News - Friday, January 2, 2026

There was a time when Superman was defined by three superpowers. He was, as the booming baritone declared during the opening of the iconic 1950s television series “The Adventures of Superman,” “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!”

Jason Dean didn’t expect to be teaching people how to drive an 80,000-pound vehicle for a living. He also didn’t expect his daughter would wind up walking the halls of the same Chattanooga campus as a newly licensed dental assistant.

Skyler Dean graduated from Miller-Motte College’s dental assistant program in September and, at not quite 21, is already explaining the difference between a life that looks good on paper and one that actually fits. She’d tried the traditional route at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, double majoring in criminal law and psychology, then walked away.

As my year as president ends, I’m grateful for the chance to serve our members and this community we love. Our work in 2025 focused on steady, practical progress that raised the bar for professionalism, supported our neighbors and gave buyers and sellers clear information in a market that changed month by month.

With the arrival of the new year, many people are setting goals for 2026. After months of rising prices on everything from milk to mortgages, money-related resolutions are prominent. 

One out of four Americans (27%) plan to make 2026 the year of their financial comeback, 2025 research from Edward Jones and Morning Consult reveals. Others will continue with previous goals (21%), start from scratch (20%) or catch up on missed goals (14%).

University of Tennessee athletes – present, past and future – took advantage of their platform to give back to the community over the holidays.

From toys and sports equipment to food and blankets, Vols spread good cheer to hundreds of less fortunate people before Christmas arrived last week.

It began as a newspaper assignment in 1992: Drive down the Natchez Trace into Mississippi and record the highlights of the journey for readers of The Tennessean.

For Hambone Willie Nevil, aka Bill Steber, the experience was transformative.

“Things in my life tend to unfold in long circular arcs,” Bill said in an email. Arcs that bend toward music. Specifically, the blues.

It’s the end of the year, but it’s just another day for you.

That’s because keeping your eye on the bottom line is something you do daily. Whether you’re sitting behind your desk, near the conveyor belt, in a meeting or watching TV, your work is always somewhere near the forefront of your brain. 

When you’re shopping for a high-quality vehicle, the idea of acquiring one with a luxury badge that’s packed with features can be appealing. But it can also be an expensive proposition in today’s market with the average new car costing about $50,000. 

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mark Gronowski threw two touchdowns and rushed for another to lead Iowa to a 34-27 win over No. 13 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Wednesday.

Gronowski was 16 of 22 passing for 212 yards, throwing touchdowns passes of 10 and 21 yards to Reece Vander Zee and DJ Vonnahme, respectively, as Iowa got out to a 21-3 lead early in the third quarter.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice has expanded its review of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to 5.2 million as it also increases the number of attorneys trying to comply with a law mandating release of the files, according to a person briefed on a letter sent to U.S. Attorneys.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The Trump administration can continue to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and other health centers that provide abortions as a coalition of mostly Democratic states challenges the cuts, a federal appeals court ruled.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Farmers are now learning how much aid they can expect to receive from a $12 billion package that President Donald Trump announced earlier this month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the figures Wednesday for how much aid per acre farmers can plan on for each row crop. The details arrived after most farmers have already met with their bankers to arrange financing for next year's crops and placed orders for the seed and fertilizer they will need. But officials have promised that the payments should arrive by the end of February.

Wall Street fell on the final day of trading for 2025, a banner year for markets that was driven by both optimism and uncertainty. The S&P 500 pulled back 0.7% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gave back 0.8%. Trading was very light ahead of the New Year's Day holiday Thursday, when markets will be closed. The S&P 500 rose more than 16% this year as investors embraced the optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and its potential for boosting profits for companies. Treasury yields rose in the bond market.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meetings.

SEATTLE (AP) — Matty Beniers scored twice during the Seattle Kraken's three-goal first period and Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 shots in a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

The win gave the Kraken five victories in their past six games, coming on the heels of a stretch where they lost 10 of 11.

NEW YORK (AP) — Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla lost its crown as the world's bestselling electric vehicle maker on Friday as a customer revolt over Elon Musk's right-wing politics, expiring U.S. tax breaks for buyers and stiff overseas competition pushed sales down for a second year in a row.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a New Year's Eve proclamation delaying increased tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for a year, citing ongoing trade talks.

Trump's order signed Wednesday keeps in place a 25% tariff he imposed in September on those goods, but delays for another year a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities.

NEW YORK (AP) — The year 2025 was scary good for investors.

It was scary because the U.S. stock market plunged to several historic drops on worries about everything from President Donald Trump's tariffs to interest rates to a possible bubble in artificial-intelligence technology. In the end, though, it was a good year for anyone with the stomach to stick through the swings.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump defended his energy and health in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and disclosed that he had a CT scan, not an MRI scan, during an October examination about which he and the White House delayed offering details.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is facing a new legal complaint from a group of government employees who are affected by a new policy going into effect Thursday that eliminates coverage for gender-affirming care in federal health insurance programs.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump has spent much of his two-week vacation in Florida golfing. But when he gets back to the White House, there's a military golf course that he's never played that he's eyeing for a major construction project.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal magistrate judge on Friday refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

NEW YORK (AP) — The top executive of the private company that owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus is stepping down as it struggles with debt taken on to buy a rival almost two years ago.

Saks Global Enterprises said Friday that the departure of CEO Marc Metrick is effective immediately, and that he will be replaced by Executive Chairman Richard Baker. Baker will continue to serve as executive chairman.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country in a stunning military operation early Saturday that plucked a sitting leader from office — the culmination of months of escalating Trump administration pressure on the oil-rich South American nation.

Kentucky and Vanderbilt made major jumps in The Associated Press women's basketball Top 25 on Monday after four of the top 10 teams lost last week, causing a shakeup in the poll.

This was the first week since the end of November that a new school had entered the top 10 this season.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Shea Ralph recruited Mikayla Blakes asking the guard to join her in doing the "uncommon thing" of building Vanderbilt back to the ranks of the nation's best.

Together, they took a very big step Sunday with a 65-61 win over No. 5 LSU.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Quarterback Cam Ward will have more tests on his injured right shoulder when the Tennessee Titans return home following their season finale.

Interim coach Mike McCoy said he would provide "a better answer down the road" as to the extent of Ward's injury.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Trevor Lawrence's teammates gave him a light-hearted present in the locker room after the quarterback broke the franchise record for total touchdowns in a season and led the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC South title: a diamond-covered mouth grille.

NEW YORK (AP) — A defiant Nicolás Maduro declared himself the "president of my country" as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty on Monday to the federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court on Monday opened the trial of a co-founder of the country's ride-hailing and payments company Gojek, who is accused of corruption in a government project to procure Google Chromebook laptops for schools.

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court found Monday 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France's first lady, Brigitte Macron, by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality, including allegations she was born a man.

One defendant was sentenced to six months in prison, while eight were handed suspended sentences between four and eight months. All 10 were mandated to attend cyberbullying awareness training.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections surged over the holidays, and health officials are calling it a severe season that is likely to get worse.

New government data posted Monday — for flu activity through the week of Christmas — showed that by some measures this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it would propose a drinking water limit for perchlorate, a harmful chemical in rockets and other explosives, but also said doing so wouldn't significantly benefit public health and that it was acting only because a court ordered it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday announced that he is issuing a letter of censure to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over the lawmaker's participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has added seven countries, including five in Africa, to the list of nations whose passport holders are required to post bonds of up to $15,000 to apply to enter the United States.

Thirteen countries, all but two of them in Africa, are now on the list, which makes the process of obtaining a U.S. visa unaffordable for many.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy in 2025 was filled with contradictions, as growth was healthy while hiring slowed, inflation stayed elevated and unemployment rose.

Last year's odd outcomes raise a host of questions for the upcoming year: Will a growing economy eventually boost the sluggish job market? Or are last year's weak job gains a sign of a stumbling economy that could get worse?

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that U.S. officials have determined that Ukraine did not target a residence belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack last week, disputing Kremlin claims that Trump had initially greeted with deep concern.

BEIJING (AP) — China and South Korea's leaders pledged to boost trade and safeguard regional stability on Monday during a visit to Beijing by the South Korean president that was overshadowed by North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of his four-day trip to China — his first since taking office in June.

ST PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats' 2024 candidate for vice president, is ending his bid for a third term as governor amid President Donald Trump's relentless focus on a fraud investigation into child care programs in the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is "in a lot of trouble."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than enforcing an existing "oil quarantine" on the country, even as President Donald Trump again insisted that the U.S. would be in control following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's military intervention in Venezuela will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found.

It's not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts aren't publicly known, though it's believed to be in storage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time on Jan. 20, 2025, former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell put his phone on "do not disturb" and left it on his nightstand to take a break from the news.

That evening, after Gonell spent time with family and took his dog on a long walk, his phone started to blow up with calls. He had messages from federal prosecutors, FBI agents and the federal Bureau of Prisons — all letting him know that the new president had just pardoned about 1,500 people who had been convicted for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The pardons included rioters who had injured Gonell as he and other officers tried to protect the building.

NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge on Monday reduced a prison sentence to probation for a former Tennessee lawmaker whose testimony helped convict the former state House speaker and his onetime aide of public corruption.

Although her cohorts were pardoned by President Donald Trump, Republican Rep. Robin Smith had been slated to report to prison for an eight-month sentence. But U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson in Nashville on Monday reduced it to one year of probation.

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's health department starting Monday can resume sharing the personal data of certain Medicaid enrollees with deportation officials, according to a federal judge's ruling, in a blow to states that had sued the administration over privacy concerns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — cutting protection against a half-dozen diseases in a move slammed by the nation's pediatricians.

The overhaul is effective immediately, meaning that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend vaccines against 11 diseases. What's no longer broadly recommended is protection against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis or RSV. Instead, protections against those diseases are only recommended for certain groups deemed high-risk, or if their doctors recommend them in what's called "shared decision-making."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that he censured Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over the former Navy pilot's participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.

Hegseth said the censure — by itself simply a formal letter with little practical consequence — was "a necessary process step" to proceedings that could result in a demotion from Kelly's retired rank of captain and subsequent reduction in retirement pay.

NEW YORK (AP) — The shopping rush leading up to Christmas is over and in its place, like every year, another has begun as millions of people hunt for post-holiday deals and get in line to return gifts that didn't fit, or didn't hit quite right.

Holiday spending using cash or cards through Sunday has topped last year's haul, according to data released this week by Visa's Consulting & Analytics division and Mastercard SpendingPulse.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. multinational corporations will be exempted from paying more corporate taxes overseas in a deal finalized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD announced Monday that nearly 150 countries have agreed on the plan, initially crafted in 2021, to stop large global companies from shifting profits to low-tax countries, no matter where they operate in the world.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Both allies and adversaries of the United States on Monday used an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to voice opposition to the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro.

Before the U.N.'s most powerful body, countries critiqued — if sometimes obliquely — President Donald Trump's intervention in the South American country and his recent comments signaling the possibility of expanding military action to countries like Colombia and Mexico over drug trafficking accusations. The Republican president also has reupped his threat to take over the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests.

Vanderbilt and Kentucky's entrance to the top 10 on Monday was historic as it gave the Southeastern Conference five of the first seven teams in The Associated Press women's basketball poll.

It's the first time that's happened in the poll's 50-year history. The seventh-ranked Commodores pulled off their first win over a top five program since the 2008-09 season when they edged then-No. 5 LSU on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials made broad changes to childhood vaccine recommendations Monday, alarming pediatricians and other medical experts who say they will sow confusion and undermine children's health.

The overhaul is effective immediately, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend that all children get vaccinated against 11 diseases, down from 18 a year ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is telling Head Start providers to avoid dozens of terms in federal grant applications, including "race," "belonging" and "pregnant people" — a directive that could reshape the early education program.

A coalition of organizations representing Head Start providers and parents said in court filings last month that the Department of Health and Human Services told a Head Start director in Wisconsin to cut those and over a dozen other terms from her application. She later received a list with nearly 200 words the department discouraged her from using in her application, including "Black," "Native American," "disability" and "women."

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nvidia, AMD and Intel all had important chip and AI platform announcements on the first day of CES 2026, but all audiences wanted to see more of was Star Wars and Jensen Huang's little robot buddies.

CES is a huge opportunity annually for companies both large and small to parade products they plan to put on shelves this year. As predicted, artificial intelligence was anchored in nearly everything as tech firms continue to look for AI products that will attract customers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has made broad but vague assertions that the United States is going to "run" Venezuela after the ouster of Nicolás Maduro but has offered almost no details about how it will do so, raising questions among some lawmakers and former officials about the administration's level of planning for the country after Maduro was gone.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Doug LaMalfa, a seven-term U.S. representative from California, has died, GOP officials said Tuesday. He was 65.

His death, confirmed by Majority Whip Tom Emmer and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson, reduces the Republicans' already narrow control of the House to 218 seats to Democrats' 213.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hasn't minced words about the larger message he's trying to send the world with the U.S. military raid to capture Nicolás Maduro and spirit the deposed Venezuelan leader and his wife to the United States to face federal drug trafficking charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There are few signs that President Donald Trump's supporters wanted the United States to become more embroiled in foreign conflicts ahead of its military actions in Venezuela — even as many Republicans show initial support for his military strike there, according to an Associated Press analysis of recent polling.

NEW YORK (AP) — George Conway, who was once married to a former adviser to the president before becoming a prominent anti-Trump voice, announced on Tuesday that he is running for a U.S. House seat in New York City, testing whether he can turn his strong social media following into votes in a crowded Democratic primary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will gather with House Republicans on Tuesday to ensure they're aligned on their agenda at the start of a critical midterm election year that could alter the course of his final two years in office.

GOP lawmakers are hosting a daylong policy forum at the Kennedy Center, the performing arts venue on the other side of Washington from the Capitol. Its board, which is stacked with Trump loyalists, recently voted to rename it the Trump Kennedy Center, though that move is being challenged in court.

In the wake of last weekend's U.S. military action in Venezuela, the news media got something it has seldom heard from the Trump administration: a "thank you."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited news organizations that had learned in advance about Saturday's strike that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with not putting the mission in jeopardy by publicly reporting on it before it happened.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday banned exports of dual-use goods that can serve military purposes to Japan, a move that comes at time of heightened tensions between the two countries over Taiwan, a self-ruled island Beijing claims as its sovereign territory.

The Associated Press national player of the week in women's basketball for Week 9 of the season:

Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

The sophomore guard opened SEC play with consecutive 30-point games. She scored 15 of her 32 points in the fourth quarter of the Commodores' 65-61 win over then-No. 5 LSU. She had 10 of the team's final 13 points in the win and hit five of her nine field goal attempts in the quarter. Blakes opened the week by matching her season-high in scoring with 35 points at Arkansas in the conference opener. She also matched her career-best with eight assists.

PHOENIX (AP) — A former Republican lawmaker who questioned the integrity of Arizona's elections and served as a leader for the conservative group Turning Point Action was sentenced Tuesday to probation and a five-year ban on running for public office for using nominating petitions that contained forged signatures in a bid to qualify for a 2024 primary election.

LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is facing a backlash from governments around the world after a recent surge in sexualized images of women and children generated without consent by the artificial intelligence-powered tool.

On Tuesday, Britain's top technology official demanded that Musk's social media platform X take urgent action while a Polish lawmaker cited it as a reason to enact digital safety laws.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his actions during the Capitol riot five years ago, joked about being liberal-minded to win the votes of transgender people and mocked a predecessor's use of a wheelchair while delivering a meandering speech to House Republicans as the party enters a critical election year facing a razor-thin majority in the House.