VOL. 44 | NO. 37 | Friday, September 11, 2020
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, August 2020, for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
August 2020 real estate trends for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. average rates on long-term mortgages fell this week amid signs that the halting economic recovery slowed over the summer. The key 30-year mortgage again marked an all-time low.
NEWSMAKERS
Bradley’s Lela M. Hollabaugh has been named to Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation 2020.
BRIEFS
Meharry Medical College will receive $34 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies to help increase the number of Black doctors in the U.S. by reducing their debt burden.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Historically, Labor Day week is an opportune moment to get a great deal on a new vehicle. But this time around, the great deal could very well come about by selling or trading in your car.
CAREER CORNER
This time last year, I wrote a column about Labor Day that began: “Labor Day is a holiday that honors the American labor movement. It celebrates the development, productivity and prosperity of the United States. And, it marks the unofficial end of summer. If you’re like most Americans, Labor Day is spent with loved ones and tasty food.”
MILLENNIAL MONEY
You might not have started 2020 thinking about a move. But like it or not, many of us have had to reconsider our living situations during the pandemic.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — In surprise twist that fit an unexpected year of firsts, Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett tied for entertainer of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, the first time the top prize has been split between two artists.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced an Austin, Texas, man to 30 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to stalking and sending threatening letters and emails to pop star Taylor Swift's former record label.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Titans safety Kevin Byard and his wife didn't plan on having their baby at home, though now he has a story he'll be able to tell his son forever.
SPORTS
When it came time to confront a global pandemic, we should've known college football would whiff on the tackle.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — A task force based in Memphis, Tennessee, has sent team members to Oregon to help with the wildfires and to Mississippi to assist in recovery efforts related to Hurricane Sally.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee law requiring doctors to inform women that drug-induced abortions may be reversed is critical for women who may change their minds halfway through the procedure, the state's top legal chief said.
MEDIA
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The author of proposed Australian laws to make Facebook and Google pay for journalism said Thursday his draft legislation will be altered to allay some of the digital giants' concerns, but remain fundamentally unchanged.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. housing construction fell a surprising 5.1% in August after three months of strong gains when home builders ramped up projects following a pandemic-induced shutdown in March and April.
BANKING
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Two of Spain's biggest banks are poised to merge and create the largest lender in the country, with assets of more than 600 billion euros ($708 billion), bringing the prospect of more job losses amid difficult times for the financial sector.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he expects to get a report Thursday about Oracle's bid for the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok and admitted there is no legal path to letting the U.S. Treasury get a cut of the deal — a proposition experts had criticized as unprecedented and possibly illegal.
Sony's upcoming PlayStation 5 video game console will cost $500 and launch Nov. 12, the company said Wednesday, setting up a holiday battle with Microsoft's Xbox Series X over whose new console will turn up under more trees this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — A looming U.S. ban on the Chinese app WeChat won't target people who use the app to communicate, according to a government court filing Wednesday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford says it will add 300 jobs at a new factory that's being built to assemble batteries and manufacture an electric version of the F-150 pickup truck.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr drew sharp condemnation Thursday for comparing lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic to slavery.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Openly contradicting the government's top health experts, President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus could be ready as early as next month and in mass distribution soon after, undermining the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and calling him "confused" in projecting a longer time frame.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high number of people that illustrates the broad economic damage still taking place nine months after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England indicated Thursday that it could cut interest rates below zero for the first time in its 326-year history as it tries to shore up a U.K. economic recovery that is facing the dual headwinds of the coronavirus and Brexit.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is set to join Senate Democrats for an online lunch, returning virtually to the place that fostered his political career as he fields questions from allies on the race for the White House and the down-ballot effort to wrest the Senate's majority control from Republicans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has agreed to provide in-person briefings on threats to the November election to key members of Congress, backing down from a decision last month to provide that information only in writing.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A military whistleblower says federal officials sought some unusual crowd control devices — including one that's been called a "heat ray" — to deal with protesters outside the White House on the June day that law enforcement forcibly cleared Lafayette Square.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr took aim at his own Justice Department on Wednesday night, criticizing prosecutors for behaving as "headhunters" in their pursuit of prominent targets and for using the weight of the criminal justice system to launch what he said were "ill-conceived" political probes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In defiance of overwhelming opposition, the United States is preparing to declare that all international sanctions against Iran have been restored. Few countries believe the move is legal, and such action could provoke a credibility crisis at the United Nations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a private call with federal prosecutors across the country, Attorney General William Barr's message was clear: Aggressively go after demonstrators who cause violence.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — In a pre-pandemic world, the Academy of Country Music Awards advertised itself as country music's night to party with gambling, after-parties and a Las Vegas-style attitude.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Maybe kickers needed preseason more than anyone else.
AUTO RACING
NASHVILLE (AP) — IndyCar plans to return to Nashville next year on an urban street course that will be a three-day festival of sound and speed that organizers hope rivals the storied Long Beach Grand Prix.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's top Republican lawmakers contend efforts to remove the bust of an early Ku Klux Klan leader and Confederate general from the Capitol require a third level of approval.
STATEWIDE
NEW YORK (AP) — FedEx's profit jumped 67% in its latest quarter, as online shopping soared among customers avoiding stores and shipments between businesses improved.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee school district that was sued last year by two atheist families for promoting Christianity has agreed to stop the practice, according to a consent decree filed in federal court in Nashville on Monday.
MIDSTATE
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — More than 200 soldiers from Fort Campbell are deploying to Kuwait, the 101st Airborne Division announced.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1 million grant to the Tennessee State University College of Engineering to recruit minority transfer students from regional community colleges.
ENVIRONMENT
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top official proposed a more ambitious target Wednesday for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, setting a reduction goal of at least 55% by 2030 compared to the current target of 40%.
TRANSPORTATION
A House committee issued a scathing report Wednesday questioning whether Boeing and government regulators have recognized the problems that caused two deadly 737 Max jet crashes and whether either will be willing to make significant changes to fix them.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
MADRID (AP) — It feels like a flashback. Pneumonia, a common acute manifestation of the COVID-19 disease, is keeping Spanish intensive care wards busy again. And it's also leaving medical workers who are still recovering from the pandemic's peak with an anxious sense of déja vu.
LONDON (AP) — U.K. lawmakers criticized the government's handling of the COVID-19 testing crisis for a second day Wednesday as opposition leaders claimed Prime Minister Boris Johnson lacked a cohesive plan to tackle the virus at a time when the country faces a second wave in the pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, assuming a safe and effective shot is developed, even as top health officials faced questions about political interference with virus information reaching the public.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Fielding compelling questions about voters' real-world problems, President Donald Trump denied during a televised town hall that he had played down the threat of the coronavirus earlier this year, although there is an audio recording of him stating he did just that.
COURTS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Attorney Alan Dershowitz is suing CNN for $300 million, alleging it slandered and libeled him through its editing of a comment he made to the Senate while defending President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial, saying the revision made it falsely appear he "had lost his mind."
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee law requiring doctors to inform women that drug-induced abortions may be reversed is critical for women who may change their minds halfway through the procedure, the state's top legal chief said.
MEMPHIS (AP) — DNA tests on a knife and other evidence must be performed in the case of a Tennessee death row inmate facing execution in December for the stabbing deaths of a woman and her daughter 33 years ago, a judge ruled Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will start its new term next month the way it ended the last one, with arguments by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic and live audio available to the public.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged five Chinese citizens with hacks targeting more than 100 companies and institutions in the United States and elsewhere, including social media and video game companies as well as universities and telecommunications providers, officials said Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday after a rally following the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate policy update faded in the final hour of trading.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve expects to keep its benchmark interest rate pegged near zero at least through 2023 as it strives to accelerate economic growth and drive down the unemployment rate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Below is the statement the Fed released Wednesday after its policy meeting ended:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies seeking relief from President Donald Trump's taxes on imported steel and aluminum ran into long delays and cumbersome paperwork, a federal watchdog found.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans kept spending in August, but the pace of that growth is slowing as millions of people who lost jobs have now lost a $600 a week boost in their unemployment checks.
PARIS (AP) — The global economy is not doing as bad as previously expected, especially in the United States and China, but has still suffered an unprecedented drop due to the coronavirus pandemic, an international watchdog said Wednesday.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the United Kingdom cannot unilaterally change the EU-UK bilateral withdrawal agreement without destroying global trust in the country.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus cannot be wished away. Real people kept it real. Preparation — and the moderator — matters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration health official embroiled in a furor over political meddling with the coronavirus response is taking a leave of absence, the government announced Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Is it possible the election will be up in the air and we won't have a president on Inauguration Day: Jan. 20, 2021?
WASHINGTON (AP) — When billionaire Mike Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign in March, he pledged to spend "whatever it takes" to help Democrats defeat President Donald Trump. Less than two months before the election, he's finally coming through.
DENVER (AP) — As Congress balks, well-funded nonprofits are donating hundreds of millions of dollars to help state and local officials run elections during the pandemic — a sudden infusion of private cash in what was once considered a core government function.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden says he's begun preparing for presidential debates that begin later this month by studying President Donald Trump's past comments.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitt Romney is sharply criticizing an investigation by his own party into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son, saying it's "not the legitimate role of government" to try and damage political opponents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Republican on Tuesday said conservative economist Judy Shelton does not have the votes to be confirmed to one of two vacancies on the Federal Reserve board.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel put a top Google executive on the defensive Tuesday over the company's powerful position in online advertising as some lawmakers look hopefully toward an expected antitrust case against the tech giant by the Trump administration.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans sound prepared to be patient with four-time Pro Bowl kicker Stephen Gostkowski.
DENVER (AP) — A day after Tom Brady's dud of a debut for Tampa Bay, Stephen Gostkowski failed to put all that Patriots pedigree to work in his first game with the Tennessee Titans.
DENVER (AP) — Tennessee Titans linebacker Rashaan Evans was ejected Monday night after throwing a punch at Denver Broncos tight end Jake Butt late in the first quarter.
PREDATORS
Peter Laviolette was hired Tuesday as coach of the Washington Capitals, who hope to harness his ability to quickly take a team to the Stanley Cup Final in what could be the final few years of their championship window.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville officials say that a local effort to roll back a contentious property tax increase would result in a $332 million deficit, warning that if voters approved the referendum it would be "a self-inflicted disaster."
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials said revenues for August came in $115.1 million higher than state projections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black people have been overrepresented on death rows across the United States and killers of Black people are less likely to face the death penalty than people who kill white people, a new report found.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — The financial misconduct trial of former Nissan executive Greg Kelly began Tuesday with Kelly saying he committed no crimes and was only trying to keep his star boss Carlos Ghosn from leaving.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple introduced a cheaper version of its smartwatch, its latest attempt to broaden the appeal of its trend-setting products while many consumers are forced to scrimp during the coronavirus pandemic.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Trump health appointee who used his agency as a platform for political attacks and allegedly sought to muzzle a scientific publication has become the latest distraction for a White House still struggling to define its coronavirus response.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House subcommittee is launching an investigation into whether political appointees have meddled with routine government scientific data to better align with President Donald Trump's public statements about the coronavirus pandemic, following a report that one such appointee claimed scientists were trying to undermine Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is running as the "law and order" candidate. But that hasn't stopped him and his campaign from openly defying state emergency orders and flouting his own administration's coronavirus guidelines as he holds ever-growing rallies in battleground states.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks gave up part of their gains from earlier in the day but still closed higher on Wall Street Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is dropping taxes on Canadian aluminum, easing tensions with a close ally just hours before Canada was prepared to impose retaliatory sanctions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production slowed to a modest increase of 0.4% in August, far weaker than the strong bounce back recorded in previous months when factories were coming back to life.
LONDON (AP) — The European Union's highest court has given its support to the bloc's rules that stop internet providers from charging customers for preferential access to their networks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve policymakers will meet this week for the first time since they significantly revised the Fed's operating framework in ways that will likely keep short-term interest rates near zero for years to come.
Developing economies in Asia will contract in 2020, the first such downturn in nearly 60 years, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday in an update to its forecasts.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is tearing into President Donald Trump for his reported remarks referring to fallen soldiers as "suckers."
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden is making his first trip to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee, while his campaign is acknowledging concerns about his appeal with Latinos, a voting bloc likely to prove pivotal against President Donald Trump in one of the nation's fiercest battleground states.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is promising to "restore dignity for everyone, especially the poor" if he defeats President Donald Trump in November.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the past two weeks, President Donald Trump has notched a string of diplomatic wins he's highlighting with voters in the run-up to the election, but his report card on the most serious threats to U.S. national security shows an "incomplete."
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday the House will remain in session until lawmakers deliver another round of COVID-19 relief, a move that came as Democrats from swing districts signaled discontent with a standoff that could force them to face voters without delivering more aid.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring "the dawn of a new Middle East," President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed historic diplomatic pacts with Israel and two Gulf Arab nations that he hopes will lead to a new order in the Mideast and cast him as a peacemaker at the height of his reelection campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy rolled out Republicans' priorities of tax breaks and police funding Tuesday, the GOP's calling card to voters as they try to wrest back seats from Democrats in a long-shot November election bid for majority control.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — At the Academy of Country Music Awards on Wednesday, there won't be fake fans, canned applause or pre-taped acceptance speeches. After a five-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the awards show wants to bring the live television experience back again.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — After opening a free grocery store earlier this year, country music star Brad Paisley and his wife are expanding their efforts to fight hunger in America.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Country-turned-pop star Taylor Swift is coming back to her roots with a performance at this year's Academy of Country Music Awards.
TENNESSEE TITANS
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos are Derrick Henry's kryptonite.
TRANSPORTATION
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines confirmed Monday it is holding off on its decision to cut flights to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Roswell, New Mexico, but warned that slumping demand in some markets is forcing the company to consider "difficult decisions to right-size our airline."
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Automaker Daimler AG and subsidiary Mercedes-Benz USA have agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the U.S. government and California state regulators to resolve emissions cheating allegations, officials said Monday.
TOKYO (AP) — The criminal trial against Japanese automaker Nissan and its former executive Greg Kelly will open in Tokyo District Court on Tuesday. It's the latest chapter in the unfolding scandal of Carlos Ghosn, a superstar at Nissan Motor Co. until he and Kelly were arrested in late 2018.
EDUCATION
As millions of American children start the school year online, the Trump administration is hoping to convert their parents' frustration and anger into newfound support for school choice policies that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has long championed but struggled to advance nationally.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
A drug company says that adding an anti-inflammatory medicine to a drug already widely used for hospitalized COVID-19 patients shortens their time to recovery by an additional day.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street kicked off the week with a broad rally Monday, clawing back much of the stock market's losses from last week.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon will hire another 100,000 people to keep up with a surge of online orders.
LONDON (AP) — Developing countries' difficulty in containing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic will keep a lid on global oil demand, particularly in India, the OPEC cartel said Monday as it cut its forecasts.
LONDON (AP) — U.S. graphics chip maker Nvidia said it plans to buy U.K.-based Arm Holdings in a deal worth up to $40 billion, in a move that would create a global industry powerhouse.
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Central Bankruptcy Court on Monday gave the go-ahead to financially ailing Thai Airways International to submit a business reorganization plan and appointed seven planners to oversee it.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden is assembling a team of top lawyers in anticipation of court challenges to the election process that could ultimately determine who wins the race for the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's massive campaign war chest was supposed to finance an onslaught of attacks that would destroy Joe Biden's chance of winning in November.
ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump describes Democratic challenger Joe Biden as a "tool" of "radical socialists" who are bent on taxing every American business and household into bankruptcy. Some progressives say Biden is a corporate crony who will never address systemic inequalities in U.S. society.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Playing defense on his handling of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump is letting the falsehoods fly.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower's allegation that he was pressured to suppress intelligence about Russian election interference is the latest in a series of similar accounts involving former Trump administration officials, raising concerns the White House risks undercutting efforts to stop such intrusions if it plays down the seriousness of the problem.
DENVER (AP) — Democrats are rolling out an expanded online portal that allows people to register to vote and request a mail ballot in their state and even helps digitize their signature on their paperwork.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
COURTS
MURFREESBORO (AP) — A defense attorney who fled rape charges in Tennessee apparently killed himself when confronted by law enforcement officers in Alabama, authorities said Friday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday disbarred a Dickson County attorney under new rules that prevent him from ever practicing law in Tennessee again.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — More than 4,400 relatives and victims of the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history could receive a total of $800 million in payouts from MGM Resorts International and its insurers by January, the casino giant and attorneys said Thursday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — For the second time this month, Hyundai is telling some SUV owners to park outdoors because an electrical short in a computer could cause vehicles to catch fire.
BERLIN (AP) — Truck and bus maker MAN, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, said Friday that it plans to shed up to 9,500 jobs worldwide as part of a cost-cutting drive.
TRANSPORTATION
BERLIN (AP) — Europe's flight safety authority said Friday the first flight tests for the Boeing 737 Max, which has been grounded worldwide after two deadly crashes revealed design issues with the jet, have now been completed.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department is rescinding its order to shut down the military's independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, in the wake of a tweet late last week by President Donald Trump vowing to continue funding the paper.
REMEMBRANCE
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans commemorated 9/11 on Friday as a new national crisis — the coronavirus pandemic — reconfigured anniversary ceremonies and a presidential campaign carved a path through the observances.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended with meager gains on Wall Street Friday following another rocky day of sharp swings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in August as used car prices surged by the largest amount in 51 years, the Labor Department reported Friday.
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. secured its first major post-Brexit trade deal on Friday after signing an agreement with Japan just as discussions with the European Union appeared to be teetering on the brink of collapse.
HONG KONG (AP) — China has become a battleground for plant-based meat companies looking to tap into the world's largest market for meat-consumption.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expanding his arsenal of spectacular, but hard to explain, claims about U.S. military might.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Donald Trump barely mentioned Tim Kaine when he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2016. But four years later, the president has plenty to say about Kamala Harris.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Historic fires are raging across the western United States ahead of what scientists say is the typical peak of wildfire season. Hurricane Laura devastated parts of the Gulf Coast last month, while swaths of Iowa are recovering from a derecho that brought hurricane force winds to the Midwest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has charged a Russian national in a sweeping plot to sow distrust in the American political process and imposed sanctions against a Russia-linked Ukrainian lawmaker accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential election.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor who was helping lead the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe has resigned from the Justice Department, a spokesman said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower's complaint and a tight timeline are making it increasingly unlikely that the Senate will confirm Chad Wolf as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security before the election.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee city that tried to outlaw surgical abortions has agreed to pay $225,000 in legal fees to attorneys representing an abortion clinic, according to an order entered in federal court in Nashville on Thursday.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee will funnel $300,000 of federal coronavirus relief money to help cover the cost of 90 additional police cadet scholarships as part of Gov. Bill Lee's initiative to strengthen policing.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Authorities were searching Thursday morning for a tiger in East Tennessee.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Tennessee law for the November election that bars first-time voters from casting ballots by mail unless they show identification at an election office beforehand.
BANKING
NEW YORK (AP) — Citigroup's Jane Fraser will become the first woman to ever lead a Wall Street bank when she succeeds CEO Michael Corbat in February.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — Facebook may be forced to stop sending data about its European users to the U.S., in the first major fallout from a recent court ruling that found some trans-Atlantic data transfers don't protect users from American government snooping.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump talked in private about the "deadly" coronavirus last February, even as he was declaring to America it was no worse than the flu and insisting it was under control, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. Trump said Wednesday he was just being a "cheerleader" for the nation and trying to keep everyone calm.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Try as he might to change the subject, President Donald Trump can't escape the coronavirus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's comments on the threat posed by the coronavirus have varied widely depending on whether he was speaking in public or private.
LONDON (AP) — A woman who received an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed severe neurological symptoms that prompted a pause in testing, a spokesman for drugmaker AstraZeneca said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States plans to end enhanced health screening of travelers from certain countries next week, and those visitors will no longer be funneled through 15 large U.S. airports.
Does my employer have to say if a coworker has the virus?
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Rachel Spray is still grieving the loss of her fellow nurse who died after being exposed to the novel coronavirus at Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center. Now, as she stands in front of the gleaming glass and concrete hospital, she says she "dreads going in there" and fears she'll be next.
LONDON (AP) — Health experts on Thursday expressed strong skepticism about the British government's ambitious plans to carry out millions of coronavirus tests daily in a bid to help people resume normal lives in the absence of a vaccine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The temporary $300-a-week unemployment insurance boost implemented by President Donald Trump is about to end, with no extension in sight.
Technology and energy companies led a broad sell-off on Wall Street Thursday that wiped out nearly all of the market's gains from a strong rally the day before.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week at 884,000, a sign that layoffs remain stuck at a historically high level six months after the viral pandemic flattened the economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package on Thursday as the parties argued to a standstill over the size and scope of the aid, likely ending hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With almost a trillion euros still in the pipeline, the European Central Bank said Thursday that its emergency support program for the economy will run into next year, joining the Federal Reserve in making it clear that stimulus will remain set on high as the pandemic weighs on global business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.3% in August, just half the July gain, as food and energy prices decline.
ELECTION 2020
BOSTON (AP) — The same Russian military intelligence outfit that hacked the Democrats in 2016 has attempted similar intrusions into the computer systems of more than 200 organizations including political parties and consultants, Microsoft said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday charged a Russian national in a sweeping plot to sow distrust in the American political process and also imposed sanctions against a Ukrainian lawmaker accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential election in November.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Twitter said Thursday that starting next week it will label or remove misleading claims that try to undermine public confidence in elections.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Private consultants to the federal official who oversees Medicare billed taxpayers almost $6 million in less than two years to bolster her personal image, including efforts to win awards, place her on lists of powerful women and arrange meetings with influential people, a report by congressional Democrats said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Department of Homeland Security official said in a whistleblower complaint that he was pressured by more senior officials to suppress facts in intelligence reports that President Donald Trump might find objectionable, including information about Russian interference in the election and the rising threat posed by white supremacists.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's comments about the threat from the novel coronavirus attracted widespread attention after excerpts from journalist Bob Woodward's book "Rage" were released. The excerpts also provide new details about the president's thoughts on North Korea's Kim Jong Un, racial unrest and a mysterious new weapon that Trump claims other world powers don't know about.