ages of 60 and 79 years and other vulnerable people, as a new wave of the pandemic sweeps over the continent.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street got back to slumping Monday to kick off a week full of updates about how bad inflation is and how corporate profits are handling it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is healthy and shows little sign of an imminent recession, and can withstand higher interest rates, St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard said Monday.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million in cryptocurrencies, with the fund's chief investment officer touting their potential, retired fire Capt. Russell Harris was concerned.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline plunged 19 cents over the past two weeks to $4.86 per gallon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Uber aggressively pushed into markets around the world, the ride-sharing service lobbied political leaders to relax labor and taxi laws, used a "kill switch'' to thwart regulators and law enforcement, channeled money through Bermuda and other tax havens and considered portraying violence against its drivers as a way to gain public sympathy, according to a report released Sunday.
BERLIN (AP) — A major gas pipeline from Russia to western Europe shut down for annual maintenance on Monday as Germany prepared to give the green light for 10 coal-fired power plants to restart amid concerns that Russia may not resume the flow of gas as scheduled.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will confront a kaleidoscope of challenges when he travels to the Middle East this week, his first trip there since taking office. With the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the rearview mirror, the United States is reassessing its role in the region at a time when its focus has shifted to Europe and Asia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden welcomed a crowd to the White House lawn Monday to showcase a new law meant to reduce gun violence, celebrating "real progress" after years of inaction. But he also lamented the country remains "awash in weapons of war" — with the 16-day-old law already overshadowed by yet another horrific mass shooting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has tested positive for COVID-19 and reports experiencing very mild symptoms, his spokesman said Sunday night.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday declined to delay the upcoming trial of Steve Bannon, an adviser to former President Donald Trump who faces contempt charges after refusing for months to cooperate with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
UKRAINE
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shelling of Ukraine's second-largest city killed at least three people on Monday and injured scores, including children, the local administrator said. The shelling came just hours after three missile strikes on Kharkiv which the official described as "absolute terrorism."
FRIDAY, JULY 8
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday narrowed the range of documents House Democrats are entitled to in their years-long investigation of Donald Trump's finances.
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry won the first stage of a libel suit against the publisher of Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper as a judge ruled Friday that parts of a story about his fight for police protection in the U.K. were defamatory.
ENVIRONMENT
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has opted to pull investments from five energy corporations, joining other faith-based groups in targeting fossil-fuel companies over what they say are failures to address climate change.
TRANSPORTATION
Spirit Airlines said Thursday it was again postponing a shareholder vote on a proposed merger with Frontier Airlines to continue talks with Frontier and rival bidder JetBlue Airways.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Elon Musk's tumultuous $44 billion bid to buy Twitter is on the verge of collapse — after the Tesla CEO sent a letter to Twitter's board Friday saying he is terminating the acquisition.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is closing out a winning week with a sputtering finish on Friday, as stocks waffled following a stronger-than-expected report on the U.S. jobs market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A strong hiring report for June has assuaged fears that the U.S. economy might be on the cusp of a recession — and highlighted the resilience of the nation's job market.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is raging. The stock market is tumbling and interest rates rising. American consumers are depressed and angry. Economists warn of potentially dark times ahead.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this month will visit the Indo-Pacific for the first time since taking over the department and will use the trip to make the U.S. case for a price cap on Russian oil aimed at reducing revenue to the Kremlin as it presses ahead with its attack on Ukraine.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe's banks aren't sufficiently considering risks from climate change and must "urgently step up efforts" to make sure they understand the possible impact of floods, wildfires and losses on investments.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone arrived Friday on Capitol Hill for a private interview with the Jan. 6 committee about his role in trying to prevent then-President Donald Trump from challenging the 2020 presidential election and joining the violent mob that laid siege to the Capitol.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday condemned the "extreme" Supreme Court majority that ended a constitutional right to abortion and delivered an impassioned plea for Americans upset by the decision to "vote, vote, vote vote" in November. Under mounting pressure from fellow Democrats to be more forceful in response to the ruling, he signed an executive order to try to protect access to the procedure.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will visit the CIA Friday at a time when his administration's support for Ukraine has pushed the work of the normally secretive intelligence agencies into the limelight.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerns about inflation and personal finances have surged while COVID has evaporated as a top issue for Americans, a new poll shows, marking an upheaval in priorities just months before critical midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday presented the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles, the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican whom Biden served with in the Senate, and gun-control advocate Gabby Giffords.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send another $400 million in military equipment to Ukraine, including four more advanced rocket systems, a senior defense official said Friday, in an effort to bolster Ukrainian efforts to strike deeper behind Russian frontlines in the eastern Donbas region.
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian regional official warned Friday of deteriorating living conditions in a city captured by Russian forces two weeks ago, saying Sievierodonetsk is without water, power or a working sewage system while the bodies of the dead decompose in hot apartment buildings.
A court in Moscow sentenced a municipal council member to seven years in prison Friday for his remarks opposing the war in Ukraine. The unprecedented sentence raises the stakes for Kremlin critics in Russia who speak out against Moscow's invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor.
THURSDAY, JULY 7
WEST TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials are cleaning up a massive oil spill from a multistate pipeline that ruptured in rural Tennessee.
COURTS
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A jury on Thursday convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani of collaborating with disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a massive fraud involving the blood-testing company that once enthralled Silicon Valley.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Until last week when he swore in Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, his successor on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer had a rigorous, intellectually challenging job with the highest of stakes. Now the 83-year-old retiree has no briefs to read and no opinions to write.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee man who was convicted in two stabbing deaths outside a bar in 2019 has been sentenced to life in prison.
ENVIRONMENT
The European Union's plan to include natural gas in a list of activities considered sustainable could derail its progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a time when climate scientists are calling for dramatic reductions to planet-warming releases.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive warned on Thursday that the continent is facing one of its toughest years when it comes to natural disasters like droughts and wildfires because of increasing climate change.
BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers on Thursday approved a major package of reforms aimed at boosting the production of renewable power, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that the country has for too long relied on energy supplies from Russia.
TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is giving nearly $1 billion to 85 airports to expand and upgrade terminals and other facilities, using money approved in last year's huge infrastructure bill.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration and Juul agreed Wednesday to put their court fight on hold while the government reopens its review of the company's electronic cigarettes.
MEDIA
Twitter said it removes 1 million spam accounts each day in a call with executives Thursday during a briefing that aimed to shed more light on the company's fake and bot accounts as it tussles with Elon Musk over "spam bots."
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks rallied again on Wall Street Thursday, and the S&P 500 is closing out a fourth straight gain. The 1.5% rise marks the longest winning streak for the index since March.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. dollar has been surging so much that it's nearly equal in value to the euro for the first time in 20 years. That trend, though, threatens to hurt American companies because their goods become more expensive for foreign buyers. If U.S. exports were to weaken as a result, so, too, would the already-slowing U.S. economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — After going on a frenzied hiring spree for a year and a half to meet surging shopper demand, America's retailers are starting to temper their recruiting.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week and while layoffs remain low, it was the fifth consecutive week that claims topped the 230,000 mark and the most in almost six months.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party's gains in recent years are becoming Republicans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS commissioner has asked the Treasury Department's internal watchdog to immediately review the circumstances surrounding intensive tax audits that targeted ex-FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, frequent targets of Donald Trump's ire during his presidency.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Once-unthinkable coordination between Israeli and Arab militaries is in the spotlight as Joe Biden makes his first Middle East trip as president, heightening debates over whether the U.S.-backed initiative between former enemies strengthens defenses against Iran or makes a regional war more likely.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats want to boost taxes on some high earners and use the money to extend the solvency of Medicare, the latest step in the party's election-year attempt to craft a scaled-back version of the economic package that collapsed last year, Democratic aides told The Associated Press.
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday after droves of top government officials quit over the latest scandal to engulf him, marking an end to three tumultuous years in which he tried to bluster his way through one ethical lapse after another.
UKRAINE
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Foreign analysts say Russia may be temporarily easing its offensive in Ukraine as the Russian military attempts to reassemble its forces for a renewed assault.
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Viktor Lazar shares his war-side balcony with a pair of opera glasses and a tiny orange snake, his only companion in an apartment that seems to sit at the edge of the world.