News - Friday, February 21, 2025

If someone had asked attorney Brittany Thomas Faith what she thought the U.S. needed in order to achieve meaningful immigration reform in 2015, she would have said a Republican president.

“George (H.W.) Bush was a compassionate conservative,” Faith says. “He fought hard for immigration reform and recognized the role of immigration in our history. I would have said we needed someone like him.”

The Chattanooga Bar Association presented its yearly awards during its 127th annual meeting, held Feb. 12 at The Westin Chattanooga. The recipients included the Hon. Tom Greenholtz of the Court of Criminal Appeals, who received the Ralph H. Kelley Humanitarian Award; Mark Litchford of Litchford, Pearce & Associates, who receivedthe President’s Award; Alan Cates of Husch Blackwell, who received the Jac Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award; Chancery Court Clerk and Master Robin Miller, who received the Albert L. Hodge Volunteer Award; Art Brock of Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams, who received the Harry Weill Zealous Practice of Law Award; and Claire Tuley of Husch Blackwell, who received the Young Lawyers Division Volunteer Award.

February is Black History Month. We take the opportunity to celebrate the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the United States Supreme Court.

Associate Justice Marshall’s remarkable career was defined by his unwavering commitment to civil rights, equality and the principles of justice.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel shareholder John Jackson is the firm’s new litigation and risk management practice group section chair, while shareholder Andy Leffler is the new section chair for the firm’s real estate practice group.

John Jackson

Jackson takes over as litigation and risk management chair after most recently serving on Chambliss’ executive committee. He follows Steve Barham, who previously served as section chair and is now serving as Chambliss’ president and managing shareholder.

The real estate market is showing strong momentum as we move further into 2025. Nationally, existing-home sales have continued their upward trend for the third consecutive month, with notable increases in higher-priced home purchases.

Locally, Chattanooga’s housing market remains active, with a rise in new listings, pending sales and inventory creating more opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

Members of the Tennessee Aquarium’s board of trustees have selected Andrew Wood as president and CEO beginning March 31. Wood succeeds Keith Sanford, who retired at the end of 2024 after nine years of leadership at the nonprofit institution.

The city of Chattanooga has begun construction on a new business resource center, an initiative funded through the American Rescue Plan Act. With a budget of $1.8 million, the center will serve as a resource for local entrepreneurs.

The Business Resource Center will be located in the old Kelley Building at 332 East Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Con Nooga 2025, scheduled for the Chattanooga Convention Center Feb. 21-23, will feature cosplay contests, more than 400 hours of programming and a gaming arena with tournaments and free-play options. Schedule: www.connooga.com. Download the Apple or Android app

On March 8, we observe International Women’s Day. Although this event celebrates women’s achievements, it’s still true that women, especially caregivers, face significant financial hurdles. How can these challenges be met?

To begin with, let’s look at some concerning statistics connected to American women in the “sandwich generation” – those who care for children and parents or other relatives – from a study by Edward Jones and research firms NEXT360 and Morning Consult:

Maybe legislators have introduced fewer half-baked proposals this session than in their previous few gatherings. I say this with some regret since half-baked government proposals have kept me in the writing business for years.

Granted, as mentioned in last week’s column, anytime you pull off a giant $450 million con like school vouchers you’ve scored a major half-baked victory. But when it comes to tomfoolery, the General Assembly motto has long been “Too much is not enough.”

Bipartisanship is still possible in a Tennessee Legislature in which one party enjoys a supermajority, lawmakers say. Also paradoxically, a supermajority can’t always do everything it wants, a political scientist from another supermajority state says.

Knoxville won’t be hosting any 2026 FIFA World Cups games, yet the city will still play a vital role in making the event happen.

FIFA is working with the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University to develop field turf for all 16 host sites for the World Cup, which will be played across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

What’s the biggest misunderstanding in the modern workplace? It’s that HR is your friend.

You’ve probably heard the rumors. HR is there to help you. If you’re having a problem with a co-worker or your boss, you should call HR. They’ll sort it out for you. They’re there to help the little guy. HR will stick up for you.

The 2025 Ford Explorer and 2025 Honda Pilot are midsize SUVs with three rows of seating, available all-wheel drive and cabins peppered with storage cubbies. In other words, they’re both highly practical means of running errands, coping with a commute or tackling long road trips.

NEW YORK (AP) — In a James Bond shakeup that stirred the film industry, Amazon MGM announced Thursday that the studio has taken the creative reins of the 007 franchise after decades of family control. Longtime Bond custodians Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said they would be stepping back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance Linda McMahon's nomination to serve as President Donald Trump's education secretary, bringing her closer to leading an agency the Republican president wants to shut down.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate was set to vote Thursday on whether to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director, a decision that could place him atop the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency despite concerns from Democrats over his qualifications and the prospect that he would do President Donald Trump's bidding.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's new attorney general filed a federal court lawsuit against Target on Thursday, claiming the discount store chain "misled investors" by promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that prompted a backlash and hurt sales, ultimately costing shareholders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A month into President Donald Trump 's second term, lawyers for the Republican administration seem intent on provoking a legal fight to overturn a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey's Executor that has been critical to the development of the modern U.S. government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hoping to head off a potential trade conflict, a top European Union official stressed the importance of active engagement and fairness in trade during a four-hour meeting with Trump administration officials.

"The top objective as it was presented to us yesterday by our American partners is reciprocity," Maroš Šefcovic, the European commissioner for trade and economic security, told reporters at a Thursday briefing.

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart delivered another year of strong sales and profits as its competitive prices became a strong magnet for inflation-weary shoppers. Yet uncertainty about the state of the American consumer and the potential impact of tariffs have seeped into expectations for 2025.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official said Thursday that President Donald Trump's increasingly tough criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy reflects the administration's growing frustration with what they see as the Ukrainian leader creating roadblocks to finding an endgame to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday that he won't seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as director of the FBI, moving to place him atop the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency despite doubts from Democrats about his qualifications and concerns he will do Donald Trump's bidding and go after the Republican president's adversaries.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Raegan Beers scored a career-high 30 points shooting 11 for 13 and grabbed 14 rebounds and 16th-ranked Oklahoma beat Vanderbilt 101-81 on Thursday night for the Sooners' fourth straight win.

Payton Verhulst and reserve Zya Vann scored 16 points each for the Sooners (20-6, 8-5 Big 12), who shot 52.2% (36 for 69).

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court on Friday dealt a severe blow to Holocaust survivors and their families in a long-running lawsuit seeking compensation from Hungary for property confiscated during World War II.

The justices threw out an appeals court ruling that had allowed the lawsuit to continue despite a federal law that generally shields sovereign nations like Hungary from suits in U.S. courts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A pair of court orders have had only limited effect in slowing the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and have left some USAID workers stationed worldwide in precarious situations, staffers assert.

WASHINGTON (AP) — People left waiting for months on their unemployment claims during the coronavirus pandemic in Alabama must be able to sue the state over the delay, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday.

The 5-4 ruling comes after the Alabama Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from 21 people. Some waited for months for a decision on whether they qualified for benefits, while others never got a decision or saw benefits suddenly stop without explanation, according to court documents. One man's claim was dismissed after he missed an administrative deadline because he was on a ventilator, they said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has kept withholding foreign aid despite a court order and must at least temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide, a federal judge said Thursday.

Judge Amir H. Ali declined a request by nonprofit groups doing business with the U.S. Agency for International Development to find Trump administration officials in contempt of his order, however.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday refused to immediately block the Trump administration's abrupt halt to funding of the nation's largest private refugee resettlement program in a setback to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Judge Trevor McFadden denied the bishops' request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored the funding, but called his ruling "very tentative."

NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida woman backed by wealthy advisers who created a company to make it easier for college students to apply for financial aid went on trial Thursday on criminal charges that she defrauded JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a $175 million buyout deal.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to pay 8.1 million Brazilian reais ($1.4 million) in fines for failing to comply with judicial orders, according to a judicial ruling.

The ruling, signed on Wednesday and made public by the court on Thursday, said the social media platform refused to provide registration data for a profile attributed to Allan dos Santos, an ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro accused of spreading falsehoods.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Washington has allowed President Donald Trump's mass firings of federal workers to move forward.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper decided Thursday he could not grant a motion from unions representing the workers to temporarily block the layoffs. He found that their complaint amounted to an employment dispute and must follow a different process outlined in federal employment law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is throwing out protections that shielded roughly half a million Haitians from deportation, meaning they would lose their work permits and could be eligible to be removed from the country by August.

The decision, announced Thursday, is part of a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations and specifically to scale back the use of the Temporary Protected Status designation, which was widely expanded under the Biden administration to cover about 1 million immigrants.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in January as rising mortgage rates and prices put off many would-be homebuyers despite a wider selection of properties on the market.

Sales fell 4.9% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.08 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Friday.

ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball games — at least in its current form — will conclude at the end of the 2025 season.

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro informed baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday morning that the network was opting out of the final three years of its contract, two people told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because because they weren't authorized to discuss financial matters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was obvious to Christine Smith Olsey that her son was not doing well at school, despite educators telling her to leave it to the experts. The second-grade student stumbled over words, and other kids teased him so much he started to call himself "an idiot."

WASHINGTON (AP) — An idea first proposed on social media has bubbled up to the White House and received President Donald Trump's enthusiastic endorsement: Take some of the savings from billionaire Elon Musk's drive to cut government spending and return it to taxpayers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators pushed a $340 billion budget framework to passage early Friday, chugging through an all-night session and Democratic opposition in a step toward unleashing money the Trump administration says it needs for mass deportations and border security that top their agenda.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The budget resolution from Republicans was on the agenda in the Senate, but the late-night debate encompassed so much more.

Democrats used the overnight session that ended early Friday morning as a platform for their outrage over what President Donald Trump has wrought during his first month in office and their warnings of what is still to come.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The layoffs of roughly 7,000 IRS probationary workers beginning this week likely mean the end of the agency's plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collections, experts say.

The majority of employees shown the door at the federal tax collector are newly hired workers focused on compliance, which includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code and paying delinquent debts, among other duties.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials have asked the Trump administration to exclude their country from U.S. plans to impose aggressive tariffs on trade partners, emphasizing that Seoul is already applying low duties on American products under the free trade agreement between the two nations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting troops along the U.S.-Mexico border Friday to assess the military's progress in fortifying sections of the wall, coming as the Pentagon rapidly expands its border mission in line with President Donald Trump's efforts to combat illegal immigration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The wealth of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has swelled in part from for-profit health care companies over which he'd wield significant power if confirmed, according to a newly filed government ethics report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump marked Black History Month at the White House on Thursday by making an appearance at a celebratory reception with a surprise guest, golf legend Tiger Woods, while calling out other athletes in attendance and marveling at the size of the crowd.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska canceled two nonconference games against Tennessee as part of a plan to recoup lost revenue from reduced seating capacity during major renovations of Memorial Stadium in 2027, athletic director Troy Dannen announced Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested Friday near the U.S. Capitol on a charge that he assaulted a woman protesting a gathering attended by Tarrio and others who received presidential pardons for crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in the nation's capital.

A lawsuit filed by 17 states challenging federal rules entitling workers to time off and other accommodations for abortions may proceed, a federal appeals court ruled.

The Eighth Circuit Court's decision on Thursday reverses Eastern District of Arkansas U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall, Jr.'s dismissal of the case in June after he found that the states lacked standing to sue. Eighth Circuit Chief Judge Steven M. Colloton, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2003, wrote in Thursday's opinion that the states do have standing since they are subject to the federal rules.

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York City and leading authorities on a five-day manhunt is scheduled to be in court Friday for the first time since his December arraignment on state murder and terror charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top official in charge of carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportations agenda has been reassigned amid concerns that the deportation effort isn't moving fast enough.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Friday that Caleb Vitello, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was "no longer in an administrative role, but is instead overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens, which is a major priority of the President and Secretary (Kristi) Noem."