VOL. 46 | NO. 16 | Friday, April 22, 2022
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
West Meade is fast becoming one of the most popular neighborhoods in Nashville, a statistic difficult to prove as every neighborhood in Nashville thinks it could lay claim to that prize, and all have the statistics to support their arguments.
REAL ESTATE
Top residential real estate sales, first quarter 2022, for Davidson County, as compiled by the Nashville Ledger.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose for the seventh straight week, climbing to their highest level in more than a decade.
TENNESSEE TITANS
It is no secret that Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson needs a home run or two in this year’s NFL Draft, set for April 28-30 in Las Vegas.
From the great (2016, 2019) to the disastrous (2018, 2020), Titans general manager Jon Robinson has had some big pendulum swings during his six drafts. Here's a look back at how each grades:
NEWSMAKERS
Baker Donelson has elected 11 new shareholders across the firm, including Bert Chollet, Andrew J. Droke and Ryan M. Richards of the Nashville office.
BRIEFS
Nashville Record Pressing, LLC is establishing operations in Nashville that will include its headquarters, manufacturing, distribution and back-office functions.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The combination of high car prices and the imminent arrival of higher interest rates can make it difficult to justify spending money on a car primarily meant for fun. But these two models can put a big smile on your face without crushing your monthly budget: the 2022 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF and the 2022 Subaru BRZ.
PERSONAL FINANCE
I thought I knew all about the information that consumer reporting agencies were collecting on me. Then I discovered The Work Number – a database that reports every paycheck I’ve received from my company, with net and gross amounts, going back to my hire date six years ago.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
The pandemic upended what it meant to be a college student as newfound barriers to learning cropped up in spring 2020: In-person classes were forced online, family obligations became more pronounced and economic difficulties spread.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Your current status: “In a Relationship.” You might want to add “with work” to that.
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk forced overtime by scoring with a second left in the third and Elias Lindholm's OT goal secured the Calgary Flames' 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A report by watchdog groups says the state is running a secured juvenile justice facility in Tennessee like it's a "dangerous jail," in violation of state and federal laws.
EAST TENNESSEE
GATLINBURG (AP) — The annual lottery to view the synchronous fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park opens on Friday.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A seemingly divided Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over Oklahoma's authority to prosecute some crimes on Native American lands, following a 2020 high court decision. The outcome probably rests with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the only member of the court who didn't take part in the earlier case.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fertile mind of Justice Stephen Breyer has conjured a stream of hypothetical questions through the years that have, in the words of a colleague, "befuddled" lawyers and justices alike.
EDUCATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signaled he might forgive some student loan debt and further extend the federal moratorium on repayments, a lawmaker who discussed the issue with him said Wednesday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LOS ANGELES (AP) — General Motors' net income declined in the first quarter, as the automaker sold fewer cars and trucks worldwide, although higher prices helped boost revenue, especially in North America.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top executive for global consulting firm McKinsey & Company is set to answer congressional questions Wednesday about the company's work for U.S. health regulators even as it advised opioid drugmakers on how to boost sales of their prescription painkillers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The older you are, the less you fret about aging in place.
MEDIA
Facebook parent Meta's first quarter profit jumped past Wall Street's expectations despite slower revenue growth, sending shares up sharply in after-hours trading.
Perhaps no group of people is more alarmed about Elon Musk's plan to make Twitter a free speech free-for-all than those most likely to be targeted for harassment: women, racial minorities and other marginalized groups.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive arm said Wednesday that it wants to see the EU adopt a law to protect journalists and civil rights activists from lawsuits aimed at censoring them.
COVID-19
The Federal Emergency Management Agency may have been double-billed for the funerals of hundreds of people who died of COVID-19, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended with meager gains on Wall Street Wednesday, stabilizing after a sell-off in tech stocks a day earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top executive for global consulting firm McKinsey & Company faced congressional questions Wednesday about the company's work for U.S. health regulators even as it advised opioid drugmakers on how to boost sales of their prescription painkillers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has put China, Russia and five other countries on its annual blacklist for lax enforcement of intellectual property rights that leaves American companies vulnerable to copyright and trademark piracy.
NEW YORK (AP) — The owner of a New York-based hedge fund that collapsed when it defaulted on margin calls was arrested Wednesday on charges alleging he defrauded leading global investment banks and brokerages of billions of dollars by telling them lies so his private investment firm could grow its portfolio from $10 billion to $160 billion.
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter as it and took large write-downs and lost money in both its civilian-airplane and defense businesses.
DALLAS (AP) — JetBlue Airways said Tuesday that it lost $255 million in the first quarter, and widespread flight cancellations in April plus the need to hire and train more pilots will delay the company's return to profitability.
GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse is reporting a pretax loss of 428 million Swiss francs ($443 million) and a plunge in revenues in the first quarter, marked in part by a loss of 206 million Swiss francs (about $214 million) linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A veritable who's who of Washington's political and foreign policy elite gathered Wednesday to pay their last respects to the late Madeleine Albright, a child of conflict-ravaged Europe who arrived in the U.S. as an 11-year old girl and became America's first female secretary of state.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told colleagues Wednesday he never asked then-President Donald Trump to resign over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol as he defended private conversations around the siege that have spilled into the open and jeopardized his leadership.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia and the United States have carried out an unexpected prisoner exchange in a time of high tensions, trading a Marine veteran jailed by Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol is redoubling its efforts to have GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy appear for an interview amid new revelations concerning his private conversations about the deadly attack, the chairman said Tuesday.
UKRAINE
BOSTON (AP) — Cyberattacks by state-backed Russian hackers have destroyed data across dozens of organizations in Ukraine and produced "a chaotic information environment," Microsoft says in a report released Wednesday.
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia opened a new front in its war in Ukraine on Wednesday, cutting NATO members Poland and Bulgaria off from its gas, a dramatic escalation in the conflict that is increasingly becoming a wider battle with the West.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia and the United States carried out a dramatic prisoner exchange on Wednesday, trading a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America, a senior U.S. official and the Russian foreign ministry said.
TUESDAY, APRIL 26
TENNESSEE TITANS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — One player has been off-limits for Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel when preparing for the draft with general manager Jon Robinson: Tyler Vrabel.
NASHVILLE SC
Reese Witherspoon, Derrick Henry join Nashville SC ownership
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will release more details Monday surrounding why he abruptly canceled the execution of Oscar Smith, delaying his previous plan to reveal the reasons this week, the Republican's spokesperson confirmed.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's attorney general is taking the one-time chief of staff of a former House speaker to court after he refused to comply with subpoenas in the investigation of a shadowy political action committee.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will collect household hazardous waste in Williamson, Franklin and Dyer counties Saturday.
EAST TENNESSEE
COPPERHILL (AP) — A fire early Tuesday destroyed Tennessee's Ocoee Whitewater Center, which served as the host site for paddling events during the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, officials said.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned lower-court orders that have blocked the Biden administration from ending a controversial Trump-era immigration program for asylum-seekers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Body camera video captured a "rage-filled" retired police officer attacking one of the outnumbered police officers trying to hold off a mob of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, a federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away a plea from parents to block a new admissions policy at a prestigious high school in northern Virginia that a lower court has found discriminates against Asian American students.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is seeking the Supreme Court's go-ahead to end a controversial Trump-era immigration program that forces some people seeking asylum in the U.S. to wait in Mexico for their hearings.
REAL ESTATE
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live.
TRANSPORTATION
Delta Air Lines, which has narrowly fought off several attempts to unionize its flights attendants, will begin paying cabin crews during boarding, a change that is expected to increase their wages by several thousand dollars a year.
DALLAS (AP) — United Airlines plans to offer more flights across the Atlantic this summer than it did in 2019, a wager that international travel will bounce back strongly despite the persistent pandemic.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Uber agreed to pay a 26 million Australian dollar ($19 million) fine for misleading riders by falsely warning they could be charged a cancellation fee and for inflating estimates of comparable taxi rides, the ride share company and Australia's consumer watchdog said Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is scrapping old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, speeding an ongoing trend toward more efficient lighting that officials say will save households, schools and businesses billions of dollars a year.
MEDIA
Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk. Next comes the real challenge for the world's richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter "better than ever" as a lightly regulated haven for free speech.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is spending $44 billion to acquire Twitter with the stated aim of turning it into a haven for "free speech." There's just one problem: The social platform has been down this road before, and it didn't end well.
Twitter's acceptance of Elon Musk's roughly $44 billion takeover bid brings the billionaire Tesla CEO one step closer to owning the social media platform.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following Elon Musk's agreement to buy the social media giant for roughly $44 billion.
COVID-19
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For much of the past two years, America has been first in line for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Now, as drugmakers develop the next generation of therapies, the White House is warning that if Congress doesn't act urgently the U.S. will have to take a number.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration is taking steps to expand availability of the life-saving COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, as it seeks to reassure doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street Tuesday, weighed down by sharp declines in Big Tech stocks that also left the Nasdaq with its worst drop since September 2020.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of Lael Brainard to a four-year term as vice chair of the Federal Reserve, elevating her to the Fed's No. 2 post in the midst of the central bank's toughest fight against inflation in four decades.
NEW YORK (AP) — More workers may soon be able to stake some of their 401(k) retirement savings to bitcoin, as cryptocurrencies crack even deeper into the mainstream.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence dampened slightly in April but remains high even as inflation continues to cloud their optimism about the rest of the year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has granted the first three pardons of his term, providing clemency to a Kennedy-era Secret Service agent convicted of federal bribery charges that he tried to sell a copy of an agency file and to two people who were convicted on drug-related charges but went on to become pillars in their communities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday downplayed secretly recorded remarks he made about Donald Trump shortly after last year's attack on the Capitol. He also said he never told the then-president that he should resign — something news organizations have not reported.
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of President Joe Biden's closest aides is leaving the White House to take on a role as senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, as the White House looks to bolster its political effort to help Democrats ahead of what is expected to be a challenging midterm election.
UKRAINE
ISTANBUL (AP) — For months, Istanbul restaurant Tarihi Balikca tried to absorb the surging cost of the sunflower oil its cooks use to fry fish, squid and mussels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The longer Ukraine's army fends off the invading Russians, the more it absorbs the advantages of Western weaponry and training — exactly the transformation President Vladimir Putin wanted to prevent by invading in the first place.
TORETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as the U.S. defense secretary promised to "keep moving heaven and earth" to get Kyiv the weapons it needs to repel the new offensive even as Moscow warned such support risked widening the war.
MONDAY, APRIL 25
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators know only too well how good a goaltender Juuse Saros is after trying to beat him in practice for years.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Dmitry Kulikov scored with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee will soon add harsh penalties against public schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls' sports, under legislation recently signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee.
MIDSTATE
FRANKLIN (AP) — Two years after voting to remove the Confederate flag from its seal, a Tennessee county finally has the go-ahead to do so.
EAST TENNESSEE
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Chattanooga's Tennessee Aquarium, the city's biggest tourist draw, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Kansas to revive a law, earlier struck down by lower courts, that banned secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who claims untested crime-scene evidence will help clear him.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will tackle a dispute between public school officials and a former high school football coach who wanted to kneel and pray on the field after games.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans approve than disapprove of Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court as its first Black female justice, a new poll finds, but that support is politically lopsided. And a majority of Black Americans — but fewer white and Hispanic Americans — approve of her confirmation.
MEDIA
Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is calling on Congress to expand authority for federal and local governments to take action to counter the nefarious use in the U.S. of drones, which are becoming a growing security concern and nuisance.
COVID-19
BEIJING (AP) — China's capital, Beijing, began mass testing of more than 3 million people on Monday and restricted residents in one part of the city to their compounds, sparking worries of a wider Shanghai-style lockdown.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A late wave of buying left major indexes higher on Wall Street after another day of up-and-down trading.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The world's most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The national average retail price of regular-grade gasoline dropped 3 cents in the past two weeks to $4.24 a gallon, the Lundberg Survey reported Sunday.
NEW YORK (AP) — In the aftermath of their hard-won labor victory, Amazon workers in the New York City borough of Staten Island popped Champagne, cheered their victory and danced in celebration. But their jovial attitude will be tested by a company that seems likely to drag its feet to the bargaining table.
Sales at Coca-Cola surged 16% during the first quarter as crowds returned to movie theaters, music venues and sport stadiums, offsetting rising input costs for the company and the suspension of operations in Russia.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is slamming Rep. Kevin McCarthy as a "liar and a traitor" over recordings that show the House Republican leader — despite his denials — placing responsibility on then-President Donald Trump for the Capitol riot and suggesting Trump should resign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Intelligence officials had gathered to brief select members of Congress on future threats to U.S. elections when a key lawmaker in the room, No. 3 House Republican Elise Stefanik of New York, tried to move the discussion to a new topic: Hunter Biden's laptop.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bridget Brink, a veteran foreign service officer who has spent most of her career in the shadow of the former Soviet Union, has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine as the country fends off a Russian invasion that's entered its third month.
NEAR THE POLISH-UKRAINIAN BORDER (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday after a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy is committed to winning his country's fight against Russia and that the United States will help him achieve that goal.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a string of attacks against Ukrainian rail and fuel facilities Monday, striking crucial infrastructure far from the front line of its eastern offensive, which Britain said has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough.
FRIDAY, APRIL 22
MUSIC INDUSTRY
Kenny Chesney knows all about a wall of sound. He creates one at each of his concerts.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday finalized the state's $52.8 billion spending plan for the upcoming year, squeaking through $500 million in bonds to help pay for a Tennessee Titans stadium, as well as more money for education and law enforcement.
COURTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A lawsuit says the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville mishandled a report about allegations that a priest sexually abused a parishioner.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to provide any new information Friday explaining his decision to call off the state's first scheduled execution since the start of the pandemic, but said more details will likely be provided next week.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to receiving more than $600,000 in COVID-19 aid and using it for himself, a federal prosecutor's office said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Thursday that a federal appeals court was wrong when it ordered Michigan to retry or release a convicted murderer because his rights were violated when he was shackled at trial.
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — The European Union is nearing agreement on a set of new rules aimed at protecting internet users by forcing big tech companies like Google and Facebook to step up their efforts to curb the spread of illegal content, hate speech and disinformation.
ENVIRONMENT
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — As climate change bakes the planet, dozens of nations and many local governments are putting a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions that are increasing flooding, droughts and other costly catastrophes.
BERLIN (AP) — Scientists say last summer was the hottest summer on record in Europe, with temperatures a full 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average for the previous three decades.
COVID-19
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California workplace regulators on Thursday extended mandatory pay for workers affected by the coronavirus through the end of 2022, acting more than two months after state lawmakers restored similar benefits through September.
BEIJING (AP) — Officials in Shanghai promised Friday to ease anti-virus controls on truck drivers that are hampering food supplies and trade, while city streets were still largely empty after millions of people were allowed out of their homes.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks tumbled on Wall Street Friday, leaving the S&P 500 with its biggest one-day loss in almost seven weeks, as worries deepen about a surge in interest rates and the U.S. central bank's efforts to fight inflation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell isn't as pleased with the robust U.S. job market as you might think he'd be, and he and the Federal Reserve plan to do something about it: Take it down a notch.
NEW YORK (AP) — American Express' first-quarter profits fell roughly 6% from a year earlier, but the company saw a 30% jump in spending on its namesake cards in the quarter as its cardmembers returned to their habits of shopping, traveling and dining.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy had a "positive" call with Donald Trump and appeared to be suffering little political blowback Friday from the release of audio in which he suggested the president should resign shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill to dissolve Walt Disney World's private government, after the entertainment giant criticized a measure that critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature has passed a bill to dissolve a private government controlled by Disney that provides municipal-like services for its 27,000 acres (nearly 11,000 hectares) in the Sunshine State.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has an election-year message for frustrated voters: At least he's trying.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As federal officials finalize a long-awaited plan to ban menthol cigarettes, dozens of interest groups have met with White House staffers to try to influence the process, which has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives while wiping out billions in tobacco sales.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States unleashed some of its toughest actions against Russian President Vladimir Putin right after he rolled his troops into Ukraine. Polls in the U.S. find that people want Washington to do more. So what's left, financially, diplomatically and militarily, to step up the pressure?
Russian President Vladimir Putin is claiming control over Ukraine's port city of Mariupo l even as its defenders are still holding out at a giant seaside steel mill.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is calling on the Biden administration to establish field hospitals near Ukraine's border and ramp up medical support for what's expected to be a monthslong war of attrition waged by Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight weeks into the war, the Biden administration's decision to dramatically ramp up delivery of artillery guns to Ukraine signals a deepening American commitment at a pivotal stage of fighting for the country's industrial heartland.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — New satellite images show apparent mass graves near Mariupol, where local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians to conceal the slaughter taking place in the ruined port city that's almost entirely under Russian control.
BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations' human rights office on Friday pointed to what it said is growing evidence of war crimes since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, declaring that humanitarian law appears to have been "tossed aside."
THURSDAY, APRIL 21
PREDATORS
NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL is going back to Europe this fall for its first games outside of North America since the start of the pandemic.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee would become the latest state to impose harsh penalties on doctors who violate new, strict regulations dictating the dispensing of abortion pills under a proposal headed toward Republican Gov. Bill Lee's desk.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Republican officials have removed three congressional hopefuls from the GOP primary ballot, including one candidate backed by former President Donald Trump.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Animal shelters in Tennessee can now apply for grants to help pay for low-cost spay and neuter services, state officials said.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday kept alive a California man's hope of reclaiming a valuable impressionist masterpiece taken from his family by the Nazis and now on display in a Spanish museum.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld the differential treatment of residents of Puerto Rico, ruling that Congress was within its power to exclude them from a benefits program that's available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is set to execute its first inmate Thursday since the start of the pandemic, planning a lethal injection procedure that has become less common in the state than the electric chair in recent years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — You have the right to remain silent. Everyone knows police aren't supposed to question suspects without reading them their Miranda rights.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — One year ago, Joe Biden marked his first Earth Day as president by convening world leaders for a virtual summit on global warming that even Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping attended. Biden used the moment to nearly double the United States' goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, vaulting the country to the front lines in the fight against climate change.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — For the past year a company that "mines" cryptocurrency had what seemed the ideal location for its thousands of power-thirsty computers working around the clock to verify bitcoin transactions: the grounds of a coal-fired power plant in rural Montana.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net earnings were over seven times greater than a year ago, powered by strong sales despite global supply chain kinks and pandemic-related production cuts in China.
DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge in California has rejected a request from shareholders in a lawsuit to force Elon Musk stop talking about his 2018 tweets in which he said he had the funding to make Tesla a private company.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN is shutting down its CNN+ streaming service less than a month after its launch, a spectacular flameout for a venture that had attracted stars like Chris Wallace and Alison Roman and was seen as a way to attract a new generation of news consumers.
Elon Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he's trying to negotiate an agreement with the company.
COVID-19
DALLAS (AP) — Airlines have banned several thousand passengers since the pandemic started for refusing to wear masks. Now they want most of those passengers back.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is filing an appeal seeking to overturn a judge's order that voided the federal mask mandate on planes and trains and in travel hubs, officials said.
BERLIN (AP) — The World Health Organization says that the number of reported new COVID-19 cases worldwide decreased by nearly a quarter last week, continuing a decline since the end of March.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks shed early gains and closed broadly lower on Wall Street Thursday after the head of the Federal Reserve said the central bank needs to take more aggressive action to fight high inflation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve must move faster than it has in the past to rein in high inflation, Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday, signaling that sharp interest rate increases are likely in the coming months, beginning at the Fed's next policy meeting in May.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Charles Evans will retire early next year after 15 years as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, a tenure that made him the longest-serving current regional Fed president, the bank announced Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Applications for unemployment benefits inched down last week as the total number of Americans collecting aid fell to its lowest level in more than 50 years.
DALLAS (AP) — U.S. airlines say they have hit a turning point: After a lousy first quarter, they expect to be profitable as Americans return to travel in the biggest numbers since the start of the pandemic.
Europe is struggling to find ways to stop paying Russia $850 million a day for energy and hit the Kremlin's finances over its invasion of Ukraine.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida House of Representatives on Thursday gave final passage to a bill that would dissolve Walt Disney World's private government, handing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis a victory in his feud with the entertainment giant over its opposition to a measure that critics have dubbed the " Don't Say Gay " law.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans still question whether President Joe Biden is showing enough strength in response to Russia's war against Ukraine, even as most approve of steps the U.S. is already taking and few want U.S. troops to get involved in the conflict.
LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers looked likely Thursday to order an investigation into Prime Minister Boris Johnson for allegedly lying about whether he broke coronavirus restrictions by attending illegal gatherings during the pandemic.
UKRAINE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pledged an additional $1.3 billion Thursday for new weapons and economic assistance to help Ukraine in its strong but increasingly difficult battle against the Russian invasion, and he promised to seek much more from Congress to keep the guns, ammunition and cash flowing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is providing an additional $500 million in financial assistance to Ukraine to help the beleaguered country sustain salaries, pensions and other government programs while it fends off Russia's invasion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is making it easier for refugees fleeing Russia's war on Ukraine to come to the United States from Europe while trying to shut down an informal route through northern Mexico that has emerged in recent weeks.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory Thursday in the battle for Mariupol, even as he ordered his troops not to take the risk of storming the giant steel plant where the last Ukrainian defenders in the city were holed up in a maze of underground passages.