VOL. 44 | NO. 38 | Friday, September 18, 2020
TENNESSEE TITANS
Wilson could join Pacman, VY, Britt
The happy-happy, joy-joy of Jadeveon Clowney signing with the Tennessee Titans last week was rudely interrupted Saturday morning with the news that first-round pick Isaiah Wilson had been arrested on a DUI charge.
NEWSMAKERS
Insurance defense firm Tyson & Mendes LLP is launching its first office in Tennessee and has named litigator William Johnson managing partner for the new Nashville branch.
BRIEFS
Angela Jefferson, Ph.D., professor of neurology and director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center, has been awarded a grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, to support establishment of an NIA-funded exploratory Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
RV and trailer sales greatly increased this summer as consumers sought out vacations while remaining socially distant during the pandemic. But what’s the best vehicle to tow them?
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
You have enough material to get you started on this project. The building plans are finalized, but experience tells you that they’ll be tweaked. Likewise, though you have the tools to begin, you’ll need more as you go.
PERSONAL FINANCE
About 1 in 3 people 65 and older in the U.S. enroll in Medicare Advantage, the private insurance alternative to traditional Medicare. It’s not hard to see why: Medicare Advantage plans often cover things Medicare doesn’t, and most people don’t pay extra for it.
CAREER CORNER
Many people are nervous about searching for a job right now. The market feels completely unstable.
NASHVILLE SC
NASHVILLE (AP) — Daniel Rios scored his first MLS goal on a diving header and Nashville SC beat D.C. United 1-0 on Wednesday night in the league's first game with a female center referee in more than 20 years.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed an executive order establishing a commission that will provide advice on mitigating the invasion of Asian carp into the state's lakes and river systems, according to a news release.
REAL ESTATE
NEW YORK (AP) — The market for newly constructed homes in the U.S. continued its upward climb in August, despite the ongoing pandemic and lingering worries about the future of the U.S. economy.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee education officials on Wednesday predicted a big hit to student learning due to interruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — Facebook's long-awaited oversight board that will act as a referee on whether specific content is allowed on the tech giant's platforms is set to launch in October.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BERLIN (AP) — A German court has ruled that former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn must face trial on a second set of charges in the company's diesel emissions scandal, this time accused of market manipulation.
BANKING
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Westpac, Australia's second-largest bank, agreed to pay a 1.3 billion Australian dollar ($919 million) fine for breaches of anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws, the largest ever civil penalty in Australia, a financial crime regulator said on Thursday.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump paid respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Thursday morning, just two days before he announces his nominee to replace her on the high court.
NASHVILLE (AP) — U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump administration appointee who bucked the president's conservative base by blocking a Tennessee law that restricts mail-in voting, had an announcement to make before wrapping up his decision: it had nothing to do with politics.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is putting the Senate in uncharted political terrain. There's no recent precedent for a confirmation vote so close to a presidential election.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
LONDON (AP) — Two firms developing COVID-19 vaccines say pharmaceutical companies are trying to give the public as much information as possible about their testing regimes as drugmakers and public health officials seek to boost confidence that any approved vaccine will be safe.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid rose slightly last week to 870,000, a historically high figure that shows that the viral pandemic is still squeezing restaurants, airlines, hotels and many other businesses six months after it first erupted.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans pushed back Thursday after President Donald Trump again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The slice of Michigan that covers Detroit, its suburbs and towns dependent on the auto industry is coveted political terrain in one of this year's most important presidential swing states. It also has another distinction as home to one of the worst-performing U.S. Postal Service districts in the country.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Secretary of State's office announced Wednesday that voters who request a mail-in absentee ballot for the Nov. 3 election will be able to track the status of their ballot.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his Senate allies are misrepresenting the facts about Supreme Court nominations as he prepares to push ahead with a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Undaunted by criticism, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is forging ahead with a series of events that have overtly political overtones ahead of the November presidential election.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Ashley McBryde, Dan + Shay, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett top the 2020 CMT Music Awards nominations with three each.
SPORTS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is the media favorite to win the Southeastern Conference title while Florida is the pick to win the Eastern Division.
Southeastern Conference football games won't have their normal scenes of packed stadiums and partying tailgaters.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A former Tennessee state trooper's insistence that he never yanked the mask off a protester near the state Capitol has been refuted by surveillance footage and an eyewitness account from a fellow law enforcement officer, state records show.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has announced that farm and forestry businesses are getting $55 million in aid funded by the federal coronavirus relief package.
REAL ESTATE
Indications of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 shutdown in Tennessee are becoming evident, the second quarter housing report from MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center finds.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Tesla is working on new battery technology that CEO Elon Musk says will enable the company within the next three years to make sleeker, more affordable cars that can travel dramatically longer distances on a single charge.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will halt sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, a move he says will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 35% in the nation's most populous state.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen is unveiling a battery-powered sport-utility vehicle that is headed for global markets including the United States and China, as the company takes a major step forward in its campaign to make electric cars a mass-market choice.
BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors said Wednesday they have filed charges against eight more Volkswagen employees accused of involvement in the company's diesel scandal, which saw it sell cars fitted with software that let them cheat on emissions tests.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. has further postponed its next mega-movies from Marvel, including "Black Widow," while also postponing Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" a full year in the company's latest recalibration due to the pandemic.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Trump must testify in a New York investigation into the family's businesses before the November presidential election, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting lawyers' claims that Trump's "extreme travel schedule" on the campaign trail warranted a delay.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With crowds of admirers swelling outside, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was remembered Wednesday at the court by grieving family, colleagues and friends as a prophet for justice who persevered against long odds to become an American icon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Votes in hand, Senate Republicans are charging ahead with plans to confirm President Donald Trump's pick to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat before the Nov. 3 election, launching a divisive fight over Democratic objections before a nominee is even announced.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects at the Supreme Court to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the women's rights champion, leader of the court's liberal bloc and feminist icon who died last week.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
NEW YORK (AP) — "I did the best I could," President Donald Trump said. Huddled with aides in the West Wing last week, his eyes fixed on Fox News, Trump wasn't talking about how he had led the nation through the deadliest pandemic in a century. In a conversation overheard by an Associated Press reporter, Trump was describing how he'd just publicly rebuked one of his top scientists — Dr. Robert Redfield, a virologist and head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A huge international study of a COVID-19 vaccine that aims to work with just one dose is getting underway as top U.S. health officials sought Wednesday to assure a skeptical Congress and public that they can trust any shots the government ultimately approves.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street racked up more losses Wednesday as stocks closed broadly lower, wiping out the market's gains from the day before.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Trump administration moves toward antitrust action against search giant Google, it's campaigning to enlist support from sympathetic state attorneys general across the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday defended the Federal Reserve's efforts to support the economy during the pandemic-induced recession from assertions that its programs bungled aspects of its response.
Americans may not know if trick or treating will happen this year because of the pandemic, but they're buying a lot of Halloween candy while they wait to find out.
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. labor agency warned Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a massive drop in income for workers around the world and of rising inequality between rich countries that have injected government cash into their economies and poorer countries that can't.
PARIS (AP) — France's president wants to expand paternity leave to one month — and require fathers to take time off with their newborns.
LONDON (AP) — The British government says there could be lines of 7,000 trucks at the English Channel and two-day waits to get into France immediately after the U.K. makes its economic break from the European Union at the end of the year.
MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) — A major U.S. asphalt company agreed to pay $16.6 million in fines while pleading guilty Tuesday to federal charges that it paid millions in bribes to officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela for almost a decade to win lucrative contracts.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nike appears to have recovered from its pandemic slump, posting a solid quarterly profit driven by soaring online sales of its sneakers and workout apparel.
ELECTION 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump promised Wednesday to sign an executive order that would require health care providers to provide medical care to all babies born alive as he makes an election-year push to appeal to voters who oppose abortion.
SWANTON, Ohio (AP) — President Donald Trump was interrupted twice during an Ohio rally this week by sign-waving supporters chanting, "Fill that seat!"
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump marveled at a rally this week about how important Supreme Court nominations are to voters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats on Wednesday proposed a bill to curb presidential abuses, a pitch to voters weeks ahead of Election Day as they try to defeat President Donald Trump, capture the Senate from Republicans and keep their House majority.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans won't be allowed to bring home cigars and rum from Cuba under measures President Donald Trump announced Wednesday to financially starve the island's government, a move taken as he tries to boost his appeal among Cuban-Americans, a crucial voting bloc in the battleground state of Florida.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sweeping bipartisan vote that takes a government shutdown off the table, the House passed a temporary government-wide funding bill Tuesday night, shortly after President Donald Trump prevailed in a behind-the-scenes fight over his farm bailout.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republican-led Senate committees issued a politically charged report Wednesday on the work Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son did in Ukraine.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Derek Mason knows who his new starting quarterback is. The Vanderbilt coach just isn't saying, not while looking for every advantage possible in the Commodores' season opener.
TOURISM
WALLAND (AP) — The National Park Service is trying to identify who mounted a cardboard sign with a racist message and hung a black bear skin over an entrance sign at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
STATEWIDE
MEMPHIS (AP) — Loaded guns were found at security checkpoints at every major Tennessee airport during a seven-day period, officials said.
NASHVILLE AREA
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel's Steve Doocy apologized on Monday "for any confusion" in reporting a now-debunked story about the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, supposedly concealing the number of coronavirus cases linked to bars and restaurants in that city because they were so low.
REAL ESTATE
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Sales of existing homes rose 2.4% in August to its highest level since 2006 as the housing market recovers from a widespread shutdown in the spring brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.
TECHNOLOGY
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla is expected to announce a breakthrough in electric vehicle battery chemistry on Tuesday that could bring down the cost of the vehicles and increase their range and durability.
ENVIRONMENT
BERLIN (AP) — Ten cities around the world on Tuesday joined New York and London in committing to divest from fossil fuel companies as part of efforts to combat climate change.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The prospect that President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans will fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat before the year is out has ignited a call for major changes on the court, including expanding the number of justices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for fast action on its effort, blocked by a lower court, to exclude people in the U.S. illegally from the numbers used to determine how many congressional seats each state gets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said Tuesday he supports voting to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the Supreme Court, all but ensuring President Donald Trump has the backing to push his choice to confirmation over Democratic objections that it's too close to the November election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten former federal judges, including former FBI Director William Webster, are asking Senate leaders to withhold consideration of a Supreme Court nominee until after Inauguration Day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have the votes to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick before the Nov. 3 presidential election, according to the Senate Judiciary chairman who will shepherd the nomination through the chamber.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has said he would nominate a woman to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87 and was a champion of gender equality. A look at the top contenders:
VIRUS OUTBREAK
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, by far the highest in the world, hitting the once-unimaginable threshold six weeks before an election that is certain to be a referendum in part on President Donald Trump's handling of the crisis.
LONDON (AP) — Mobile apps tracing new COVID-19 cases were touted as a key part of Europe's plan to beat the coronavirus outbreak. Seven months into the pandemic, virus cases are surging again and the apps have not been widely adopted due to privacy concerns, technical problems and lack of interest from the public.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks on Wall Street shrugged off an early slide and closed higher Tuesday, halting the first four-day losing streak since the market was selling off in the early days of the pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed cautious optimism Tuesday that the U.S. economy is rebounding from the pandemic-induced recession with federal support but that more help from the government is likely needed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans view the nation's economic situation as bleak, but a rising percentage also see signs of stability six weeks before Election Day — if not reasons for optimism.
ELECTION 2020
Facebook says it has removed a small network of fake accounts and pages that originated in China and focused on disrupting political activity in the U.S. and several other countries.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from President Donald Trump's reelection campaign challenging Nevada's new vote-by-mail law, saying the campaign failed to show how it could be harmed by the law.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio and Republican groups including the Trump campaign are fighting to uphold a GOP election chief's directive limiting ballot drop boxes in the presidential battleground to one per county.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan bill aimed at keeping goods out of the U.S. that are made with the forced labor of detained ethnic minorities in China passed overwhelmingly Tuesday in the House of Representatives despite some concerns about the potential economic effects.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is on track Tuesday to pass a government-wide temporary funding bill to keep federal agencies fully up and running into December and prevent a partial shutdown of the government after the current budget year expires at the end of the month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former executive who worked in the private sector for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was recently paid by President Donald Trump's reelection effort, according to a new campaign finance disclosure.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump urged world leaders to hold China accountable for the spread of the coronavirus, in a video address to a scaled-down U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday as America's death toll topped 200,000.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans know their undefeated start won't last for long if they don't fix some issues quickly.
NASHVILLE — (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have added a trio of players with NFL experience to their practice squad, signing wide receiver Chester Rogers and a pair of defensive backs in Breon Borders and Greg Mabin.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans know good teams win ugly games, and being 2-0 for the first time in 12 years has a way of making any victory look much prettier.
STATEWIDE
Tennessee exporters suffered a brutal second quarter, seeing a $2.5 billion year-over-year decline, the latest “Global Commerce” trade report from MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center reveals.
ENVIRONMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — In the early 2000s, a harvest of pine trees on Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau led to a remarkable discovery. Once sunlight hit the ground, the seeds and rootstock of native grasses and wildflowers that had lain dormant for decades began to spring to life.
TECHNOLOGY
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is buying the company behind popular video games The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — With COVID-19 the newest preexisting condition, the Obama-era health law that protects Americans from insurance discrimination is more fragile following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The body of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in repose at the Supreme Court this week, with arrangements to allow for public viewing despite the coronavirus pandemic, the court said Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court by week's end, before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is buried, launching a monumental Senate confirmation fight over objections from Democrats who say it's too close to the November election.
CHICAGO (AP) — A front-runner to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a federal appellate judge who has established herself as a reliable conservative on hot-button legal issues from abortion to gun control.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court on Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death drew mourners to the steps of the Supreme Court, where they sang "Amazing Grace" in the dark. Fresh off a rally stage in Minnesota, President Donald Trump learned of the loss and praised Ginsburg as an "amazing" woman.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican efforts to fill Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat after her death are likely to move swiftly this week, with President Donald Trump possibly nominating a replacement within days and GOP senators hoping to jump-start the confirmation process.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Shares in electric and hydrogen-powered truck startup Nikola plunged on Monday after the company's founder resigned amid allegations of fraud — just two weeks after signing a $2 billion partnership with General Motors.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans are in danger of missing coronavirus relief payments of up to $1,200 per individual because of incomplete government records, a government watchdog said in a report issued Monday.
Major cruise lines say they will test all passengers and crew for COVID-19 prior to boarding as part of their plan for resuming sailing in the Americas.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's top medical advisers on Monday painted a grim picture of exponential growth in illness and death if nothing is done to control the second wave of coronavirus infections, laying the groundwork for the government to announce new restrictions later this week.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street slumped Monday as markets tumbled worldwide on worries about the pandemic's economic pain, though the S&P 500 had pared its losses by the end of the day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' household wealth rebounded last quarter to a record high as the stock market quickly recovered from a pandemic-induced plunge in March. Yet the gains flowed mainly to the most affluent households even as tens of millions of people endured job losses and shrunken incomes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats controlling the House unveiled a government-wide temporary funding bill on Monday that would keep federal agencies fully up and running into December. The measure would prevent a partial shutdown of the government after the current budget year expires at the end of the month, but Republicans immediately protested, and a Senate floor fight appears likely.
The financial sector was hit hard Monday following a report alleging that a number of banks, JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon among them, have continued to profit from illicit dealings with disreputable people and criminal networks despite previous warnings from regulators.
ELECTION 2020
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Peggy Lehner, a Republican state senator in Ohio, doesn't sugarcoat what she has seen happen to support for President Donald Trump in her suburban Dayton district.
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service must live up to its responsibilities to timely process election mail by treating it as a priority, a New York judge ordered on Monday, adding that the agency's workers should be permitted to make extra deliveries and work overtime near the November presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden leaves little doubt that if elected he would try to scale back President Donald Trump's buildup in nuclear weapons spending. And although the former vice president has not fully detailed his nuclear priorities, he says he would make the U.S. less reliant on the world's deadliest weapons.
It's been a throwaway line in presidential campaigns for years: Roe v. Wade is on the ballot.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his GOP allies are playing loose with the facts when it comes to a successor for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States slapped additional sanctions on Iran on Monday after the Trump administration's unilateral weekend declaration that all United Nations penalties that were eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
TENNESSEE TITANS
First down: Don’t take the Jaguars lightly. The surest thing among all the prognosticators is that the Jaguars would finish last in the AFC South with the Titans, Texans and Colts finishing 1 through 3 in some order.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown will miss Sunday's home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars with an injured knee.
The Tennessee Titans won't have fans at their home opener Sunday against Jacksonville, but that will change in October and increase with each of their next three home games.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The NCAA notified No. 15 Tennessee on Thursday that offensive lineman Cade Mays' appeal for a waiver to play immediately has been approved.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday criticized Nashville's use of coronavirus relief funds as the city seeks additional financial help in its response to the pandemic.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials announced Thursday that the state had deployed two teams of 911 emergency response personnel to Alabama to support local responders managing the aftermath of Hurricane Sally.
MEDIA
The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores on Sunday and will bar the apps from accessing essential internet services in the U.S. — a move that could effectively wreck the operation of both Chinese services for U.S. users.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government on Friday announced a 5 million Australian dollars ($3.7 million) grant to the national news agency as part of pandemic-related assistance to regional journalism.
TRANSPORTATION
DETROIT (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration hasn't updated standards for emergency airliner evacuations in nearly two decades, a period when travelers have increasingly had to deal with tighter aircraft seats, more carry-on bags and support animals, a government watchdog says.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back Friday against the Catholic archbishop of San Francisco's criticism of COVID-related restrictions, saying he should "follow science" rather than advocate for fuller in-person gatherings for Mass and worship.
A drug company said Friday that a medicine it sells to tamp down inflammation has helped prevent the need for breathing machines in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the first large study that primarily enrolled Hispanics and Blacks.
LONDON - Confirmed cases of the coronavirus have topped 30 million worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who served on the White House coronavirus task force says President Donald Trump once suggested that COVID-19 might be a good thing because it would stop him from having to shake hands with "disgusting people."
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials insist that President Donald Trump strongly supports face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus and always has. But the president's own words and actions tell a very different — and sometimes puzzling — story.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street capped another turbulent week of trading Friday with a broad slide in stocks that left the S&P 500 with its third-straight weekly loss.
LONDON (AP) — It's the September fashion week season, and in any other year London would be abuzz with fashionistas zipping across town in Mercedes Benzes, hobnobbing with celebrities at glittering catwalk shows before sipping champagne at late-night parties.
ELECTION 2020
DENVER (AP) — A majority of President Donald Trump's supporters plan to cast their ballot on Election Day, while about half of Joe Biden's backers plan to vote by mail, a sign of a growing partisan divide over how best to conduct elections in the United States.
MOOSIC, Pa. (AP) — Joe Biden went after President Donald Trump again and again over his handling of COVID-19, calling Trump's downplaying of the pandemic "criminal" and his administration "totally irresponsible."
MOSINEE, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump stepped up his rhetoric on cultural issues, aiming to boost enthusiasm among rural Wisconsin voters as he tries to repeat his path to victory four years ago.
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Biden's campaign unveiled a series of nationwide digital events Friday targeting Black voters in swing states — a strategic move by the Democratic presidential nominee to further energize the key demographic as the race heads into its final weeks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden says Russia will pay a price for interfering in U.S. elections if he wins the White House.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Friday that it would release nearly $13 billion in aid to Puerto Rico to help the island rebuild its electrical grid and repair schools from the devastation of Hurricane Maria three years earlier amid criticism that the assistance was overdue and being released now only for political purposes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower from the Department of Homeland Security who says he was pressured to suppress facts in intelligence reports says he won't be able to testify before a House panel until the department gives him more access to "relevant information," according to his lawyer.
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.
SEATTLE (AP) — A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them "a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service" before the November election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers Thursday that antifa is an ideology, not an organization, delivering testimony that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said he would designate it a terror group.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
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.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. average rates on long-term mortgages changed little this week as they hover at historically low levels.
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.
ENVIRONMENT
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Shell Offshore Inc. has submitted plans to plans to drill for oil in the waters along the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the coming years.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is claiming "resounding vindication" from an independent commission's report on the coronavirus crisis in nursing homes, but some panel members say that's a misinterpretation of their conclusion that much remains to be done to safeguard vulnerable residents.
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Just two weeks after students started returning to Ball State University last month, the surrounding county had become Indiana's coronavirus epicenter.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Another slide in technology companies helped pull stocks lower on Wall Street Thursday, extending losses from the day before.
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) — Less than seven weeks before Election Day, most Americans are deeply pessimistic about the direction of the country and skeptical of President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A "fired up" Joe Biden joined Senate Democrats for an online lunch Thursday and told allies that he is taking nothing for granted in the race for the White House and the down-ballot effort to wrest the Senate's majority control from Republicans.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Thursday to condemn racism against Asian Americans tied to the coronavirus outbreak, approving a Democratic resolution on a mostly party-line vote. Republicans called the legislation an election-year effort to criticize President Donald Trump and "woke culture on steroids."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, appearing just a month before the presidential election as Republicans have tried to make the case that he and his agency conspired against Donald Trump in 2016.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department explored whether it could pursue either criminal or civil rights charges against city officials in Portland, Oregon after clashes erupted there night after night between law enforcement and demonstrators, a department spokesperson said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr drew sharp condemnation Thursday for comparing lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic to slavery.