VOL. 48 | NO. 34 | Friday, August 23, 2024
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
There were 3,166 closings in the area in July, 5% more than July 2023 last year when 3,001 homes closed, Greater Nashville Realtors statistics show.
REAL ESTATE
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage eased this week to its lowest level in 15 months, welcome relief for home shoppers navigating a housing market that remains out of reach for many Americans.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes ended a four-month slide in July as easing mortgage rates and a pickup in properties on the market encouraged home shoppers.
A recent Clever Real Estate survey shows 90% of real estate investors say being a landlord comes with challenges – including chasing down tenants for rent and fielding complaints from neighbors, not to mention the hassles of maintenance and repairs that can crop up weekly or even daily.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Every year, it seems, a late-round pick or an undrafted free agent turns heads in training camp, catching the attention of fans hoping that guy is a gem unearthed by the front office and polished by the coaching staff to become a prized asset.
The Tennessee Titans spent a good part of the offseason upgrading their wide receiver corps to give quarterback Will Levis his best chance to succeed.
While the Titans offense is undergoing a makeover, it remains to be seen how it will affect the tight end room.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Brian Callahan can't wait until the regular season starts to see just how much Titans quarterback Will Levis has improved.
NEWSMAKERS
Legal Aid Society housing attorney Elizabeth Leiserson will be honored by the American Bar Association in September for her work assisting low-income Tennesseans.
BRIEFS
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has begun issuing new driver licenses and identification cards with a fresh design and improved security features along with new self-service kiosks to reduce wait times at Driver Service Centers.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
If you’re ready to move on from a purely gasoline-fueled vehicle but you’re not ready to go fully electric, you have two choices: a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid vehicle. But which one is best? The experts at Edmunds will help you decide.
PERSONAL FINANCE
More than one quarter of Americans have no emergency savings, the highest level since 2020, a June Bankrate report reveals. But do Americans with substantial income or savings need a rainy-day fund?
TENNESSEE TITANS
Tennessee cornerback Caleb Farley and Kansas City receiver Kadarius Toney, both first-round picks in the 2021 NFL draft, were among the cuts Tuesday as teams trimmed their rosters for the regular season.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Election officials in Memphis decided Tuesday to leave three gun control questions off the November ballot after top Republican state leaders threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday kept on hold the latest multibillion-dollar plan from the Biden administration that would have lowered payments for millions of borrowers, while lawsuits make their way through lower courts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment Tuesday against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith is pressing forward with his 2020 election inference case against Donald Trump, with a new indictment that aims to salvage the prosecution after the Supreme Court slammed the door on the possibility of a trial before the November election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A militia group member who communicated with other far-right extremists while they stormed the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court revived Sarah Palin's libel case against The New York Times on Wednesday, citing errors by a lower court judge, particularly his decision to dismiss the lawsuit while a jury was deliberating.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The gunman in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump searched online for events of both Trump and President Joe Biden, repeatedly looked up information about explosives and saw the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire last month as a "target of opportunity," a senior FBI official said Wednesday.
PARIS (AP) — French authorities handed Telegram CEO Pavel Durov preliminary charges Wednesday for allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app, and barred him from leaving France pending further investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two men from Europe are charged in a plot to call in bogus reports of police emergencies to harass and threaten members of Congress, senior U.S. government officials and dozens of other people, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.
ELECTION 2024
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, kicked off a two-day bus tour in Georgia on Wednesday that snakes through rural areas in the southern part of the state before culminating in a big rally in the coastal city of Savannah.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump shared more than a dozen posts on his social media network Wednesday that call for the trial or jailing of House lawmakers who investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol, special counsel Jack Smith and others, along with images that reference the QAnon conspiracy theory.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The high cost of caring for children and the elderly has forced women out of the workforce, devastated family finances and left professional caretakers in low-wage jobs — all while slowing economic growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The 2016 presidential campaign was entering its final months and seemingly all of Washington was abuzz with talk about how Russian hackers had penetrated the email accounts of Democrats, triggering the release of internal communications that seemed designed to boost Donald Trump's campaign and hurt Hillary Clinton's.
NEW YORK (AP) — As Vice President Kamala Harris begins her fall campaign for the White House, she can look to history and hope for better luck than others in her position who have tried the same.
REAL ESTATE
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — The Treasury Department has issued regulations aimed at making it harder for criminals to launder money by paying cash for residential real estate.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Three times in the past four months, William Stein, a technology analyst at Truist Securities, has taken Elon Musk up on his invitation to try the latest versions of Tesla's vaunted "Full Self-Driving" system.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy will meet its goal to sign up 40,600 recruits by the end of September thanks to several new recruiting programs, but the crush of last-minute enlistments means it won't be able to get them all through boot camp by next month.
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Austal USA, an Alabama-based shipbuilder that makes vessels for the U.S. Navy, has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay a $24 million fine to settle an accounting fraud investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks on Wall Street closed lower Wednesday, as a pullback in big technology companies outweighed gains elsewhere in the market.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett's company has unloaded more of its Bank of America stake, selling nearly 25 million shares worth almost $1 billion over the past week.
NEW YORK (AP) — Home improvement chain Lowe's is scaling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, joining the ranks of several other companies that altered their programs since the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action in college admissions or after facing a conservative backlash online.
JENA, Germany (AP) — When electrical engineer Preetam Gaikwad first moved to Jena in 2013, she was smitten by what the eastern German city had to offer: a prestigious university, top research institutions, and cutting-edge technology companies, global leaders in their field.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to travel to southwest Wisconsin on Sept. 5, using a visit focused on small towns and rural areas to highlight his policies to lower costs and encourage renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's top Middle East adviser on Tuesday held talks in Doha with senior Qatari leaders on the efforts to complete a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, as well as on the Qatari prime minister's meeting this week with Iran's president, according to a U.S. official.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 27
PHILANTHROPHY
Dolly Parton's father grew up poor and never got the chance to learn to read.
TENNESSEE TITANS
The Green Bay Packers have acquired quarterback Malik Willis from the Tennessee Titans for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
SPORTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Does American tennis have a pickleball problem?
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The mother of a touted high school football player who has committed to play in college at Tennessee is suing the state of North Carolina over its restrictions for public-school athletes to cash in on their athletic fame.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal appeals court has shot down Tennessee's attempt to collect millions of dollars in family planning funds without complying with federal rules requiring clinics to provide abortion referrals due to its current ban on the procedure.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol during a mob's attack on the building was sentenced on Tuesday to more than four years in prison.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army private who fled to North Korea just over a year ago will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said Monday.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Both sides of the debate over whether to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri's constitution have filed last-minute legal challenges hoping to influence how, and if, the proposal goes before voters.
ELECTION 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has a new advertising push to draw attention to her plan to build 3 million new homes over four years, a move designed to contain inflationary pressures that also draws a sharp contrast to Republican Donald Trump's approach.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration offered federal resources to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris for presidential transition planning for the first time Tuesday, with experts suggesting both are behind in preparing for their potential administrations.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected enough signatures to be on the Maryland ballot as a presidential candidate, state election officials said Tuesday.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted Tuesday to keep independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the ballot, rejecting a challenge filed by an employee of the Democratic National Committee.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday accused Canada of protectionism after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government imposed a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching U.S. duties on Chinese-made EVs.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to "censor" some COVID-19 content during the pandemic and vowed that the social media giant would push back if it faced such demands again.
NEW YORK (AP) — The notion that online gaming could help players develop charitable habits seemed bold when the anti-poverty nonprofit Comic Relief US tested its own multiverse on the popular world-building app Roblox last year.
NEW YORK (AP) — The merger between entertainment giant Paramount and media company Skydance is set to go ahead after Edgar Bronfman Jr. withdrew a competing offer.
CHICAGO (AP) — The social media platform X has made a change to its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state warned it was spreading election misinformation.
ECONOMY
American consumers felt more confident in August as their outlook for the future improved.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Chipotle Mexican Grill may have violated federal labor law in its treatment of employees at its only unionized store, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
Wall Street notched another record high Tuesday, even as major stock indexes barely budged after a listless day of trading.
NEW YORK (AP) — Leonard Riggio, a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the publishing industry by building Barnes & Noble into the country's most powerful bookseller before his company was overtaken by the rise of Amazon.com, has died at age 83.
NEW YORK (AP) — Online reviews and testimonials are a key way that small businesses can attract new customers and boost sales of products.
NEW YORK (AP) — While many costs have come down for small business, rents remain high and in some cases are still rising, forcing many owners into some uncomfortable decisions.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China are working to ensure the competition between them does not veer into conflict, a top White House official said Tuesday as the two sides started talks on a relationship that has been severely tested during President Joe Biden's term in office.
MONDAY, AUGUST 26
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Brian Callahan said Monday that linebacker Chance Campbell will miss this season after an MRI exam confirmed a torn ACL.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Saints rookie Spencer Rattler made a case for the backup quarterback job behind veteran Derek Carr.
NASHVILLE SC
NASHVILLE (AP) — Osman Bukari and Jon Gallagher each scored a goal and Austin FC beat Nashville SC 2-0 Saturday night to snap a three-game winless streak.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's top Republican leaders on Monday threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding from left-leaning Memphis should leaders continue with plans to place three local gun control initiatives on the November ballot.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, saying a judge's decision that dismissed the prosecution was at odds with longstanding Justice Department practice and must be reversed.
ELECTION 2024
The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are arguing in advance of their high-stakes Sept. 10 debate over whether microphones should be muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.
NEW YORK (AP) — Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination "on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth." America, Barack Obama thundered, "is ready for a better story." JD Vance insisted that the Biden administration "is not the end of our story," and Donald Trump called on fellow Republicans to "write our own thrilling chapter of the American story."
WASHINGTON (AP) — She's the sitting vice president who has been in office for 3 1/2 years. She's also the presidential candidate of just five weeks promising a "new way forward."
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will remain on the ballot in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court decided on Monday not to hear a Democratic challenge seeking to oust her.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Independent presidential candidate Cornel West must appear on the ballot in the battleground state of Michigan, a judge ruled about a week after West was disqualified.
NEW YORK (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance says Donald Trump would not support a national abortion ban if elected president and would veto such legislation if it landed on his desk.
DETROIT (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday tied Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members, calling the attack a "humiliation."
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kolb, a retired Minnesota National Guard colonel, knew Tim Walz by reputation as an "excellent leader" who adroitly guided the enlisted troops in his field artillery battalion. But Kolb was stunned by what he saw when Walz left the military and entered politics.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TORONTO (AP) — Canada's government on Monday announced it is imposing a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles that matches U.S. tariffs and follows similar plans announced by the European Commission.
TRAVEL
Many children have gone back to school in the U.S., and the days are getting shorter, but there is still one more excuse to use the swimsuits and beach towels before packing them up: Labor Day.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A body camera captured every word and bark uttered as police Sgt. Matt Gilmore and his K-9 dog, Gunner, searched for a group of suspects for nearly an hour.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Wall Street, even as losses for Big Tech companies pulled the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite lower.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Kroger and Albertsons defended their plan to merge – and tried to overcome the U.S. government's objections – in a federal court hearing that began Monday in Oregon.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch data protection watchdog slapped a 290 million euro ($324 million) fine Monday on ride-hailing service Uber for allegedly transferring personal details of European drivers to the United States without adequate protection. Uber called the decision flawed and unjustified and said it would appeal.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judicial panel has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Tennessee's U.S. House maps and those for the state Senate amount to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against real estate software company RealPage Inc., accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices.
An antitrust lawsuit the District of Columbia brought against Amazon was revived Thursday after a federal appeals court reversed a lower court's decision to dismiss the complaint.
ELECTION 2024
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with the state of Alabama in narrowing the scope of a lawsuit challenging a new law that criminalizes some ways of helping other people to apply for an absentee ballot.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a close election campaign with both sides looking for an edge, the party with more people watching their midsummer convention would seem to have an important sign of success.
CHICAGO (AP) — Kamala Harris summoned Americans on Thursday to reject political division and instead chart what she called a "new way forward," as she accepted her party's nomination while blending biography with warnings about electing Donald Trump again to the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — "Electric." "Joyful." The kinetic energy powering Kamala Harris ' whirlwind presidential campaign carries the hopeful aspirations of history and the almost quaint idea of electing the first woman to the White House. But inside it, too, is the urgent and determined refusal of many Democratic female voters to accept the alternative — again.
CHICAGO (AP) — Over and over, from the massive stage in the electric convention hall, the Democrats this week predicted that Kamala Harris would defeat Donald Trump. They described her as a historic figure, the embodiment of hope, "the president of joy."
Kamala Harris introduced herself to the country she hopes to lead in the climactic moment of the Democratic national convention on Thursday — and despite chatter about potential mystery guests, Beyoncé's only appearance was over the loudspeakers.
PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for president Friday and endorsed Donald Trump, a late-stage shakeup of the presidential race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy's supporters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Recent polls show that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to have a favorable opinion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his presidential campaign on Friday and gave his support to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump is changing his tune on Georgia's Republican governor after delivering a series of blistering attacks at a rally just weeks ago.
At least five Secret Service agents have been placed on modified duty after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in July, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the heels of a summer wave of COVID-19 cases, Americans will be able to get free virus test kits mailed to their homes, starting in late September.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Cruise's trouble-ridden robotaxis are joining Uber's ride-hailing service next year as part of a multiyear partnership bringing together two companies that once appeared poised to compete for passengers.
ECONOMY
JACKSON, Wyoming (AP) — With inflation nearly defeated and the job market cooling, the Federal Reserve is prepared to start cutting its key interest rate from its current 23-year high, Chair Jerome Powell said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell all but proclaimed victory in the fight against inflation and signaled that interest rate cuts are coming in a much-anticipated speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve is poised to cut its benchmark interest rate next month from its 23-year high, with consequences for consumers when it comes to debt, savings, auto loans and mortgages. Right now, most experts envision three quarter-point Fed cuts — in September, November and December — though even steeper rate cuts are possible.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — With the Federal Reserve considered certain to start cutting its benchmark interest rate next month, Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech Friday morning at an economic conference will be closely watched for any hints about how many additional rate cuts might be in the pipeline.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rallied close to their records Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve finally said out loud what Wall Street has been expecting for a while: Cuts to interest rates are coming soon to help the economy.
Delta Air Lines said Friday that its chief operating officer will leave the company next week after a little more than a year in the airline business to take another job.
TORONTO (AP) — One of Canada's two major freight railroads has resumed operating, bringing an end to the stoppage that threatened the economy across North America. A rail spokesperson says Canadian National trains began moving Friday morning.
Prosecutors at a federal labor agency have determined that Amazon is a joint employer of subcontracted drivers who delivered packages for the company in California, pushing back on claims from the online retailer that they are not its employees.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions Friday on hundreds of firms in Russia and across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russia's war effort and aiding its ability to evade sanctions.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua's government closed another 151 nongovernmental organizations Thursday, among them some of the most important trade organizations, including the American Chamber of Commerce, coming just days after the government shuttered some 1,500 nongovernmental organizations, many of them religious in nature.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a Republican push that could have blocked more than 41,000 Arizona voters from casting ballots for president in the state that Democratic President Joe Biden won by less than 11,000 votes four years ago.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York state lawyers urged an appeals court late Wednesday to uphold Donald Trump's nearly $500 million civil fraud judgment, arguing there's "overwhelming evidence" to support a judge's finding that the former president lied for years about his wealth as he built his real estate empire.
ELECTION 2024
CHICAGO (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris closes out the Democratic National Convention Thursday night when she accepts her party's historic presidential nomination and seizes one of her few remaining opportunities to appeal to an audience of millions.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Democratic National Convention will kick off its fourth and final night on Thursday.
CHICAGO (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted his party's nomination for vice president Wednesday night, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for "bringing the joy" to an election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An unexpected highlight of the Democratic National Convention on Night Three was an outburst of pride from the son of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Democratic National Convention's third night showcased a familiar former president, Bill Clinton, and introduced more Americans to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, little known outside his state until Vice President Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate.
PHOENIX (AP) — Close allies to Donald Trump are quietly urging independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to endorse the Republican nominee if he withdraws from the campaign for the White House as soon as this week.
ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP) — At his first outdoor rally since last month's attempted assassination, Donald Trump spoke from behind bulletproof glass Wednesday in North Carolina at an event focused on national security. On politics, he called his predecessor Barack Obama "nasty" for his comments the night before at the Democratic National Convention.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — The country is facing heightened threats from many corners at a time when law enforcement agencies are struggling, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in an exclusive interview, adding that he is "hard pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once."
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators approved updated COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, shots designed to more closely target recent virus strains -- and hopefully whatever variants cause trouble this winter, too.
MEDIA
Veteran PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff apologized on Wednesday for comments she had made on the air regarding former President Donald Trump and negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will be the first U.S. state to direct millions of dollars from taxpayer money and tech companies to help pay for journalism and AI research under a new deal announced Wednesday.
ECONOMY
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week, but the level of claims remains at healthy levels.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks weakened Thursday in the run-up to Wall Street's main event for the week, a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell coming on Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) — How much hype is left in Nvidia's stock? Anyone with an S&P 500 index fund is hoping to get an answer to that weighty question next week.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
The U.S. Postal Service hopes to save $3 billion a year through a series of changes reflecting its greater reliance on regional hubs that revise delivery time standards while retaining three-day local mail delivery and offering customers more precise point-to-point delivery estimates. Election mail won't be affected, officials said.