News - Friday, March 20, 2026

Food scraps rarely inspire much thought once they disappear down a kitchen sink or into a trash can. But in Chattanooga, a growing effort is asking residents to think differently about what they throw away – and what that waste could become instead.

For many people, cluttered closets and chaotic kitchens are simply part of life. But for Rachel Eagleton, they’re often signs of something deeper: homes that lack systems to support the people living in them.

Eagleton is the founder and CEO of Rachel’s Home Management, a Chattanooga-based home management and organization firm that helps households create practical systems for daily life. Through hands-on organizing work and broader home management strategies, she helps clients transform homes that feel overwhelming into environments that function smoothly and calmly.

Set aside your cravings for smash burgers, fried chicken and tacos, because we’re heading into the realm of Build-a-Salad – where fresh vegetables, dietary fiber and leafy greens abound. But don’t worry; plenty of meats, cheeses and fattening dressings are on hand, too.

When Heather Hague attended her first luncheon with the Chattanooga chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors, she was simply exploring a professional organization a colleague had encouraged her to visit.

Within days of joining, that decision had already changed her business.

Chrissy Smith of Empire Homes, Warren Cole of Cole Construction and Bill Panabianco of Pratt Home Builders participate in a moderated panel discussion during the Women’s Council of Realtors Chattanooga monthly networking luncheon at the Walden Club March 4. The three Chattanooga-area builders discussed their companies’ approaches to home construction, including niche markets, price points, community amenities, HOA policies and how they collaborate with real estate agents. Cole described his company’s focus on custom retirement homes for relocating buyers, Smith outlined Empire Homes’ production-style developments in prime in-town locations and Panabianco highlighted Pratt Home Builders’ emphasis on creating diverse, amenity-rich communities across the region.

February’s housing picture is a mix of momentum and caution, with the National Association of Realtors reported a national slowdown in existing home sales after a stronger stretch through the fall and early winter. 

Here at home, the market remained active in the ways that matter to everyday buyers and sellers. More new listings came on the market, pending sales climbed and inventory continued to build, giving shoppers more to compare while keeping our local market moving.

If you’re dealing with debt, you’re far from alone. More than 80% of U.S. households carry some form of debt (2025 Federal Reserve report), and since 2019, total household debt for Americans has increased more than 31%, to $18.59 trillion. 

The restoration of the Walnut Street Bridge has reached a key milestone as crews removed the final containment tarp from Span 1, signaling the end of major painting work and a shift into the project’s final phase. Officials say the project remains on schedule with a targeted completion date of late September 2026.

The national ambassador for young people’s literature will visit the Chattanooga Public Library’s downtown branch (1001 Broad St.) April 9 at 5:30 p.m. as part of his nationwide tour, “Behold, The Picture Book! Let’s Celebrate Stories We Can Feel, Hear and See.” Barnett will explore how words, illustrations and even page turns create a uniquely engaging reading experience for children and adults alike. The free event is open to the public.

Miller & Martin has added two attorneys, Kane Shepherd and Will Sikes, to its Chattanooga office, bolstering the firm’s commercial real estate practice.

Shepherd joins as of counsel in the commercial group, focusing on real estate transactions. His work includes advising developers and sellers through all phases of residential and commercial projects, from planning and negotiations to financing, leasing and title matters. He also has experience representing lenders and borrowers in commercial loan transactions.

What began in 1976 as a two-physician surgical practice has grown over five decades into one of the region’s largest and most comprehensive surgical groups.

This month, University Surgical Associates is celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking half a century of surgical care, medical education and clinical research in the Chattanooga area.

As communities across the country observe Brain Injury Awareness Month in March, the Chattanooga Area Brain Injury Association is working to bring attention to the causes, warning signs and long-term impacts of traumatic brain injuries while connecting survivors and families in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia with local support.

Given his status as a potential NBA lottery pick, Nate Ament’s college basketball career at the University of Tennessee was always likely to be one-and-done. Ament’s short time in a UT uniform has potentially reached the final stage, with the NCAA Tournament on the horizon.

Compared to a typical sedan, a hatchback offers greater versatility thanks to its larger, easier-to-load trunk. Some hatchbacks are also fun to drive with nimble handling and peppy engines. 

Yet, with the surge in popularity of SUVs and crossovers, even the best hatchbacks often get overlooked. 

I spend a lot of time talking to retirees about their spending plans. Many of them proudly tell me they’re spending far less than the 3%-4% initial withdrawal amounts that are often bandied about in the context of safe spending rates. 

They tell me they’ve been good savers, they’re frugal, they don’t need more. Underspending seems to be part of their identities.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Duke assistant coach Evan Bradds was named Belmont's coach on Thursday, providing a homecoming for the program's all-time Division I era scoring leader.

Bradds replaces Casey Alexander, who was hired as Kansas State's coach on Friday. After losing Alexander, Belmont announced Saturday it would turn down an invitation to participate in the postseason NIT.

NEW YORK (AP) — Lately, Priscilla Brown has had to choose between properly managing her Type 2 diabetes and affording other necessities, like gas in her car. Some days, she takes half or a third of her prescribed insulin dose — just to stretch it out longer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a sizable amount that is certain to be met with questions from Congress, which would need to approve any new money.

The department sent the request to the White House, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information. Asked about the figure at a press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount, saying it could change.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Markwayne Mullin moved a step closer to becoming President Donald Trump's next homeland security secretary after a Senate committee Thursday narrowly advanced his nomination.

The 8-7 vote came after a contentious hearing Wednesday and sent the Cabinet nomination to the full Senate, which could act to confirm the Oklahoma Republican next week.

MURFREESBORO (AP) — Rick Insell, whose 505 wins in 21 seasons leading the Middle Tennessee women's basketball team made him the winningest coach in school history, announced his retirement on Thursday.

Insell's retirement will follow Middle Tennessee's participation in the WNIT. Middle Tennessee (16-15) will play either St. Bonaventure or Drexel at home on Monday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two dozen states, along with more than a dozen cities and counties, sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, challenging the Trump administration's repeal of a scientific finding that had been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two agents fired from the FBI last year said in a federal lawsuit Thursday that they were terminated "solely" because of their participation in an investigation into President Donald Trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Attorneys general in eight states and DirecTV have filed lawsuits to block the merger of local television giants Nexstar Media Group and rival Tegna, arguing that it will lead to higher prices for consumers and stifle journalism.

Nexstar announced last August that it would buy Tegna for $6.2 billion. If approved by the Trump administration, the deal would create a company that owns 265 television stations in 40 states and the District of Columbia, most of them local affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Education Department is handing off a portion of its student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, a first step toward shedding management of all student loans as Trump administration officials dismantle the federal education agency.

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal auto regulators have escalated a probe of Tesla after several of its cars crashed while using its self-driving feature, just as CEO Elon Musk prepares to roll out a new model with no steering wheel or pedals.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a memo dated March 18 that it was examining nine crashes where the self-driving software failed to quickly alert drivers to take control in fog and other poor conditions because the vehicle's cameras weren't picking out road hazards. The NHTSA memo signals a regulatory investigation begun in 2024 over poor visibility crashes could now lead to enforcement action, possibly including a recall of 3.2 million Tesla vehicles.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein's longtime personal attorney testified to a House committee Thursday that he was unaware of the late financier's sexual abuse of underage girls at the time it was happening, becoming the latest person connected to Epstein to take that stance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump returned to office last year, he launched a crusade to shift the country away from renewable energy, drastically undoing the climate-friendly policies of his Democratic predecessor to focus instead on oil and other fossil fuels as the answer to his goal of American energy dominance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sought to reaffirm her alliance with President Donald Trump on Thursday after the president this week seemed to complain that Japan was among the nations that did not join his call to help protect the Strait of Hormuz.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has for months wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. But instead, an investigation by one of his own officials could end up extending Powell's time at the top of the central bank even after his term formally ends May 15.

NEW YORK (AP) — A roller-coaster day for oil prices showed how they're dictating where financial markets and maybe even the global economy are heading. Stocks tumbled in Europe and Asia when oil prices shot higher early on Thursday, but U.S. stocks pared their sharp losses as the day progressed and oil prices fell back.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Tyler Tanner had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Vanderbilt rallied to beat McNeese 78-68 on Thursday for its first victory in the NCAA Tournament since 2012.

The Commodores (27-8), the No. 5 seed in the South Region, will play No. 4 seed Nebraska in the second round on Saturday.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored a goal and added two assists and Justus Annunen made 25 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night in a matchup of teams vying for a Western Conference wild card.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is hosting the women's NCAA Tournament for the second time, and is hoping home court is an advantage again.

The second-seeded Wolverines want to at least repeat what the 2022 team did by winning first- and second-round games at Crisler Center and advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge said the government overreached by issuing a declaration that called treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries unsafe and ineffective for young people experiencing gender dysphoria, according to a ruling Thursday in Oregon.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit Friday against Harvard University, saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday revived a lawsuit from an evangelical Christian barred from demonstrating in Mississippi after authorities say he shouted insults at people over a loudspeaker.

The high court unanimously ruled in the case of Gabriel Olivier, who says his religious and free speech rights were violated when he was arrested for refusing to move his preaching away from a suburban amphitheater. The city said he had shouted insults like "whores," "Jezebel," and "nasty" at people, sometimes holding signs showing aborted fetuses.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Three teenagers in Tennessee sued Elon Musk's xAI this week, claiming the company's image-generation tools were used to morph real photos of them into explicitly sexual images.

The high school students, who are seeking to proceed under pseudonyms, filed the lawsuit in California, where xAI — Musk's artificial intelligence company — has its headquarters. They are seeking class-action status in order to represent what the lawsuit says are thousands of victims like themselves who either are minors or were minors when sexually explicit images of them were created.

NASHVILLE (AP) — A reporter for a Spanish-language news outlet in Tennessee who contends she was wrongly held in detention for more than two weeks was released Thursday after paying a bond recently allowed by a judge, her attorneys said.

Estefany Rodríguez Flórez, a reporter for Nashville Noticias who has done stories critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had been in ICE custody after her arrest on March 4 during a traffic stop. She was held in jail in Etowah County, Alabama, then in the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A daunting stream of testimony and evidence has been presented in a New Mexico case that explores what social media conglomerate Meta knew about the effects of its platforms on children.

State prosecutors allege Meta failed to disclose the risks that its platforms pose for children, including mental health problems and sexual exploitation. Meta's attorneys have said the company has built-in protections for teenagers and weeds out harmful content but acknowledged some dangerous content gets past its safety nets.

NEW YORK (AP) — Live Nation Entertainment's longtime chief executive was the star witness at a New York antitrust trial Thursday, defending the dominant position his company has taken over the last two decades as a lawyer for nearly three dozen states tried to portray the concert giant as greedy and abusive to customers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 90,000 bottles of a children's pain reliever have been recalled due to reports of black specs and other contaminants, according to federal regulators.

The Food and Drug Administration posted an online notice about the recall of Taro Pharmaceuticals' Children's Ibuprofen Oral Suspension. The company's website states that the product comes in a berry-flavored solution and is recommended for children ages 2 to 11.

NEW YORK (AP) — A senior vice president of Super Micro Computer Inc. and two others affiliated with the company were charged Thursday with conspiring to smuggle billions of dollars of computer servers containing advanced Nvidia chips to China.

NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News said Friday it is shutting down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation as part of a round of layoffs, blaming a shift in radio station programming strategies and challenging economic times.

When it went on the air in September 1927, CBS News Radio was the precursor to the entire network, giving a youthful William S. Paley a start in the business. Famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow delivered reports from London during World War II as part of the service.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday said it had approved the merger of local television giants Nexstar Media Group and rival Tegna, the same day that two lawsuits trying to block the deal were announced.

Nexstar said last August that it would buy Tegna for $6.2 billion. The deal would create a company that owns 265 television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, most of them local affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the company had agreed to divest itself of six of those stations.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The war in Iran is exposing the world's reliance on fragile fossil fuel routes, lending urgency to calls for hastening the shift to renewable energy.

Fighting has all but halted oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, or LNG. The disruption has jolted energy markets, pushing up prices and straining import-dependent economies.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran threatened to target recreational and tourist sites worldwide and insisted it was still building missiles. Its supreme leader issued another defiant statement on Friday, nearly three weeks into U.S.-Israeli strikes that have killed a slew of Tehran's top leaders and hammered its weapons and energy industries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since becoming defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has found no shortage of ways to bring his strand of conservative evangelicalism into the Pentagon.

He hosts monthly Christian worship services for employees. His department's promotional videos have displayed Bible verses alongside military footage. In speeches and interviews, he often argues the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and troops should embrace God, potentially risking the military's secular mission and hard-won pluralism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's diverging language on Israel's decision to attack a critical Iranian gas field marks the most notable difference of opinion between the two leaders since the start of the 20-day war against Iran.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said on Friday that Congress should "preempt state AI laws" that it views as too burdensome, laying out a broad framework for how it wants Congress to address concerns about artificial intelligence without curbing growth or innovation in the sector.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans who are pushing a strict proof-of-citizenship legislation have tried to frame the debate in simple terms — if you have to show your photo identification to get on a plane or check out a book at the library, shouldn't you have to show one to vote?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than a week after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's global tariffs, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul listened as one of the plaintiffs in the case recounted the financial toll of the levies on his wine importing business.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal arts commission on Thursday approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing President Donald Trump's image to help celebrate America's 250th birthday on July 4.

The vote by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members are supporters of the Republican president and were appointed by him earlier this year, was without objection. It clears the way for the U.S. Mint to begin production on the coin, whose size and denomination are still under discussion.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators met behind closed doors Thursday with White House border czar Tom Homan, a small sign of progress as lawmakers look to end a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that began more than a month ago.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph spent 20 minutes Friday walking around historic Memorial Gym soaking in the atmosphere with March Madness and NCAA Tournament branding everywhere.

Ralph has spent five seasons building towards this moment with the Commodores hosting for the first time since 2012 among the goals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday barring College Football Playoff and other postseason games from airing during the annual Army-Navy matchup in December.

Trump directed the commerce secretary and the FCC chairman to coordinate with the playoff committee, the NCAA and media rights partners to ensure an exclusive broadcasting window for a storied rivalry played on the second Saturday each December.

NEW YORK (AP) — Another climb for oil prices shook stock markets on Friday, as hopes collapsed for a possible cut to interest rates this year by the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5% to close its fourth straight losing week, its longest such streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2%.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Three weeks into an escalating war in the Middle East, the U.S. is sending more warships and Marines to the region, and Iran threatened Friday to expand its retaliatory attacks to include recreational and tourist sites worldwide.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Illinois coach Shauna Green dropped a name during film study to help her Fighting Illini better prepare for their second-round women's NCAA Tournament game against the nation's leading scorer All-American Mikayla Blakes.

Caitlin Clark.

NASHVILLE (AP) — All-American Mikayla Blakes needed only part of the first half Saturday night of the NCAA Tournament to become the best single-season scorer in Vanderbilt women's history.

Blakes came in with 837 points just 19 shy of the mark of 855 points set by Wendy Scholtens during the 1989-90 season, and the nation's scoring leader had 23 by halftime against No. 15 seed High Point just four off her average of 27 a game.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Bishop Boswell are roommates on the road and the Tennessee standouts suggested they spend almost every moment — from the practice court to the weight room to social activities — together.

"We can't get enough of each other," Gillespie said.

CHICAGO (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored his second goal of the game at 1:05 of overtime to lift the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

Forsberg stole the puck from Andre Burakovsky behind the Chicago net, skated to the left side and fired a high shot past Spencer Knight for his 32nd goal, giving the Predators their longest winning streak of the season at four games.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of cultural and historic preservation groups is suing to block further physical changes to the Kennedy Center ahead of a two-year closure that President Donald Trump insists is necessary to renovate the prominent performing arts venue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from longtime Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed who has sought to test crime-scene evidence that he says will help clear him.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Closing arguments are scheduled Monday in a landmark trial in New Mexico where social media conglomerate Meta is accused of misleading its users about how safe its platforms are for children.

Jurors will take up the case after the arguments and six weeks of testimony from scores of witnesses that included teachers, psychiatric experts, state investigators, top Meta officials and whistleblowers that left the company.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday in a case from Mississippi over whether states can count late-arriving mail ballots, a target of President Donald Trump.

The outcome of the case could affect voters in 14 states and the District of Columbia, which have grace periods for ballots cast by mail, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. An additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters also could be impacted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy was supposed to start the year with a bang, fueled by an unusually large jump in tax refunds from President Donald Trump's tax cut legislation. Yet spiking gas prices are on track to eat up those refunds, leaving most Americans with little extra to spend.

Across the country, collections are popping up to help Transportation Security Administration officers who have been without full pay for more than a month due to the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.

The charity World Central Kitchen, more accustomed to feeding those in war zones and disaster areas, started providing meals to Washington, D.C.-area airports after many TSA officers missed their first full paycheck. On Thursday, Feeding San Diego began distributing 400 boxes with pasta, beans and peanut butter as well as fresh produce like strawberries and potatoes to affected agents near the airport after a request from TSA and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

ATLANTA (AP) — More federal immigration officers are making their way to U.S. airports after President Donald Trump said he'd deploy them to supplement the Transportation Security Administration during a government shutdown that has caused long lines at security checkpoints across the country.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The role of the Israeli military's hijacking of Iran's street cameras in the killing of the country's supreme leader underscores how surveillance systems are increasingly being targeted by adversaries in wartime.

Hundreds of millions of cameras have been installed above shops, in homes and on street corners across the world, many connected to the internet and poorly secured. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have enabled militaries and intelligence agencies to sift through vast amounts of surveillance footage and identify targets.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe President Donald Trump has done more harm than good on the issue of immigration and border security in his second term so far, according to a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A landmark free trade deal between the European Union and four South American countries will begin on May 1 after more than a quarter-century of negotiations and new global economic uncertainty unleashed by tariffs, critical mineral controls and the war in Iran.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is on track to confirm Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary, President Donald Trump's nominee to take over the embattled department after firing Kristi Noem amid a public backlash over the administration's immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A civil jury in California found Monday that Bill Cosby was liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972 and awarded her $19.25 million.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court 's conservative majority on Monday sounded skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a persistent target of President Donald Trump.

A ruling, likely to come by late June, that bars counting ballots arriving after Election Day would send officials scrambling in 14 states and the District of Columbia, just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections to change their ballot rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeal of a Texas-based online citizen journalist who said she was wrongly arrested in a case that drew attention from national media organizations and free speech advocates.

The justices left in place a divided federal appeals court ruling that found journalist Priscilla Villarreal, known online as La Gordiloca, could not sue police officers and other officials over her arrest for seeking and obtaining nonpublic information from police.

After smashing March heat records in 14 states and the U.S. as a whole, the gigantic heat dome that's baked the Southwest is creeping eastward and may end up being one of the most expansive heat waves in American history, meteorologists and weather historians said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to walk away from two U.S. offshore wind leases as the administration ramps up its campaign against offshore wind and other renewable energy.

TotalEnergies has agreed to what's essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead, the Department of Interior announced Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been deployed to select airports across the country, where they are meant to help mitigate long lines fueled by staffing shortfalls caused by a partial government shutdown.

But ICE officers are not trained in aviation safety and their central role in President Donald Trump's contentious immigration enforcement agenda is raising questions about how effective their assistance might be in easing wait times — and whether it could stoke tensions with travelers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Armed federal immigration officers in tactical gear moved through terminals at some of the busiest U.S. airports Monday, standing near security lines and checkpoints after President Donald Trump ordered their deployment during a partial government shutdown that has disrupted air travel nationwide.

As media organizations go, NewsGuard cuts a low public profile as it follows its mission of issuing credibility ratings about news outlets. The Trump administration knows about it, though, and the company has joined a lengthening list of journalism organizations to face the White House's wrath.

Some journalists at Voice of America charged in a lawsuit Monday that the Trump administration — while largely shutting down the government-run outlet that provides news around the world — has turned what remains into a voice for propaganda.

The lawsuit alleges that VOA transmissions to populations in Iran, China, North Korea and to Kurdish populations are not being run as objective news sources, as required by law. Instead, they parrot White House talking points and suppress news that the administration wishes to downplay, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday with the U.S. District Court in Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump started the fourth week of his war against Iran by offering the world some guarded optimism that the U.S. could soon be winding operations down, a claim that markets cheered but Iranian officials dismissed as a ploy to buy time for a conflict that is causing economic pain around the globe.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Mikayla Blakes scored 25 points as No. 2 seed Vanderbilt beat seventh-seeded Illinois 75-57 Monday night to advance to the Sweet 16 in the women's NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009.

Vanderbilt (29-4) now is one off matching the 30-win seasons of the 1993 Final Four squad and the 2001-02 Commodores for most wins in program history. The Commodores will play No. 6 seed Notre Dame, a winner over Ohio State earlier Monday, in the Fort Worth 1 Region on Friday in their 15th regional semifinal all-time.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is asking a federal judge on Tuesday to temporarily halt the Pentagon's "unprecedented and stigmatizing" designation of the company as a supply chain risk.

A hearing scheduled for Tuesday in a California federal court marks a critical step in the feud between Anthropic and the Trump administration over how the company's AI technology could be used in war.

MIAMI (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday over his interactions with former Miami congressman David Rivera nearly a decade ago, when his longtime friend was accused of secretly lobbying on behalf of Venezuela's government.

NEW YORK (AP) — Kalshi and Polymarket, the two biggest prediction market platforms, rushed to institute new industry guardrails and add new surveillance tools on Monday after two key senators announced legislation that could severely curtail the industry's prospects.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The list of reasons why air travel can be stressful has grown as long as the security lines at some U.S. airports.

Back-to-back winter storms. The Iran war. Governmentshutdowns. A fatal runway collision between a jet and a fire truck. All have disrupted airline travel in recent months. Add in the usual hassles like seat selection and baggage fees, overbooked flights and takeoff delays, and even frequent flyers may be thinking twice about booking trips that require boarding a commercial airplane.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators raced Tuesday to clinch an emerging proposal to end the Homeland Security shutdown by funding much of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration airport workers going without pay, but excluding the ICE enforcement operations that have been core to the dispute.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to France this week to try to sell America's skeptical Group of Seven allies on the strategy of the Iran war that has sent global fuel prices soaring, the State Department said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has banned imports of new, foreign-made routers citing supply chain vulnerability and cybersecurity risks.

The newest addition to the U.S. "covered list" targets consumer-grade routers, the boxes that connect home computers, phones and smart devices to the internet. The list is a catalog of communications equipment and services considered "to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the U.S. or the safety and security of Americans," the Federal Communications Commission said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' outlook on the job market has turned increasingly pessimistic, a surprisingly negative shift given the low unemployment rate but one that likely reflects an ongoing hiring drought.

Just 28% of workers in a quarterly Gallup survey conducted late last year said now is a "good time" to find a quality job, with 72% saying it is a bad time. Those figures are a sharp reversal from just a few years ago, in mid-2022, when 70% said it was a good time.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's governor on Tuesday appointed energy executive Alan Armstrong to serve in the U.S. Senate through the end of the year and finish the term of Republican Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary late Monday, approving President Donald Trump's nominee to take over the embattled department after the firing of Kristi Noem during a public backlash over the administration's immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations.

NASHVILLE (AP) — AP All-American Mikayla Blakes gets a lot of the attention at Vanderbilt as the nation's leading scorer.

But the Commodores are going to their first Sweet 16 since 2009 because they have so many others helping the Southeastern Conference's player of the year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate three shootings by federal officers, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court grappled Tuesday with whether the Trump administration should be able to revive an immigration policy that has been used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Some conservative justices seemed receptive to the Justice Department's push to overturn a lower-court ruling against the practice known as metering. Immigration authorities limited the number of people who could apply for asylum, saying it was necessary to handle an increase at the border.

MIAMI (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified in court that he had no knowledge of allegations that ex-Miami congressman David Rivera was lobbying on behalf of Venezuela's government when he met with his longtime friend to discuss U.S. policy toward the South American country several times at the start of the first Trump administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials issued a warning Tuesday over misleading statements made by biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who recently told podcast listeners that his company's bladder cancer drug may be able to treat, cure or even prevent other types of cancers.

OpenAI Foundation, the nonprofit that controls the artificial intelligence company OpenAI and its flagship product ChatGPT, pledged Tuesday to grant out $1 billion over the next year and to build up its capacity as a philanthropic funder.

The pledge represents a major development in OpenAI's philanthropic activities and offers insight into how the company, which started as a nonprofit, plans to carry out its charitable mission to develop AI to benefit "all of humanity."

The U.S. Defense Department will remove media offices from the Pentagon after a federal judge sided with The New York Times in a lawsuit challenging limits on reporters' access to the building, a department official announced Monday.

An area of the Pentagon known as "Correspondents' Corridor" that reporters have used for decades to cover the U.S. military will close immediately, department spokesperson Sean Parnell said. Journalists will eventually be able to work from an "annex" outside the building, which he said "will be available when ready." He offered no detail about how long that will take.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Travel disruptions deepened Tuesday as senators raced to clinch an emerging proposal to end the Homeland Security shutdown by funding much of the department, including airport workers going without pay, but excluding immigration enforcement and deportation operations that have been core to the dispute.

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian countries are turning to coal as the Iran war disrupts oil and gas shipments.

The continent is exposed because it relies on imported fuel, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and natural gas trade.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The jump in gas prices stemming from the war in Iran has had another impact that may also affect many Americans' finances: Higher interest rates.

Longer-term interest rates have risen quickly since the war began Feb. 28, pushing up the cost of mortgage loans, auto loans, and business borrowing. And with inflation measures likely to rise in the coming months, the prospect of interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve is fading. Wall Street investors instead see the odds rising of an actual rate hike instead.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead the Nashville Predators to a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night in a matchup of teams headed in opposite directions in the standings.

Matthew Wood, Roman Josi, Luke Evangelista, Brady Skjei and Steven Stamkos also scored and Juuse Saros made 27 saves for Nashville, winners of a season-high five consecutive games. Jonathan Marchessault had three assists.

NASHVILLE (AP) — The countdown is on for the completion of the Tennessee Titans ' new enclosed stadium with the project on target to meet its three-year timeline.

Time is ticking away fast.

"We're going to get keys to this building in February," Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with internet service provider Cox Communications in its copyright fight with record labels over illegal music downloads by Cox customers.

The justices ruled unanimously that Cox bears no liability for the copyright violations of its customers, reversing a jury verdict and lower-court rulings.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department's investigation of a $2.5 billion renovation project at the Federal Reserve didn't find any evidence of a crime, a federal prosecutor privately conceded under questioning by a skeptical judge earlier this month, according to a transcript of the sealed hearing.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The first jury verdict in a series of social media child safety trials this year is in — and it's not looking good for Meta. A jury in New Mexico found on Tuesday that the social media giant's platforms are harmful to children's mental health and imposed a $375 million penalty.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means' nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for the role.

LONDON (AP) — Former Google executive Matt Brittin will be the new director-general of the BBC, the broadcaster announced Wednesday.

The appointment comes as the U.K.'s national broadcaster faces an uncertain future and a $10 billion lawsuit from President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration's $1 billion payout to a French energy company to walk away from U.S. offshore wind development is a novel tactic against the industry that supporters see as creative — but opponents see as foolish and extreme.

The Interior Department announced Monday that TotalEnergies agreed to what is essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and other fossil fuel projects instead. The department hailed it as an "innovative agreement" with the French energy giant so that the "American people will no longer pay for ideological subsidies that benefited only the unreliable and costly offshore wind industry."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI is shutting down its social media app Sora, which went viral last fall as a place to share short-form videos generated by artificial intelligence but also raised alarms in Hollywood and elsewhere.

OpenAI said in a brief social media message Tuesday that it was "saying goodbye to the Sora app" and that it would share more soon about how to preserve what users already created on the app.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has acquired Fauna Robotics, just under two months after the startup introduced a humanoid robot called Sprout designed to be a friendly addition to social spaces like homes and schools.

The e-commerce giant is already a robotics powerhouse, having boasted of deploying more than 1 million robots across its warehouse operations, but bringing the 1.5-foot-tall, rectangular-headed Sprout on board adds a robot that's more about fun interactions than heavy lifting.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Wednesday dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans believe recent U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far, and many are worried about affording gasoline, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

As the war launched by the U.S. and Israel continues in its fourth week, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that while President Donald Trump's approval rating is holding steady, the conflict could be swiftly turning into a major political liability for his Republican administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.

The unit is considered the Army's emergency response force and can typically be deployed on short notice. The force would include a battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team as well as Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the division's commander, and division staff, according to the people, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans or private conversations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has listed five objectives that the U.S. wants to achieve before ending its war with Iran. Now, as he suggests the U.S. may soon be "winding down" the operation after three and a half weeks, some of his key aims remain undefined or unfulfilled.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Central Bank says that businesses may be quicker to raise prices in response to the oil shock from the Iran war due to bitter memories of the inflation spike after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

ISINYA, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's flower industry has reported weekly losses of up to $1.4 million since the Iran war began, with growers attributing the losses to a decline in demand and shipping disruptions.

The Kenya Flower Council, a private sector organization representing growers and exporters of cut flowers and ornamentals in Kenya, said Tuesday the ongoing conflict has resulted in over $4.2 million in losses over the last three weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump showed off a classified map on a 2022 flight to his New Jersey golf club and held onto a record from his first term that was so sensitive only six people would have had access to it, according to a letter released Wednesday by a top House Democrat.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — Conservatives are holding one of their largest annual gatherings at a perilous political moment for President Donald Trump and with open division on the right over the war he launched in Iran.

While Trump maintains broad support among conservatives, the war in Iran is more than a wrinkle for activists drawn to his "America First" campaign pledge against getting involved in foreign conflicts. A new AP-NORC poll shows about 59% of Americans think the military action in Iran is excessive. The debate will be a subtext — and likely flare publicly — as thousands of activists, influencers and Republican lawmakers gather at the Conservative Political Action Conference that begins Wednesday outside Dallas.