News - Friday, June 27, 2025

In the heart of Chattanooga’s Riverside district, Branch Technology is bridging one of the widest and most overlooked gaps in the built world: the digital divide between what designers can dream and what builders can deliver.

“In the last 20, 30, 40 years, the software in the design world has far outpaced what’s been physically possible,” says Ryan Lusk, CEO of Branch Technology. “We had CAD, then 3D modeling, then BIM (building information modeling) software – and now we’ve taken the next leap with generative AI. The ability to design unique building forms has grown tremendously, but the physical processes, material constraints and cost often prevent those ideas from becoming reality.”

Branch Technology move to Tennessee in 2014, but the company's journey began the year before.

2013:

Architect Platt Boyd develops early concept for large-scale 3D printing using robotic arms and freeform extrusion (later called CFab).

When RaDonna Gaddis was still a paralegal, she walked into a client meeting and was greeted not with a handshake but with skepticism.

“Who are you?” the man asked. “I want the male attorney. I need a bulldog on this case.”

Tennessee residents will see a wide range of new laws take effect July 1 that cover public safety, youth protections, health care, consumer rights and transportation, with several designed to address evolving concerns around substance abuse, road safety and emerging technologies.

In the past few weeks and over the next several weeks, we will experience a large number of decisions issued by the United States Supreme Court. This annual flood of Supreme Court opinions means we’re in June.

June is more than just the beginning of summer; it also marks the traditional end-of-term for the U.S. Supreme Court. The decisions issued by the court are typically very consequential and often address critical matters in our democratic republican form of government involving the balance of power, religious freedom, governmental accountability, the scope of freedom and even the meaning of justice in our modern society.

Earlier this month, we shared the first part of our summer home maintenance checklist from Nicole Slaughter Graham at HouseLogic.com, which focused on getting the inside of your home ready for the season. Now, as we continue celebrating National Homeownership Month, it’s time to turn our attention outside.

By Herald staff

As temperatures rise in Chattanooga, so do the demands on home air conditioning systems. But keeping your house cool during the summer doesn’t have to result in sky-high energy bills. Nate Thomasson, an Energy Pro with EPB, shares practical and affordable ways to stay comfortable while managing energy usage. From thermostat strategies to smart appliance use, Thomasson offers advice that can help homeowners save money and reduce wear on their HVAC systems – all while staying cool.

Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp’s office recently released a series of updates highlighting progress on education, infrastructure, government efficiency and veteran services. Here’s a quick look at what’s happening around the county:

After an extensive national search, the Carter Street Corporation has named Sam Voisin as the new executive director of the Chattanooga Convention Center. Voisin, a seasoned leader with more than 30 years of experience in entertainment and hospitality, will assume the role June 23.

In a step toward addressing Chattanooga’s elevated rates of heart disease and high blood pressure, the American Heart Association, Journey Health Foundation, Chattanooga Public Library and the City of Chattanooga’s Office of Community Health have launched the city’s first Heart Hub, a permanent cardiovascular health resource now open to the public on the first floor of the Downtown Library.

It’s important to save for retirement, but only half of Americans have calculated how much money they’ll need, the 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute reports. Yet without knowing how much you’ll need, it’s hard to know if you’re on track to reach your goals for retirement.

Just about every automaker these days offers an entry-level SUV. Though they are smaller than the most popular SUVs, such as the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, their appeal is obvious. They are affordable, good on gas, and are easy to drive and park.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is in the final days of a term that has lately been dominated by the Trump administration's emergency appeals of lower court orders seeking to slow President Donald Trump's efforts to remake the federal government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court allowed states to cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood in a ruling handed down Thursday amid a wider Republican-backed push to defund the country's biggest abortion provider.

The 6-3 opinion comes in a case that wasn't directly about abortion. It's instead about Medicaid funding for other health care services Planned Parenthood provides, like contraception, cancer screenings and pregnancy testing.

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Department of Labor from shutting down Job Corps, a residential program for low-income youth, until a lawsuit against the move is resolved.

The injunction bolsters a temporary restraining order U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter issued earlier this month, when he directed the Labor Department to cease removing Job Corps students from housing, terminating jobs or otherwise suspending the nationwide program without congressional approval.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of millions of 'Buy Now, Pay Later' loans will soon affect credit scores for millions of Americans who use the loans to buy clothing, furniture, concert tickets, and takeout.

Scoring company FICO said Monday that it is rolling out a new model that factors the short-term loans into their consumer scores. A majority of lenders use FICO scores to determine a borrower's credit worthiness. Previously, the loans had been excluded, though Buy Now, Pay Later company Affirm began voluntarily reporting pay-in-four loans to Experian, a separate credit bureau, in April.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5% annual pace from January through March as President Donald Trump's trade wars disrupted business, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in an unexpected deterioration of earlier estimates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — While completing a master's degree in data analysis, Palwasha Zahid moved from Dallas to a town near Silicon Valley. The location made it easy to visit the campuses of tech stalwarts such as Google, Apple, and Nvidia.

Zahid, 25, completed her studies in December, but so far she hasn't found a job in the industry that surrounds her.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — GE Appliances announced a nearly half-billion-dollar project Thursday that it says will create 800 new jobs and shift production of clothes washers from China to its massive manufacturing complex in Kentucky.

The $490 million investment positions the Kentucky home appliances company to rank as the biggest U.S. manufacturer of washing machines, it said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — States can block the country's biggest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid money for health services such as contraception and cancer screenings, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The 6-3 opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by the rest of the court's conservatives was not directly about abortion, but it comes as Republicans back a wider push across the country to defund the organization. It closes off Planned Parenthood's primary court path to keeping Medicaid funding in place: patient lawsuits.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Trump administration's new vaccine advisers on Thursday endorsed this fall's flu vaccinations for just about every American but threw in a twist: Only use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5% annual pace from January through March as President Donald Trump's trade wars disrupted business, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in an unexpected deterioration of earlier estimates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — While completing a master's degree in data analysis, Palwasha Zahid moved from Dallas to a town near Silicon Valley. The location made it easy to visit the campuses of tech stalwarts such as Google, Apple, and Nvidia.

Zahid, 25, completed her studies in December, but so far she hasn't found a job in the industry that surrounds her.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market ran up to the edge of another record on Thursday.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% and is sitting just 0.05% below its all-time closing high, which was set in February. It briefly topped the mark during the afternoon in the latest milestone for the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, which had dropped roughly 20% below its record during the spring on worries about President Donald Trump's tariffs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber's procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon leaders laid out new details Thursday about military tactics and explosives to bolster their argument that U.S. attacks had destroyed key Iranian nuclear facilities, but little more emerged on how far back the bombing had set Tehran's atomic program.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that his country had delivered a "slap to America's face" by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar and warned against further attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Salem Aldawsari scored in the 22nd minute and Al Hilal beat Pachuca 2-0 on Thursday night to clinch a berth in the Club World Cup round of 16.

Marcus Leonardo also scored for Al Hilal, the only team outside Europe and the Americas to advance out of group play.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Thursday that it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges in Tennessee before it moves to deport him, addressing fears that he could be expelled again from the U.S. within days.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is meeting Friday to decide the final six cases of its term, including President Donald Trump's bid to enforce his executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.

ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) — Pounding away on a prison typewriter, Chad Scott seemed worlds apart from President Donald Trump.

But when the disgraced narcotics agent wrote the White House seeking clemency for his corruption conviction, Scott sought to draw Trump's attention to what they have in common.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In parts of rural upstate New York, schools have more than 1,100 students for every mental health provider. In a far-flung region with little public transportation, those few school counselors often are the only mental health professionals available to students.

LONDON (AP) — Apple has revamped its app store policies in the European Union with hopes of fending off escalating fines under the 27-nation bloc's digital competition regulations.

It's a last-minute bid by the iPhone maker to avoid further charges following a 500 million euro ($585 million) penalty in April. The bloc's executive Commission punished Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store, and gave it a 60-day deadline, which expired Thursday, to avoid additional, periodic fines.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court agreed on Thursday on details of a decision to hold social media companies liable for what their users post, clearing the way for it go into effect within weeks.

The 8-3 vote in Brazil's top court orders tech giants like Google, Meta and TikTok to actively monitor content that involves hate speech, racism and incitation to violence and act to remove it.

NEW YORK (AP) — When the Trump family unveiled a new phone before a giant American flag at its headquarters earlier this month, the pitch was simple and succinct, packed with pure patriotism: "Made in the U.S.A."

The Trumps are apparently having second thoughts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key inflation gauge moved higher in May in the latest sign that prices remain stubbornly elevated while Americans cut back on their spending.

Prices rose 2.3% in May compared with a year ago, up from just 2.1% in April, the Commerce Department said Friday. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.7% from a year earlier, an increase from 2.5% the previous month. Both figures are modestly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

BANGKOK (AP) — The U.S. and China have signed an agreement on trade, President Donald Trump said, adding he expects to soon have a deal with India.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that the deal was signed earlier this week. Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details about the agreement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans agreed to remove the so-called revenge tax provision from President Donald Trump's big bill on Thursday after a request by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The Section 899 provision that was nixed would have allowed the federal government to impose taxes on companies with foreign owners, as well as investors from countries judged as charging "unfair foreign taxes" on U.S. companies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A few Republicans reacted with indignation Thursday after the Senate parliamentarian advised that some of the measures in their tax and immigration bill could not be included in the legislation.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., tweeted on X that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough should be fired, "ASAP." Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., intimated that she was partisan, asking why an "unelected swamp bureaucrat, who was appointed by Harry Reid over a decade ago" gets to decide what's in the bill?"

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators emerged from a classified briefing Thursday with sharply diverging assessments of President Donald Trump's bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites, with Republicans calling the mission a clear success and Democrats expressing deep skepticism.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's top diplomat said the possibility of new negotiations with the United States on his country's nuclear program has been "complicated" by the American attack on three of the sites, which he conceded caused "serious damage."

HARTFORD, Tenn. (AP) — Crews on Friday reopened a section of Interstate 40 along its narrow corridor through the Great Smoky Mountains after flooding and a rock slide closed the major cross country highway for nine days.

The highway was already undergoing major repairs from massive damage and washouts during Hurricane Helene last fall and is down to one lane in each direction in far western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams over the next five years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to join the league by 2030.

Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors. Toronto and Portland will enter the league next year.

The Nashville Predators acquired defenseman Nicolas Hague in a three-player trade that sent center Colton Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon to the Vegas Golden Knights, both teams announced Monday.

In completing the trade, the Predators signed Hague — a pending restricted free agent — to a four-year $22 million contract. Nashville also acquired a third-round pick in the 2027 draft, which would turn into a second-round pick should Vegas advance to the Western Conference finals in the 2026 playoffs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday threw out appellate rulings in favor of transgender people in four states following the justices' recent decision upholding a Tennessee ban on certain medical treatment for transgender youths.

But the justices took no action in cases from Arizona, Idaho and West Virginia involving the participation of transgender students on school sports teams. The court could say as soon as Thursday whether it will take up the issue in its next term.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will take up a Republican-led drive, backed by President Donald Trump's administration, to wipe away limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president.

The justices said Monday they will review an appellate ruling that upheld a provision of federal election law that is more than 50 years old, ignoring pleas from Democrats to leave the law in place. The Supreme Court itself upheld it in 2001.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Court records show that the Trump administration has agreed to spare from deportation a key witness in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in exchange for his cooperation in the case.

Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to "deadly conduct" in connection with a separate incident where he drunkenly fired a gun in a Texas community.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University failed to protect Jewish students from harassment, the Trump administration concluded after an investigation, threatening to cut all federal funding from the Ivy League school if it fails to take action.

A federal task force sent a letter to Harvard on Monday finding the university violated civil rights laws requiring colleges to protect students from discrimination based on race or national origin. It says investigators found Harvard was at times a "willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff" and that campus leaders allowed antisemitism to fester on the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Sunday successfully launched a climate change monitoring satellite on its mainstay H-2A rocket, which made its final flight before it is replaced by a new flagship model designed to be more cost competitive in the global space market.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — By plane, motorbike, camper van and even on bicycles, tourists are beginning to discover Afghanistan, with solo travelers and tour groups gradually venturing into a country that until recently was wracked by war.

And the country's Taliban government, which seized power more than three years ago but has yet to be formally recognized by any other nation, is more than happy to welcome them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is not planning to extend a 90-day pause on tariffs on most nations beyond July 9, when the negotiating period he set would expire, and his administration will notify countries that the trade penalties will take effect unless there are deals with the United States.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said late Sunday trade talks with U.S. have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax U.S. technology firms.

NEW YORK (AP) — GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan had some complications while fundraising on his own website last fall.

Several friends wanted to help Cadogan reach his $28,000 goal as he crowdfunded for a Los Angeles area wilderness rescue team. But they tried to donate through a lesser-known wealth management tool called a donor-advised fund, or a DAF, a no-frills investing vehicle for money earmarked as eventual charitable gifts. After cutting checks and waiting three weeks, Cadogan said, the money finally arrived.

HONG KONG (AP) — It's been years since mass arrests all but silenced pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong. But a crackdown on dissent in the semiautonomous Chinese city is still expanding, hitting restaurants, bookstores and other small businesses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Only 36% of Democrats say they're "extremely" or "very" proud to be American, according to a new Gallup poll, reflecting a dramatic decline in national pride that's also clear among young people.

The findings are a stark illustration of how many — but not all — Americans have felt less of a sense of pride in their country over the past decade. The split between Democrats and Republicans, at 56 percentage points, is at its widest since 2001. That includes all four years of Republican President Donald Trump's first term.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a weekend of setbacks, the Senate is trying to sprint ahead Monday on President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts despite a series of challenges, including the sudden announcement from one GOP senator that he won't run for reelection after opposing the package over its Medicaid health care cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The changes made to President Donald Trump's big tax bill in the Senate would pile trillions onto the nation's debt load while resulting in even steeper losses in health care coverage, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a new analysis, adding to the challenges for Republicans as they try to muscle the bill to passage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Sunday he will not seek reelection next year, an abrupt announcement that came one day after he staked out his opposition to President Donald Trump's tax breaks and spending cuts package because of its reductions to health care programs.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Many of the world's nations, but not the United States, gathered Monday in Spain to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it.

"Financing is the engine of development. And right now, this engine is sputtering," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening comments at the four-day Financing for Development meeting in Seville.

WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical U.S. lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran's lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran's nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a U.S. official said Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — State and federal prosecutors have charged more than 320 people and uncovered nearly $15 million in false claims in what they described Monday as the largest coordinated takedown of health care fraud schemes in Justice Department history.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in jail for now over concerns from his lawyers that he could be deported if he's released to await his trial on human smuggling charges, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled Monday.

Abrego Garcia's attorneys had asked the judge to delay his release because of what they described as "contradictory statements" by President Donald Trump's administration over what would happen to the Salvadoran national. The lawyers wrote in a brief to the court Friday that "we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue" by the Justice Department, adding that the "irony of this request is not lost on anyone."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Clean energy advocates were already bracing for a Republican-led bill that would phase out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers moved to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — When two South Korean companies announced a multibillion-dollar investment to build solar panel and electric battery factories in northwest Georgia, federal subsidies helped close a deal to diversify the local economy.

The factories promised thousands of new jobs, transforming the manufacturing base in Cartersville, once a cotton mill town before an Anheuser-Busch brewery arrived in the 1990s and a tire plant in 2006.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered rare open criticism of the Trump administration — and singer Bono held back tears as he recited a poem — in an emotional video farewell on Monday with staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators hunkered down Monday to consider proposed amendments to President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts amid challenges including the weekend announcement from one GOP senator that he won't run for reelection after opposing the package over its Medicaid health care cuts.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, announced Monday he will not seek reelection next year amid an increasingly polarized political climate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Flake. Corker. Romney. And now, Sen. Thom Tillis. The roll call of Republican senators in the U.S. Congress who have called it quits, rather than endure a political career sideways with President Donald Trump, is long, notable -- and apparently, still growing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Monday ending U.S. sanctions on Syria, following through on his earlier promise to do so.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was designed to "promote and support the country's path to stability and peace." Sanctions will remain in place on former President Bashar Assad, his associates and others, she said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday questioned when the Trump administration will try to enforce its birthright citizenship executive order and asked if the government would attempt to deport U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally or temporarily before restrictions on birthright citizenship might take effect in late July.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The fate of Argentina's state-run oil company was thrown into doubt Monday as a U.S. judge ordered the cash-strapped country to give up its 51% controlling stake in YPF in partial compensation for seizing the shares of former investors during its 2012 nationalization of the energy group.

WASHINGTON (AP) — On Monday afternoon, the president of the United States was just another person complaining online about his service provider.

Donald Trump wrote in a pair of posts on Truth Social that he was trying to hold a conference call with faith leaders from all over the country but was unable to start the call because of technical difficulties.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico and the United States said they would gradually reopen the United States border to cattle imports from Mexico in July after U.S. agriculture officials suspended them in May over fears of the northward spread of the screwworm, agriculture officials in both countries said Monday.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who became a household name amassing an enormous following and multimillion-dollar ministry only to be undone by his penchant for prostitutes, has died.

Swaggart died decades after his once vast audience dwindled and his name became a punchline on late night television. His death was announced Tuesday on his public Facebook page. A cause wasn't immediately given, though at 90 he had been in poor health.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Ford Foundation has settled on its next leader.

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken will succeed Darren Walker as the president of one of the largest U.S. charitable organizations, the Ford Foundation announced Monday. A leading expert on constitutional law and democracy, Gerken takes the helm of its $16 billion endowment as the philanthropic sector navigates challenges to the tax-exempt status of nonprofits opposed by President Donald Trump's administration and its sweeping orders targeting trillions of dollars in federal funding for civil society groups.

NEW YORK (AP) — Anne Wojcicki's bid to buy 23andMe, the genetic testing company she cofounded nearly 20 years ago, has received the court greenlight.

That means Wojcicki's nonprofit TTAM Research Institute will purchase "substantially all" of San Francisco-based 23andMe's assets for $305 million. The transaction — which arrives more than three months after 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — is set to officially close in the coming weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday stuck to his position that the central bank will keep its key rate on hold while it waits to see how President Donald Trump's tariffs effect the economy, despite the steady stream of criticism from the White House, which wants lower borrowing costs.

TOKYO (AP) — Business sentiment among large Japanese manufacturers has improved slightly, according to a survey by Japan's central bank released Tuesday, although worries persist over President Donald Trump's tariffs.

The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey said an index for large manufacturers rose to plus 13 from plus 12 in March, when it marked the first dip in a year. The survey is an indicator of companies foreseeing good conditions minus those feeling pessimistic.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are inching closer to getting their tax and spending cut bill through Congress with a final Senate vote likely late Monday or early Tuesday.

At some 940 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. President Donald Trump has admonished Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a surprising statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi as the Trump administration promises to release more files from its sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein: The FBI, she said, was reviewing "tens of thousands of videos" of the wealthy financier "with children or child porn."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi's recent comments about evidence the Justice Department is reviewing from its Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation has fueled anticipation about the expected release of more files related to the wealthy financier.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has instructed his top Cabinet officers to review U.S. policy toward Cuba, ordering them to examine current sanctions and come up with ways to toughen them within 30 days.

In a memo Monday, Trump said the reviews should focus on Cuba's treatment of dissidents, its policies directed at dissidents and restricting financial transactions that "disproportionately benefit the Cuban government, military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending many U.S. economic sanctions on Syria, following through on a promise he made to the country's new interim leader.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was designed to "promote and support the country's path to stability and peace."

NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial said Tuesday that it has reached a verdict on four of five counts against the hip-hop mogul and was unable to reach a decision on the top charge, racketeering conspiracy.

The judge indicated that he would instruct the jury to continue weighing the charge, echoing the sentiments of prosecutors and Combs' defense team that just two days into deliberations was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New Trump administration rules that give millions of people a shorter timeframe to sign up for the Affordable Care Act's health care coverage are facing a legal challenge from Democratic mayors around the country.

The rules, rolled out last month, reverse a Biden-era effort to expand access to the Affordable Care Act's health insurance, commonly called "Obamacare" or the ACA. The previous Democratic administration expanded the enrollment window for the coverage, which led to record enrollment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday questioned when the Trump administration will try to enforce its birthright citizenship executive order and asked if the government would attempt to deport U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally or temporarily before restrictions on birthright citizenship might take effect in late July.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sprawling Republican budget bill approved by the Senate Tuesday removes a proposed tax on solar and wind energy projects but quickly phases out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy.

The Senate approved the bill 51-50 as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers move to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden. Vice President JD Vance broke a tie after three Republican senators voted no.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The fate of Argentina's state-run oil company was thrown into doubt Monday as a U.S. judge ordered the cash-strapped country to give up its 51% controlling stake in YPF in partial compensation for seizing the shares of former investors during its 2012 nationalization of the energy group.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Chinese nationals have been charged with spying inside the United States on behalf of Beijing, including by taking photographs of a naval base, coordinating a cash dead-drop and by participating in efforts to recruit members of the military who they thought might be open to working for Chinese intelligence.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Ford Foundation has settled on its next leader.

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken will succeed Darren Walker as the president of one of the largest U.S. charitable organizations, the Ford Foundation announced Monday. A leading expert on constitutional law and democracy, Gerken takes the helm of its $16 billion endowment as the philanthropic sector navigates challenges to the tax-exempt status of nonprofits opposed by President Donald Trump's administration and its sweeping orders targeting trillions of dollars in federal funding for civil society groups.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pro-Iran hackers have threatened to release emails supposedly stolen from people connected to President Donald Trump, according to a news report, a move that federal authorities call a "calculated smear campaign."

The United States has warned of continued Iranian cyberattacks following American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and the threats those could pose to services, economic systems and companies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk may find out what happens when DOGE bites man.

The billionaire SpaceX, Tesla and X owner who catapulted his zealous embrace of President Donald Trump into a powerful position slashing government spending now risks sweeping cuts to his own bottom line after resuming the feud that led to their very public bitter split last month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — State and federal prosecutors have charged more than 320 people and uncovered nearly $15 million in false claims in what they described Monday as the largest coordinated takedown of health care fraud schemes in Justice Department history.

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Zakai Zeigler of Tennessee has dropped his bid for a federal judge to let him play a fifth season of Division I basketball in five years, but his lawsuit against the NCAA will continue, his attorneys said Tuesday.

Last month, a judge denied Zeigler's request for a preliminary injunction that would allow him to return to the Volunteers. He appealed that ruling, but his attorneys voluntarily withdrew the appeal on Tuesday.

NASHVILLE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced four nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority's board, which for months has not had enough members to take many actions because Trump fired some of former President Joe Biden's picks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to remove three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who were fired by President Donald Trump and then reinstated by a federal judge.

Trump has the power to fire independent agency board members, the Justice Department argued in its filing to the high court, pointing to a May ruling by the Supreme Court that endorsed a robust view of presidential power.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean "Diddy" Combs was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop's most celebrated figures behind bars for life.

The mixed result still could send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.

NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial convicted him of a prostitution-related crime but cleared him of sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

Here's what we know about the potential sentence:

What were the charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs?

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court's liberal majority struck down the state's 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure, including statutes that criminalize abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb.

BANGKOK (AP) — A U.S. judge has ruled that China's Huawei Technologies, a leading telecoms equipment company, must face criminal charges in a wide reaching case alleging it stole technology and engaged in racketeering, wire and bank fraud and other crimes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleged on Tuesday, saying he and 19 other states' attorneys general have sued over the move.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of Tesla electric cars fell sharply in the last three months as boycotts over Elon Musk's political views continue to keep buyers away, a significant development given expectations that anger with the company's billionaire CEO would have faded by now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Day camp providers and schools are warning that a Trump administration funding freeze could wreck summer for low-income American families and wipe out some after-school programming next year.

The administration is withholding more than $6 billion in federal grants for after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and more as part of a review to ensure grants align with President Donald Trump's priorities.

NEW YORK (AP) — In a case seen as a challenge to American free-speech principles, Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump over the editing of CBS' " 60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jane Ferguson has won awards for unflinching reporting from dangerous lands including Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen. So she was unlikely to be intimidated by seeking financing for a new journalism platform, despite tough times for the news industry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is forging ahead with embryonic plans for joint weapons production with some of its international allies, top officials said, while the U.S. announced it was halting some arms shipments promised to help Ukraine fight off Russia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday, a setback for the country as it tries to fend off escalating attacks from Russia.

Certain munitions were previously promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration to aid its defenses during the more than three-year-old war. The pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump and came after Defense Department officials scrutinized current U.S. stockpiles and raised concerns.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Three Mexican financial institutions sanctioned by the Trump administration last week have felt a cascade of economic consequences following the allegations that they helped launder millions of dollars for drug cartels.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was blocking transactions between U.S. banks and Mexican branches of CIBanco and Intercam Banco, as well as the brokering firm Vector Casa de Bolsa. All three have fiercely rejected the claims.

NEW YORK (AP) — Navy Federal Credit Union will no longer have to refund $80 million to servicemen and women for illegally charging them overdraft fees on their accounts, after the President Donald Trump-led Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved to dismiss the case.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sprawling Republican budget bill approved by the Senate Tuesday removes a proposed tax on solar and wind energy projects but quickly phases out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy.

The Senate approved the bill 51-50 as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers move to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden. Vice President JD Vance broke a tie after three Republican senators voted no.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An analysis finds a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump's current tariff plans, a sum that could potentially be managed through price hikes, layoffs, hiring freezes or lower profit margins.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States. Australia, India and Japan have agreed to expand their cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and further collaborate on supplies of critical minerals and rare earths that are key components of high-tech production.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in the House are sprinting toward a Wednesday vote on President Donald Trump's tax and spending cuts package, determined to seize momentum from a hard-fought vote in the Senate while essentially daring members to defy their party's leader and vote against it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump keeps saying that Republicans' mega tax and spending cut legislation will eliminate taxes on federal Social Security benefits.

It does not.

At best, Trump's "no tax on Social Security" claim exaggerates the benefits to seniors if either the House or Senate-passed proposals is signed into law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI agent who was charged with joining a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol and cheering on rioters is now working as an adviser to the Justice Department official overseeing its "weaponization working group," which is examining President Donald Trump's claims of anti-conservative bias inside the department.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.

Trump announced the development as he prepares to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House on Monday. The U.S. leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war in Gaza.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Though patients don't rush through the doors of this emergency room anymore, an empty hospital in Williamston, North Carolina, offers an evocative illustration of why Republican Sen. Thom Tillis would buck his party leaders to vote down President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy package.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Roughly 11.8 million adults and children will be at risk for losing health insurance if Republicans' domestic policy package becomes a law.

The losses won't come all at once. The GOP's " One Big, Beautiful Bill Act " makes changes that will whittle away at enrollment through federal health care programs like Medicaid and Obamacare over a decade in order to wrest nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of Tesla electric cars fell sharply in the last three months as boycotts over Elon Musk's political views continue to keep buyers away, a significant development given expectations that anger with the company's billionaire CEO would have faded by now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Republicans in Congress rushed forward with a massive tax and spending cut bill, a North Carolina renewable energy executive wrote to his 190 employees with a warning: Deep cuts to clean energy tax credits were going to hurt.

"(The changes) would almost certainly include the loss of jobs on our team," wrote Will Etheridge, CEO of Southern Energy Management in Raleigh. "I'm telling you that because you deserve transparency and the truth — even if that truth is uncomfortable."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam Wednesday that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free.

Vietnamese exports to the United States, by contrast, would face a 20% levy.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump declared the pact "a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries.''