VOL. 47 | NO. 39 | Friday, September 22, 2023
BRIEFS
The 35 project ideas generated by Nashville/Davidson County’s participatory budgeting program that will be eligible for consideration when voting begins were unveiled last week.
NEWSMAKERS
The International Association of Defense Counsel has announced that Mahsa Kashani Tippins, president and in-house counsel at DCo LLC in Nashville, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.
PERSONAL FINANCE
An immediate annuity is an insurance product that provides guaranteed income: You give an insurer a chunk of money, and the company gives you a stream of payments that can last for life. The payments begin within 12 months of purchase.
TENNESSEE TITANS
In the aftermath of the Titans’ first win in 10 months, defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 27-24 in overtime, a funny but respectful comment came from defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons.
Sometimes opportunities open up and guys like Kearis Jackson take advantage of them.
The Titans finally have the monkey of an eight-game losing streak off their back. Now, can they string together two wins in a row and take down another AFC opponent in the Cleveland Browns? The Browns aren’t a laughingstock anymore and picking up a road win at the Dawg Pound won’t be an easy task.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The 23rd-ranked Tennessee Volunteers are at a crossroads just four weeks into this season.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
Kentucky (3-0, 0-0 SEC) at Vanderbilt (2-2, 0-0), Saturday, 12 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The Nissan Ariya is an all-new electric SUV for the 2023 model year. It’s Nissan’s second EV and serves as a roomier and more powerful complement to the brand’s pioneering Leaf hatchback. However, it’s also going up against many recently introduced SUV competitors, one of which is the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans made a bunch of moves this offseason to boost one of the NFL's worst offenses.
WEST TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS (AP) — No criminal charges will be brought against a Memphis police officer who fatally shot a Black man after a high-speed chase and an attempted traffic stop, the top state prosecutor in the city said Tuesday.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Does a judge's fraud finding spell the end of Donald Trump 's real estate empire? The former president seems to think so. He decried Tuesday's ruling, which shifts control of some of his companies to a court-appointed receiver, as the "KILL TRUMP" decision.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge's ruling that Donald Trump committed fraud as he built his real-estate empire tarnishes the former president's image as a business titan and could strip him of his authority to make major decisions about the future of his marquee properties in his home state.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of pocketing bribes of cash and gold bars in exchange for wielding his political influence to secretly advance Egyptian interests and do favors for local businessmen.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A former Tennessee state senator can stay out of prison as he challenges his 21-month sentence for violating federal campaign finance laws, a federal judge ruled.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is temporarily blocked, a state judge ruled Wednesday, just four days before it was to take effect.
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, and he ordered some of the former president's companies removed from his control and dissolved.
ENERGY
LONDON (AP) — British regulators on Wednesday approved new oil and gas drilling at a site in the North Sea, a move environmentalists say will hurt the country's attempt to meet its climate goals.
MEDIA
CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus has known for over a year when he planned to retire and who would be his successor.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union says it will announce on Friday how it plans to expand its strike against Detroit's three automakers.
DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai and Kia are recalling nearly 3.4 million vehicles in the U.S. and telling owners to park them outside due to the risk of engine compartment fires.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple was never serious about replacing Google with Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine in Macs and iPhones, but kept the possibility open as a "bargaining chip'' to extract bigger payments from Google, a Microsoft executive testified Wednesday in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century.
MENLO PARK, California (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the tech giant's Connect developer conference on Wednesday with a focus on virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street yo-yoed to a mixed finish Wednesday after rising oil prices and bond yields cranked up the pressure even higher on the stock market.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Less than a day after Hollywood's writers strike was declared over, Bill Maher led the charge back to work by announcing early Wednesday that his HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher" would be back on the air Friday.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tens of thousands of Las Vegas hospitality workers fighting for new union contracts voted Tuesday to authorize a strike that could impact more than three dozen casinos and hotels, the city's economic backbone.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Senate marches ahead with a bipartisan approach to prevent a government shutdown, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is back to square one — asking his hard-right Republicans to do what they have said they would never do: approve their own temporary House measure to keep the government open.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has vetoed Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years: the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has secured the release of a U.S. soldier who sprinted across a heavily fortified border into North Korea more than two months ago, and he is on his way back to America, officials announced Wednesday. U.S. ally Sweden and rival China helped with the transfer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is admitting Israel into a select group of countries whose citizens are allowed to travel to the United States without getting a visa in advance.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are about to find out just how long the NFL season can be in coming off one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history.
COURTS
U.S. regulators and 17 states are suing Amazon over allegations the e-commerce behemoth abuses its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on and off its platform, overcharge sellers and stifle competition.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and another attorney Tuesday, saying the two wrongly accessed and shared his personal data after obtaining it from the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the drawing of a new Alabama congressional map with greater representation for Black voters to proceed. The new districts also could help Democrats trying to flip control of the House of Representatives.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are slamming prosecutors' request for a narrow gag order in his 2020 election subversion case in Washington, calling it an effort to "unconstitutionally silence" his political speech.
AUTO INDUSTRY
A recycling facility will be built in Kentucky to shred electric vehicle batteries in a $65 million venture between American and South Korean companies that will supply material for a separate battery-related operation in the same town, the companies announced Tuesday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Alyssa Milligan was someone who intuitively knew when another person needed help, encouragement or a kind word. Although she was new to Tennessee, the 23-year old physical therapy student, whose mother called her "Sweet Alyssa," had already made many close connections, especially within the tight-knit cycling community around Nashville — before she was killed this month, struck by a pickup truck while cycling with a friend.
VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden grabbed a bullhorn on the picket line Tuesday and urged striking auto workers to "stick with it" in an unparalleled show of support for organized labor by a modern president.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. said Monday that it's pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan until it is confident it can run the factory competitively.
ENVIRONMENT
The window to limit human-caused warming to a globally agreed goal is narrowing but still open because of the huge growth of solar energy and electric vehicles sales worldwide, a report said Tuesday.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Apple executive defended the tech giant's decision to make Google the default search engine on Apple iPhones and Macs, saying there was no "valid alternative.''
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — A top European Union official said Tuesday that the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, is the biggest source of fake news and urged owner Elon Musk to comply with the bloc's laws aimed at combating disinformation.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The confidence of American consumers slipped this month, particularly about the future, as expectations persist that interest rates will remain elevated for an extended period.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's September swoon accelerated, knocking stocks down to their lowest levels since June. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% Tuesday, its fifth drop in six days. The Dow lost 388 points and the Nasdaq composite gave back 1.6%. Stocks have tumbled this month, which is on track to be their worst of the year, as the realization sets in that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high for a long time as it tries to get inflation lower. Treasury yields inched higher following a mixed set of economic reports and are near their highest levels in more than a decade.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target will close nine store in four states, including one in East Harlem, New York and three in San Francisco, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The deal is made, the pickets have been suspended, and Hollywood's writers are on the verge of getting back to work after months on strike. Actors, meanwhile, wait in the wings for their own resolution.
HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba said Tuesday that it would spin off its logistics arm, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, making it the first business unit to go public following a major restructuring.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Hubert, an airport security officer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recalls helping fellow Transportation Security Administration workers get essentials from food banks when they worked without pay during the last government shutdown. By the end of the 35-day ordeal, he needed the same help himself.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United Farm Workers on Tuesday announced its endorsement of President Joe Biden for reelection, saying that the Democrat has proven throughout his life to be an "authentic champion" for workers and their families, regardless of race or national origin.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Cory Booker is calling on Sen. Bob Menendez to resign, saying in a statement that the federal bribery charges unveiled on Friday against his fellow New Jersey Democrat contain "shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of additional students in schools serving low-income communities will be eligible to receive breakfast and lunch at no cost under a rule change announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is rushing headlong into crisis mode Tuesday with a government shutdown days away, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces an insurgency from hard-right Republicans eager to slash spending even if it means halting pay for the military and curtailing federal services for millions of Americans.
NEW YORK (AP) — A former aide in Donald Trump's White House says chief of staff Mark Meadows burned papers so often after the 2020 election that it left his office smoky and even prompted his wife to complain that his suits smelled "like a bonfire."
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
TENNESSEE TITANS
CLEVELAND (AP) — Gifted great field position when their defense forced a turnover, the Tennessee Titans moved the ball — backwards.
STATEWIDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Monday that it has awarded more than $1.4 billion to projects that improve railway safety and boost capacity, with much of the money coming from the 2021 infrastructure law.
COURTS
DENVER (AP) — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump argue that an attempt to bar him from the 2024 ballot under a rarely used "insurrection" clause of the Constitution should be dismissed as a violation of his freedom of speech.
TECHNOLOGY
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence got barely a mention at the U.N. General Assembly's convocation of world leaders.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Artificial intelligence, and how and whether to regulate it, has gotten a lot of discussion in and around this year's U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders. With a U.N. advisory group on AI set to convene this fall, the world organization's top tech-policy official, Amandeep Gill, sat down with The Associated Press to talk about the hopes, concerns and questions surrounding AI.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Canadian auto workers say General Motors will be their next target after members ratified a new three-year labor contract with Ford.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill to require human drivers on board self-driving trucks, a measure that union leaders and truck drivers said would save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the state.
HEALTH CARE
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (AP) — A major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina that makes critical supplies for U.S. hospitals has restarted production about 10 weeks after it was heavily damaged by a tornado, the company announced Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration meets this week to consider approval of an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease, the culmination of a yearslong lobbying effort by patients with the fatal neurodegenerative disease.
ECONOMY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Central Bank said Monday that interest rates will stay high enough to restrict business activity for "as long as necessary" to beat back inflation because upward pressure on prices "remains strong" in the 20 countries that use the euro currency.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A sluggish day for stocks kept September on track to be the worst month of the year for Wall Street. The S&P 500 managed a gain of 0.4%, coming off its worst week in six months. The Dow edged up 43 points and the Nasdaq composite added 0.5%. Treasury yields rose again to near their highest levels in more than a decade. Stocks have struggled recently as the realization sinks in that the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates high well into next year. The Fed wants to ensure inflation gets back down to its target.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The union representing screenwriters reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios to end a historic strike after nearly five months, raising hopes that a crippling shutdown of movie and television filming could be near an end.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A tentative agreement between striking screenwriters and Hollywood studios offers some hope that the industry's dual walkouts may soon be over. But when will your favorite shows return?
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The double-barreled strike that brought Hollywood to a halt may be half over after a tentative deal has been struck to return screenwriters to work after nearly five months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year's spike in inflation, to the highest level in four decades, was painful enough for American households. Yet the cure — much higher interest rates, to cool spending and hiring — was expected to bring even more pain.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Oil prices have risen, meaning drivers are paying more for gasoline and truckers and farmers more for diesel.
Amazon is investing up to $4 billion in Anthropic and taking a minority stake in the artificial intelligence startup, the two companies said Monday.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive arm said Monday it is blocking leading U.S. online travel agency Booking from acquiring Sweden's flight booking provider Etraveli Group because it would have allowed it to increase its dominant position on the market on the continent.
BEIJING (AP) — The European Union's trade commissioner called for a more balanced economic relationship with China on Monday, noting an EU trade deficit of nearly 400 billion euros ($425 billion), while also warning that China's position on the war in Ukraine could endanger its relationship with Europe.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
NEW YORK (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will take time out from debating fellow Republicans in two months to take on a Democrat, California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Monday that it is offering a $2 billion loan to Poland, which has been a hub for weapons going into Ukraine, to support the ally's defense modernization.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday told leaders from the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum that he has heard their warnings about the impact of climate change on their region and that his administration is committed to helping them meet the challenge.
UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey defiantly pushed back against federal corruption charges on Monday, saying nearly half a million dollars in cash authorities found in his home was from his personal savings, not from bribes, and was on hand for emergencies.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A newly enacted Tennessee law designed to lower the threshold needed for Nashville leaders to approve improvements to its fairgrounds speedway violates the state's constitution and cannot be enforced, a three-judge panel has ruled.
AUTO WORKERS STRIKE
The United Auto Workers expanded its strike against major automakers Friday, walking out of 38 General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution centers in 20 states.
STOCK MARKETS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street wheezed to more losses Friday as it limped to the finish of its worst week in six months.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is preparing Friday to direct federal agencies to get ready for a shutdown after House Republicans left town for the weekend with no viable plan to keep the government funded and avert politically and economically costly disruption of federal services.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department and China's Ministry of Finance launched a pair of economic working groups on Friday in an effort to ease tensions and deepen ties between the nations.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's education chief said he's open to using "whatever levers" are available — including federal money — to discourage colleges from giving admissions preference to the children of alumni and donors.
IMMIGRATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday it was giving temporary legal status to Afghan migrants who have already been living in the country for a little over a year.
EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — The week began in Eagle Pass with rumors that large crowds of migrants might show up. On Friday, the small Texas border city was scrambling: nearly 9,000 asylum-seekers and counting had crossed from Mexico, an international bridge remained closed and a 3-year-old boy had drowned in the Rio Grande.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy worked to shore up U.S. support for Ukraine on a whirlwind visit to Washington on Thursday, delivering an upbeat message on the war's progress while facing new questions about the flow of American dollars that for 19 months have helped keep his troops in the fight against Russian forces.
TECHNOLOGY
Amazon Prime Video will include advertising during shows and movies starting early next year, joining other streaming services that have added different tiers of subscriptions.
LONDON (AP) — European Union antitrust enforcers slapped Intel on Friday with a fresh $400 million fine in a long-running legal fight that the chipmaker appeared to have won last year.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old Australian media magnate whose creation of Fox News made him a force in American politics, is stepping down as leader of both Fox's parent company and his News Corp. media holdings.
ECONOMY
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in eight months last week as the labor market continues to show strength in the face of elevated interest rates.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England on Thursday joined the U.S. Federal Reserve in pausing interest rate increases after a surprising fall in U.K. inflation eased concerns about the pace of price rises.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returns to Washington on Thursday for a whirlwind one-day visit, this time to face the Republicans now questioning the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has kept his troops in the fight against Russian forces.
MILITARY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Gen. CQ Brown as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting him in place to succeed Gen. Mark Milley when he retires at the end of the month.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday that relations with the United States can move forward if the Biden administration demonstrates it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, and a first step should be easing sanctions.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — After being thwarted by Congress, President Joe Biden will use his executive authority to create a New Deal-style American Climate Corps that will serve as a major green jobs training program.
TRANSPORTATION
MIAMI (AP) — The first big test of whether privately owned high-speed passenger train service can prosper in the United States will launch Friday when Florida's Brightline begins running trains between Miami and Orlando, reaching speeds of 125 mph (200 kph).
NASHVILLE SC
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Hany Mukhtar scored his 15th goal of the season and he added an assist as Nashville beat Sporting Kansas City 3-0 on Wednesday night.