News - Friday, February 7, 2025

Husch Blackwell attorney Patrick Shockey took his first steps toward the law not on a college campus or in a court room during a mock trial competition but on the ballfields of his youth.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Shockey grew up playing team sports. When his father died of cancer when he was 9, some of his coaches became mentors who continued to be involved in his life after baseball or basketball season was over.

Attorney Morgan Ownbey has joined Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel and will support the firm’s business and mergers and acquisitions practice areas.

Ownbey is a corporate attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions, financial transactions, corporate restructuring and commercial contracts. He advises middle-market businesses on asset and stock purchases, capital raises and negotiations on essential agreements for buying, selling and operating companies.

As tax season approaches, homeowners should be mindful of potential home-related tax mistakes that could cost them money or even lead to unwanted IRS attention. From deductions on property taxes and mortgage interest to home office expenses and capital gains, it’s important to understand the rules to maximize benefits and avoid errors.

The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences has named University of Tennessee at Chattanooga assistant professor of criminal justice Katelyn Hancock the recipient of the Ken Peak Innovations in Teaching Award.

Hancock, who’s in her third year as a UTC faculty member, will be honored at the ACJS Awards Luncheon March 14 during the organization’s annual conference in Denver.

In a former elementary school for Black children, two unarmed soldiers stand guard over an exhibit that pays homage to their contributions to history.

The soldiers are keeping watch over the event hall in the Chattanooga Civic Center Mountainside, a Hooker Road facility that once served as Piney Woods Elementary School. A 2016 article on Chattanoogan.com notes the building’s beginnings in 1963 as a school “for colored? children only” and chronicles its transition to a civic center intended to serve people “of all colors.”

Once you retire, you’ll likely need to draw on a variety of financial sources – and one of the most important ones may be your 401(k). And for 2025, you can put even more money into your plan than ever.

You can invest in your 401(k) in one of two ways, depending on your employer’s plan. With a traditional 401(k), you contribute pre-tax dollars, which can lower your taxable income, and your money can grow tax deferred.

Expanded school vouchers, a new state immigration enforcement unit, disaster relief and a new office to issue bonds to finance and refinance transportation projects quickly gained passage in a four-day special session of the General Assembly.

Even though lawmakers quickly dispatched big issues in the special session, the regular session is now underway and usually lasts into late April.

While the United States was inaugurating our 47th president, I turned my attention instead to a more palatable if relatively obscure chief executive: the 11th, James K. Polk.

Thus continued my Learn Tennessee Presidential History Tour. By chance it is taking place in reverse chronological order, having started with Andrew Johnson after a trip last June to his home in Greenville, in East Tennessee.

Mona McSharry began making her post-Olympic travel plans in 2022. The University of Tennessee swimmer knew she would need an extended break after all the grueling training preparing for Paris.

 McSharry had arranged to take the 2024 fall semester off from UT before starting work on her master’s degree. The Ireland native had always dreamed of visiting the Pacific Northwest and figured she might as well explore the surrounding states as well.

It’s usually pretty easy to pick Juuse Saros out of an on-ice hockey crowd, with his bright Predators’ gold leg pads, catching glove and blocker.

But at a recent Predators practice, some had to do a double take when they looked at one of the creases and saw a goaltender that matched Saros’ stature, but all of the pads and catching gloves were mostly white. That goalie was, in fact, Saros.

Predators head coach Andrew Brunette and the assistants on the bench are certainly the most visible members of the coaching staff, but there are other coaches and staff members working feverishly behind the scenes during games in support of the team on the ice and those coaches on the bench.

It’s no secret that Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi logs a tremendous amount of ice time. He seems to be out there every other shift and in all important situations during a game.

The NHL has long kept time on ice as a statistic. This season, Josi is averaging about 25 minutes per game, nearly 4 minutes more per game than Brady Skjei, the next-highest Predator.

Hybrids are hot right now, and you have several choices if you’re considering a hybrid SUV.

For years, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid has been the go-to model for hybrid SUV shoppers. It’s no surprise since Toyota has earned a strong reputation for its hybrids, but the RAV4 Hybrid also delivers SUV necessities such as roomy seating, a large cargo area and plenty of tech features.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's plan to push out federal workers by offering them financial incentives, the latest twist in a chaotic and distressing saga playing out for millions of government employees.

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan duo in the the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting privately with congressional Republicans at the White House on Thursday as his allies on Capitol Hill are arguing with themselves over the size, scope and details of his "big, beautiful bill" to cut taxes, regulations and government spending.

KNOXVILLE (AP) — First-year coach Kim Caldwell and No. 19 Tennessee got their first signature win of the season and it came against the Lady Vols' longtime rival — UConn.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference distributed an average of almost $52.6 million to the 14 full-year members for the 2023-24 season in a slight increase from the previous year, according to its tax filing.

The league announced its revenue figures and released its tax filing Thursday for the fiscal year that ended in August, which included Oklahoma and Texas joining the league in July to expand the SEC to 16 schools. The Sooners and Longhorns each received $27.5 million in what the league described in a news release as "transition payments," accounting for a mix of TV agreements and refundable application fees from a previous fiscal year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge will consider Friday whether to block Trump adviser Elon Musk 's team from accessing systems at the Labor Department, which has investigated the billionaire's companies.

Three unions sued to keep DOGE workers out of the systems that they say contain sensitive information about workers, including those who have filed safety complaints about their employers.

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. (AP) — Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors is making a massive bet in the electric SUV market with a carefully cultivated experience that will allow some customers to buy the company's vehicle in minutes on an app and then use it to handle everything after from repairs to updates and upgrades.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Saving the planet is so 2024. Clean energy leaders across the globe are now tailoring their messages to emphasize the greener side of green: wealth-building. It's an idea that sells far better in the new world of nationalism and tycoon leaders.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities have ordered the halting of development of a tourism project affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump over water management and environmental issues, officials said Friday.

The 3,000-hectare (11.6-square-mile) project is the brainchild of Trump's Indonesian business partner, billionaire and politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who attended Trump's inauguration in Washington last month.

NEW YORK (AP) — Christmas marked a milestone in media history: more streaming than any day ever before, according to the Nielsen company.

Netflix streamed two NFL games on that day, with Beyonce appearing as the halftime entertainment when the Houston Texans hosted the Baltimore Ravens.

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal government payments to news outlets like Politico, The New York Times and The Associated Press for subscriptions or to license content are in the crosshairs of Trump administration spending hawks, with the president on Thursday calling it potentially "THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL."

NEW YORK (AP) — Summoned from his couch to cover last week's plane disaster in Washington, CNN's Pete Muntean rushed in for the first of 24 live reports over the next 48 hours. At one point, he used a model airplane and helicopter to demonstrate. At another, he called President Trump "unhinged" for speculating that diversity in hiring contributed to the crash.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly unsealed documents give one of the most detailed views yet of the evidence gathered on the accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, including how prosecutors allege he and others interacted with the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added just 143,000 jobs last month, but the unemployment rate fell to 4% to start 2025.

The first monthly jobs report of Donald Trump's second presidency points to a solid but unspectacular labor market. January job creation dipped from the 261,000 added in November, and 307,000 in December. Economists had expected about 170,000 new jobs in January.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Labor unions that serve teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees in Utah will no longer be able to negotiate on behalf of their workers under a bill that received final legislative approval Thursday.

The Republican policy banning collective bargaining for all public sector professions passed the Senate in a 16-13 vote after its sponsors abandoned a proposed compromise that would have removed the outright ban. After days of negotiations, some unions still disapproved, leading lawmakers to move forward with the more restrictive original version that had already passed the House.

ROME (AP) — American importers have been stockpiling Italian bubbly Prosecco as a hedge against the possible impact of tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump, wine industry data show.

U.S. imports of Italian sparkling wine — 90% of that Prosecco — skyrocketed by 41% in November, after Trump's election, far exceeding consumer demand as importers filled the pipeline for future sales, according to the Union of Italian Wines trade association.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are pushing back against Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency as it turns its attention to the Education Department, with lawmakers raising concerns about DOGE's access to internal systems containing personal information on tens of millions of Americans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Forced leaves began in Washington and worldwide Friday for most employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, as federal workers associations turned to the courts to try to roll back Trump administration orders that have dismantled most of the agency and U.S.- funded aid programs around the world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, holds more than $1 million of stock in a fashion company founded in China. He established a nonprofit that spent big on promotion but little on its mission. And he advised a roster of foreign clients, including a Czech arms maker that top Republicans have criticized for being too tight with U.S. adversaries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba didn't skimp on the legwork as he prepared for his first meeting with President Donald Trump.

He huddled this week with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, two executives Trump recently hosted at the White House. He sought advice from his immediate predecessor, Fumio Kishida.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close U.S. ally.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes over his military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been killed during the Israeli military's response.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are working overtime after a lengthy White House meeting to meet President Donald Trump's demand for a big budget package that includes some $3 trillion in tax breaks, massive program cuts and a possible extension of the nation's debt limit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Russell Vought as White House budget director on Thursday night, putting an official who has planned the zealous expansion of President Donald Trump's power into one of the most influential positions in the federal government.

CHICAGO (AP) — Shortly after he was confirmed as President Donald Trump's transportation secretary, Sean Duffy circulated a memo that instructed his department to prioritize families by, among other things, giving preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average when awarding grants.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government no longer backs transgender minors and their families in Tennessee who are challenging a state ban on gender-affirming care, the Trump administration told the Supreme Court Friday.

The court's conservatives, at arguments in December, had already seemed likely to uphold the state ban on puberty blockers and hormone treatments.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday suggested that Nippon Steel would no longer buy U.S. Steel as planned, but the Japanese company would instead invest in the symbolically important American business.

The U.S. president mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as "Nissan," the Japanese automaker. But it's Nippon Steel's bid that generated controversy as both Trump and his predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden, vowed to block the merger.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As House Republicans missed another deadline Friday to produce a massive budget package of tax cuts and slashed spending, Senate Republicans jumped ahead, unveiling a more tailored $340 billion blueprint focused on President Donald Trump's deportation agenda and bolstered U.S. defense spending.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers are seeking a Treasury Department investigation of the access that Elon Musk's team was given to the government's payment system, citing "threats to the economy and national security, and the potential violation of laws protecting Americans' privacy and tax data."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has agreed to refrain from publicly identifying any FBI agents whose conduct is under review as President Donald Trump's administration examines the investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, according to a court filing Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are pushing back against Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency as it turns its attention to the Education Department, with lawmakers raising concerns about DOGE's access to internal systems containing personal information on tens of millions of Americans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he wants to slash the U.S. trade deficit with Japan as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting.

Trump added that he isn't taking the possibility of levying tariffs against Japan off the table, but believes the issue can be resolved without punitive action. The United States has a $68 billion trade deficit with Japan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will need the Supreme Court, with three justices he appointed, to enable the most aggressive of the many actions he has taken in just the first few weeks of his second White House term.

But even a conservative majority with a robust view of presidential power might balk at some of what the president wants to do.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Trump administration officials are openly questioning the judiciary's authority to serve as a check on executive power as the new president's sweeping agenda faces growing pushback from the courts.

Over the past 24 hours, officials ranging from billionaire Elon Musk to Vice President JD Vance have not only criticized a federal judge's decision early Saturday that blocks Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records, but have also attacked the legitimacy of judicial oversight, a fundamental pillar of American democracy, which is based on the separation of powers.

As jobs become more reliant on technology some Latino workers can be left behind due to a lack of digital skills exacerbated by a lack of accessibility.

Latinos remain an integral part of jobs in agriculture, construction, retail and food services but these jobs are also at risk of automation, leaving some Latinos unprepared for a changing role that relies more on technology, according to a new report by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico, as well as other import duties later in the week.

"Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff," he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, "aluminum, too" will be subject to the trade penalties.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China's tit-for-tat duties on U.S. imports took effect Monday, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he wants to slap new duties on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.

The rapid-fire shots of tariffs and import curbs hearken back to Trump's first term in office, when the U.S. and China engaged in a trade war that spanned most of Trump's first four years in office and was continued to a certain extent under his successor, Joe Biden.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has repeatedly challenged Senate Republicans with his Cabinet picks. But his nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer for labor secretary may be proving the hardest for many to accept.

Chavez-DeRemer, a former congresswoman from Oregon, hardly cuts the profile of a traditional Republican nominee. She is the daughter of a lifelong Teamsters member. She's a small business owner who served as the mayor of a fast-growing suburb in liberal Portland, Oregon. And in the House, she co-sponsored legislation championed by America's labor unions.

LONDON (AP) — The Saudis are furious. The Danes are scrambling. Colombia has backed down. Mexico and Canada stand in a purgatory between tariff wars with the US and … not. China has retaliated, launching a trade war between the economic superpowers. The Brits, long proud of their "special relationship" with the United States, are leaning into their tradition of quiet diplomacy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for U.S. "ownership" of the war-torn territory, contradicting other officials in his administration who have sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. "I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he is serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state in an interview that aired Sunday during the Super Bowl preshow.

"Yeah it is," Trump told Fox News Channel's Bret Baier when asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is "a real thing" — as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently warned.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down an agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal.

Auburn's run at No. 1 is still intact despite a loss to No. 3 Florida. UConn's latest loss has dropped the two-time defending national champions out of the poll for the first time in two years.

The Tigers held the top spot in the poll for the fifth straight week Monday, receiving 34 first-place votes from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 Alabama moved up a spot and had 23 first-place votes, just nine points behind Auburn, while Florida earned three top votes and No. 5 Tennessee got one.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The recently fired head of the Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers, sued President Donald Trump on Monday, saying he was illegally ousted as part of the president's massive overhaul of the government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge found Monday that the Trump administration hasn't fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending and told the White House to release all the money.

U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell ruled that continued struggles to get federal money for things like early childhood education, pollution reduction and HIV prevention research violated his Jan. 31 order. He ordered the Trump administration to "immediately take every step necessary" to follow his temporary restraining over halting its plans for a sweeping freeze of federal funding.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials and federal officers turned away scores of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers who showed up for work Monday at its Washington headquarters, after a court temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have pulled all but a fraction of workers off the job worldwide.

Nearly 200 nations faced a Monday deadline to file what the United Nations' climate chief calls "among the most important policy documents governments will produce this century" — their plans on how they will cut emissions of heat-trapping gases.

Most won't make the deadline. The U.N. says that's OK as long as they are working on them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to on Monday formally announce 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as part of an aggressive effort to remake the existing terms of world trade that so far has compounded economic uncertainty.

Trump also intends this week to reset U.S. taxes on all imports to match the same levels charged by other countries, all of which comes on top of the 10% tariffs he already put on China, China's retaliatory tariffs that started Monday and the U.S. tariffs planned for Canada and Mexico that have been suspended until March 1.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The odds of further interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve dwindled last week as unemployment fell and more officials say they want to see how new policies from the White House affect the economy.

While Fed officials penciled in two rate cuts this year at their December meeting, economists and Wall Street investors are increasingly skeptical, with some predicting no reductions at all this year. On Friday, economists at Morgan Stanley said they now expect just one rate cut in 2025, and investors also expect just one — in July — according to pricing in futures markets.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday will pardon Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to a person familiar with his plans.

Trump commuted Blagojevich's 14-year sentence for political corruption charges during his first term. The Republican president planned to sign the pardon on Monday, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the pardon publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

When U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department told their contractors to pause all work, Sadie Healy expected the impact to be "horrendous."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the weekend, some staff members at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw a sign of trouble to come.

Windows in two basement conference rooms were covered with brown paper and blue painter's tape, concealing their occupants. Voices could be heard inside discussing cuts to government agencies. When the door was cracked open, there were young people with temporary badges.

It was as if the 2024 Tennessee Volunteers were built to win a national championship with their dominant pitching and an offense that produced the second-most home runs in a season in NCAA history. They ended up with an SEC-record 60 wins and beat Texas A&M in a three-game College World Series finals.

Ten teams to watch in college baseball in 2025, listed in alphabetical order with 2024 record:

Arkansas (44-16)

Strong pitching and defense are hallmarks of Dave Van Horn's program. Finding more offense was the offseason priority. Transfers Rocco Peppi (Fresno State) and Brent Iredale (New Mexico JC) hit for power and Logan Maxwell was TCU's leading hitter. Gabe Gaeckle, last year's closer, and lefty transfers Zach Root (East Carolina) and Landon Beidelschies (Ohio State) are top candidates for the weekend rotation.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday proposed an injection of more than $1 billion into road projects to help address the state's $30 billion projects backlog, which will again need more than what gas taxes and other fees can provide.

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A section of Interstate 40 in western North Carolina that collapsed during Hurricane Helene's historic flooding will reopen to traffic by March 1, Gov. Josh Stein announced Monday while visiting the roadway's shuttered portion and meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge on Monday ordered the fired head of the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers to be reinstated while a court fight continues over his removal by President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's order came hours after Hampton Dellinger sued the Republican president over his removal as the leader of the Office of Special Counsel, which is responsible for guarding the federal workforce from illegal personnel actions, such as retaliation for whistleblowing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of labor unions filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal court to stop Elon Musk's team from accessing private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management.

The suit, led by the American Federation of Teachers, alleges the Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it gave Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to systems with personal information on tens of millions of Americans without their consent. It was filed in federal court in Maryland.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create self-driving automobiles.

Now, Musk's close relationship with President Donald J. Trump means many of those federal headaches could vanish.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S., U.K. and Australia on Tuesday sanctioned a Russian web-hosting services provider and two Russian men who administer the service in support of Russian ransomware syndicate LockBit.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and its U.K. and Australian counterparts sanctioned Zservers, a Russia-based bulletproof hosting services provider — which is a web-hosting service that ignores or evades law enforcement requests — and two Russian nationals serving as Zservers operators.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal research office that tracks the progress of America's students is being hit with almost $900 million in cuts after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency found no need for much of its work.

It's unclear to what degree the Education Department's Institute of Education Sciences will continue to exist after Musk's team slashed scores of contracts. Industry groups said at least 169 contracts were suddenly terminated Monday, accounting for much of the institute's work.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda McMahon once described herself as an outsider stepping into the world of education, a business leader with an "inquiring mind" who would challenge the status quo and demand more for students.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed an order restoring the name of a storied special operations forces base back to Fort Bragg. The North Carolina base was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 as part of a national effort under the Biden administration to remove names that honored Confederate leaders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is prepared to keep its key interest rate unchanged for now as inflation remains elevated and the job market is solid, Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday on the first of a two-day appearance before Congress.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Government Efficiency's embed into the federal government has raised a host of concerns, transforming a debate over how to cut government waste into a confrontation over privacy rights and the nation's financial standing in the world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel, meaning that all steel imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25%. Trump also hiked his 2018 aluminum tariffs to 25% from 10%.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed to consider a tariff exemption on Australian steel and aluminum imports after a telephone call on Tuesday with Australia's prime minister.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese argued for an exemption during the call, which was scheduled before Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — All architecture student Amirhossein Azizi wanted for his 19th birthday was the latest iPhone — and for Iran's cash-strapped theocracy, it was just the gift they needed as well.

Just buying a top-of-the-line iPhone 16 Pro Max in Iran's capital cost him on the day 1.6 billion rials ($1,880). An additional 450 million rials ($530) is required for import fees and registration on government-managed mobile phone networks.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Like a watered-down drink, domestic sales for American whiskeys were unsatisfying in 2024, as inflation reined in consumer spending on some distilled spirits. But it's tariffs that loom as one of the stiffest challenges ahead, threatening to deplete sales in key foreign markets, an industry group said Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's continued roll out of a wide array of tariffs is rattling small business owners already dealing with tight profit margins.

Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum and promised more import duties to come. Last week, the administration imposed a ,10% tariff on Chinese goods coming into the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first three weeks of his administration, President Donald Trump has moved with brazen haste to dismantle the federal government's public integrity guardrails that he frequently tested during his first term but now seems intent on removing entirely.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hosting Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to track $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid following the Trump administration's foreign funding freeze and idling of staffers, a government watchdog warned Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard moved a step closer to being the next director of national intelligence Monday after the U.S. Senate advanced her nomination to a final vote planned for later this week.

The Senate could hold its final vote on confirming Gabbard as soon as Wednesday following Monday's 52-46 procedural vote to end debate on her nomination, which fell along party lines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hitting foreign steel and aluminum with a 25% tax. If that sounds familiar, it's because he did pretty much the same thing during his first term.

Trump's original metals tariffs gave America's struggling steel and aluminum producers some relief from intense global competition, allowing them to charge higher prices. In anticipation of the new tariffs, shares of steel and aluminum producers climbed Monday. Nucor rose 5.6%, Cleveland-Cliffs jumped 17.9% and Alcoa ticked up 2.2%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered government agencies to restore public access to health-related webpages and datasets that they removed to comply with an executive order by President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington agreed to issue a temporary restraining order requested by the Doctors for America advocacy group. The judge instructed the government to restore access to several webpages and datasets that the group identified as missing from websites and to identify others that also were taken down "without adequate notice or reasoned explanation."

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday made some tweaks but left intact a ban for now that prevents Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records containing sensitive personal data for millions of Americans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is stiffing American businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel imports this week could wreak havoc on American auto manufacturing, industry leaders say. The moves align with the Trump administration's aggressive global trade agenda and ambitions to strengthen U.S. industry, but they could have an inverse effect.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' bank accounts are safe despite the Trump administration's shutdown of a consumer financial regulatory agency, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday.

Powell, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, said "bank accounts overall across the economy are safe" and backed by government deposit insurance. Powell's comments followed partisan comments from Republican and Democratic senators regarding the Trump administration's order over the weekend for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to end all of its supervisory and rule-making work.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Democratic senator has asked the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate after he says he received information that President Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, had been "personally directing the ongoing purge" of agents at the bureau.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday that would continue downsizing the federal workforce, including strict limits on hiring.

The Associated Press reviewed a White House fact sheet on the order, which is intended to advance Elon Musk 's work slashing spending with his Department of Government Efficiency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four federal employees were fired Tuesday over payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for migrants, Department of Homeland Security officials said.

The workers are accused of circumventing leadership to make the transactions, which have been standard for years through a program that helps with costs to care for a surge in migration. But officials did not give details on how the four had violated any policies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained in Russia, has been released in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for President Donald Trump, left Russian airspace with Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, and he's expected to be reunited with his family by the end of the day.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hosted Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday and renewed his insistence that Gaza could somehow be emptied of all residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Denver Jones scored 21 points as No. 1 Auburn held off Vanderbilt 80-68 on Tuesday night to avoid the Tigers' first losing skid of the season.

Now Auburn (22-2, 10-1) goes into Saturday's big showdown for the top of the Southeastern Conference standings, supremacy in the state of Alabama and the top of the AP Top 25. The Tigers came into Tuesday night tied with No. 2 Alabama in league play.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh scored 13 points each and No. 15 Kentucky beat No. 5 Tennessee 75-64 on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats (17-7, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) completed a regular season sweep of the Volunteers. Kentucky also beat Tennessee 78-73 on Jan. 28 in Knoxville, and is now 7-1 against teams ranked in the Top 15 this season.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Education Department is scrapping last-minute guidance issued by the Biden administration that threatened to upend colleges' plans to pay athletes for their name, image and likeness by making those payments subject to federal Title IX rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight government watchdogs have sued over their mass firing that removed oversight of President Donald Trump's new administration.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore the inspectors general to their positions at the agencies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to respecting the rulings of courts, President Donald Trump has been of two minds.

If the decision goes his way, as it did when the Supreme Court ruled 11 months ago that his name should be on the ballot in Colorado, he hails it as a "BIG WIN FOR AMERICA."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly filed affidavits of U.S. Agency for International Development workers describe a lieutenant of Trump ally Elon Musk and other outsiders directing the immediate termination of hundreds of U.S. aid and foreign assistance programs abroad this week, without required documentation or justification.

BEIJING (AP) — Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father's panicked voice: The brakes don't work! Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into an SUV and a sedan and crashing into a large concrete barrier.

BEIJING (AP) — Tesla has embraced an aggressive legal strategy in China to stifle its critics — suing its own customers.

That's left some Tesla owners desperate. Zhang Yazhou protested publicly that her Model 3's brakes had failed and caused an accident in 2021 that sent her parents to the hospital. Tesla said that wasn't true and sued her for defamation. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay the $1.1-trillion company more than $23,000 in damages and publicly apologize for her criticism.

NEW YORK (AP) — PBS says it is shutting down its office of diversity, equity and inclusion to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order, firing the two executives brought on when the effort was begun in 2021.

The move, eliminating the jobs held by Cecilia Loving and her associate Gina Leow, comes as public television and radio girds for a fight over federal funding likely to be more serious than it has faced in many years.

BENGALURU, India (AP) — India wants more nuclear power, has pledged over $2 billion toward research and will change laws to boost investment to do it.

The pledges were made by India's finance minister earlier this month as part of a plan to expand electricity generation and reduce emissions. Nuclear power is a way to make electricity that doesn't emit planet-warming gases, although it does create radioactive waste. India is one of the world's biggest emitters of planet-heating gases and over 75% of its power is still generated by burning fossil fuels, mostly coal. India wants to install 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047 — enough to power nearly 60 million Indian homes a year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a warehouse in Haiti, nearly four metric tons of seeds cannot be distributed. Soon the planting season will be gone and with it, the best chance for those seeds to produce emergency food.

Across the world in South Sudan, a program treating severely malnourished children under age 5 has halted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's calls for lower interest rates won't lead the central bank to change its rate decisions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, a disappointment for families and businesses struggling with higher costs and likely underscoring the Federal Reserve's resolve to delay further interest rate cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is taking additional action to upset the world trade system, with plans to sign an order as soon as Wednesday that would require that U.S. tariffs on imports match the tax rates charged by other countries.

"It's time to be reciprocal," Trump told reporters earlier this week. "You'll be hearing that word a lot. Reciprocal. If they charge us, we charge them."

TOKYO (AP) — Japan 's government said Wednesday it asked the U.S. to exclude it from 25% steel and aluminum tariffs, a change from duty-free quotas that Tokyo was given previously.

Japan made the request through its embassy in Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel imports to a minimum of 25%, while hiking aluminum tariffs to 25% from 10%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's unconventional pick for director of national intelligence, awaited a final Senate vote Wednesday on her nomination to oversee and coordinate the work of America's 18 different intelligence agencies.

NEW YORK (AP) — To its fans, it's an undeniable force for good in a corrupt world, a groundbreaking anti-bribery statute that has brought powerful businessmen to heel for secretly paying off foreign government officials to win contracts abroad.

To detractors, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unfairly hobbles American companies while foreign rivals not so encumbered swoop in.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have railed against the IRS and its cadre of armed agents. Now the administration has big plans for them: It wants the agents to assist with immigration enforcement.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS workers to help with the immigration crackdown, according to a recent letter obtained by The Associated Press. It cites the IRS's boost in funding, though the $80 billion infusion of funds the federal tax collection agency received under the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act has already been clawed back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he's pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, a day after his office warned that the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian funds.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marc Fogel, an American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, has been released and returned to the U.S. in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia already won an injunction enabling him to play one more season next fall after a federal judge ruled the time he spent at a junior college shouldn't count against his eligibility.

Now about 180 miles east of Vanderbilt's campus, former junior college baseball player Alberto Osuna is going to federal court with a similar case as he attempts to become eligible to play for defending national champion Tennessee this season.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday will sign legislation designed to drastically expand school voucher access throughout the Volunteer State that will allow families to use taxpayer dollars on private school expenses regardless of income.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to gain access to detained migrants who they say have been flown to Guantanamo Bay and held there without being able to consult lawyers or speak to relatives.

The federal lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, says this is the first time in U.S. history that the government has detained non-citizens on civil immigration charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Wednesday that court rulings going against the Trump administration are coming from "judicial activists" on the bench whose decisions amount to a "constitutional crisis."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the comments as she pushed back against critics of Republican President Donald Trump's expansive actions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A lieutenant of Trump ally Elon Musk and other outsiders are overseeing the immediate termination of hundreds of American aid and foreign assistance programs abroad this week, without required documentation or justification, according to newly filed affidavits from staffers and accounts Wednesday from U.S. officials.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thomson Reuters has won an early battle in court over the question of fair use in artificial intelligence-related copyright cases.

The media and technology company filed a lawsuit against Ross Intelligence — a now-defunct legal research firm — in 2020, arguing they had used materials from Thomson Reuters' own legal platform Westlaw to train an AI model without permission.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Congress established to monitor credit card companies, mortgage providers, debt collectors and other segments of the consumer finance industry, is the latest U.S. government agency to have its work halted by the Trump administration.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Egg prices reached a record high in the U.S. last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The latest monthly consumer price index confirmed what consumers, bakers and food companies already knew: an ongoing bird flu outbreak that began in 2022 are making eggs terribly expensive right now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, a disappointment for families and businesses struggling with higher costs and likely underscoring the Federal Reserve's resolve to delay further interest rate cuts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, criticized the criminal cases against the Republican president as "partisan lawfare" during his Wednesday confirmation hearing to become the second in command at the Justice Department, while skeptical Democrats pressed him on whether he would be able to stand up to pressure from the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Finance Committee approved President Donald Trump's choice to be America's top trade negotiator Wednesday, largely along party lines.

Jamieson Greer, an attorney and trade official in Trump's first term, was cleared by the panel 15-12. All Republicans on the committee but just one Democrat – Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island – voted in favor of Greer, whose nomination to be U.S. trade representative will now go to the full Senate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans released a budget plan Wednesday that sets the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities, providing for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so that the U.S. can continue financing its bills.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two top immigration enforcement officials have been reassigned amid frustrations in the Trump administration about the pace of immigration arrests, according to two officials with knowledge of the moves.

Staff members at Immigration and Customs Enforcement were informed Tuesday evening that two top officials in the agency responsible for finding and removing immigrants in the country illegally — Russell Hott and Peter Berg — had been reassigned, according to a Department of Homeland Security official and an administration official. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a sudden prisoner swap.

Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin held a lengthy phone call and committed to "work together, very closely" to bring the conflict to an end and would meet in person, including perhaps in each other's countries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Katie Britt has been working to make sure the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency doesn't hit what she called "life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions," including her state's beloved University of Alabama.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.

Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country's 18 different intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.

There is only one person in women’s college basketball who isn’t amazed by Vanderbilt fab freshman guard Mikayla Blakes’ growing list of accomplishments this season: Blakes herself.

Eleven days after hitting the game-winning buzzer-beater in the Commodores’ stunning 71-70 victory over No. 15 Tennessee, Blakes poured in a record-setting 53 points in a 99-86 win at Florida.

NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee death row prisoner declared a hunger strike on Wednesday, saying he was protesting issues with medical care, the quality of the food, and individual padlocks installed on cell doors that he says are a safety hazard.

Howard Willis was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murders eight years earlier of newlyweds Adam Chrismer, 17, and Samantha Leming Chrismer, 16, of Chickamauga, Georgia. A friend, Darlene Kimbrough, spoke to him on Wednesday afternoon and confirmed that Willis had started a hunger strike and delivered a statement to prison officials.

NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday signed legislation designed to drastically expand school voucher access throughout the Volunteer State that will allow families to use taxpayer dollars on private school expenses regardless of income.

However, while the $447 million initiative has been touted as a "universal" program for anyone interested, Republican leaders included a key provision: Students living in the country illegally will be prohibited from participating.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development are asking a federal judge on Thursday to keep blocking an effort by President Donald Trump's administration meant to pull all but a fraction of worldwide staffers off the job.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's newly installed attorney general, Pam Bondi, went after New York leaders Wednesday over the state's immigration policies, announcing a lawsuit in the latest effort by the Republican administration to carry out the president's hardline immigration campaign pledges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday removed a key legal hurdle stalling President Donald Trump 's plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.

The Boston-based judge's order in the challenge filed by a group of labor unions was a significant legal victory for the Republican president after a string of courtroom setbacks.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi said Thursday they are ending talks on business integration.

Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said the talks had changed focus from setting up a joint holding company to making Nissan into a subsidiary of Honda.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda reported a 7% decline in profit for the nine months that ended in December on Thursday as it terminated talks on integrating its business with Nissan.

Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. said its motorcycles business was strong, but its auto sales suffered in China and Japan, while demand stayed solid in the U.S.

This week, the White House barred Associated Press journalists from three media appearances by President Donald Trump — two of them in the Oval Office itself. Some of the reaction said, effectively, this: What right do you have to be there, anyway?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda McMahon told senators she believes it would take an act of Congress to abolish the Education Department, saying the Trump administration wants to "do this right" and craft a plan that senators will support.

At her confirmation hearing Thursday, McMahon used softer language than President Donald Trump has invoked in his pledge to close the Education Department. If confirmed, she vowed to "reorient" the department without ending some of its core work, adding that "defunding is not the goal here."

WASHINGTON (AP) — If Linda McMahon is confirmed as education secretary, President Donald Trump has said he wants her to "put herself out of a job."

A plan being considered by the White House would direct the education secretary to dismantle the department as much as legally possible while asking Congress to abolish it completely. At her confirmation hearing Thursday, McMahon indicated she would seek "a better functioning Department of Education," with more efficient programs that might be better implemented by different federal agencies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected last month with progress against inflation appearing to have stalled, further undercutting expectations for lower interest rates this year.

Economists and financial markets fear President Donald Trump's policies will push inflation higher yet. His tariffs on foreign goods and plans to deport millions of undocumented workers could translate into higher prices and on Thursday, Trump said that he'll sign an order that increases U.S. tariffs to the rates other countries charge on imports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he's announcing increases on U.S. tariffs to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports.

"TODAY IS THE BIG ONE: RECIPROCAL TARIFFS!!!" Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social. "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"

BRUGES, Belgium (AP) — St. Valentine chocolates always seek to show how deep your love is. This year, it might just also show how deep your pockets are.

With the price of cocoa beans setting unprecedented records on the commodities market, it will certainly turn the gift of love into a bigger financial commitment than it once was. Turns out that if love is reputed to be eternal, a low price for cocoa, the essential ingredient in chocolate, is not.

LONDON (AP) — The British economy managed to eke out a quarterly growth of 0.1% in the final quarter of 2024 following a stronger than anticipated performance in December.

The Office for National Statistics said Thursday that the 0.4% expansion in December was a result of a broad-based expansion, with pubs doing particularly well in the run-up to Christmas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a candidate last year, Donald Trump suggested he could easily conquer inflation and ease voters' fears about the economy.

"I will very quickly deflate," he promised at a California rally. "We are going to take inflation, and we are going to deflate it. We are going to deflate inflation. We are going to defeat inflation. We're going to knock the hell out of inflation."

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony reported a 3% gain in October-December profit Thursday, and raised its full-year forecast.

Quarterly profit totaled 373.7 billion yen ($2.4 billion), up from 364 billion yen.

Quarterly sales edged up 18% to 4.4 trillion yen ($29 billion), boosted by solid results in its financial services, games and music operations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trump's health secretary, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs for roughly half the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Canada should be the 51st U.S. state as he proposes erasing the 5,525-mile-long border that separates the countries and alleviating the need for tariffs he's threatened against one of America's top allies and trading partners.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting Thursday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has heaped praise on him and is hoping to avoid tariffs that the new administration has slapped on other countries in its opening weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who was abruptly dismissed by President Donald Trump says she believes her firing and the move to reshape the panel that protects workers from discrimination is part of the administration's "agenda to erase the existence of trans people."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines on Thursday to advance the nomination of Kash Patel, Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, pushing past Democratic concerns that he would operate as a loyalist for the president and target perceived adversaries of the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative lawyer Brooke Rollins was confirmed Thursday as secretary of agriculture, placing a close ally of President Donald Trump into a key Cabinet position at a time when mass deportation plans could lead to farm labor shortages and tariffs could hit agricultural exports.